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The idea — for Canada to play host to the men's world hockey championships for the first time in history — goes back almost two decades, or to the last time they played the Canada Cup in 1991.
"It goes back that far, to the original Canada Cup agreement," Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson confirmed in an interview. "The deal was done with the NHLPA — that there would be a Canada Cup, but with that, Canada could not host men's world championships. But in 1996, the NHL and the NHLPA agreed that NHLers would go to the Olympics. With that, they created the World Cup which removed Hockey Canada as a property owner, but gave us the right to negotiate a world championship.
"From there, the question became, how could you work around the NHL playoffs? A couple of times, we were going to do it, but instead, did trade-offs to get more world juniors. We were finally going to do it in '07; but the Russians wanted '07, so the IIHF said, 'why don't you take '08, the 100th anniversary year?"
And so it came to pass that beginning Friday, with a game against Slovenia, Canada — the birthplace of hockey - will finally get a chance to host a men's world championship. The 16-team tournament, split between Halifax and Quebec City, culminates with the gold-medal game on May 18. Canada, trying to become the first host country since 1986 to win the tournament on home soil, is in Group B with the United States, Latvia and Slovenia. The Phoenix Coyotes' Shane Doan is back as captain after leading Canada to a perfect 9-0 record in last year's gold-medal performance in Russia. His assistants are the NHL's 2004 Hart Trophy winner, Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Edmonton Oilers' veteran defenceman Steve Staois, a three-time member of Team Canada and a two-time gold-medal winner.
Even after Jarome Iginla turned down his invitation for family reasons and Vincent Lecavalier had to beg off because of off-season shoulder surgery, Canada still boasts seven of the top 20 NHL scorers (Jason Spezza, St. Louis, Dany Heatley, Eric Staal, Ryan Getzlaf, Derek Roy and Doan), plus a decent group of defencemen and three young goalies, one of whom — Cam Ward — is a former Conn Smythe trophy winner as an NHL playoff most valuable player. Rick Nash, last year's world tournament MVP, is also back from the Canadian team that won in Russia, as is NHL rookie sensation Jonathan Toews, who went to training camp as a practice player last year and made the final roster.
Given the available player pool, Canadian coach Ken Hitchcock is satisfied with his talent level.
"If the first two exhibition games are any indication, we've got the ability to create a lot offensively," said Hitchcock. "We're a little bit like the Americans. We have some transition going on. Our success will be dependent upon this younger crew grabbing control — guys like Getzlaf, Spezza and Heatley, Brent Burns, people who are younger, but very talented. Emotionally if they can take a bigger bite of our group, it can really help us long term."
Canada turned to Hitchcock, the Columbus Blue Jackets' coach and a member of Pat Quinn's staff on the 2002 gold-medal winning team in Salt Lake City, as its head coach this time around, after Andy Murray led the team to victory last year. Hitchcock has a wealth of international coaching experience, but he will acknowledge that this is unique — a first-ever world championship on Canadian soil.
"The big challenge for us is how we handle the distractions," said Hitchcock. "It's easier when we're in Europe because we stay together and a pack mentality develops. Here, there are friends, there is family, there's media from your own city, so there are a ton of pulls on your time.
Staois is playing for the fourth time and says that the world championships are one of the best-kept secrets in hockey - that until they actually compete in one, players don't realize how big an event it really is.
"It's just sort of word-of-mouth until you get a chance to experience it," said Staois. "Only then do you realize the competition we're up against and the talent that we're competing against. It's a great tournament, with a lot of good teams."
According to Nicholson, ticket sales are good — the event is 80 per cent sold. Tickets for all the Canadian games are gone, as well as a few select others — such as Russia versus the Czech Republic. Canada plays mostly afternoon games in the preliminary round, partly as a nod to the NHL playoff schedule, partly so that they could be televised back to Europe in prime time.
"The bottom line is, we had to put in a schedule that was best for us as the host country," said Nicholson. "I had these discussions with (deputy NHL commissioner) Bill Daly and (commissioner) Gary Bettman right from the start. We didn't want to bring this in and go head-to-head with the NHL. That's why we're playing so many early games. It's consistent for our team and it also helps the IIHF for their television ratings, because a lot of the games go back in prime time in Europe. But it's also no different than before. There were early games over there too, because you've got to fit 'em all in with a limited number of arenas at your disposal."
The tournament will be played on the traditional 200-by-85 foot North American ice surface, which is narrower than the international dimensions used when the tournament is played in Europe. Based on the two exhibition games played by Canada — a win over Finland and a loss to Russia — Hitchcock believes the size of the ice will be a significant factor in the style of play.
"The two exhibition games we've played so far look like NHL games," said Hitchcock. "They don't look like the games that you see in Europe, where there's maybe a dozen or 15 scoring chances total. We've played these games and there were a ton of scoring chances in both.
"The Russians and Finns brought over really heavy teams. They understand the size of the rink. There's going to be more physical play. There's going to be a lot of play at the net.
"The other thing we're seeing here, with the European teams, is a lot of them are bringing over players who've played together in other competitions, so there's this instant continuity. There were two or three of the lines that the Russians had, you could tell they'd played together for a long, long time. They really knew where each other were. They made blind passes into areas that hit guys on fast breaks. They had nine of their forwards that had been together for a long time."
Hitchcock was asked: Where does the main opposition come from?
"Just in our own pool, the Americans have a really good team," he answered. "They have forwards that compare to anybody's in the tournament. They've got speed. They've got size. They've got a lot of things going for them.
"I think the Czechs are really big, competitive, a heavy team. The Russians are deep, deeper than anybody in the tournament. They've got the ability to play two-thirds of an NHL roster and the last third is guys who are elite players in their own league — and they looked like good players against us."
For his part, Staois says that while it's early, it's also crucial to get the team together quickly.
"So far, it's followed the same pattern that I've seen for the other three world championships I've been at, where you come in and you're meeting new guys, but you can see the camaraderie building already," said Staois. "We're at a disadvantage as far as the team game is concerned because we've all been playing different systems and we've not been playing together as a team — whereas the other teams have, and they know their systems.
"We'll need to play that Canadian style, where we out-battle teams, we take the puck harder to the net and we play with a little more pride and passion. More and more countries are playing like that, but that's the advantage we're going to have to have — and we have to get to it quickly. It comes at you pretty fast, this tournament, so every day is crucial."
