Canada-Germany Olympic Takeaways: O'Dell's monster hit sets early tone in win

Canada's Eric O'Dell checks Germany's Marco Nowak during a preliminary round men's hockey game at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022, in Beijing. (AP)

Not to overstate it, but Canada's win over Germany was thanks to the hit heard around the world.

Canada, in its first game of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, rode the physical intimidation of its energy line on its way to a 5-1 win over Germany at the Wukesong Sports Centre on Thursday.

Bolstered by the news that head coach Claude Julien would return behind the bench for its next game, Canada had a solid offensive effort against the country that spoiled its gold-medal hopes with a semi-final upset in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Here's what you need to know about the Canada-Germany game on Thursday:

1. First, we have to talk about the hit

The Canadian reputation in the international hockey community as being physical can sometimes be worth a goal even before the puck is dropped, but it didn't seem to be in the minds of the aggressively checking Germans.

Until it was.

After some fairly balanced back-and-forth in the early going, Canada dumped the puck into the German zone. Chasing it along the boards, heading toward the play, Canada's Eric O'Dell broke through the German forward's pick and, at full speed, absolutely steamrolled defenceman Marco Nowak, who was skating in his direction behind the net and looking down at the puck as he tried to clear it up the boards. With Nowak down on all fours behind the net trying to reboot, the puck made its way to Canada's Alex Grant at the point. Grant fired home a wrister past somehow-stickless German goalie Mathias Niederberger to make it 1-0 just 4:33 into the game.

After watching their teammate get rocked -- the hit echoed loudly in the largely vacant arena -- the Germans played with that tentative half-glance up while taking or making passes, plus fell into the habit of a quick puck release whenever hearing Canadian footsteps. This resulted in a less aggressive attack and breakout for the first period.

2. Depth is the answer

Appropriately, the pre-game hype (albeit muted compared with what it would have been had the NHL players participated) focused on the known names of Canada's big line of Mason McTavish-Eric Staal-Josh Ho-Sang. But the depth lines generated most of the key offence for Canada, scoring three goals within a 5:36-minute span in the first period to storm Canada out to the 3-0 lead.

After Grant's wrister, which he assisted on, third-liner Ben Street fired home a nifty one-timer from the faceoff dot over Niederberger's shoulder at 9:47 to make it 2-0. O'Dell and Kent Johnston, the third member of that energy line, drew assists.

Then, less than a minute later, former Toronto Maple Leaf Daniel Winnik one-timed the wide pass off a 2-on-1 at 10:19 to give Canada three goals on six shots. Linemates David Desharnais and Adam Cracknell, the other two-thirds of what is effectively Canada's fourth line, drew assists.

"It was nice to get that start," Street said on TV during the second intermission.

But Canada will need more offence from its big two lines, especially the top line of McTavish-Staal-Ho-Sang, if it wants to push ahead to a gold medal.

Other scoring came when, a mere seven seconds into a Canadian power play, the rocket-launcher slap shot by Max Noreau zinged inside the post low to the blocker side to boost it to a 4-1 lead. With the goal, Noreau extended his Olympic Games points streak to seven games.

Jordan Weal scored Canada's fifth goal, firing top shelf while pretty much untouched in the slot, at 11:22 of the third.

3. Not so fast with the energy thing

One warning you'll hear from coaches when talking about so-called energy lines: don't take stupid penalties.

Canada's third and fourth lines fell into that trap. Can't make an omelette if you don't break any eggs, right? But penalties by Winnik, Street, Ho-Sang and Weal in the first two periods could have left Canada scrambling had they been taken against a more offensive-minded team. The first two penalties in particular, to Winnik and Street, are the risk realized of energy-line tactics, especially when the European referees are sometimes, uh, predisposed to penalize Canadians they perceive as being more dirty than physical.

4. Power passes another audition

Buffalo Sabres 2021 No. 1 pick Owen Power deftly showed why he's considered the best player not in the NHL with his poise, skill and patience on another big stage. He's very smooth with the puck, not panicking, even calmly clearing a loose puck in the second period that fluttered in the crease with the score 4-1. Power moves well for a big man, more Victor Hedman than Chris Pronger, even though he has cited the latter as an influence.

And, as the No. 1 defenceman on the team, he'll continue to get the largest share of ice time. In the first period alone against Germany, he played more than seven minutes over 14 shifts and overall played a team-high 19:33.

He's not afraid to jump into the play, just like stellar NHLer Cale Makar, and would have had a goal while playing down low late in the second period if it hadn't been for a highlight-reel save by Niederberger.

5. Next game will be key

Playing Germany first should put Canada in a good position for its next matchup, which is against the always dangerous United States on Friday at 11:10 p.m. ET.

The Americans are bringing a young, and therefore fast, roster, and are coming off a big 8-0 win over host China in the other preliminary round Group A game on Thursday.

If Canada had first faced China, the weakest team in the tournament, it stood a chance of being dominated by Team USA. But the tight-checking Germans, who came out aggressively in the second, much to their credit, will set up the Canadians well against the attacking Americans.

5. Random bits of information you should know

Edward Pasquale of Toronto, one of the top goalies in the KHL while playing for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, was steady but not really tested. He faced 24 shots, but a mere eight in the third period. ... Tobias Rieder had Germany's goal at 10:45 of the second period off a fat rebound and too many Canadian players down low. ... Ten players on Germany were on the team that upset Canada in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and went on to earn silver against the Russians. ... Because of COVID restrictions and travel, Canada didn't have a real pre-tournament game, just an informal scrimmage with the Americans.

Canada's lineup vs. Germany:

Mason McTavish-Eric Staal-Josh Ho-Sang
Adam Tambellini-Jordan Weal-Corba Knight
Ben Street-Eric O’Dell-Kent Johnson
Daniel Winnik-David Desharnais-Adam Cracknell
Jack McBain

Owen Power-Mat Robinson
Tyler Wotherspoon-Max Noreau
Mark Barberio-Jason Demers
Alex Grant

Edward Pasquale
Matt Tomkins

Scratched: Devon Levi, Morgan Ellis, Landon Ferraro

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