Enough with the babble: World Cup of Hockey can't come soon enough
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TORONTOCarey Price finally had enough.
In his attempted comeback from knee surgery, he admittedly had one too many.
Not shots in practice.
Questions from the media.
OK, one query in particular.
And on Friday, he got the same one again.
It went something like this.
“Carey, after being off for so long, how are you feeling mentally and physically?”
The answer was abrupt -- at least as abrupt as the normally polite, soft-spoken Price gets.
“I feel good,” he reiterated for about the 347th time since Team Canada’s training camp opened back on Sept. 5 in Ottawa. “I’ve kind of pounded that one to death already. I’ve already covered how I feel, mentally, physically. I feel fine.”
In this moment, Price symbolized the collective state of Team Canada.
Enough of the pre-tournament babble.
Enough of the practices.
Enough of the pre-season games.
Let’s get this show known as the 2016 World Cup of Hockey going.
Ask and ye shall receive.
Indeed, after a 12-day training camp that felt more like 12 weeks, Team Canada will finally get the chance to walk the walk Saturday after hearing all the pre-tournament talk when it faces off against the Czech Republic in the curtain raiser for both teams at the Air Canada Centre.
“It’ll be cool,” Price told Postmedia, obviously feeling much more relaxed about commenting about the state of the arena rather than the state of Carey Price. “Obviously the building will be amped.
“It will be important not to get too carried away and to control our emotions. We’ve just got to live in the moment and enjoy it.”
Price and Sidney Crosby obviously are the centrepieces of a Canadian team attempting to follow up on its Olympic gold medal performance in Sochi two years ago.
Price arrived at camp having not played a competitive game in almost 10 months. And when he allowed a couple of questionable goals in his first appearance, a 4-2 loss to Team USA in Columbus Sept. 9, concerns arose -- at least from outside the Team Canada dressing room -- concerning the possibility that Price had accrued too much rust during his layoff to be effective.
But those doubts quickly evaporated this past Wednesday when the Montreal Canadiens goalie looked far sharper in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Russians in exhibition play in Pittsburgh. A first period point-blank save off Alex Ovechkin proved to be a magnificent snapshot of the progress Price had made in his bid to once again be the best goalie on the planet.
“I’m not worried about Carey,” defenceman Drew Doughty said. “He’s so good it’s ridiculous.”
The same could be said for Crosby, who was a standout Wednesday against the Russians. The chemistry he has shown with linemates Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand has impressed Mike Babcock to the point that it was the only one of Team Canada’s four forward units that the coach didn’t do any last-minute tinkering with.
“We’ve liked Sid’s line so we’re just kind of working the rest out,” Babcock explained.
In reshuffling the remaining lines, Steven Stamkos was moved up to the second unit, replacing Corey Perry alongside fellow GTA product John Tavares and centre Ryan Getzlaf. Perry now drops into the spot formerly occupied by Stamkos, lining up with Jonathan Toews and Logan Couture.
With Joe Thornton, Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly making up on the fourth line, Babcock said he made a coach’s decision to scratch Claude Giroux from the opener. Los Angeles Kings defenceman Jake Muzzin and defending Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby will be the other two players watching the game from the press box in civvies.
Social media blew up Friday afternoon when beefy defenceman Shea Weber was held out of practice, but Babcock quickly alleviated any fears about a mystery injury when he explained that the Canadiens defenceman was merely undergoing a maintenance day and will be ready to go against the Czechs.
You can’t blame the fans. They are getting antsy. So are the coaches. So are players like Price.
After all the hype and hoopla, after all the speculation, after all the buildup, it’s time to finally play some meaningful hockey games.
And on Saturday evening, in front of a rabid ACC throng decked out in red-and-white, Carey Price and Team Canada finally will do exactly that.
It couldn’t come soon enough.
For anyone.
Duchene healed up quickly
It’s almost a three hour drive from his native Haliburton to the Air Canada Centre, but that’s about as close to a home game as Matt Duchene will get.
As such, with his family members expected to be on hand for Team Canada’s opening World Cup game against the Czech Republic on Saturday, he’s relieved that he is healthy enough to play, a claim he could not make in recent days.
Duchene suffered an undisclosed injury earlier this week and did not dress for Canada’s final pre-tournament tuneup game, a 3-2 overtime win over Russia in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. But he returned for practice on Friday and was encouraged by the progress he’d made.
“I’ve had enough time to heal up pretty good, then we play (Saturday) and then I have another two full days before we get in that back to back," said Duchene. “I’m very happy it wasn’t anything worse. At first I was pretty worried about it. It came a long way in 24 hours, so I’m pretty happy.
“It was a good test out there today, I was very happy with how it felt. It was a good thing for me to get a little bit of contact, so it was good.
“I’m going to feel it from time to time, but it’s not going to be a big deal.”
Duchene is expected to play on a line with former Avs teammate Ryan O’Reilly and lanky Sharks forward Joe Thornton.
Here’s a look at Canada’s projected lineup for Saturday:
FORWARDS
Brad Marchand-Sidney Crosby-Patrice Bergeron
John Tavares-Ryan Getzlaf-Steven Stamkos
Logan Couture-Jonathan Toews-Corey Perry
Joe Thornton-Ryan O’Reilly-Matt Duchene
DEFENCE
Shea Weber-Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Jay Bouwmeester-Drew Doughty
Alex Pietrangelo-Brent Burns
GOAL
Carey Price
Corey Crawford
SCRATCHES
F Claude Giroux
D Jake Muzzin
G Braden Holtby