Golden road
After receiving a bye to the quarterfinals, the Americans snuck by the Swiss 2-0 before blowing out the Finns.
“I’ve never been part of something like that in my career,” Finnish forward Teemu Selanne, told reporters after the game. “I was shocked. We had no chance.”
Team Canada handled Germany and Russia with ease in the elimination rounds. They almost lost a 3-0 third-period lead to Slovakia and needed a highlight reel save by goaltender Roberto Luongo to ice the game.
What were the odds?
Before the Olympics started, oddsmakers had Canada as the clear favourite to win gold.
The United States had the fourth best chance to win gold, behind Russia and Sweden.
Team USA General Manager Brian Burke has been playing up the Americans’ role as underdogs.
“If you went to Vegas before this tournament, there isn’t going to be a penny bet on us,” Burke said during an Olympic conference call.
Rivalry’s roots
According to Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail, the Canada-USA rivalry can be traced back to a 1991 Canada Cup (now World Cup of Hockey) game. American defenceman Gary Suter threw a check on Wayne Gretzky that knocked “the great one” out of the tournament.
The next significant event in the teams’ rivalry was the 1996 World Cup, when the United States upset Canada in the finals.
“That’s where the rivalry found its legs,” Team USA general manager Brian Burke told the Globe and Mail.
The next chapter in the rivalry was the 2002 Olympics, where Canada defeated the United States to win gold in Salt Lake City.
Fore-check and seven days ago
When the Americans defeated the Canadians 5-3 last Sunday, Team USA was able to execute its gameplan.
“What you’re seeing with most U.S. teams now is we want to fore-check and pressure the puck,” Team USA coach Ron Wilson told reporters. “You can only really do that if you’ve got a fast team.”
Canada dominated at times but could not recover from soft goals allowed by Martin Brodeur. Since that loss, they have looked like a different team. Roberto Luongo is the starting goaltender, lines have been revamped and the Canadians have outscored opponents 18-7.
Moving forward
Zach Parise has been the Americans’ best forward and leads all American forwards with seven points.
Another player team Canada should be concerned about is Patrick Kane. Kane, one of the most offensively talented players on Team USA’s roster, was in a slump before scoring two goals in 2:23 against the Finns.
Team Canada has finally found line combinations that are working. The line of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Brendan Morrow was their best line Friday. The Canadians are getting contributions from the entire team – except Sidney Crosby.
Crosby has not registered a point in his last two games.
Team Canada will likely use the line of Mike Richards, Rick Nash, and Jonathan Toews to shut down the Americans’ top line of Zach Parise, Paul Stastny and Jamie Langenbrunner.
Are they saying Lu or boo?
Roberto Luongo has been average since taking over for Martin Brodeur. He was able to bail out his team with a great save in the dying moments, after allowing a soft goal to let the Slovaks back into the game.
Win or lose, Ryan Miller will be named the top goaltender of the tournament. The American netminder has a tiny 1.20 goals against average and .948 save percentage.
With goals at a premium, special teams may play an important role in deciding the winner. Both teams have been above average on the power play (Canada 29.1 percent, USA 28.6 percent), but the Canadians are killing penalties at a rate of 88.2 percent while the Americans have allowed three of their six goals when down a man (76.9 percent).
Regardless of who wins, Sunday’s contest will likely be the most watched hockey game of all time.