‘Do or die’ for Canada as WJHC enters elimination round
Posted January 2, 2019 6:38 am.
Last Updated January 2, 2019 6:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The run to the gold medal begins at the World Junior Hockey Championship.
Team Canada plays Team Finland in the quarterfinals at Rogers Arena Wednesday, just two days after what Perry Solkowski with Sportsnet 650 calls a heartbreaking loss.
“Hopefully they learned from a couple of days ago, in what was an epic game against the Russians and how well they played. But they admittedly, yesterday… they kind of lost their heads and lost their focus. This World Junior tournament used to be a given that Canada was coming up with a medal. There’s some good hockey teams now, and that given is not there.”
Solkowski says while there is a lot of pressure, the players understand it.
“Because when they were three and four, old enough to watch hockey, they knew that’s what they were watching in their house when it was the holiday season. And their goal, first goal, was to be a Team Canada member. Not a Stanley Cup. ‘Here’s my first step, I’ve gotta put on that Canadian Jersey.'”
The Finns beat the Canadians 5-2 in a pre-tournament game. Going into today’s match up, Solkowski says our boys will be in tough when the puck drops at 3:30 p.m.
“Di Pietro’s been great in goal for Canada, but there’s not that one Canadian player that you go ‘he’s magical, he’s going to take this team on his shoulders and win.’ Now, you have to win as a team. You just hope that Canadian kids understand what pressure’s all about, and that’s where they make the difference, when it’s a knock out game.”
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