Coming into the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, Team USA may not have been the favorites to win the tournament. However, they were considered contenders and expected to make it out of round robin play. Those expectations now seem almost impossible to meet after just one game. They were gifted what was thought to an easy group to advance from. All they have to do is finish in the top two of a group that includes Canada, Team Europe and the Czech Republic. Canada was the heavy favorite to win the tournament, but Europe and the Czechs were not expected to be very strong and looked overmatched in exhibition games.
Team USA was given the opportunity to open round robin play against Team Europe. Most hockey analysts and fans predicted the Americans would overwhelm the Europeans with physicality, experience and chemistry. It was a good chance for Team USA to get into a rhythm and find their game before Tuesday's meeting with Canada. Now fans of Team USA are dreading Tuesday evening.
As we all know, Europe pulled off the upset and beat Team USA. Losing is always bad in these short tournaments, but this loss was especially bad. 3-0 looks bad on the scoreboard, sadly that does not do justice to just how ugly the game was. Team Europe outplayed Team USA from the start. They looked well coached and prepared. It was obvious the coaching staff had preached a gameplan and system the entire European team bought into. They knew they could not beat the United States in a physical game that allowed for trading chances. So Europe sat back and waited for mistakes, when a mistake was made, they countered and capitalized. It is not a fun style of hockey to play (or watch), but it is effective and paid off less than five minutes into the game.
When Marian Gaborik scored just 4:19 into the first period, it did not have the feeling of fluke goal. You could tell that the U.S. team was not prepared for Team Europe. As soon as Europe went up 1-0 they stopped being aggressive. They adopted Finland's playing style; where the center never pinches low and defensemen rarely enter the the offensive zone. You do not generate many scoring chances this way, but it evens the playing field against more talented teams. This resulted in Europe being outshot 35-17. I doubt either team cares much what the statsheets show.
Team USA Head Coach John Tortorella looked lost with his team. There was no noticeable playing style for the Americans. The only common theme seemed to be that they were physical for the sake of being physical. It served no purpose. If anything it hurt Team USA and led to unnecessary penalties. For example, Brandon Dubinsky took a 4 minute high sticking penalty early in the third period. Not because he lifted a stick, but because he tried to hit Zdeno Chara high and missed. Ya know, cause hitting Chara when you are losing 3-0 was going to somehow change the tide. It was classic Tortorella. Win by being the biggest bully on the ice, or go down swinging. That may work for an under-talented team in the NHL, but that is not how international hockey works. Nobody is going to fight you, no team is going to trade penalties with you, they are going to skate away and score while you are sitting in the penalty box.
A bigger problem with Team USA was how they played in the offensive zone. It was brutally obvious there was no communication on where the puck was going once they gained possession in the offensive zone. No one knew whether the puck should go to the net, to the corner, to an open man? This led to every player doing their own thing and hoping the puck bounced the right way. It happened for them once, when the puck bounced off of Derek Stepan's helmet into the net. The goal was disallowed. They had the mentality of an all-star team... "We will just dance around with the puck. Eventually our skill will win out and something good will happen."... It didn't.
This loss and their eventual premature exit from the tournament is not on the players. This falls squarely on the shoulders of Head Coach John Tortorella and GM Dean Lombardi, who selected this team. It was obvious they selected a team to be scrappy and physical, mostly grinders that could fit Tortorella's style. This left the team without the skill and goal scorers necessary to be successful in the World Cup of Hockey. As an American, I cannot accept that Brandon Dubinsky, Kyle Palmieri and Justin Abdelkader are among the 12 best forwards from the United States. There is no way Jack Johnson is one of the top six American defenseman. He barely cracks a top six role on his NHL team. Lombardi and Tortorella left Phil Kessel, Tyler Johnson, Paul Stastny and Kyle Okposo off the roster. Any combination of those four players would be the best line on this team. Phil Kessel was the best player on Team USA at the 2014 Olympics and probably deserved to win the Conn Smythe Trophy this year. Jack Johnson could have been replaced with an offensive minded defenseman such as Cam Fowler or Kevin Shattenkirk. For the matchup with Europe, Tortorella decided to not dress Dustin Byfuglien. Sadly there is concern Tortorella did not dress Byfuglien over fear he would sit for the National Anthem. Coach Torts said he would bench any player that did not stand for the anthem, further proving how worldly and open minded he is.
This looks to be a very disappointing and short World Cup of Hockey for Team USA. They are going to need a lot of help to advance beyond the round robin. Team Europe controls their own destiny now, so Team USA needs Canada and the Czech Republic to beat Europe. Also, Team USA has the tough task of needing to pull off an upset of Canada. A very tall order as Canada started their schedule off with a 6-0 win over a solid Czech Republic team. If you are a fan of American hockey, I suggest you throw your support behind Team North America.
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