Even though his team had just suffered a 5-0 loss to Canada in the men’s hockey round robin at the Beijing Olympics on Sunday, China goaltender Paris O’Brien still didn’t realize what he was had just lived.
And the icing on the cake: the captain of the Canadian formation Eric Staal waited until he finished his interviews to speak to him. “I still can’t believe it,” said the 21-year-old BC-born goaltender. I dreamed of this moment. »
O’Brien had just had what will likely be his only Olympic experience in Beijing — or maybe even a lifetime. But it didn’t matter.
“This is the opportunity of a lifetime,” he continued. It is a dream that I have just achieved. »
Kent Johnson and Eric O’Dell had a goal and an assist apiece to lead Team Canada to a 5-0 win over China.
Ben Street, Adam Tambellini and Corban Knight also scored for Canada (2-1), which relied on 26 saves from Matt Tomkins. Tyler Wotherspoon and Josh Ho-Sang had two assists.
O’Brien stopped 39 shots for China, which is participating in the tournament for the first time. The team allowed 16 goals in the preliminary round and scored just two. She still fought hard against Germany on Saturday before dropping the flag 3-2.
The Chinese also did everything they could to stay in the game against Canada.
“There was a lot of hard work and long hours of training,” said O’Brien. But it was worth the drive to get here. »
Staal also gave credit to his opponents. “They worked hard,” he acknowledged.
The Canadians finish second in Group A. They also beat Germany, 5-1, but fell to the United States 4-2.
Despite its victory on Sunday night, the Canadian team completes the round robin in fifth place and will have to play a play-off match on Tuesday against China. The winner of this match will get their ticket to the quarter-finals.
“There are a lot of positives to take away from this game,” said Canada’s head coach, Claude Julien. We faced a team that never stopped improving. And a good team never gives up, they work hard until the end. »
The United States, the Russian Olympic Committee and Finland advanced directly to the quarter-finals by virtue of their first place in their group. Sweden also secured their place, as they have the best record of the other eight teams.
The other play-off matches will pit Slovakia against Germany, Denmark against Latvia and the Czech Republic against Switzerland. All these meetings will take place on Tuesday.
Canada took the lead in the game just over two minutes into the first period, when Street pushed a loose puck past the net into the net, taking advantage of a return shot from Johnson.
Tambellini doubled the lead on a breakaway, then O’Dell made it 3-0 midway through the first period.
The Chinese came close to getting on the scoreboard on a power play in the second period, but they hit two posts.
Canada weren’t perfect in the frame, but Johnson still pulled away to 4-0 with 1:57 left in the middle frame.
Knight scored the Maple Leaf’s fifth goal in the third period, deflecting an Owen Power shot on the power play. Power’s assist was his first point of the tournament. The 19-year-old defenseman was drafted No. 1 in the NHL amateur auction by the Buffalo Sabers in 2021.
The Canadian team will now prepare for their second match against China on Tuesday before moving on – probably – to the quarter-finals. They would face Sweden there.
“A bad jump can always make a big difference,” said Julien. We will prepare as we did for today’s game. We approached this game seriously. »
And they will do it again on Tuesday.