“WE WANT THE USA! “WE WANT THE USA!”

Goosebumps surfaced my whole body as fans chanted that line after Canada beat Switzerland 3-1 yesterday.

Hockey’s best and most anticipated match-up happens tonight: Canada vs. USA in the semi-finals.  So it’s not the gold medal game they will be playing in, but the atmosphere will be as if it is.

Team Canada looks to revenge the Americans as they robbed the Canadians from the gold medal in last year’s World Junior Championship. 

Although Team Canada is usually the favourite to win the gold, the Americans this year, I think, are slightly better.  They have ten of last year’s WJC players back on their roster this year and they are undefeated in the tournament so far.  By watching the game against the Swiss last night, Canada was pretty sloppy in the beginning, giving up a very easy goal.  But after that they played very physical and all that speed from both teams is what makes hockey the greatest sport in the world. The only thing that was bugging me was their power play.  I don’t think they seemed to 100% capitalize the number of chances they had on the PP.  Compared to the US, Canada’s PP is not as strong.  The Canadians had a number of chances to score on those PPs but couldn’t.  Maybe it was also because of the Swiss’ goalie, Conz, who was outstanding and should of been MVP of the game (but that’s a different story).

Aside from all the flaws on the team, it’s great to see Ryan Ellis surpass Eric Lindros’ record in “most assist in a WJC” with 20 points in four games less than Lindros, who earned 19 points.  Also, after this game, Brayden Schenn is still leading the tournament with 16 points.  He needs three more points to beat Dale McCourt who currently holds the record for most points earned in a WJC in 1977.  For sure Schenn will beat the record.  I mean, this is Schenn we are talking about here who is averaging a point every game.  Three points is peanuts for him. 

My confidence level for Team Canada is not as high as it was for Canada in the 2002 and 2010 Olympics.  Our WJC team this year is not as stacked as it was last year but we are a very physical team and have many forwards who can score a lot for us.  USA will be a tough opponent to face but I’m just glad we get to see this matchup. 

Oh, and unfortunately it falls under the same time slot as the Leafs/Bruins game tonight. Boooooo. But I think I will be watching the WJC more than the Leafs since it is the best rivalry in hockey history, ever. I can’t wait!