If you\u2019re an Olympic hockey fan, does it get any better than this?<\/p>\n
Powerhouse Team Canada vs. gritty Team USA for the gold medal and bragging rights for the next four years.<\/p>\n
While Canada will be favored on the betting sites, some are giving the Americans an outside chance to win the tournament for the first time since 1980, long before NHL players were involved.<\/p>\n
Ex-Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher, who is working at ice level as a television analyst at Milano Cortina, Italy, donated a few minutes off his busy schedule to share his thoughts on what strategy USA should employ to pull off an upset.<\/p>\n
It starts with finding a way to shut down Canada\u2019s top line of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Macklin Celebrini.<\/p>\n
That trio has steamrolled its way through the tournament so far and made it so Canada didn\u2019t even need Sidney Crosby (injured the last two games) to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey look like the best team, particularly the forward group that really stands out to me \u2013 as far as their overall depth up front,\u201d said Boucher in a telephone interview. \u201cAnd the way that they play, they seem to be more in sync than any team in the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the Canadians appeared to have the tougher road [including a 3-2 win over Finland that went down to the wire on Friday].\u201d<\/p>\n
So, coach Boucher, how do you stop this juggernaut?<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question for USA is going to be how are you going to match up against Canada\u2019s top line?\u201d Boucher said. \u201cIf they go nuclear like this, which they\u2019ve done at times in the tournament, how do you combat that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Boucher, who appeared in the 2010 Stanley Cup Final for the Flyers, said the answer is rather basic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you have to fight fire with fire,\u201d he said. \u201c[Jack] Eichel and the two Tkachuks [Matthew and Brady] would have to go up against that line. You\u2019ve got to try and make them play in their defensive zone. That\u2019s the best way to beat them. But if not, I think you\u2019ve got to be hard on them. No time and space for them. You have to try and get under MacKinnon\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s a guy you can get unhinged a little bit. He seems at times to be frustrated. That\u2019s what the Tkachuk brothers would have to do. They truly have to find a way to get under the skin of MacKinnon. Makes you wonder if [Canada coach Jon] Cooper would not put [Tom] Wilson with McDavid in that scenario just to combat the Tkachuks.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the key players for Canada in Friday\u2019s win over Finland was defenseman Travis Sanheim, the Flyer stalwart who had the primary assist on backline partner Shea Theodore\u2019s third-period goal to complete a two-goal comeback and make it 2-2.<\/p>\n
Boucher likes what he\u2019s seen from the Flyers\u2019 alternate captain in this tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the [Josh] Morrissey injury, Sanheim gets put into the mix,\u201d Boucher said. \u201cAnd I think for all these guys, they tell you the same thing: Their roles here are going to be a lot different that what we see in the NHL. Except for five or six players, you\u2019re going to have to check your ego at the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s the case with Sanheim. He\u2019s a depth defenseman on this team. I think he\u2019s willing to accept that role. So far I think it\u2019s been an easy road. But things are going to get tougher and stiffer as this tournament winds up on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boucher works Flyers games on TV with veteran broadcaster Jim Jackson. Although he\u2019s worked Olympics games before, this is the first time he\u2019s worked an Olympics with the \u201cA\u201d team, including Kenny Albert and Ed \u201cEdzo\u201d Olczyk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my first shot at doing it with the top team and it\u2019s been a lot of fun,\u201d Boucher confirmed. \u201cTwo terrific professionals in Kenny and \u2018Edzo.\u2019 I love working with them at TNT and now NBC and USA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus all three hail from the United States, so that adds a level of excitement on the broadcasts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to do the American games with them because that\u2019s our home team,\u201d Boucher said. \u201cYou can feel the difference in excitement when those games start. Just great to be at ice level for games that matter so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having a goalie such as Boucher work at ice level offers a unique viewpoint.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job at ice level is to give a different perspective,\u201d Boucher said. \u201cThe temperature of the game. Perhaps what\u2019s going on in between the benches. And the fact that I played goalie, I can give you thoughts through my lens of the game. From the goalie on out. That\u2019s something that Edzo recognizes as a strength of mine. It\u2019s a nice balance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wayne Fish is a freelance writer. Follow his coverage at\u00a0www.flyingfishhockey.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re an Olympic hockey fan, does it get any better than this? Powerhouse Team Canada vs. gritty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205,43,8487],"class_list":{"0":"post-466049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-lan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116110464600819674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}