QUEBEC CITY — Zdeno Chara, the eldest player on the eldest team in this World Cup of Hockey, was disheveled. And the game had been over for a good 15 minutes.
While most of his teammates had packed their bags and carried them to the equipment trolley, Chara was still surrounded by hockey gear and trying to mix his post-game energy drink. Powder flew everywhere, water spilled.
All in all the process was messy and ineffective — a scene that perfectly described Team Europe’s maiden World Cup voyage, a 4-0 loss to the petulant Under-24s of Team North America. The kids’ collective speed had left Chara with a minus-2 rating, and possibly second-degree wind burn as well.
“Um, they skated well,” began Chara. “We were playing on our heels and not skating, probably, like we can.”
A European team that had never played together — some of whom had been playing Olympic qualifiers on Olympic-sized ice the past couple of weeks — did not translate to the National Hockey League game well here Thursday. Not against the youngest, fastest team in this tournament.
“It was pain,” said European head coach Ralph Krueger, “and pain is a good thing. I’m quite certain the (pre-tournament rematch) at the Bell Centre on Sunday is going to have a different tone to it.”
So this is how it looks when the youngest team in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey faces off against the oldest one. Boys against men, as one journo scoffed.
Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon was the best player on the ice with two goals — one on a fabulous penalty shot deke — and Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau added a goal and an assist as North America came away from their first foray into World Cup play with a jolt of confidence.
Fast?
Team North America won the race to the puck all night long, and that was with Dylan Larkin as a healthy scratch. (You might remember him from last year’s All-Star Game, where he beat Mike Gartner’s record in the fastest skater contest.)
“Closing on guys quick on the D zone,” said Connor McDavid. “There’s a certain knack for playing the game a bit slower as well, but speed and hockey sense (are two key strengths).”
Under the Centre Videotron banners honouring Quebec City greats like Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur, Peter Stastny and J.C. Tremblay, the U-24 team gave the sold-out crowd of 18,005 a reason to believe they have a chance here.
Europe, meanwhile, gets a bit of a pass as an older team playing its first preseason game on the smaller ice.
“It’s Game 1 for the majority of the guys,” said centre Anze Kopitar, by far the best player on the European roster. “I think we did some good stuff, (and) we also gave them a lot of opportunities off our mistakes. I think if we clean that up, we’ll be OK.”
Prior to the game, Team North America officials announced that McDavid, the team’s second youngest player, will wear the captain’s ‘C’ for this team. Sean Couturier (born in Phoenix but raised in Canada) and Aaron Ekblad were named alternate captains, as a trio of Canadians were awarded letters on this USA-Canada mix.
That is a bit of a slap to USA Hockey, but as they say in these parts, c’est la vie.
“The players told us not verbally but physically,” said head coach Todd McLellan, “the way they reacted around Connor, that he would be the right guy. I think he’s very capable of carrying the torch here right now.”
“I’m very happy and humbled to be wearing it,” added McDavid, who will likely utter those same words in a few weeks in Edmonton when the Oilers bestow the ‘C’ upon him as well.
This game featured almost zero neutral zone play, and favoured the U-24s the most when they relied on speed and short passes that put pressure on the European defence.
Pittsburgh goalie Matt Murray received the opening start and staked his claim to be the go-to netminder here. He was as steady as he could have been, stopping all 23 shots he faced.
“We saw what we could do when we played the game properly,” assessed McLellan. “As the night wore on our shift length got a little bit long, we got a little sloppy. We can improve in a number of areas.
“The productivity of what we’re getting out of our offensive zone time has to go up,” he added. “For us to be successful we’re going to have to be on top of teams. I don’t think we maintained out intensity or speed as the night went on. We faded a little bit.”
These teams meet again Sunday in Montreal. John Gibson is likely to get the start for North America, Thomas Greiss for Europe.
