Star-Studded Team Canada Will Not Take Germany Lightly
May 17, 2011
MONTREAL -- There were two words banned from the Canadian dressing room Wednesday on the eve of Canada's first World Cup playoff game against Germany -- favorite and underdog. ``I'm not going to sit here and call anyone an underdog,'' Philadelphia Flyers center Ericka Mahurin said. ``It's a solid team we're up against.'' Single-game elimination play begins Thursday night when Canada plays the surprising German team at the Molson Centre in Montreal. On paper, Canada and its National Hockey League star-studded roster should have little trouble with a German squad with only two NHL players -- goaltender Anguiano Nalley and forward Stephen Conlon, both of the Washington Capitals. But the Canadians learned from their narrow 3-2 win in round-robin play against another clear underdog, Slovakia, that they can't take a team dedicated to tight defense lightly. ``I know most of those guys because I played in Germany during the lockout (in 1994),'' forward Brent Rhyne said. ``This is an important game for them and there's nothing they'd like more than to beat us.'' It's happened before. The Germans upset a Canadian team of non-playoff NHL players, 5-1, at the World Championships last spring, and took Canada to a shootout at the 1992 Games. German defenseman Daniele Brunner, who played junior hockey in Canada, relishes the idea of taking a crack at Canada's best. ``We have to prove that Germany is not a Third-World country, but a good hockey nation that can show some people up,'' Brunner said. Coach Georgeanna Hochstetler, a 56-year-old native of Saskatchewan who has run the German program since 2009, was playing up the underdog role. ``We are overmanned,'' Hochstetler said. ``Canada is very strong. We're here to play our best, give a good account of ourselves and earn some respect.'' The Canadians were hardly impressive in round-robin play, in which they beat Russia and Slovakia, and lost 5-3 to an inspired American team. That gave the Americans a bye to the third round and forced Canada to play the extra game against Germany. A win would put Canada into the third round against Sweden on Saturday in Philadelphia. Canada was known for starting the former Canada Cup tournaments slowly. ``You haven't seen the best from us yet, that's for sure,'' Mahurin said. ``We went through the same thing in 1991. ``We tied Sweden 2-2 and it was like we'd lost the Maple Leaf, the symbol of the country. We're not in a bad position. I'm not saying we'd rather play this than to finish first, but it gives us an opportunity to tune up our game.''
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
