LeBrun: Canada vs. USA rivalry enters new era with same intensity
MONTREAL — It is almost 15 years to the day.
Feb. 21, 2010. Vancouver Olympics. Team USA 5, Team Canada 3.
Why is that score relevant? It was Team Canada's last loss in best-on-best hockey, a span of 17 games through the final four games of the Vancouver Olympics, the 2014 Sochi Olympics (6-0-0), the 2016 World Cup (6-0-0) and Wednesday's opening win over Sweden in 4 Nations Face-Off.
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'They've not lost since then?' Zach Parise asked Friday. 'I did not know that. That's crazy.'
I don't think the former Team USA star is alone in not knowing that. Thanks to an eight-and-a-half-year drought without a best-on-best hockey tournament, it's pretty easy to forget these things.
So yes, Team USA is trying to snap quite the best-on-break streak for Team Canada when they meet Saturday night in a 4 Nations round-robin game at what should be a charged-up Bell Centre.
'I hadn't even thought about that to be honest. That's pretty impressive,'' Drew Doughty, who has been part of it entirely, said Friday about the 17-game win streak for Team Canada in best-on-best. 'But we don't want it to stop there. Let's keep it going. We want to win out the tournament. That's the goal always. The U.S. represents a tough challenge.'
Scott Niedermayer was Team Canada's captain when that 17-win streak began back in Vancouver.
'That's impressive,'' the Hockey Hall of Famer defenseman said Friday. 'Especially with the idea that the U.S. is strong and they do have good players and some of the other countries as well. So that makes that really impressive, actually.''
And as Niedermayer was quick to point out, it more or less parallels Sidney Crosby's amazing streak. He's 22-0 as Team Canada captain dating back to the start of the Sochi Olympics (which includes World Championships as well).
'The record of Team Canada with him leading the charge, it doesn't get any better, obviously,' marvelled Niedermayer.
But here comes Team USA, which on Thursday night snapped a five-game losing streak in best-on-best dating back to Sochi and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. This is a new generation of Team USA stars looking to open up an era full of their own championships and gold medals. And knock down Team Canada a peg in doing so.
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Two powerhouses colliding Saturday night — and maybe again next Thursday in Boston in the championship game.
'It's a hockey game you love to be part of,' Crosby said Friday of the USA-Canada rivalry.
Two-time Olympic champion Chris Pronger points all the way back to the 1991 Canada Cup for when the USA-Canada hockey rivalry truly began to take shape. That year, the U.S. reached that tournament's final for the first time before losing to Canada. All of which set up the next best-on-best event, where the U.S. won the re-branded World Cup of Hockey in 1996.
Pronger played in both the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2010 Vancouver gold medal games. Which one stands out the most for him?
'Probably 2010 because they beat us in the round-robin and there was a lot of maybe swelled heads on their side, thinking that they were going to run roughshod over us as we found our solid footing and figured out how we needed to play and come together as a unit,' Pronger said. 'I thought for the most part we dominated that gold medal game and had the better of the chances.'
Ryan Miller was unbelievable throughout that Olympic tournament in 2010 for that underdog Team USA squad that came oh-so-close to the upset, losing in overtime on Crosby's golden goal.
That Olympic performance was one of those career-defining moments for Miller. That's how stellar he was.
'It was a great tournament,' Miller said of the experience. 'Everyone remembers Sid, and rightly so, capping off the tournament. What's funny is that, over the years, we ended up training in California. There was a little bit of a bond behind the scenes where he's really classy about everything, right? There's a lot of respect between the two of us. That was a cool part of that.''
But USA-Canada on that stage? Nothing like it.
'You want to compete against the best in sport,' said Miller, the former Buffalo Sabres star goalie. 'I had a chance to do that in a number of situations, but obviously that one was probably the best chance to play against the best that Canada had to offer.
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'I'm still proud of it, but still angry, too.'
It was Parise who tied it late for Team USA, stunning the home Vancouver crowd and sending it to overtime. What a moment right then and there for Parise in his career.
'From an individual standpoint, that was probably the coolest moment in my career,' he said. 'Just with the importance of the game. It's the Olympics, you know what I mean? Just to give ourselves a chance (in overtime) and go in that locker room. You never know, next goal wins.
'We were right there. Unfortunately for us, we were right there. But what an awesome game to be a part of.'
He remembers all of it so vividly.
'Obviously, the gold medal game didn't go our way. But that gold medal game was incredible,' said Parise. 'I remember the pace of the game. It's just so different than the (Stanley Cup playoffs), it's one and done. You could just feel the importance of every play that was made. The fans are on the edge of their seats the whole game. It was unbelievable. It was one of the few days in my career where you go in there and you're genuinely nervous the whole game. At least for me. All game long.'
While Niedermayer takes great pride in captaining Canada to that gold medal — in his native province of British Columbia, no less — he is quick to point out his first best-on-best experience against Team USA was the 1996 World Cup.
'Just a few months ago I watched a few highlights of what that looked like, and man, it was a competition at the very least, wow,' Niedermayer said with a chuckle while recalling what a physical, brawling best-of-three final that was.
'But the U.S.-Canada rivalry, maybe growing up it was Russia-Canada, but for my playing career and currently, it's definitely the rivalry,' added Niedermayer. 'Probably the two best hockey nations. Lots of talent on both rosters. I'm looking forward to it (Saturday night) as a fan for sure.'
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The '96 World Cup win for USA Hockey had a lasting impact, to be sure. It was the first time the U.S. felt realistically on the same level as Team Canada at best-on-best. Miller's 2010 silver medallists brought back some of those same feelings, too, as far as the next generation of American stars announcing themselves. That helped pave the way for this current squad.
'I'm glad this generation now has grown up having so much success in World Juniors and Under-18s and we've been waiting a long time to see some of these guys play best-on-best,' said Miller. 'So, I'm excited to see it. I'm happy for them. And I'm glad the NHL and NHLPA have come to some agreements about continuing to see the best play each other. Finally.'
As Pronger pointed out, with back-to-back World Juniors gold medals, USA Hockey is on a roll.
'The American game, if you will, has taken on a whole new level,' said the Hockey Hall of Famer. 'It's great for fans and it's great for Canada having another challenge outside of what was always Canada-Russia.'
Pronger, based in St. Louis, has seen the growth of USA Hockey firsthand.
'Oh absolutely. It's crazy to see the evolution,' he said. 'And obviously now, with the Tkachuks and the players on the U.S. side and the lineage of the parents, and where players are coming from, Auston Matthews from Phoenix and seeing that southern expansion era of player coming to the forefront now for the U.S. and what it means for the game. And it certainly means a lot for the players.'
It's next-level time for Team USA.
'I mean, the talent level has just taken off,' said Parise. 'I remember when people would always make a big deal of the Canadian teams, like Rick Nash being on a checking line. They had a 50-goal scorer on a checking line. You look at it now, the U.S. has really good players that are playing fourth-line roles. So we've closed that gap. We've caught up. And I think it says a lot for American hockey. It's awesome.''
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Doughty says bring it on.
'The rivalry is real,' the two-time Olympic champion said Friday. 'The rivalry with the United States was developed from when I was 8 years old because you start going to play tournaments in Michigan and places around the U.S. and immediately you're kind of taught, 'Don't lose to the Americans.' So that rivalry goes back far. It doesn't stop.
'Even at 35, I want to beat them more than anyone.'
(Photo from 2010 Olympics: Cris Bouroncle / Getty Images)
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