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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FDP Mike" data-source="post: 57152" data-attributes="member: 325">It's only the first game ...Hey there, Todd!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Yes, definitely a bad game for the Canadians last night -- and a very effective game for the Swedes.In the end, I think goaltending and defensive play were the deciding factors: Salo outplayed Joseph (in fact, I think Salo was the difference in the game), and Sweden's defense outplayed Canada's.Canada was slightly the better team in the first period.  Sweden, of course, dominated the second.  Things were pretty even in the third, with Canada pressing and Sweden basically sitting back and riding out the minutes (ah, shades of international soccer).Still, it's only the first game.  Familiarity was certainly a major factor: i.e., the Canadian team seemed unfamiliar with each other, with the ice, with the rule changes.  All of this will come in time, though.  I suspect that by the time Canada meets the Czechs on Monday, they'll have worked out the kinks.  There's too much pride, leadership, and skill on the team for a game such as we saw last night to be the norm as opposed to the exception.I thought that Sakic/Kariya/Lemieux got it going somewhat in the third period.  They were making too many passes earlier in the game.  Lemieux seemed to wake up a bit in the third.  My gosh, can Kariya ever skate -- what a pleasure he is to watch!Great goal by Brewer!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Canada pretty much left Joseph on his own for most of Sweden's goals; the only one Joseph should have saved one would be Sundin's second.What fabulous hockey, though -- even the Russia/Belarus and USA/Finland games!  It's an entirely different pace, an entirely different level of play: I could see this right away in the first few minutes of the Canada/Sweden game, and it was exciting to watch, no doubt.Good win by Sweden.  Canada was not all there.Watch out, though: the proverbial sleeping giant, I think, was given a rude awakening.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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