Team Canada’s snipers compensate for defence

OTTAWA—Canada’s chances of winning a fifth gold medal at the world junior hockey championship tonight are less if the team continues its trend of giving up four or five goals each game.
The country’s last four championship teams gave up no more than two goals in each gold-medal game.

It’s a measure of how talented offensively the 2009 edition is that they’ve reached the championship after allowing nine goals in their last two games. Canada has scored 40 times in five games.
“Championships aren’t easy. They never are,” Canadian head coach Pat Quinn stressed yesterday.
“We are where we wanted to be and while you can’t say it was dominant in any way, we have been terrific scoring and not so terrific on the other side.”
Canada and Sweden meet for gold for a second-straight year tonight at 6:30 p.m. (CT).
Canada advanced after a dramatic shootout win over Russia in the semi-finals on Saturday night after scoring the tying goal with just 5.4 seconds to play.
It’s a rematch of last year’s final, which Canada won 3-2 in overtime in Pardubice, Czech Republic. The final is expected to be a sell-out at Scotiabank Place, which has a capacity of just over 22,200.
Quinn will stick with Dustin Tokarski in net, even though the Spokane Chiefs’ goalie has been inconsistent. He’s allowed questionable goals but also made big-league saves in this tournament.
“We’re in a spot where we think he’s had the harder tests at this point,” Quinn said. “The other young man [Chet Pickard] probably hasn’t been in in a week, so it might be unfair to throw him in.
“Defensively we need to be better and Tokarski is the key to the defence, no question,” Quinn added. “There’s no argument I think about a couple of goals that have gone in, but we found a way to be a team.
“We’re not finger-pointing anywhere.”
Zach Boychuk did not practise yesterday and played sparingly in Saturday’s semi-final because of a sprained ankle. But Quinn said the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ forward will play in the final.
So far, the Canadians have defied the adage that defence wins championships, particularly after a 7-4 win over the U.S. to conclude the preliminary round and then the 6-5 shootout win over Russia in the semi-finals.
The semi-final felt like a runaway freight train that Canada managed to jump off of with the win. The Swedes have a speedy attack, too, so can Canada really afford to get into a run-and-gun with them and still come out on top?
“You know, I really don’t know what to expect from games anymore,” Canadian captain Thomas Hickey said. “Our chances are going to be a lot better if we don’t.”
Canada also needs to revive a power play that once was 60 percent successful in this tournament, but scored just once on nine chances against Russia
Sweden’s lone title in this tournament came in 1981. The Swedes have five returning players from the squad that came from behind to beat Canada in the preliminary round last year, and also came back from a two-goal deficit in the final to force overtime.
A subplot to tonight’s final will be the performances of Swedish defenceman Victor Hedman and Canadian forward John Tavares as they are both candidates to go first overall in the NHL draft in June.
Oscar Moller, a former Chilliwack Bruin, joined the Swedish juniors from the NHL’s L.A. Kings. Michael Backlund, a first-round pick of the Calgary Flames, scored spectacular goals in this tournament and 17-year-old Magnus Svensson Paajarvi has been a revelation with his speed and moxie.
“I think they’ll be extremely motivated. You hear them talk,” he said. “They want another shot at us and that’s fair.

“We’d want the same thing if we fell short last year.”