After a disappointing first period the Canadians opened up their games just about as expected, with a very lop-sided win in a tune-up effort against Norway. Jarome Iginla scored three of the teams eight goals and Roberto Luongo stopped what little rubber was thrown his way in Team Canada’s 8-0 drubbing of poor little Norway.
Canada strong, Norway weak.
Over the summer I saw my cat torturing a baby rabbit by pawing at it like a toy, letting it try to run away before snatching it again and nibbling on it but not killing it, basically my cat is a sadistic little devil. This, in a nutshell, was Canada vs Norway, a cat torturing a baby rabbit, honing its killing techniques without actually killing it immediately.
The US women’s curling ran late on CNBC and US viewers missed most of the first period of the Canada vs Norway game, so when I turned it on with less than two minutes left I was astonished that Canada and Norway were tied at zero. I thought that Canada would have at least three goals by the first periods end, but they didn’t much to the dismay of Canadians everywhere.
It took Canada 22:30 to get on the board, and a power-play goal nonetheless. Canada, clearly the better team, just couldn’t beat Norway’s goalie until Jarome Iginla blasted a shot from the slot on the power-play.
With the monkey of their first Olympic goal off of their back, Canada quickly notched another goal when Dany Heatley scored just a few minutes later. After the second goal Norway was reduced to scrambling in their own zone while the far superior Canadian team threw an onslaught on the Norwegian goaltender as evidenced by their 22-5 shot advantage 27 minutes into the game.
Norway got a 5-on-3 for :48 seconds with a huge opportunity to cut the Canadian lead in half but couldn’t score on the two-man advantage. What impressed me about the Canadians during the 5-on-3 was how in control they were even two men down. They kept a tight box and denied passing lanes beautifully, they didn’t scramble like you’d expect a brand new team to do.
As their second penalty was expiring Mike Richards poked home his own rebound on the left post for the 3-0 lead as it appeared that the Canadians were getting better with every ensuing shift.
The game came down to goaltenders. If Norway had a Jonas Hiller in net the game could have been in reach in the third period and if Canada didn’t have Roberto Luongo in net Norway might have scored a goal or two.
Ryan Getzlaf added Canada’s fourth goal off a rebound on a power-play. Getzlaf, a big body out front, wheeled a backhander past Norway’s goalie prompting Norway to make a change between the pipes. Dany Heatley would go on to rifle home a power-play goal and then Canada would weave a pretty 3-on-3 goal that went Iginla to Crosby to Nash to Iginla for the sixth goal of the game. The only aspect of the game in question now was the shutout, which wasn’t really being threatened.
Corey Perry scored on a rebound goal for the seventh of the game after having a night full of good chances. At this point the third period began to look like an all-star game with the foghorn blaring every few minutes on one end, but never on the other. So I guess it was more like an All-star team against an AHL team.
Jarome Iginla notched the hat trick in the fleeting moments as he parked his big body in front of the goal and tipped the puck through the Norwegian goalie. Imagine if he had a center skating with him on the Flames?
Canada will go on to play Switzerland Thursday and Norway will face off against USA later that day.
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