Turin – In the city of Olympic truce, where rival fans trade pins, not put-downs, and kids cut school to cheer in body paint, a monster roams.
Still hungry four years after feasting on Salt Lake gold, the Canadian men’s hockey squad is overqualified and under pressure. The Canadians bring eight Stanley Cup owners to a party thick with club players – like Thomas Greiss, the 20-year-old German goalie they peppered for five goals Thursday night. The Canadians also bring an edge, as if the locker room wall is emblazoned with: “Pick up the prettiest necklace in Italy, or don’t bother coming back.”
Just veni, vidi, vici, baby.
“As a Canadian coming into this, it’s supposedly unacceptable for anything but gold,” said Team Canada’s head coach, Pat Quinn.
So, while they appear inches from bulletproof, Quinn’s players are miles from cocky. Despite 18 NHL all-stars and six NHL captains, there isn’t a hint of swagger. Two games, two wins, zero satisfaction.
“We still have a long way to go. We’ve just got to try to get better,” team captain Joe Sakic said after Canada finished a gray, 5-1 disassembling of a young, nervous German team.
And hey, if anyone knows a diligent effort, it’s the Germans.
“When we play the Czechs or the Russians,” said German defenseman Sascha Goc, “we see more pretty plays, more dipsy doodle. The Canadians work hard, come hard.”
Which, in Quinn’s eyes, could make his bunch dangerous when the round-robin tournament turns into elimination games next week.
The wry, white-haired coach preaches “becoming a team” every day he wakes up under the Olympic flame. Sakic already likes the chemistry in the dressing room and says the Canadians have successfully blocked out the gambling scandal swirling around team general manager Wayne Gretzky.
Quinn also is fond of saying, “Talent isn’t the only thing that wins here.” Maybe not, but no roster is crammed with more. And other coaches and players in the Canadians’ wake or in their way aren’t shy about drooling.
“They have a powerful house,” Russia’s Alexei Yashin said.
Try this: The NHL’s third-best scorer, Eric Staal, watches Team Canada in street clothes just in case one of the aging Hall of Fame candidates on the ice pulls a hammy. He’s one of the team’s practice players.
But good luck to Staal seeing any Olympic minutes when Canada rolls out lines such as Dany Heatley-Martin St. Louis-Vincent Lecavalier, or Todd Bertuzzi-Ryan Smyth-Brad Richards, with Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton and the Avs’ Sakic jumping on the ice next.
When Canada opened against Italy two days ago, Italian goalie Jason Mark Muzzatti carried the image of Pope John Paul II on one side of his mask and the Virgin Mary on the other. Even that couldn’t stop Canada. Sakic’s team won 7-2.
Said Italy’s coach, Mickey Goulet, “We ran into the giant.”
Staff writer Bill Briggs can be reached at 303-820-1720 or bbriggs@denverpost.com.
