OTTAWA–Nobody’s stock moved more than Dustin Tokarski’s. In both directions.
The game wasn’t 13 minutes old when some of the 20,000 fans at Scotiabank Place mockingly cheered Dustin Tokarski for turning aside a puck flipped at the Canadian net from centre ice. They had given up on the little goaltender.
By the end of the night they were glad coach Pat Quinn didn’t.
Canada beat the U.S. 7-4 in the final game of the opening round of the WJC and you have your pick of inverted cliches to describe Tokarski’s performance: He was cold and hot. Sour and sweet would work too.
At 12:35 of the first period Canadian blueliner Keith Aulie was caught up ice and Jim O’Brien had nothing but open ice and a long odd-man break. Neatly finished. 3-zip ‘mericans.
Tokarski had seen eight shots at that point. Quinn could have easily pulled him and spared him the sound of those fans who presumed that the night was over. And if Tokarski skated off the ice you had to presume that he would have seen the last action at this WJC.
“I kept looking over to the Canadian bench ’cause I thought he was getting hooked,” one NHL scout in attendance would say after the game.
Quinn stuck by Tokarski and as a result Canada is through to the semi-finals against the winner of the Russia-Czech Republic quarter-final.
Quinn explained later that he thought Tokarski had been given little support in that early stretch. True. Normally dependable defencemen were blowing tires in the neutral zone. Thomas Hickey turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Kevin Shattenkirk buried it. The U.S.’s speed was causing all kinds of trouble for the Canadians. Cody Goloubef had to hook Aaron Palushaj and that resulted in a five-on-three powerplay when Tyler Myers was sent off on a questionable roughing call–Jimmy Hayes put the U.S. ahead 2-0. And shifts later Jim O’Brien’s apparent knife in the heart.
The decision to leave Tokarski in was probably easier to give him the start last night. How could Quinn have made a call based on merit and performance. Tokarski played Game 1 vs the Czechs and was almost completely untested. Ditto in spades for Chet Pickard who had an unobscured and uninterrupted view of the rout of the Kazakhs and slightly more to do in the win over Germany. Nothing either did in Ottawa could have influenced Quinn. It had to be the default plan, something based on what he had seen of his goaltenders in the tryouts, in practice and in the almost meaningful pre-tournament exhibitions. Or it could have been an exercise in logical assumptions–in a big game go with the goaltender with the most big-game experience, the one who backstopped the Spokane Chiefs to the Mem Cup last spring. It couldn’t have been based on the opinion of NHL scouts who regard Tokarski as too small to have guaranteed or even likely success at the next level and favour Pickard. Thus was Pickard a first-rounder and Tokarski No. 122 overall last June, being selected after a back-up who won only eight games last season.
How did it look for Tokarski at 3-zip? Like the scouts had it right. Like the bubble had burst on Tampa Bay’s investment in Tokarski. The Lightning had signed him to a contract just days before. But Canada and Tokarski regrouped. Canada: Three-all at the break, 4-3 and 5-4 leads in the second period. Tokarski took over. First he stoned his Spokane team-mates Drayson Bowman, rolling on his back and making a kick save as high as Bruce Lee’s finest roundhouse. There are no words in hockey to describe it but on the pommel horse in gymnastics they call it “the Thomas Flair.” Hope that helps. “Seen him do it before,” Bowman said afterwards. Just the first in a sequence of saves that held Canada’s tenuous leads. Tokarski denied Colin Wilson thrice on glorious chances, leaving the Boston University centre swinging his stick in frustration. Tokarski’s final numbers last night won’t impress that much–not like his numbers in the Dub this year. Still, the little goaltender showed before that he was a big-game goaltender … last night he showed that he can play his biggest when it matters most.
In the post-game Quinn wouldn’t commit to Tokarski for the semi-final vs the winner of the Russia-Czech play-in game. Understandable through the first 13 minutes. Hard to imagine as the clock wound down. It sure looked like Dustin Tokarski’s team.
Stock up: John Tavares. With Canada down 3-zip Tavares stepped up (again). An amazingly clutch performance. It solidifies his No. 1 ranking for the 2009 NHL draft. Victor Hedman was solid but unspectacular in Sweden’s 5-0 over Russia in winning their group over at the Civic Centre. Tavares came into this tournament no worse than even with Hedman among scouts but it’s hard to imagine that he hasn’t pulled way ahead or even established himself as the consensus best-in-class. Funny how it works: The presumption was that Hedman was the work-in-progress, the player-in-development, yet his game looks to be pretty much where it was a year ago. Instead it’s Tavares who’s made the great strides–from last year’s tournament as 13th forward / PP specialist to the best talent on view here. He’s stronger, skating better. One scout’s take: “He carried the team on his back. Everyone will be talking about his scoring and puck skills but one thing I noticed is that he kept his shifts short. A lot of scorers will stay out there a little longer, looking maybe to get an extra chance at it. They get a bit selfish or they feel like pressure to produce that way. Tavares was real smart that way. He managed himself really well, really disciplined, and he was still fresh out there.”
Stock down: Jordan Schroeder. The little draft-eligible U.S. forward had been very good earlier in the tournament but there was no picking him out last night. Not quite Patrick Kane just yet.
Stock down: James vanRiemsdyk, the other winger on the U.S. first line. Yeah, great things are expected of any player who goes No. 2 overall as he did to Philly in 2007. The only time you would have noticed him last night was in the hubbub after the second Tavares goal. Stefan Della Rovere drove him almost right over the boards in retaliation to a stick on the U.S. bench swiping Chris di Domenico in the eye. CdD and JvR went down and stayed down for a while. Hard to say who came out of it worse. JvR had an ice pack on his cheekbone and was MIA the rest of the way.
Stock up: Swedish G Jacob Markstrom. Out of the mouth of a former NHL goaltender in attendance at yesterday’s games. “He looked like a guy a team can win this tournament with. He didn’t see much after the Swedes got up a couple of goals but he was good early when they needed him.”
Stock up–and then down: Zach Boychuk scored an amazing goal in the second period … tapping it twice in midair for a go-ahead goal. But not long after he was knocked out of the game on a spill into the end boards. Though he came back, Boychuk left the arena on crutches. Right ankle injury.
Stock down: The arena crew at Scotiabank Place. It sure looked like the teams were struggling with the ice. A lot of blown tires … guys tripping and slipping. All these games and practices have probably been too much wear and tear to keep it anywhere near pristine.
Stock down: The IIHF officials on and off the ice last night. The ones on the ice exercised no control on a hot-blooded affair. Their job was difficult, but what about the off-ice guys? They couldn’t even get the time right on a penalty that led to a Canadian goal. It doesn’t get worse than that. U.S. coach Ron Rolston called the officiating “severely inadequate.” He was right.
Stock down: Rolston. His team’s speed and skill up front was giving the Canadian team fits. But his players lost their composure and focus. One of the players on your bench sticking a kid in the face is “severely inadequate” in any circumstances.