Same Player Plays Again: The Final Draw of the Olympics | National Teams – Ice Hockey

The extra time between Sweden and Finland had the effect of depriving Canada of a direct qualification for the quarter-finals (except for a last-minute boost from the Germans to give them a first place in the pool in a three-way tie). The Canadians therefore know that this last pool match against China gives them the right… to face this same opponent in two days in the play-off!

We owe this pensum to the bastard formula of this Olympic tournament, which we owe to the NHL: this format aims to shorten the duration of the competition, and therefore the necessary break. All this so the NHL won’t even participate. The eliminatory phase will therefore have a good part of meetings having the appearance of « déjà vu ». We will be entitled to a double dose of this rather fratricidal Canada-China (given the number of Canadian players representing the host country). This double confrontation seems above all to be a perfect opportunity for Canadians to position themselves in the ranking of the best scorers of the tournament while the other favorites are resting…

Both teams rotate their goalkeepers. Matt Tomkins is lined up for Canada after Pasquale’s average game yesterday. Many Canadian fans would have liked to see great prospect Devon Levi in ​​action, but the best player of the 2021 World Juniors has been number 3 on the minds of the staff from the start (Pasquale and Tomkins had alternated during the practice match against the United States last Monday before the return of coach Claude Julien). China, for its part, brings in Ouban Yongli – in other words Paris O’Brien – whose statistics in the KHL are hardly reassuring.

China had so far managed not to concede their first goal too early. Today, she takes it after two minutes of play, and it’s a bit of an unfortunate goal. Kent Johnson loses the puck by transplanting in front of the cage, Ben Street arrives surrounded by two defenders and a stick pushes the puck, perhaps that of Zach Yuen against his camp. The goal will finally be granted after the fact to Street (1-0). Alex Grant stumbles Wong on the front end, and that gives China some breathing room. A minute after the return to five against five, O’Brien conceded a weak goal between the legs, signed Adam Tambellini (2-0).

The cut to the ear of Jordan Weal increases the playing time of Josh Ho-Sang, who had lost his place in the third line and is now only thirteenth attacker. It was he who built the third goal: Ho-Sang entered the zone, went to the right, deflecting the defense and the goalkeeper and offered an open goal to Eric O’Dell at the far post (3-0). We’ve been playing for just over ten minutes and then we expect an explosion of the counters. We are wrong…

A Canadian outnumber gave China a good chance at the start of the second period: on the power play, a shot from Ryan Sproul’s blue deflected by Parker Foo hit the post! Canada is producing less and less play and is not sparkling. Eric O’Dell makes Luke Lockhart’s helmet fly but the referees do not sanction this rather high charge. Would it have been worth a major penalty if the Chinese-Canadian player had ended up on the ground instead of standing? There is certainly a big alert when a pass from Noreau finds Tambellini in the enclave whose shot fails on the crossbar. But China even seem quite capable of winning this third time on a new power play, then continuing to dominate 5 against 5 with a very big chance from Cory Kane who takes a pass from behind the cage. While the impression is very positive for China, its goalkeeper O’Brien concedes a new goal between the legs: Kent Johnson launches into the wide space offered, from the left circle, after a cross pass from Demers (4-0) .

Not very effective since the start of the tournament, the Canadian power play finally scored in the third period, in the last seconds of a penalty from Kane. The floating sending of Owen Power finds the beautiful deflection against the goal of Corban Knight (0-5). And that will be all.

China really has nothing to be ashamed of this score, especially since it was « inflated » by the difference in level of the goalkeepers. Frölunda keeper Tomkins earned a 26-save shutout as O’Brien looked bad. There is no doubt that Jeremy Smith will reclaim the Chinese starting job on Tuesday. But it is very sad that in this game without stakes, the five truly Chinese players had little or no playing time. Zhang Zesen spent only 6 minutes and 37 seconds on the ice, Zhong Wei 5 minutes and a half, and Yan Ruinan barely a minute. The other two and the substitute goalkeeper remained permanently on the bench.

Post-match comments :

Claude Julien (Canada coach): “What I saw tonight is that we didn’t have a 20-minute gap like in the first two games. Today we were balanced, close to a 60 minute game. We can be happy but we can never be satisfied. […] We played a team that seems to be improving all the time. A team that does not give up and has had chances. »

Results and final table of the Olympic tournament

China – Canada 0-5 (0-3, 0-1, 0-1)
Sunday February 13, 2022 at 9:10 p.m. at the National Sports Center in Beijing. 904 spectators.
Referees: Andris Ansons (LET) and Andrew Bruggeman (USA) assisted by Daniel Hynek (TCH) and Gleb Lazarev (RUS).
Penalties: China 10′ (2′, 2′, 6′), Canada 10′ (2′, 4′, 4′).
Shots: China 26 (10, 10, 6), Canada 44 (18, 12, 14).

Score evolution:
0-1 at 02’09: Street assisted by Johnson and O’Dell
0-2 at 06’44: Tambellini assisted by Grant and Wotherspoon
0-3 at 10’06: O’Dell assisted by Ho-Sang and Wotherspoon
0-4 at 38’03: Johnson assisted by Demers and Weal
0-5 at 46’23: Knight assisted by Power and Ho-Sang (num. over)

China

Forwards:
Parker Foo [Fu Shuai] (-1) – Luke Lockhart [Luo Jia] (-2) – Spencer Foo [Fu Jiang] (HAS)
Yan Juncheng (-1) – Cory Kane [Jian An] (2′) – Ethan Werek [Wei Ruike] (-1, 2′)
Brandon Yip [Ye Jinguang] (C, -3) – Tyler Wong [Wang Taile] (-2, 2′) – Zhang Zesen (-1)
Yan Ruinan – Rudi Ying – Peter Zhong [Zhong Wei]

Defenders:
Denis Osipov [Dannisi Aoxibofu] (-2, 2′) – Ryan Sproul [Ruian Sipulaoer]
Jake Chelios [Jieke Kailiaosi] (2′) – Ty Schultz [Zheng Enlai] (HAS)
Zach Yuen [Yuan Junjie] (-4) – Jason Fram [Liu Jie] (-2)

Guardian :
Paris O’Brien [Ouban Yongli]

Subs: Han Pengfei (L), Chen Zimeng (R), Xiang Xudong (A). Reserve: Jeremy Smith [Jieruimi Shimisi] (L), Zhang Pengfei (R), Guo Jianing (A).

Canada (2′ for excess)

Forwards:
Mason McTavish – Eric Staal (C) – Jack McBain
Adam Tambellini (+1) – Jordan Weal (+2, 2′) – Corban Knight
Ben Street (+1) – Eric O’Dell (+3, 2′) – Kent Johnson (+3)
Daniel Winnik – Davis Desharnais (A) – Adam Cracknell
Josh Ho-Sang (+2)

Defenders:
Owen Power – Mat Robinson
Tyler Wotherspoon (+1) – Maxim Noreau (A)
Mark Barberio (+3, 2′) – Jason Demers (+3)
Alex Grant (+1, 2′)

Guardian :
Matt Tomkins

Substitute: Devon Levi (G). In reserve: Eddie Pasquale (G), Morgan Ellis (D), Landon Ferraro (A).