...And that's a good thing for Team Canada. They've twice won gold at the Olympics, and now the men's hockey team is competing against the best of the world again at the aptly named tournament. Formally called the Canada Cup, which might be won by Canada.
For good reason.
Several of the players on the team have much to prove.
Sidney Crosby: Well, let's just say he always has to prove himself. A Stanley Cup this year? Great! Now, how about a World Cup!
Jonathan Toews: Hey, didn't his team lose early in the playoffs, as in the first round? He doesn't want that to happen, now does he?
Logan Couture and his teammates like Joe Thornton (Who waited forever to final play in a Stanely Cup Finals) and Brent Burns gave Sid and company all they could handle in the Stanley Cup finals. And now, not ready to lose their playoff beards less than three months later, they want to be back in the limelight, and come away #1. Couture himself is an interesting pick. Personally, I'm glad he's there. Didn't he lead the aforementioned playoffs in scoring? That he did, after missing 30 games.
Jonathan Tavares hadn't won a playoff series at all prior to 2016. He was also injured when Canada won it all in 2014 at the Olympics in Sochi. So his gold there was bittersweet. I'm sure he wants to be on the ice on skates when Canada wins it again. And Jonathan has contributed much to the New York Islanders rise this season. He'd like to keep playing great.
The team that beat Tavares' New York Islanders in last seasons' playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning, have just missed Stanley Cups the last two years, and seemed primed for another good playoff run in 2016/17. But we are getting ahead of ourselves here? What about Steven Stamkos? His one appearance was in the heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Sid Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins in game seven of the Conference Finals. Sadly, Steven has not been on either Olympic teams that have won in recent years. #91 will not want to miss out on such an opportunity here. You never know how many more you are going to get!
And there's Mr. Lights Out At Sochi, Carey Price, who didn't play much at all last season. He plays in Montreal, where they never forgive you for one bad game. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but still, I'm sure not being in the playoffs stung. But, here's another international challenge for him. All Carey did was shutout the Czechs the other day. Check-mate, eh Mr. Price?
Price has some pretty good backups in Corey Crawford and Braden Holtby. They, unfortunately, didn't make it through two playoff rounds last year. Crawford's Blackhawks didn't even make it out of the first round. They were the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
But alas, there are some other players with much to prove, and they aren't all from Canada.
Take Ovie for instance. Ovechkin is still chasing the Stanley Cup, and has got his pal Evgeni Malkin feeding it to him just fine. They make a good combo. And they've never beaten Canada, have they? Now would be a good time. Russia and Canada, together as always since September of 1972.
Then there's USA. And Stamkos' goalie plays for them. Ben Bishop just shines when the pressure is on. He feeds off it. It's a tall order in more ways than one to beat him. Injured in last year's Eastern Conference Finals vs. Pittsburgh, he's primed for a rematch this upcoming season. But Big Ben won't have to wait that long for another crack at Sid and co.
As in, tonight.
References
"Official Site of the National Hockey League” | NHL.com. National Hockey League. Web. 20 Sept. 2016. <https://www.nhl.com>
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
For good reason.
Several of the players on the team have much to prove.
Sidney Crosby: Well, let's just say he always has to prove himself. A Stanley Cup this year? Great! Now, how about a World Cup!
Jonathan Toews: Hey, didn't his team lose early in the playoffs, as in the first round? He doesn't want that to happen, now does he?
Logan Couture and his teammates like Joe Thornton (Who waited forever to final play in a Stanely Cup Finals) and Brent Burns gave Sid and company all they could handle in the Stanley Cup finals. And now, not ready to lose their playoff beards less than three months later, they want to be back in the limelight, and come away #1. Couture himself is an interesting pick. Personally, I'm glad he's there. Didn't he lead the aforementioned playoffs in scoring? That he did, after missing 30 games.
Jonathan Tavares hadn't won a playoff series at all prior to 2016. He was also injured when Canada won it all in 2014 at the Olympics in Sochi. So his gold there was bittersweet. I'm sure he wants to be on the ice on skates when Canada wins it again. And Jonathan has contributed much to the New York Islanders rise this season. He'd like to keep playing great.
The team that beat Tavares' New York Islanders in last seasons' playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning, have just missed Stanley Cups the last two years, and seemed primed for another good playoff run in 2016/17. But we are getting ahead of ourselves here? What about Steven Stamkos? His one appearance was in the heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Sid Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins in game seven of the Conference Finals. Sadly, Steven has not been on either Olympic teams that have won in recent years. #91 will not want to miss out on such an opportunity here. You never know how many more you are going to get!
And there's Mr. Lights Out At Sochi, Carey Price, who didn't play much at all last season. He plays in Montreal, where they never forgive you for one bad game. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but still, I'm sure not being in the playoffs stung. But, here's another international challenge for him. All Carey did was shutout the Czechs the other day. Check-mate, eh Mr. Price?
Price has some pretty good backups in Corey Crawford and Braden Holtby. They, unfortunately, didn't make it through two playoff rounds last year. Crawford's Blackhawks didn't even make it out of the first round. They were the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
But alas, there are some other players with much to prove, and they aren't all from Canada.
Take Ovie for instance. Ovechkin is still chasing the Stanley Cup, and has got his pal Evgeni Malkin feeding it to him just fine. They make a good combo. And they've never beaten Canada, have they? Now would be a good time. Russia and Canada, together as always since September of 1972.
Then there's USA. And Stamkos' goalie plays for them. Ben Bishop just shines when the pressure is on. He feeds off it. It's a tall order in more ways than one to beat him. Injured in last year's Eastern Conference Finals vs. Pittsburgh, he's primed for a rematch this upcoming season. But Big Ben won't have to wait that long for another crack at Sid and co.
As in, tonight.
References
"Official Site of the National Hockey League” | NHL.com. National Hockey League. Web. 20 Sept. 2016. <https://www.nhl.com>
Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
Wikipedia.
Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 20 Sept. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org>.
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