August 24, 2004

The first exhibition game of the World Cup of Hockey took place in Columbus, Ohio on Monday night between Team Canada and Team USA. As a precursor to the first World Cup held since 1996, predicting the type of game that would be played seemed nearly impossible.

Prior to the game, Team USA and San Jose Sharks head coach Ron Wilson didn't know what to expect, "It is hard to predict the type of game that will be played. A lot of guys from the '96 teams are still playing. But we have to come out ready."

Although nearly a decade has passed since the USA's stunning victory in the '96 World Cup, these two nations aren't exactly strangers. The most notorious game since the last World Cup was Canada's Gold Medal win in the 2002 Olympic Games. But the United States/Canada rivalry truly began in 1996.

"For Canada, Russia was the main rival until the last World Cup," stated Wayne Gretzky, Executive Director of the Canadian National Team, prior to Monday's action. "Now the emphasis is on the United States and Canada. Any time those two teams show up, whether it is at the World Cup or the World Juniors, you are going to see a good, physical style of hockey."

Good and physical is exactly what the hockey-starved and raucous fans at Nationwide Arena received in the United States' 3-1 victory. From the drop of the puck both teams looked to get their tournament legs in shape with some heavy hitting, quick skating, and a solid goaltending match-up that dominated the first period of play.

Team Canada's Martin Brodeur, who backstopped his country to a Gold Medal win in the 2002 Winter Olympics, opposed the fresh faced Ty Conklin of the USA. Conklin, making his second international appearance in the same year following his 4-1-0 showing at the 2004 World Championships last spring, denied Canada's Shane Doan on the opening shift of the game to set the tone.

But, the early momentum by Canada set up the game's first strike on a power play.

In his sixth appearance representing his country, Dany Heatley fired a rebound over the blocker side of Conklin, who was sprawled out covering a scramble in front of the USA goal. Heatley's tally would be the lone score of the stanza as the early match up turned from goaltenders to special teams.

Canada finished the opening period 1 for 1 on the power play, while Team USA failed to score on back-to-back man advantages in the waning moments of the opening session.

The second period saw the tide turn with the USA out-shooting Canada 11-2 in the first 10-minutes of the period and waited for Canada to finally make a goaltending change. The Canadians did just that at the10:18 mark of the stanza replacing Brodeur with Roberto Luongo. Seven-seconds later, on the first shot he faced, Luongo was touched up for the game-tying goal from Bill Guerin. With Luongo screened by traffic in front of his goal, Guerin fired a low shot between the wickets.

Just prior to that goal, Sharks' defenseman Scott Hannan made the defensive play of the game halting a two-on-one break by poke-checking the puck loose from a wide-open Jeff Halpern.

"I thought we came out really strong," said Team Canada defenseman Scott Hannan, one of eight Sharks players representing their country in the World Cup of Hockey. "I think we then sat back a little bit and gave up too much of a gap between forwards and defense," Hannan continued.

Hannan's effort couldn't slow down the American onslaught as they eventually grabbed the go ahead goal by placing more traffic in front of the Canadian goaltender.

Brian Rolston fired a slap shot from the blue line on a feed from Brian Leetch. The long shot may have been deflected, as it sailed past Luongo capping an American dominated session and closing out the first two periods with a 2-1 advantage for the U.S. Canada skated in their own zone for the majority of the second period surrendering 14 shots and producing just eight of their own.

Team Canada's Head Coach, Pat Quinn, agreed with Hannan's assessment, "We wanted to play one man hockey and we were too spread out. We did not play well as a unit."

The Americans applied more pressure in the third period shutting down the Canadian offense and not allowing a shot on goal in the first 12:22 of the final stanza.

"We really played at a great pace and that's why I think we out shot them," said USA defenseman Chris Chelios.

The pressure produced by the Americans created more scoring opportunities and some eventual insurance as Jordan Leopold gave the Americans their first two-goal advantage of the night and the eventual 3-1 win.

Quinn summed up his team's effort following the game, "If you're not going to work hard, hustle, or get back, you're not going to win."

Wilson knows it's only the exhibition portion of the tournament, but he was still impressed with his team's play on Monday night, "We weathered the storm early in the first period and our players made a good adjustment to the speed of the game. Our defense moved the puck quickly and once we did have the puck, we managed to establish the forecheck. I was real happy that we were able to get ourselves back in the game and start thinking forward."

The two teams will meet again on Wednesday in Ottawa, Ontario as the Americans will skate in their second of three preseason games. Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio the U.S. will host Team Russia in the final tune up of the tournament, which begins August 30th and concludes September 14th.