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HALIFAX — And so, Goliath smote David.
For those who might have been expecting another ending, consider this: Team Canada's total salary rings in at $65,498,200 (all currency U.S.) – roughly $14.2-million over the maximum salary cap for an NHL team.
That covers everyone from superstar Dany Heatley's $10-million to the $875,000 made by 18-year-old Sam Gagner, who dressed for the first time yesterday as Canada went up against Norway in the world hockey championship's quarter-finals.
Given that the average Norwegian player – none of whom is in the NHL – pulls in about $45,000 a year from semi-professional hockey, that works out to less than a million bucks for the entire team.
And when Heatley scored on the first shot of the very first shift, 37 seconds into the game, it meant that he alone had scored more goals, 10, than the entire Norwegian team in this tournament.
In a win-or-else contest, the smart money was on Canada from the drop of the puck. Those who wish to bet on tomorrow's semi-final match in Quebec City between Canada and Sweden will have to decide for themselves on the safest bet.
And yet, despite Heatley's lightning start, this 8-2 victory on the final day of the Halifax portion of the 2008 world championship was not without its moments.
“They gave us a little bit of a scare,” said Canadian goaltender Cam Ward, who faced 24 shots, compared with the 39 Canada took at carpenter-goaltender Pal Grotnes.
The scare came at roughly the midpoint of this sometimes sloppy match between favourite Canada, the defending world champion, and surprising Norway, making its first appearance in the quarter-finals.
Canada had taken the lead almost instantly on Heatley's goal – a shot that Grotnes insisted he should have had – but the Norwegians lucked into a 5-on-3 advantage and tied the score 1-1 when Morten Ask scored through a screen. Canada went ahead on a goalmouth scramble when Ryan Getzlaf scored, but then, early in the second, Norway tied the score again when Mathis Olimb cracked a hard wrist shot in under the crossbar.
At this point, the Norwegians seemed in command and, at one point, might have gone ahead if only they would shoot when given the chance.
Canada, however, lucked into a couple of power plays, at the very end of which young Jonathan Toews stepped out from the right corner and fired a seeing-eye shot past Grotnes's shoulder.
Had he seen the minuscule opening? “Absolutely,” he said.
“Toew's goal was huge for us,” said Canadian forward Derek Roy, who went on to score three.
“It spark-plugged our hockey club,” Canadian coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We settled down after that.”
Hitchcock conceded that until the Toews goal went in, he and the other coaches were getting edgy. At this stage of the tournament, one loss and you're out.
“When it was 2-2,” the full-time coach of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets said, “I was wondering if that [Dartmouth] ferry had a direct route to Columbus.”
The Toews goal set the stage for Roy's puckhandling display as he scored twice very quickly before the second period was out. It seemed the Toews goal simply sucked the spirit out of the Norwegians.
“We lost the game in that moment,” disappointed Norwegian coach Roy Johansen said.
“Three quick goals and it was over,” said Grotnes, the part-time carpenter who had a strange game of bad goals and great saves.
In the third period, with the game increasingly beyond the reach of the smaller Norwegians, Canada dashed any hope with two goals by big Rick Nash and Roy's third.
“We had something to prove to them,” Nash said, “and at the end of the day we did.”
The Norwegian coach, Johansen, was not pleased with the officiating by Russian referees Vyacheslav Bulanov and Alexander Poliakov, who at times worked their whistles like traffic cops. There were numerous 5-on-3 opportunities, and the Norwegians, with a dozen minor penalties, felt they were treated unfairly.
Hitchcock disagreed. What happened, he said, was they “got caught” – whereas they hadn't earlier in the tournament when Canada barely managed a 2-1 victory over the Norwegians.
All the same, it was a fine tournament for Norway and the final game not at all as disappointing as the score might suggest.
“The first half of the game, we gave the Canadians a good game,” Jakobsen said. “I think we can take a plane out of here with our heads up.”
“Now,” a grinning Grotnes said, “it's summer vacation.”
