Team Canada off to strong start, with room to improve

Rene Bourque scored twice and Ben Scrivens stopped 28, as Canada wins game 1 of the Pyeongchang Olympics 5-1 over Switzerland.

GANGNEUNG, South Korea – Willie Desjardins sounded irresolute after the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team’s final practice, admitting that what he had seen from his players in recent weeks wasn’t what he expected. Up until the roster was named last month, the hopefuls had played hard and fast and gritty, exactly what the head coach was looking for at the Pyeongchang Games.

Once the team was set, however, he felt some of the edge had been lost, that his team had played their exhibition games tentatively to avoid injury. He described it as “a bit of a lull,” which isn’t a good thing to say about your team ahead of its first game.

But the first Canadian Olympic team without NHL players since the 1994 group won silver in Lillehammer more than answered the bell Thursday night at Kwandong Hockey Centre, riding two goals apiece from Rene Bourque and Wojtek Wolski and 28 saves from Ben Scrivens in a crisp 5-1 victory over Switzerland.

Maxim Noreau also scored as the Canadians didn’t let a Swiss team eager to mix it up sucker them into dumb penalties, and instead just kept skating their opponents into the ground, displaying many of the traits they’ll need to emphasize when the opponents get tougher.

“I think we needed that,” said Desjardins. “We needed it from everybody and I thought we got it from lots of guys.”

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Canada hadn’t played since a 4-1 exhibition victory over Sweden on Monday in Incheon, with only two other warmup games prior to that during a training camp in Riga, Latvia. The Canadians have a day off Friday before contests against the Czech Republic on Saturday and South Korea on Sunday.

“We had this whole week watching athletes compete in their sports and we finally got our chance, and I’m happy everyone came to play,” said Wolski. “We bought into the system and there was no cheating on the ice. We’re going to try to build from there.”

The Czechs squeaked by the host South Koreans 2-1 Thursday and in conjunction with a pair of 3-2 upsets Wednesday – the United States losing to Slovenia in overtime and the Russians falling to Slovakia – there were plenty of reminders for Canada about just how wide open this tournament is.

Rather than being passive, the Canadians got after it from the outset, with Rob Klinkhammer laying out Swiss captain Raphael Diaz in the corner two minutes into the game to help set the tone.

“We had some guys that were playing physical and maybe took some energy out of them,” said defenceman Chris Lee. “At the pre-tournament games in Riga, there was almost a sense of guys were taking a deep breath now, we made the team, and guys were not wanting to get hurt, you know what I mean? This is our one and only opportunity and heaven forbid something happened and you miss out.

“We know when push comes to shove we’re going to be ready to battle.”

On the next shift after the Klinkhammer hit, Derek Roy dug out a puck in the corner and passed back to Lee at the point and he made a clever slap-pass to Bourque, who redirected it past Swiss goaltender Leonardo Genoni at 2:57 to open the scoring.

After Canada killed off a Cody Goloubef slashing penalty, Swiss forward Thomas Rufenacht took an interference penalty for running into Scrivens and 45 seconds later, Noreau’s point shot went through Bourque in front to make it 2-0 at 7:30.

Bourque was back at it early in the second, when 14 seconds into another power play, he took a clever pass from Roy in front of the net and slid the puck through Genoni at the five-minute mark.

“When you know you’re going to the Olympics, you’re just trying not to get hurt, you don’t want to get injured before the tournament and you want to make sure you’re physically ready, and mentally ready as well,” said Roy. “Once you’re here, you can just be in the moment. That’s what we were talking about as a group, just enjoy the moment and be in it.”

Just 52 seconds after the second Bourque goal, Wolski danced past a Swiss defender to pick the top corner at 5:52, dropping to his knee and giving a big fist pump in celebration.

The 31-year-old, whose career was in jeopardy after he broke his neck during a KHL game last October, scored into an empty net at 14:53 of the third period after Switzerland had pulled Jonas Hiller, who replaced Genoni after Wolski’s first goal.

“I always think about it, sometimes a little too much I think,” Wolski said of the injury. “This is kind of the culmination of that, my entire career there were so many ups and downs and times when you look at it, is this worth it, is this what life is about. I kept fighting, I didn’t give up and I’m just so grateful I’ve had this opportunity.”

Scrivens, getting the nod as expected in the opener, wasn’t tested extensively but needed to make a handful of challenging stops to keep the Swiss at bay. He wasn’t beaten until 7:33 of the third period, when on a power play Simon Moser fished out a loose puck and tucked it in.

Midway through the first he kicked out his right leg to stone Moser on a couple cracks from tight in front while later in the frame, he handled a Cody Almond laser from the top of the hash marks.

The Swiss had their best stretch of the game in the final two minutes of the second period, sustaining pressure all the way through but Scrivens made a handful of saves. He did let one past him, some five seconds after the buzzer went, leading to an angry exchange after the whistle.

“I thought we executed and stuck together,” said Scrivens. “The Swiss pressured us hard, especially at the end of the second, got one on the power play in the third, but we held strong and made smart plays and leaned on each other. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

By and large though, the Canadians were in complete control, their defencemen making the type of quick transitions to the forwards Desjardins has been stressing in practice, and the forwards attacking with speed, forechecking well when forced to dump the puck.

“We all come from different teams but we’re all on the power play, all on the penalty kill, we play big minutes on our team and when you come here, that’s not always going to be the case and you’ve got to make sure even if you’re not getting the minutes you think you want or deserve, you’ve got to put that aside and think about the team and what’s important,” said Wolski. “It’s that night, that game and making sure every single shift that you’re on the ice you’re ready, that 30 or 40 seconds.

“That’s the focus right now. Whatever opportunity you get, you better make the most of it.”

The Canadians did that in their opener, with lots to like and room to improve.

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