QUEBEC — There's no “i” in team.
But there could be a “prick” or two.
Easy now. We're talking Swedish, not English – and this is still a family newspaper.
In Swedish, sensational 20-year-old forward Nicklas Backstrom, for example, has two dots or prickar over the “a” and the “o” in his surname. And Henrik Lundqvist – said by many to be the best goaltender in these world hockey championships – has one prick over the “i.”
And for the Swedes, it's all about “team” here in Quebec City as the quarter-finals get under way today, with Canada facing Sweden and Russia playing against Finland.
The Swedes are quick to concede that Canada has the star players, the big NHL names, but they think they have a secret weapon that goes beyond individual play.
“In the lineup they have a better team,” Lundqvist says, “but I'm not sure they play better than us as a team. That's been our strength.”
For the second consecutive world championship, Sweden and Canada are meeting in a single game that says only one of them can go on to play in the gold-medal match on Sunday.
The loser will compete for bronze tomorrow against the loser of the Russia-Finland match. Canadians, it is well known, have utter disdain for bronze in hockey – meaning nothing less than gold will do.
All of which requires, first of all, eliminating Sweden, the gold-medal winner at the 2006 Turin Olympics.
It is a match of two teams coming at a tournament from different directions, with different game plans.
The Canadian team – thrown together using players from teams that missed the Stanley Cup playoffs and a handful from teams that fell early – has had close calls in this tournament though it has not yet been beaten.
Even so, Canada narrowly defeated the United States in a game many thought should have gone to the much swifter Americans. And it beat the Norwegians, barely, in a game that Canada should have won handily. Neither Canadian goaltender, today's starter Pascal Leclaire nor Cam Ward, has truly been tested so far.
That the Canadians are good is inarguable – how good is a continuing debate at this gathering where everyone in the stands is an expert witness.
On the plus side, Canada has the most dominant line in the tournament – the “Big Line” of Rick Nash, Ryan Getzlaf and Dany Heatley, which has combined for 17 goals and 39 points in seven games.
“They really like to score goals, no question,” a grinning, but not shaken, Lundqvist says.
The Canadians have been well-coached by Ken Hitchcock and his assistants, rounding slowly into four lines to offer scoring, secondary scoring, checking and energy. And most significantly, they have confidence.
The Swedes came into this tournament not considered much of a threat at all, despite their No. 1 world ranking. A remarkable 21 Swedish stars – the Sedin Twins (Henrik and Daniel), Mats Sundin, Daniel Alfredsson, Peter Forsberg, Markus Naslund, to name but a few – all declined to play for their country, only some with legitimate injury excuses.
They came here with only nine NHLers, Washington Capitals centre Backstrom the best known, and an assortment of European league players. They fell to the Swiss, 4-2, in a game that led to a crisis meeting in which coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson and senior players ripped the team for its miserable effort.
And then, surprisingly, Lundqvist decided to come and play, after his New York Rangers fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the NHL playoffs. “I felt like the season ended too fast,” he says.
With new spirit and now with a world-class goaltender, the Swedes marched to this moment – twice defeating the powerful Czechs – and today find themselves the serious contender. But they will not do anything because of one impenetrable goaltender.
“He needs help, too,” Gustafsson says of Lundqvist. “We need forwards to get pucks in the net. It's not a one-man show. We are a team.”
Hitchcock does not dispute the Swedish claim. “They are definitely the sum of parts,” the coach says. “The Swedes have the best team thing going.”
The Canadian plan, naturally, will be to attack, and right from the start. The Swedish plan will be to play position, to wait, and to counterattack when the Canadians get sloppy or take an unnecessary penalty.
“Hopefully,” young defenceman Anton Stralman says, “maybe they're bored.”
The key may well still boil down to Lundqvist against the Big Line, as the Swedes lack a player like Niklas Lidstrom, currently tied up with his Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup playoffs, to shut down the likes of Heatley and Nash.
“You can feel confident with him that he'll stop pucks,” says Swedish defenceman Douglas Murray, who says his Scottish ancestors came to Sweden in 1730.
Still, it will take more than that.
It will require faith. As Lundqvist says, “People are excited – they didn't believe in this team when it started.”
It will take luck. “Anything can happen,” the goaltender says. “One game. … A little luck. …”
And, when the going gets really tough – as Canada can and likely will – the odd prick won't hurt, either.
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