By Harry Thompson
Editor, USA Hockey Magazine

September 1, 2004

MONTREAL -- They call him Silent Bob in Philadelphia, but tonight in this hockey-mad city Robert Esche let his game do the talking.

Esche single-handedly kept a sluggish U.S. Team in the game, and seemingly put an end to questions about the U.S. talents in goal with a 30-save performance in Canada’s 2-1 triumph in the opening game of the World Cup of Hockey.

The victory was a small measure of revenge for the 21,273 who packed the Bell Centre to cheer on the Canadians, who lost the inaugural World Cup of Hockey title on the same ice eight years prior.

Turnovers, penalties and defensive lapses put the U.S. in a 2-0 hole. If not for Esche it could have been much worse.

The Whitesboro, N.Y., native came up big in the first period, stopping at least a half dozen quality scoring chances. In all, Canada out shot the U.S. 19-6 in the first period.

“He was nothing short of sensational and kept us in it. He gave us a chance and that’s what we need,” said Bill Guerin, who had the only U.S. goal of the night. “We need a guy stepping up and giving us an opportunity to win and that’s what he did.”

With Doug Weight off for high sticking, Esche robbed Joe Thornton at the doorstep after kicking out Dany Heatley’s drive from the slot.

Minutes later, he made the save of the game, robbing Robin Regehr with a glove save after kicking out a drive from Vincent Lacavalier.

When Bill Guerin knocked Simon Gagne into the next province with a charge, the Canadians made him pay. Martin St Louis’ scrappy play along the boards paid off as Joe Thornton picked up the loose puck and fed St. Louis cutting toward the net and the MVP of the league buried the puck on the short side at the 16:01 mark.

The hosts weren’t done as only seconds later Joe Sakic fed Jarome Iginla in front of the net but Esche managed to slide the left pad in front of the point-blank shot.

“He kept them in the game in the first period,” said St. Louis. “I thought it was important to get out of the first period with the lead because it always seems to happen that you play well and don’t score it can come back to haunt you.”

Penalties continued to haunt the U.S. in the second period. With Jeff Halpern off for holding, Sakic pinballed a wrist shot off U.S. penalty-killer Chris Drury’s shin pad and past Esche.

“I saw the goal the whole way. It went off one of our forward’s sticks and then it went off a shin pad. It was going to right side and then it changed directions and went to the left,” said Esche, who was playing in his first game since hip surgery in June.

It’s a captain’s job to give his team a kick in the breezers and put a little life into them. But the breezers that Chris Chelios kicked belonged to the Canadians after someone took liberties with a younger member of the U.S. squad.

The scuffle seemed to energize the U.S. team, which started hustling to loose pucks winning the battles in the corners that translated into a few shots on Canadian goalie Martin Brodeur.

“When you see a guy like Chelli playing with that kind of emotion, that was what we needed,” said U.S. forward Steve Konowalchuk, who was in a scrap of his own late in the second period.

"Coming into the second period we needed emotion and it has to come from everybody and he started it. He’s the captain out there and he came out and he battled and guys just followed.”

The veteran leadership of the U.S. Team took over, led by the inspired play of Tony Amonte, Keith Tkachuk and Guerin, whose hustle in the second period resulted in the only U.S. goal.

The Wilbraham, Mass., native won the battle with a Canadian defenseman along the boards and got the pass to Scott Gomez in the corner. Gomez then put the return pass into the skates of Guerin, who managed to kick it out to his forehand where he fired a wrister over the catching glove of Brodeur.

“This is an emotional tournament, you’re playing for your country,” said Guerin. “It’s Canada against the U.S. This is for a lot of pride. When you’re playing big games like this it tends to get physical.”

Things did get physical late in the second period with Canadian superstar Mario Lemieux in the center of the fray. Konowalchuk went hard to the net and crashed into Canadian goalie Martin Brodeur. Lemieux took exception and went after Konowalchuk, which touched off a brawl that saw Jeff Halpern pound Scott Niedermayer.

“If you push a goalie you have to expect someone to come. Whether it’s him or somebody else it doesn’t matter. In a game like this everybody has to do things like that. It’s just one of those things.”

The U.S. couldn’t get anything to happen in the third period despite several close chances. A slow start but a strong finish left the U.S. with something to build on as it heads to St. Paul, Minn., for Thursday night’s contest against Russia.

“We came out against a great hockey team that was geared up,” said Esche. “It took us a while to get going. Once we got going we were dynamite.”