CANADA ROLLS OVER GERMANY IN CONVINCING WIN

Canada had a very difficult time with Germany at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, edging a feisty and determined German squad 3-2 to get its first win en route to the gold medal.

A broken play led to the first legitimate scoring chance of the game, a chance for Germany. The puck bounced to Eduard Lewandoski who raced in alone on Roberto Luongo, who pokechecked the puck off his stick, directly to Germany’s Lasse Kopitz. With Luongo out of position, it came to defenceman Adam Foote to make a sprawling save.

As often happens in hockey, Canada raced the other way to open the scoring. Simon Gagné fed Wade Redden who beat Thomas Greiss at 4:52, as Canada took a 1-0 lead.

Just moments after a Canadian powerplay ended, Todd Bertuzzi dropped the puck for Rick Nash. Greiss managed that save, but Joe Sakic was able to beat Greiss from an impossible angle at 7:29, giving Canada a two-goal lead.

Simon Gagné closed out the scoring in the first frame, while falling down and with a defenceman draped over his back, pushing a rebound of a Robyn Regehr shot behind Greiss. Canada led 3-0, outshooting its opponents 9-2.

Canada ran into some penalty trouble in the second, killing off a two-man disadvantage only to see Germany’s Christian Ehrhoff score from the slot at 9:13.

With a power play of its own at the 12 minute mark, Canada created a number of chances, but Greiss was up to the challenge, including a terrific save off of Canada’s captain Joe Sakic. The rejoicing German fans were silenced only moments later, as Dany Heatley batted home a rebound off the boards out of the air to restore Canada’s 3 goal lead at 15:37.

Shane Doan added a goal in the third, and Canada gets its second win in as many days, a 5-1 victory over Germany.

Up next for Canada, Switzerland fresh off an upset win over the Czech Republic. The Canada vs. Switzerland game goes on Saturday, February 18th at 15:30 (local)/9:39 (ET).

Chris Pronger: "The second day, after a long flight, you're still kind of figuring your legs out and I know a few guys didn't feel very well today. It was a good effort. We knew they were going to play hard. They played hard yesterday against the Czechs and gave them a run for their money. We knew it would be the same today. We got off to a good start with that 3-0 lead and really were able to dominate the play from there."

Adam Foote: "I woke up from my nap and didn't feel too good. I wanted to make sure I was taking short shifts. I think it was the same for everyone. Our coaches prepared us well for that. We always try to change short, especially playing seven D (defencemen). Sometimes there's different powerplays, penalty kills, and you sometimes get yourself out of the game. You try to keep your feet moving and stay sharp."

Pat Quinn: "It was a good challenge for us. Hopefully, we can build off that. We played a little bit of river hockey in the later stages of the game that I didn't particularly like from a coaching standpoint, but hopefully we'll learn some things from that so we can continue our teambuilding."

Todd Bertuzzi: "I think we are starting to gel and coming together. The first few games has been learning where everybody plays and the comfort zones."

Simon Gagné: "It's real fun to have such strong fans and know we have such big fans back in Canada and to see that many fans have flown over to Torino it is surely a lot of fun."

Ryan Smyth: "For us it was a matter of maintaining our focus, recuperating and getting back on the ice. We need to get to know each other a little better."

PLAYERS TO WATCH ON TEAM CANADA

Fifty years after his father Denis helped Canada to a bronze medal in Cortina, Italy, goaltender Martin Brodeur is back in Italy looking for a second consecutive Olympic gold medal.

Center Joe Thornton is an Olympic rookie, but he has been sizzling in the NHL, only trailing Jaromir Jagr in NHL scoring, and, with 56 assists, leads by a commanding margin in this category as well.

Forward Simon Gagné has been one of the top goalscorers in the NHL all season, currently ranking 2nd, with 35 goals, one goal behind league leader Ilya Kovalchuk

Defenceman Wade Redden leads the NHL with a +32 plus/minus going into the Olympic break.

Defencemen Chris Pronger and Bryan McCabe rank 2nd and 3rd in average ice time per game in the NHL.

Five of Canada’s seven defencemen rank among the top 15 scoring defencemen in the NHL (McCabe 50 – 2nd; Niedermayer 42 – 6th; Redden 42 – 7th; Blake 37 – 12th; Pronger 37 – 13th)