VANCOUVER — Team Canada would do well to adopt the attitude of its most consistent performer heading into a potentially dangerous semifinal against Slovakia.
Jonathan Toews has stood tall in the pressure-packed Olympic men’s tournament, taking his game to another level and leading the event with seven points and a plus-9 rating. At just 21, he’s the youngest forward on the Canadian team and he’s intent on doing everything he can to stay in the moment.
“There’s a lot of pressure and there are a lot of eyes watching,” Toews said Thursday.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for any player to be in a situation like this. You’ve got to ask yourself: ‘How many more chances are you going to get like this?’ You’ve got to take advantage of it and really play your best and enjoy it as much as you can.
“That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Next up for Canada is a Slovakian team (tonight at 7:30 p.m. on CTV) that has pulled a few surprises so far.
Coming on the heels of the breathtaking quarter-final victory over Russia, there seems to be a growing feeling among the Canadian public that a path to the gold-medal final is all but assured. Coach Mike Babcock even spoke to members of the print media for almost six minutes on Thursday without facing a single question about the Slovaks.
However, the Canadian players were being much more cautious than fans and reporters, a wise move after Slovakia knocked off defending champion Sweden in the quarter-finals.
“There are no easy games in this tournament,” said goalie Roberto Luongo, who will get another start. “Every team is a capable winner. The four teams left want to win the gold so we have to play our game. That’s how we’re going to play our game.”
The approach seems particularly sensible considering the way the tournament has unfolded. Slovakia boasts the best power play and penalty kill of the 12 teams here, employing a patient style while relying on good goaltending from Jaroslav Halak to get past opponents.
They’ll face a Canadian team that seems to have hit its stride after stumbling out of the gate.
Toews has been a central character in the team’s evolution, starting the tournament on the fourth line before playing himself onto a shutdown unit with Rick Nash and Mike Richards.
That trio kept Russia’s Alex Ovechkin off the scoresheet on Wednesday and will likely see a lot of Slovakia’s top unit as well.
Babcock has seen enough of Toews in the NHL to know he can handle whatever is thrown at him here.
“He’s the No. 1 centre on the best team in the National Hockey League,” Babcock said. “I don’t know how surprised we should be. He’s going to be a good player for a long, long time.
“He’s not a blazing speed guy or toe-dragging you, he’s just got great hockey sense, he’s got a heavy bottom half, he’s really strong and he’s played well.”
During the months preceding the Olympics, Babcock kept a notebook that included all of the stuff he jotted down relating to the team. He flipped back through it following the win against Russia and noticed he’d once drawn up the exact lines that are now clicking so well — in an entry from Nov. 17.
The coach stressed the need to use as much of the team’s depth as possible because the pace of the Olympic tournament has exceeded the speed he has seen during three trips to the Stanley Cup final. As a result, the players can’t play as much as they normally do in the NHL.
The game plan produced marvellous results against Russia and left some calling this one of the best Canadian teams ever — a pretty dramatic description given the skepticism that accompanied Sunday’s loss to the Americans.
Joe Juneau, the assistant chef de mission for the COC and an Olympic silver medallist in 1992, thought the 7-3 victory over Russia could have been even more one-sided.
“We’re probably witnessing right now, if not the best, some of the best hockey from our men’s Olympic team,” Juneau said Thursday.
“This team is deep, this team is talented, strong, big. The whole package is there. What those guys are realizing right now is that they are good and that they have played better and better since the tournament started.
“It’s been a buildup.”
While the Canadian players agree with the assessment on the team’s skill, they’re trying to avoid the hype that comes with it. Sitting two wins away from a gold medal, there can be no mistakes or slip-ups now.
“We have some of the most talented players in the world on the front and the back end,” said Toews.
“We put it together last night, we played the right way and we got our breaks. It’s just about not taking any shortcuts and making sure we take the long route to make things happen out there.”