The Hockey PDOcast - Canada vs. Czechia Postgame Show

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to go through all of our main takeaways after watching Canada's 5-0 win vs. Czechia, and the notable differences between the way these games in the Olympics are being played compared to the NHL product. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

dressing to the mean since 2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey-Pedio-Cast. My name is Demetri Filippovich, and joining me is my good buddy Thomas Trans. Tom, what's going on, man? Well, I'm fired up. Team Canada put a shalacking on Czechia. That's the tough preliminary game for Canada out of the way,

commanding 5-0 Canadian victory. and how can you not be romantic about that? I mean, very first shift, Crosby line over the ice or over the bench on the ice, generate a couple high quality looks. There's a loose puck in the slot that they're fighting for, you know, playing with Taves and McCar who are buzzing around up high. Right away, it was a statement shift from that line. Then you have McKinnon on.

You see that speed, pushing the Czech defenders back. And, you know, Philip Oronik and Radco Gutus, a, side, there's no NHLers on that check defense, even though there are guys who've played NHL games and are still good players. That mattered. You could tell that that was going to be a thing. And then the McDavid line, and McDavid just throws that massive hit right off the hop. And, you know, Canada opened this tournament in guerrilla mode.

There was no moment in which they weren't just playing a very impressive brand of contemporary hockey at the absolute highest level. Chemistry was evident on multiple forward lines right from the outset, the forward line that seemed to struggle to click in, found its legs by the third period. I mean, aside from the Josh Morrissey injury and the fact that Kyle McCar was occasionally looking hobbled or if you're a Jordan Bennington, Doomer,

and would have preferred to see him struggle outright as opposed to just struggle to control rebounds, there wasn't much to say that wasn't, oh, my God, this team's incredible. Oh my God. What a start to the tournament. It's not even a Sunday. It is a Thursday morning. And yet we are so excited that we had to get together and do a milkship Sunday special here as our doubling as our postgame show for Canada's opener of the 26 Olympics against Chequia. And listen, how long did we spend sort of daydreaming about this idea of a McDavid McKinnon, Crosby combination on the power plan? We got it in the third. period and it was as beautiful and clinical as you'd expect combining on that goal. And so we're going to break down the full game, all of our notes. I've got some scoring chances that I've been tracking, which I think are going to be particularly

useful throughout this tournament because the on-ice shot data is quite limited compared to even the four nations last year, certainly your typical NHL hockey. And so let's get into it. Let's start with the data, man. I think we should start with the data and work backwards, because, honestly, I think that's going to tell a variety of different stories and bigger themes. Because I think there are some bigger themes for this tournament as a whole. You know, we'll talk about this game, but we've also had the opportunity to watch

three and a half in my case, four in your case. Games so far in the men's bracket of the winter, you know, ice hockey tournament. And this game, these games look different than NHL hockey in a material way that I think is going to need to be the backdrop. of some of the conversations we're about to have. Undoubtedly, I am, I apologize if I come across a slightly more incoherent than usual on today's show. I'm so wired and so excited about these games.

I came into a studio at like 3 a.m. Pacific time this morning to watch Switzerland versus France and it wasn't even very competitive. And yet I was still just eating it up. And I was like, please. Oh, that's true. Sicko mode. Oh, man, Sven Androgato. I could go all day.

What a performance. So here's what I got. I got scoring chances. told 36 to 12 in Canada's favor. And it was pretty uniform throughout. Like first period, 12, 5, second period, 11, 5. And then third period, they really put the boots to them 13-2 and kind of put the game away. I think that those numbers are notable for a couple reasons, both within the context of this tournament,

which we're going to talk about a lot as the show goes on. But also, you know, Jordan Bennington gets the 26 save shout out. And he did his job certainly. and we've spoken a lot about how, especially playing behind this type of a roster, you really just don't want your goalie to bury you in terms of making a mistake, playing the puck or giving up a softie from the point. And so he shut the door and he didn't let anything go by him. The actual quality he faced, I thought, was quite limited,

especially as the game progressed. You know, five of Chequia's 12 total chances came via rebounds, and he was spitting up a couple pretty juicy ones early on, Fortunately for Canada, they wound up on the sticks of David Camp and Radic Faxa and Michael Kempney and guys who aren't really going to convert them. One went to Pasternak and Bennington made a nice follow-up save off of that in the middle of the ice, but it was a pretty sound defensive effort for the most part from Canada. It was an interesting approach.

I'm not sure how you felt about this because I think everyone's had their skepticism about Binnington and the idea, even though you kind of forecasted this one when we talked about it last week in terms of this being the obvious call. either Biddington plays well, and then you feel good about it moving forward, and he kind of follows up this mystique coming out of the Four Nations tournament, or he struggles against clearly the toughest test

they're going to face throughout the group stages, and then you feel very validated about going to Logan Thompson in the next game against Switzerland and kind of building him up as the starter you're going to use moving forward when you get to elimination rounds. And so Chequia comes out, and I felt like they were just kind of, partly because they didn't have the puck a lot,

they were just, as soon as they got in the offensive zone for the most part, they were just sort of lobbing bucks on net from bad angles. And on the one hand, I think that works to a goalie's favor because you don't even see that that much in today's NHL, where teams are so much more deliberate about trying to pass up bad looks for better ones. And Chequette was just throwing everything on end. I think that allowed Binnington to kind of settle in a little bit by just feeling the puck and making a couple easy saves early on, and how he struggled controlling a couple of those and they led to more dangerous rebounds. but I thought it was a pretty nice environment for him to kind of start this tournament off with and now give Canada some very good options moving forward as this tournament progresses.

Yeah, and because Canada put up such a crooked number offensively and looked so dynamic, I mean, they also had a disallowed goal. There were moments where they tore the checks aside through the neutral zone, which is not easy to do with this short neutral zone game environment. You know, it's pretty difficult, generally speaking, as we saw when, Sweden struggled a little bit to do so against the Italians, who are obviously not as good as the checks, by the way. There's no Italian version of David Pasternak, despite his nickname, to, you know, effectively have OZP the entire game and give up next to nothing, like shut down the checks off the rush,

is a really remarkable, as much as we're going to be giddy about all the high octane offensive things, we saw out of Canada. It was the fact that Canada controlled the entire game and at no point was under duress off the rush that I think we should focus on as probably the most impressive thing that Canada accomplished in this opener, especially given the quality of the checks faced. The Bennington spilling rebounds thing I think was real, but I also would add this.

We've seen with the short neutral zone how dependent teams are on dump and chase, right, retrievals, set up the cycle in that manner to generate scoring chances. And I did think where Bennington made me nervous on occasion with his rebound control and where I thought the defensive environment deserved the lion's share of the credit for the clean sheet that Canada was able to keep. I thought his puck handling made a huge difference in taking some of the air out of the check retrieval game. And this is something to monitor, I think, because these games are, like, this is a dump and chase tournament.

I'm ready to say that. This is a dump and chase tournament. And, you know, space in the neutral zone is, is it a huge premium? McKinney and McDavid can pull it off occasionally, but even Canada's top six lines with some of the most dynamic puck carriers on the planet. You know, did most of their damage scoring chance-wise off of dumpins or broken entries, like the opening goal for Canada came off of a McDavid sort of broken entry attempt. Marchand to Horvatt, I mean, that was sort of the exception rather than the rule in terms

of what the Canadian attack looked like and felt like throughout this game. And that's been true for Sweden. That's been true for Finland. That was true for Slovakia. I think this is a tournament in which rush, the advantage that Canada should have in terms of manufacturing offense with a rush scoring threat, it's still real, it still exists, but it's going to be harder for it to be decisive.

And then you throw in sort of the composition and depth of that American blue line and the speed that they've got. That's a relative advantage, I think, for the United States. But, well, and I guess the other big picture part of this is McCar looking a little bit hobbled throughout the game, and then Josh Morrissey leaving the game. you know, potentially creating an environment where Canada's back-end mobility is further compromised, or at least at risk, as we get deeper into this tournament, in that environment, the massive difference between what Binnington can do as a puck handler, right, those lobs that he was able to send to clear the zone himself,

we saw him make outlet passes and do so effectively. We saw him get to pucks repeatedly behind the net and stop them from rimming around, and all of a sudden it's Pereko or Dowdy or, you know, one of Canada's, you know, less pacey defenders, picking up the puck with a running start, right, able to wheel with a greater degree of ease. I thought that shaped in some ways the defensive environment that Canada was able to create in front of him, right? I felt like he actually contributed to his own defensive environment, which was obviously favorable. So, you know, look, am I going to be banging the table advocating for, Canada to be starting Jordan Bennington come the elimination round.

I'm not. That's going to make me deeply nervous if that's where this comes to. But especially if Canada's back-end mobility is compromised, one way to narrow the gap between them and the Americans is to have the best puck handler in net at this tournament play goal for you. And I did think that that mattered, especially before this game got out of hand. In the first 40 minutes, I thought Bennington's puck handling was probably the best part of his performance. And I think contributed to what. Canada was able to accomplish defensively today.

I mean, listen, even if you do decide to bang table for that, I've heard you have much worse takes than that. So I think that would be totally fine. I mean, I'm with you. Even, you know, the McKinnon disallowed goal on a very suspect tripping penalty. You thought so? I thought that was a totally fair call. I thought it was a fair call in that he did trip him.

I thought it was quite. I was outraged in the moment, though. I thought it was quite inconsequential to the play. Like, I forget who it was, was it right at Mshemick or Yanruda? like they were not going to get in time to cover McKinnon. It was pretty simultaneous in terms of the release of the shot and the trip itself. But it is what it is. But that all initiated by Binnington, I think on his back end, like lofting this crazy aerial pass all the way into the Czech defensive zone.

So I'm with you. And I think also, you know, a good topic here is process in these types of tournaments. You and I were talking about this from Finland's perspective after their disappointing loss in the opener against Slovakia. where they significantly outchanced them, outplayed them, and just got Slipkovskyed and goalieed for the most part. Yep. Come out of that feeling pretty good about it. Obviously, there's very little margin for error moving forward because you can't afford

really to lose another one like that, yet you can build on that. And so I feel like process in these tournaments kind of matters a bit less, but you want to really focus on like who's performing well because these things can take a bit of a life of their own in terms of guys kind of just stepping up. You get a good performance to chew under your belt. And I feel like it probably does make it more likely that that's going to continue when the games really matter. And so that certainly applies to goal tending and Bennington here.

Do you want to work our way like kind of chronologically from the start? Because I've got a lot of notes on this one and we can kind of tackle them one by one. Sounds good to me. That means we're starting with Celebrini anyway, right? Well, let's do it. Let's start with that combo. So his linemate Conner, McDavid winds up finishing this game with 14 scoring chance contributions and as I said,

check you had 12 all told as a team and totally look the part. You know, I was, I feel like I was pretty on the kind of front line of advocating for this combination. Yes, you are. As soon as we found out that Celebrini was going to be in fact on the team. And I think eventually that kind of became consensus this opinion as we further along the process and I'm not going to spend time here patting myself on the back for being like back on Celebrini and Connor McDavid are going to be good together. Like yeah, two of the four or five best players in the world are probably going to find a way to make it work. But the reason why I felt that way initially was the stylistic fit and I thought you really

saw that on the ice here in this opener where Celebrini is so good as a four checker, but also so good at finding soft spots in the offensive zone. getting lost in coverage. And then he scores a goal on a tip play in front of the net at the end of the first period, which I felt like it was a bit of a backbreaker for Chequia because even though they got out chanced, a lot of that came on special teams for Canada

in the first 20 minutes. And I thought if I want five, especially the second half of that period, Chequia really found their legs. They had a couple good looks. They were really settling in. And then they go in injuremission down 1-0. And I feel like at that point,

you could sort of see the writing on the wall. But coming out of the second period, I feel like those two guys just really took over this game, and Celebrini had that great look off of one of those exact plays where McDavid has the puck down low, Celebrini gets lost in the slot, and it like almost went in. It kind of got stuck on the top of Lucaso Stiles' pad,

but they created a couple great A's after that, and I feel like those two, whether it's with Tom Wilson moving forward, I actually think a guy like Nick Suzuki, for example, would be phenomenal. As a third member of that line, you could almost pretty much put anyone, and I feel like they would succeed if they played their role with those two guys.

they're going to have so much success together. And this tournament, they're going to be so fun to watch. And I had high expectations for it. And this still exceeded everything I wanted to see from those two guys together. I felt like the really instructive shift between them came. I think it was late second or early third. And it ultimately resulted in a shot that was set up from behind the net to Tom Wilson that I think went wide. But it was a lovely bit of down low puck movement.

Celebrini sort of managed to get the retrieval. and they were just kind of buzzing about almost looking like Panarin and Patrick Kane used to look like together, just kind of homing beacons for one another. And it was in that moment that I think you could see something pretty interesting happening there between them. And, you know, the idea of like being deferential to a puck dominant player is sometimes sort of cast negatively. But I would sort of suggest that in a way that's more like how a, you know, like a chivalent, check down security blanket is for a quarterback. It felt like Celebrini was really attentive to what McDavid needed to buzz about the offensive zone.

Like he was constantly in an ideal position to be McDavid's first read, just at the right spots and moving in the right direction at every moment, right? The, you know, amount of times, for example, that Goudis was covering a play appropriately. and it just didn't matter because of the interplay between those two in terms of taking a can opener to the Czech defensive structure, I thought was extraordinarily impressive and notable. And I think a sign that Celebrini has that sort of hockey IQ to be that outlet constantly for McDavid. I felt like it worked spectacularly. And I think what you were quite rightly pointing out, well, like you were texting me about it in the first period. We ultimately saw it result in a goal in the third that there were these partial

change moments where Suzuki seemed to be setting up or keying some of some of what McDavid was able to do off the attack. Like what? They probably had 45 seconds of combined dice time, maybe a minute and 15 seconds. And there was probably two moments in transition plus the goal moment where Suzuki was just in the right spot. I sort of wonder if Suzuki has the hockey IQ to do something similar, right, to what Celebrini is able to do in terms of complimenting McDavid.

And this is something we see the Oilers do all the time. you know those little pop passes that Oilers players just sort of they go to McDavid and it's just like this little relief pass as he continues to cycle like Celebrini was doing that but doing it at an even higher level because he was also beating guys one-on-one or sort of stretching the check defense creating even more space for McDavid when he got it back I thought that element of their chemistry made it an inspired fit right from the get-go instant chemistry was evident and man that felt so different

from what this team looked like at the Four Nations, where it felt like at times they were banging their heads against the wall, trying to figure out how to make McDavid work on this team. And all of a sudden, they've come into this tournament and played one of the five best teams at this Olympics. And right from the get-go are able to sort of, you know, tear their opponent apart at the top of the lineup, right? Their depth was good too today, but it didn't, they didn't need it.

They just needed McDavid and Celebrini cooking like that. and that was basically responsible for three goals, right? You know, indirectly or directly. An incredible showing for them in their first game as linemates. Yeah, I thought Suzuki had a phenomenal game. He winds up playing 1333. He had six scoring chance contributions that time. Ultimately, at the end, gets rewarded for it with a 5-0 goal

after an extended offensive zone sequence where he kind of, you know, it seemed like accidentally, but still was in the right spot and tips of McDavid pass. past Lucas Dostal but that combination of Cellebrini and McDavid I think is especially dangerous ironically off of offensive zones

sets when they lose the draw and they created a couple chances off of that because in a way like territorially it benefits you because the puck just works its way down low where they want it and then oftentimes you'd see Cellebrini just be the first guy to the puck or just strip an opposing check player off of it and then instantly engage a cycle play,

and it winds up going into the slot for a Tom Wilson chance or one of those two guys benefiting from it. And so that was incredibly exciting to see. And then, you know, the last note on Suzuki, you mentioned some of the connective plays in the neutral zone. He had that nice back check coming back. And then it leads to a two-on-one between McDavid and Hagel. They really should have resulted in a goal.

And then later on just picks up this loose puck as he's going off for a change, essentially, and makes a beautiful pass to, you know, wind to McDavid up with a full head of steam and he gets a great look. in transition off of that as well. So I think that's something John Cooper would be wise to explore moving forward. It was interesting.

This game started with the Crosby line, as you mentioned, out against that check top line with Pasternak Hurdle and they just out there together. And I thought they really certainly set the tone both for how they'd wind up playing, but also what it's going to take to be successful at this tournament if the first four games we watched are any indication. Like it was just that instant,

dump the puck in after you win to draw at center ice and then work and low to high create a ton of traffic. Marner nearly scores on a rebound if not for a great defensive play to tie him up by hurdle. You know, Marner had a couple of really close calls in vintage Mitch Marner fashion where it was like tantalizingly close to being a highlight real goal but he either didn't take a shot or couldn't pull it off in the last sequence and then finally breaks through with that huge goal to make it two nothing, I believe off the rush. where he just sauces it perfectly over a sprawled defender and Mark Stone is able to tap it in. That's insane, man.

That was such an insane goal. You know, there certainly have been questions about after the Four Nations, whether a guy like Mark Stone could fit in in this type of environment, whether his lack of foot speed would be an issue. And just the dimensions of this ice, like I thought it was very fitting that the goal he scores here was him beating the check defenders to the backposts. essentially to get open for that pass.

And I just think a lot of this stuff is going to be so much more accessible for him. And he's obviously been playing so well and been one of the most productive players in the league when he's been in the lineup of Vegas all season. But that line was clicking. And really it kind of just snowballed from there. You have any other notes on that Crosby line?

We've talked about McDavid and Celebrini, or do you want to get into some of the other stuff? I just think they were able to play really fast. Right? They looked fast. And that first shift, So that first shift, I think, mattered a ton in terms of setting a tone. And then you get the McDavid hit.

I think those two sequences were huge. But the pace at which that line was able to play, despite, you know, what we were thinking of is sort of a change-up relative to the hyper speed of the other Canadian forward lines, I thought they may have played as fast as just about anyone that's not wearing the number 97. So, yeah, I think whether it's the environment or just the way that they're all so efficient in terms of their movement, it really worked and it worked at pace. And that was probably the thing that surprised me caught me most off guard relative to my expectations for this Canada team in this game. I thought it was a masterful debut for them. You know, a lot of smart choices clearly made by this Canadian coaching staff and a lot of them really paid off in a game that I think we expected.

to be pretty difficult, a potential landmine for Canada right out of the gate. And like those finding immediately they had sort of a top line and what ultimately was used as a second line with that Crosby line that just immediately had it, had legs, had chemistry, we're both playing fast, we're both winning a ton of battles. So yeah, I mean, a really impressive game from them. The other thing I thought was notable about that line, by the way, just really quick was they used, and Canada as a team did this really well, where they used so much of the offensive zone,

but were so disciplined about making sure that all of their shots came from the middle of the ice. Like there just wasn't a perimeter shot taken at any point by Team Canada. And I felt like that line was really representative, the way that they got their defenders involved, some of the sort of interchanges up high, some of the stuff that worked down low, but it all translated into shot attempts from, you know,

between the hash mark. whether they were high shots or low shots. I just thought the overall expand the zone, but only take shots from a narrow band approach was evident on every Canadian line, but I felt like it was most prominent that sort of usage of space, but combined with the discipline in terms of where

the actual attack stemmed from when that trio was on the ice together. Well, and those concepts are right up The alley from a car certainly, but I think Thomas Harley as well. Yes. You could see that in this game where he just fits in so well riffing off of those sequences. You know, I feel like my last note, I'm McDavid, and then I really want to focus on some of the other guys, but that performance was so scintillating.

We could spend the entire show talking about it. How about that first shift, his first ever Olympic shift, just completely lighting up Sedlack, and then it leads to a celebrini chance from the slot off the forecheck, and then it goes back the other way and draws a penalty. And then, you know, that power play, we should talk about that a little bit. We only saw, I believe, two opportunities for them in this one. The first one didn't result in a goal, but they created like four or five really good looks off of it. And interestingly, using those three right shots down low in a triangle, essentially, with Ryanhart in the bumper and then McDavid and Crosby on the peripheries.

And then we saw eventually it led to the goal in the third period where McDavid and Crosby interchange. and everyone is going to be so fixated on McDavid, understandably so, that it allows the second best player in the world or third best player, Nathan McKinn to just be as unmanned as he's ever going to be, just waltzing down to the backpost and just tapping in the easiest goal he's ever going to score. And so I thought that was really encouraging. I do think, as I've talked about, like, Mark Stone's play in that goal line role is as good as anyone's in the league.

But I'll settle for Sidney Crosby there, I guess. And yeah, and interchanging with with Connor McDavid to make plays like that. Yeah. That wasn't quite a no look pass, right? Like it wasn't quite Magic Johnson Matt Stafford, but it was pretty close. He really at no point, like if you go watch that replay and look at his eyes, he only gave up that the backpost was even an option for him, a split second before he made the pass. It was pretty incredible.

I mean, just sort of tracking McKinnon in the peripherals. You can see the strong side check defender cheating to take away the more obvious pass to Sam Reinhart. And it's only at the last second that his intentions become it all, like, are even tipped remotely. Really incredible stuff from the best player on the planet. All right, buddy, let's take our break here. And then when we come back, we'll jump right back into it. Keep working through our notes from Canada. Check here.

You're listening to the Hockey-Ocast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network. All right, we're back here on the Hockeyedogicast, joined by Thomas Tran. Tom, so as you mentioned earlier, we saw Josh Morrissey get hurt early on. I think he only played like a minute and a half or so in the second period. Yeah. Before departing. Now, it's easier to stomach not only because of the way this game went, but because in this format you do get the dress seven defensemen.

And so it's not like you're playing shorthand and necessarily. I thought it was really nice to see. I thought Dowdy was excellent in this game. Barako, too. He was. But I thought Dowdy specifically, like, you know, a couple of the times, Chequette did look dangerous. with Pastornak and Natchis out there,

they got loose or potentially loose in the first period for a couple odd man opportunities. And one of them was just this outrageous play by Pasternak along the wall where he floats this backhand saucer pass to hit Natchez in stride and he gets a good look. A second one seemed like it was materializing and then Doughty at the blue line made a really nice play

to knock the pass away and eliminate that chance for them essentially. But he had a couple other ones. I thought, was it the 3-0 goal that Horabat scored where it starts with Pashternet and Aches, looking like they're going to attack downhill, and Dowdy does enough standing up at the blue line and not just conceding it to force a dump in. That allows Harley to retrieve it, come around the net, send a nice breakout past a marshand, and then he sets up Horvatt.

And that combo of Harley and Dowdy played really well together here. I believe Harley actually led the team. an ice time in this game. And I thought he looked phenomenal. He made so many beautiful first passes out of the zone to get Canada going in the right direction. And even a somewhat diminished 36-year-old Drew Dowdy compared to what he is in his prime is still so far in a way the most competent partner that Thomas Harley's played with all season. And he clearly seemed to be relishing the opportunity because I thought he looked as good as he's looked

all season and made so many crisp passes. and then some of those offensive zone reads as well. And so if Morrissey is going to be out in his time and we don't know what that status is yet, certainly on the left side, I think they're going to be leaning on Harley, maybe even more than they were expecting heading in. And if he's going to play this well, I don't foresee it being that big of an issue. It certainly leads to some questions further down the lineup, but we saw Shay Theodore mix in as well.

He was the seventh defenseman to start, but was the first guy out quarterbacking PowerPlay 2. And so if he needs to step up, I feel like it's ultimately going to be fine, even though it's certainly not ideal because Morrissey's a heck of a player. Yeah, I don't really think they can afford to lose Morrissey's mobility on this back end. I think that will be a big issue for this sort of specific composition of Canadian team. You know, I think there's just a sort of natural lull in terms of the quality of this back end relative to sort of where it was in 2014. I also think by 2030, it's going to look different when Schaefer and a guy like Landon-Dupon are both 20-plus, right, and probably elevated pretty quickly through the national team system.

It's still a good back-end, though. And I think one of the reasons it's still going to be a good back-end is Shea Theodore is massively underrated. But also, Josh Morrissey is a legit 1A defenseman who I think stylistically fits really well with, either Doughty Pereko, even Sandheim, if you needed to go there. I think it gives them just so much optionality in terms of who they play, where, how they distribute minutes, and who they play with whom. So I think Morrissey's status is going to bear close monitoring. Obviously, I think it's a big hit for this Canadian team to take in the event that this

injury is more significant, just as it was honestly in the four nations final when he was severely sick. And we were white knuckling it through those Sanheim-Pereco shifts, right? I don't want to see Team Canada have to play the United States without Morrissey in the lineup, like, flat out. But I do think they'll have more than enough to survive in part because, you know, I thought Harley settled in. I thought he was a little indecisive with the puck at the offensive blue in the first half of the game. But I think he got better as sort of the game went on. And look, I'm still big Thomas. I'm still holding a lot of Thomas Harley stock, despite his struggles this year. We know how smooth and clever and skilled and connective he can be. But they're going

to need him to play at a really high level if they're going to be without Josh Morrissey for, you know, an extended stretch, whether it's the round robin part of the tournament or into the elimination round. And of course, they cannot at this point replace, you know, add at a player as an injury replacement. So that's a, that's a huge story. And we'll sort of see where it goes. I also think that's, you know, if you have to play the United States without Morrissey in your lineup, to me that's a really significant argument in Bennington's favor, right? Like where the puck handling can help some of your slower D a ton. So I'm hopeful that we don't have to see Canada play too often without Morrissey and that,

you know, him being sort of held out of the game was at least partly a reflection of a 3-0 score. My last note on this is it was nice to see McKinnon get going in the third period. Scores the power play goal, but beyond that was... Well, I had the disallowed one too, right? There were so many stretches. It felt like where, you know, if the check D were like a half step slower, some of his outside lane drives, you know, would have ended up in the slot as opposed to him taking still dangerous shots from tighter angles.

Like, it really felt like McKinnon was, split second away from a hat trick all told tonight, right? So I just want to note how ridiculously dangerous his four eyes looked through the neutral zone despite, you know, the dump and chase nature of this game and the fact that, you know, I thought it took him about, or took his line anyway, about 40 minutes to find chemistry. It did. He really, I mean, they all started to land in the third period, though. Like, I don't know how many rush chances he had, but at least a handful where he was just

galloping straight to the net, essentially, and looking as dangerous as ever. and that probably is the final piece beyond some of the blue line questions if Morrissey's going to be banged up is finding the optimal fit in a do or die game here because I'm not sure this is necessarily the one right now. The Canada, especially after winning this one as decisively as they did, they've got Switzerland tomorrow and then France after, and I fear for France in that game after having watched them play Switzerland. They're going to mix a match. We already saw Cooper doing that here in terms of these. And he does this a lot with the lightning, for example, especially in their top six, where, like, they're probably more diligent than any team in the league about keeping one or two guys from the existing line out there and then getting fresh bodies out there. And then all of a sudden it creates these different combos. And we saw Canada do that. There were all sorts of different mixes and matches between their forward group in this one. They do well, I think, to use these next two games to keep pushing in that direction just to see what sticks in terms of really just. making McKinnon the most dangerous version of himself possible. And I would think Hagle would be one of those solutions

because of his pace and just how good he is at so many little things to connect plays. And it's not a thing against Suzuki. As I said, I thought he had a great game. And if anything, I think he should be promoted and playing with Celebrini and McDavid. But I wonder what that third guy is going to be or if they're going to give

Suzuki a longer look there and just try to build some chemistry. because we spend a lot of time talking about how McDavid is sometimes a bit trickier to play with just because he plays at this unheard of speed. McKinnon is similar, but I'd argue in an even more frantic way because he's just like so jittery and I think probably even less willing to play this dump and chase game and is going to sometimes maybe force the issue in terms of carrying it in. And so finding who that third guy is going to be to make that really click. We'll see what that looks like as this tournament progresses.

Yeah, I do want to. see Seth Jarvis in that spot at some point just because of the pace and forechecking and battle winning the support game right it feels kind of similar to what Hegel was able to do where

you know on broken plays right Hegel's able to sort of get in there at least like turn something into something messier give McKinnon gives Suzuki time to arrive it felt like Canada was able to generate some looks off of plays like

that and I just feel like Jarvis can do it at a really high level. So I'm hopeful we'll see that at some point because when I think through their options in my mind's eye, that's the fit. Like that's the guy that stands out to me as sort of maybe best able to compliment him. Although obviously we didn't see it today. And it didn't matter. I mean, he was still incredible. Or you just give them time. I mean, at the end of the day, too, by the third period, it looked like McKinnon, Hagle and Suzuki were finding something pretty serious in terms of, you know, understanding where one another were and interplaying off of one another to create looks on sort of stationary or more stationary in zone offensive zone shifts.

So, yeah, I mean, I would say this coaching staff didn't really seem to put a foot out a line here, right? There's not much to second guess. At most, you can say the McKinnon line didn't really find chemistry until the third period, but if that's your, if that's your concern, I don't,

midpicks. Yeah, that means your, your team went guerrilla mode and certainly candidate did against Chekia. Do you want to do some, unless you've got anything else

to add on this game, kind of blow all the conversation and talk about just the start of this tournament. Yeah. And it would be some of our overarching takes and applying them to, uh, to the rest of the games we go along.

Yeah, let's do it. I mean, the neutral zone stuff to me is, is the standout. I think the neutral zone stuff is the main reason. and why this looks and feels different than NHL hockey to me.

It's so Mickey Mouse in terms of it just looks comically small, relatively speaking, and I think totally does change the dynamic. I think we've seen that already. As the game progressed, I think partly because of the score and I imagine Chekiya just feeling like overwhelmed

and defeated by that point. Canada was able to get loose in transition and really rack up the totals, but I don't think that final number is reflective of what the first 30 to 40 minutes of this game really looked like. And that's what this entire tournament has looked like so far. And we're only a couple of games in.

But it's really been evident to me how much of a dump-and-chaise game, these games are turning into in terms of offensive teams being even more willing to do so. Because I think it allows you to just get in on the defender so much faster because you would just have less ground to cover. And so you can really get in there. And, you know, the physicality has been through the roof so far in these games. games. It's almost looked like NHL playoff hockey to me compared to group stage international play. And that is, I think, very exciting and should be really fun to watch moving forward.

But it's essentially been dump the puck in, get in there, retrieve it, and then initiate the cycle. And all the scoring chances so far reflect that. Like it's really been the majority of the offense these teams have been creating, especially the favorites. It feels like that's kind of a way you can you can lean on your opposition and take advantage of the talent gap, just kind of forcing them into mistakes, going back under pressure and making plays as opposed to weaving through the neutral zone with pure skill. And it's interesting. We'll see how it plays out. I still think skill and foot speed are going to be very important in taking advantage of those opportunities. But some of the quibbles we had in terms of the selections for these top teams were generally oriented around

us viewing it as less ambitious options because we like the players who would have been alternatives. And these teams clearly, in building out their rosters, prioritized, like, specific skills and being able to play however you want to describe it, like a kind of grittier, tougher game. And we probably are going to see more of those sequences than I feel like I was anticipating for whatever reason heading in where I just thought skill was going to win the day. And it still certainly might. But you're going to have to, I think, grind out possessions and goals in, in different ways compared to what we're expecting heading in. Yeah, and I do think it should be not an equalizer,

but I think it should, like I think Canada is at a relative disadvantage with the specific composition of this team, given that one of their big edges is, you know, four guys that at the NHL level we see on a regular basis just absolutely slice through the neutral zone as puck carriers and, you know, threaten both as shooters but also as playmakers. I'm obviously talking Celebrini McKinnon, McDavid, and Mitch Marner, although Marner does it at sort of a glide pace relative to those other three.

You know, I think there's, I do think that that edge that Canada should have is not blunted even, but is just relatively different than it might have been on a sheet with full NHL dimensions. And likewise, I think the faster defensive groups are going to be, at a slight advantage, which is, again, why the Morrissey thing is so key for Canada, why McCar looking like he was banged up at points in this game, felt like, you know, not a red flashing light, but certainly a warning indicator, right, that I'd like to keep my eye on here.

And then, yeah, I thought also you could see it for, like, Sweden, right? Like Sweden's defense, it looked like they were stressed out by an Italian counterattack here and there. And that, to me, is signal. Like, that to me is concerning. Like, just once they're playing Finland, the United States, Canada, if their D was struggling with the speed of the Italian roster, right, what's that going to look like in terms of that dump and chase, in terms of those retrievals, you know, color me a little bit worried, right?

Sweden beats Italy and I come away from that game concerned. Finland gets flattened by Slovakia, and I come out of that game with zero concerns because of sort of what it looked like. and where the seams showed in terms of the composition of those teams. So,

yeah, I mean, I really think the frame through which we've got to be viewing what we're seeing now is this is a dump and chase tournament. Like,

this is a dump and chase tournament. Space is at a huge premium in the neutral zone and I think that's going to influence what we're watching and outcome significantly here. I loved so much about that Italy Sweden game.

Yeah, on Wednesday. To your point, though, I cannot believe how impactful Christiano di Jacinto was. It felt like he was getting it on the forecheck and just devouring Sweden's defenders and just laying the body and causing all sorts of changes of possession

and kind of just turning them into helter-skelter mode relative to what you would have expected based on the talent gap between the two. By the way, from that game, and we're getting this fun mashup of sports net TSN broadcasters, which is really fun. And so on the call, you're getting Chris Cuthbert and Mike Johnson. Cuthbert was talking throughout the broadcast because, Luca Freego scored the first goal. And then he became the most trending player on hockey DB because I think everyone was rushing to search up just figuring out more about him.

Yeah. And then later on in the third period, he had a rush. And Cuthbert's call was like, Luca Frigo, trying to get trending again. And I just, I love that. I thought it was so good. That's awesome. Yeah. I think that's going to be a match.

And we haven't seen, you know, Team USA is playing their opener against Latvia soon. We're recording that before we've gotten to watch that. but I just imagine theoretically based on everything we said, this does present the biggest edge for them because assuming they do the right thing and play the six defenders they should accordingly, they're so well positioned to really be the one defense group, in my opinion, in this tournament,

that can handle this in stride without missing a beat just because their guys are so good, especially even a Sanderson who looks like he's going to be lower on the depth chart for this team. He's one of the best retrievers in the NHL. And so his ability to go back and make the first play on that puck and not really sweat the incoming forecheck, which is coming at you faster than it typically is in NHL and get you moving in the right direction is going to be huge for them. And I do wonder if that's going to open offensive opportunities for them because we've kind of lamented some of their choices in terms of not bringing Caulfield and Robertson and DeBrincat where the goal is going to come from for this team. If you play them, I wonder if even a Canada is going to have to turn them.

the dial up a little bit on the forecheck and try to overcompensate potentially by cheating a little bit to send guys in more aggressively than you would to get more bodies in there and try to attack those defenders faster. And that's going to potentially expose you for counter opportunities the other way. And maybe USA is able to break the puck up the ice and all of a sudden get in on three on twos and two on ones maybe more freely than they would if everything was being played on equal terms. So that'll be really fascinating to monitor moving forward. And I mean, we're recording this before Team USA debut. against Lafeya, but their size speed combo up front makes them feel like a nightmare team

to try and break out against. Their speed and depth on the back end makes them feel like an absolute nightmare to try and, you know, disrupt on retrievals. The neutral zone, the short neutral zone, I really do think, relatively speaking, and I'm not laying the groundwork for excuses, but I do think it just adds to how imposing this already already imposing U.S. roster looks to me on paper. I feel like their strengths are perfectly suited for this ice sheet. And by the way, you're calling it Mickey Mouse?

I wish there were more, I wish there was more diversity in NHL ice sheets. I think that would be fun. I think it would be fun if there was a team that we were making fun of all the time because of their short neutral zone in the way they played and if it impacted their player acquisition and sort of more like the baseball thing. You know, where the short porch at Yankee Stadium or, you know, the wide, foul sort of territory in the old Oakland A's stadium, like where that stuff influences outcomes,

I would love that. And then we'd have to work so hard to adjust our underlying data to accommodate it. I mean, I don't know. Bring me some of that. Bring me a short neutral zone in the NHL and a team that builds, you know, to bump and grind up front

with a bunch of puck movers on the back end. That sounds fantastic. Yeah. No, listen, I'm for it in terms of diversity of rinks baseball stadium style. Get like, let's go. Get a rink with some comically oversized nets and it's going to have a

Coors field effect like juicing everyone's goal total because the goalies just cannot cover. Like you have soccer style nets back there. Or like one team plays on a bigger ice sheet and just like solely drafts Europeans and plays like a stodgy puck possession game. I mean, that would be fun.

I'd love to see it to be honest with you because you know, as much as this does look and feel different than NHL hockey and will have certain implications, some of which I probably am not going to be fond of. Like I don't love seeing Spitzel base be at this big a premium in the neutral zone. That's that's kind of not what we want. I think generally speaking, we want guys making incredible plays at max speed as often as possible

in this game. But, you know, like, these games have been fun as heck, right? And so, you know, when I say it doesn't look quite like the NHL game, that's not necessarily dismissive or negative or critical. Everything I'm seeing, I just want more of. Like, just I would consume this hockey in through, by way of intravenous if I could. Well, I was viewing it through the lens

for the advantage of Team USA with the mobility of their blue line and the skill in retrievals, but you're right, I think you make a great point, like some of the range and reach of their forwards that we've talked about, like, consider a Matt Boldy or a Tage Thompson or an Austin Matthews. Like, they're going to have to take two strides

through the neutral zone and they're already going to be below the goal line on the forecheck, essentially. I think it's going to be quite an interesting dynamic to watch. The other one that I've noticed in these games so far is you know, you talk about how it's like more high event and part of it is we've generally so far seen a big talent gap between one team and then the other other than I guess, um, Slovakia, Finland for the most part.

And even then, and even then, there was a pretty like crooked number on the shot totals. And I think part of it is it seems like the, the shot data is much more loosey-goosey than it is in the NHL because I don't think they're going back and spending time auditing these numbers, it seems like they're just adding a shot to a scoreboard whenever the puck is vaguely within the vicinity of the net, even if it was going to go wide or it didn't even necessarily make it on target. But the scoring chances have been elevated compared to what you see typically in the HL2. And I think part of that is some of these offensive zone sequences, teams are initiating it so much quicker. And then you're

able to pile up two or three of them in a 20-second span in one of those shifts as opposed to back and forth rush hockey where sometimes you go a couple minutes without anything happening. Like stuff's piling up here, I think, in much higher volume and much higher frequency than we're used to. And maybe that'll tighten up a little bit once we get into the elimination rounds. And maybe teams are going to approach it a little bit differently. But I do think this is probably going to be quite a different product in terms of some of these numbers and totals than what the Four Nations final was where it felt like it was impossible to generate a shot. So I think that's an important note.

And I thought Chequio was a really good example of it. Like the shot count does not reflect the flow of play, right? As your scoring chance numbers more accurately depict, that was a three for one game, right? But the shot count or what, there were 60 total shots in that game at least, right? Yes, 36, 26. So, and you know, so I think there's, I think you're right. This is, you know, the short neutral zone does not necessarily mean lower event hockey. in fact, it kind of makes it bumper car hockey with, you know, and that's that finish game

against the Slovaks was a perfect example. Like that was incredibly high event. That looked nothing like what we saw at the four nations. And, and I don't even say that critically, right? Like these have been very fun, very fast games. Well, in BXO was talking about this on the broadcast yesterday, you know, international style in zone defending is much different than the NHL version in terms of you prioritize like compacting the zone in almost Vegas golden night style just trying to like pack the house and you're not letting and that's so different than NHL hockey in 25 26 where everyone is almost trying to defend like the hurricanes where you're pressuring up at the points and you're not giving any conceding

any free space and in this one as we talked about with Harley and McCarr like some of these defensemen are being able to rotate and step into downhill shots with space at the top of the circle that's just not really available to them at 5-1-5 hockey in the NHL so um you Yeah. My one final note on this, you tweeted about this yesterday, no digital ads on the boards. Yes. And the visual pollution, I think we just all become desensitized to from watching NHL hockey every day has been really nice. And, you know, I'll add to that. I'm very thankful that we get to do this for a living and do this every day and talk about this stuff together and break it down. But I did feel like we were reaching the dog days of the regular season, especially before the trade headline of like it just felt like the same.

song and dance every night. You look up, it's 12 games. You don't even know who's going to be available because of injuries, what the motivation is going to be like. A team's playing a third game in a fourth night. And all of a sudden now this just feels like such a breath of fresh air where it's not only different teams and different combinations, but everyone is going so hard because of the goal differential in the group stages.

You're seeing like McDavid was out there with a minute left in a five-nothing game, pushing for offense and trying to score. It's almost like NBA Cup style because of the differential factor where teams are going to be trying to run up the score potentially. And so I just feel like all those elements have been sorely needed and I'm really appreciating them. And we're only a day and a half into this tournament. But I already can't wait to just digest as much of it as I possibly can over the next two weeks.

Yeah. And, you know, there was a shift in the first period where McKinnon tried to move at the blue line. It didn't quite work. And then he'd sort of tried to dump. it off to Pereco and it just didn't quite go off. I wouldn't say Pereko necessarily mishandled it or that McKinnon missed the past. It was like a high difficulty play and it didn't quite go off.

And the checks didn't exactly counter with like speed and numbers, but it was a potentially dangerous. And you could just see McKinnon and Pereko, two of the like most athletic human beings in the league back checking with this level of like passion and intensity that honestly like we don't even see always in the playoffs. Right. It's like you see it in a third period of a close game in the playoffs. You see it in overtime and you see it in game seven.

But they were just absolutely emptying the tank to get back. And then you saw a McDavid version of it on a potential, I think it was like a three on two that he made into a three on three. And it's just like this highlight real back check from the best offensive player and the fastest mover on ice. And that's not something we're seeing when we're watching February NHL hockey. Like it's just not. We're just not seeing that level of, you know, urgency from the best players in the world. But you can feel it every single shift when these guys are representing their country. The players wanted to be there and it shows in terms of the product that they're putting on ice.

And how can you not love that? Like, how can you not watch McDavid send a message on behalf of Canada as a Canadian and not immediately just be like, heck yeah, man. Like, heck yeah. It was, yeah. I honestly, like, pinch me. The fact that we just get to watch Canada play again tomorrow, the fact that we get to watch the United States play, you know, later this afternoon.

I mean, this is what it's all about. This is incredible. And, you know, it's incredible because you can tell every single shift, every single moment, how much it matters to all of these guys on the ice. And let's be real. That's something we see a lot in the playoffs, but we don't see a lot during the dog days of the NHL season. Yep, completely co-assigned that.

All right, buddy, this is a lot of fun. What do you want to promote on the way out? Got a lot of stuff going on at the athletic. Got a lot of stuff going on on Canucks Talk. Canucks Talk also is basically becoming a de facto post-game show. And tomorrow we'll be live on 650 during the Canada, Switzerland game. You and I for an hour tomorrow. That's 1 to 2 p.m. Pacific time.

So if you want like an alternative listen while you're watching the game, Dimitri and I will be watching and breaking down Switzerland, Canada live and trying to avoid doing any play by play as we talk about the Olympic tournament while it's going on. I'm not going to lie, man. I'm such a team Canada homer when it comes to men's hockey that it's going to be difficult for me. Like I was on the, I was on Halford and Brough this morning when Celebrini got the opener. You know what I mean? I'm just like, yes. And they're like, whoa, we don't do spoilers on this program. I'm like, geez, man. I can't help it. Sorry. Good stuff, buddy. All right. Well, yeah. So you and I will be.

on your program on Friday. So check that out. You and I will be back together. We're going to switch up the schedule a little bit. We're going to do Monday morning, I believe, this week, instead of the Sunday evening usual for the Sunday special, because it's the day off between the group stage and the next qualification round. And so we're going to take stock of everything and catch up then.

In the meantime, I'll have a bunch of post game shows coming one each day at the very least till then. So please check those out, subscribe to the Patreon. I'm writing up some of this stuff with the scoring chance data and other takeaways on there as well and getting up at 3 a.m. every day for the love of the game because I love this so much, but also to bring you all the content and make sure we cover everything. So please check that out. Thank you for listening to the HockeyPedioCast streaming on the Sportsnet Radio Network.