HockeySpy.com

CRACK THE CODE - January 5, 2007 World Junior Classic Canada defeated U.S.A. 2-1 in a thrilling shootout that took 7 rounds to decide. Canada has now won 17 straight games in world junior play, but they didn’t play their “A” game at all. For two periods the Americans held on to a 1-0 lead. It was only in the third period that Canada turned it on. The momentum swung back to the U.S. in overtime, after Canada took a sloppy penalty causing a 4 on 3 advantage for the U.S. Canada survived and went on to win it in the shootout. "How cool they were," said Hartsburg, smiling. "I think everybody else in the building – coaches, trainers, everybody – was a nervous wreck. But the players were amazing." Hockey Spy.com translation: “I didn’t want to be the coach to blow this 17 game winning streak. I didn’t want to lose his after watching Brent Sutter win it two years in a row. If we had lost everyone else in the building- coaches, trainers, everybody- would have blamed me.” Said Andrew Cogliano, the Woodbridge centre who scored a shootout goal for Canada, recalling the moment of victory: "I was on my knees and I had my helmet over my eyes. I just can't explain the feelings I felt when Pricer made that stop." Hockey Spy.com translation: “I got lucky once but there’s no way I wanted to go back out and shoot again.” "We dodged a bullet," said Hartsburg. "We have to be better (tomorrow)." Hockey Spy.com translation: “We got outcoached. If we had lost someone from Canada would have thanked me with a bullet.” And though Americn Peter Mueller scored on his first two attempts, both slick snapshots up high that gave Price little chance, it so happened that Price had been anticipating Mueller's third choice of tactics. Price recalled the memory of a previous failure, a moment from last season in the Western Hockey League when Mueller, whose Everett Silvertips were playing Price's Tri-City Americans, scored his first goal as a WHL rookie with exactly the same move. "Pete, he's a really shifty player and he can snap a puck really quickly. So I just stayed low," said Price. "I figured he was going to go five-hole eventually. ... I just closed it up and got lucky." Hockey Spy.com translation: “I figured one of their shots would hit me eventually.” GAME BREAKER Jonathan Toews was perfect, scoring three of Canada’s five goals in the shootout, including the winner. Said team captain Kris Letang: “(Toews) has the greatest hands I’ve ever seen in my life, except for maybe (Alexei) Kovalev in Montreal. He’s got really, really, really good hands.” Hockey Spy.com translation: “I don’t watch a lot of hockey.”

All written content is property of HockeySpy.com Email any questions, corrections, documents or feedback to our webmaster. © 2006-2007