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Hockey Canada never misses a beat when it comes to employing methods to inspire and foster team cohesion.
Videos that document past successes of Canadian hockey, which are watched by the players, have been a big part of the program for more than a decade and so have slogans on team-only T-shirts.
This year's slogan for the Canadian juniors is Together 4-ever, whatever it takes. The Canadians are trying to win their fourth under-20 title in a row.
It appears that the United States has taken a page out of the Canadian playbook. The undefeated Americans, whom the Canadians would play on Friday if they beat Finland in the quarter-finals today, showed up the Pardubice Arena yesterday wearing long-sleeve shirts with E pluribus unum, which is Latin for "many uniting into one" or "out of many, one."
This is a motto found on the seal of the United States and is evident on U.S. currency.
New Year's curfew
A few hours after Canada's unimpressive 4-1 victory against Denmark on Monday, the Pardubice town-square clock struck 12 and the beginning of a new year was celebrated. The Canadian junior players were allowed to celebrate only five minutes because the coaching staff imposed a 12:05 a.m. curfew.
"We had the curfew, but it was hard to get to sleep right away because of all the fireworks that were going off," Canadian captain Karl Alzner said. "It sounded like bombs."
The other games
The host Czechs finished third in Group A and advanced to the quarter-final round, where they will face Russia today. The winner will play Sweden in the semi-finals.
Slovakia, Denmark, Kazakhstan and Switzerland will play in the relegation round. Tim Wharnsby
