With three minutes to go in Canada’s confidence-restoring 8-2 win Tuesday against Germany, the sea of red at GM Place began chanting "We want Russia! We want Russia!" Be careful. They want us, too.
Behind every great Canadian hockey story are the evil Russians. At least that’s how it was until the Soviet Union’s breakup, Team USA and the end of imperialism in hockey dimmed the old rivalry over the last 20 years.
But tonight’s titanic matchup between Canada and Russia, between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, between us and them, has the capacity to define what was once the fiercest feud in hockey for an entire generation of fans who have no vivid memory of the 1972 Summit Series and an old tournament called The Canada Cup.
Canada has not beaten Russia at the Olympics since 1960.
For context, Fidel Castro was mopping up the Cuban Revolution and Francis Gary Powers’ U2 spy plane hadn’t yet been shot down when Canada beat the Soviet Union 8-5 in Squaw Valley on its way to a silver medal.
The Soviets/Unified Team/Russians are 8-0 against Canada since then, but only one of those games was in the last 18 years. No wonder the rivalry waned. Russia’s 2-0 victory at the Turin Olympics in 2006 ended Canada’s misery in that tournament. If Russia hadn’t euthanized the Canadians, any number of other teams could have. But this is a different Canadian team -younger, faster, more talented, more confident. And that pretty much describes the Russians, too.
"It’s just a dream matchup for everybody," Canadian defenceman Dan Boyle said. "Growing up as a kid, that was a huge rivalry. We’re lucky to be part of it. Let’s get it on."
Team Canada captain Scott Niedermayer, the only player with gold medals from the Olympics, world senior and junior championships, World Cup and Memorial Cup, said he can’t remember the last time his team beat the Russians.
Canadian goalie Roberto Luongo, who has regularly represented his country internationally several times in the last decade, doesn’t think he has played them since the 1999 world junior final in Winnipeg, where he made 43 saves in a 3-2 overtime loss decided by former Vancouver Canuck Artem Chubarov.
"I think the exciting part about international hockey is there are so many great rivalries," Niedermayer said. "Obviously, the history is there with the Russians. I guess maybe in my career there have been [more] big games against the U.S. But this is a big game; this is why people were excited about this tournament from the start."
We just didn’t expect to be seeing Canada-Russia in the quarter-finals.
Canada’s 5-3 loss Sunday against the Americans forced the host nation into Tuesday’s elimination game against Germany and the tougher side of the playoff bracket. So far so good.
But Canada’s three wins are against Norway, Switzerland and Germany -not exactly a murderers’ row on ice unless you’re racing bobsleighs.
Still, Canada won the game it had to have Tuesday and Luongo, more than anybody, should benefit from the warm-up.
Installed after Sunday’s loss by coach Mike Babcock as Canada’s new starter, replacing his east-end Montreal neighbour Marty Brodeur, Luongo made 21 saves against Germany and was blameless on the two goals that beat him.
Germany had Marco Sturm, Jochen Hecht and Marcel Goc. Russia, 2-0-1, has Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Semin.
"It didn’t really feel like I hadn’t played in a week," Luongo, the Canucks’ captain, said. "I’ve worked hard my whole career for situations like this. I’m very appreciative. It’s nice to see all the hard work paid off."
Luongo waited nearly 12 minutes to make his first save, then somehow stopped Jakub Ficenec’s renowned 70-foot slapshot. The goalie touched the puck more frequently in the second period, when Canada’s untidiness yielded 10 shots and a handful of scoring opportunities for Germany. Luongo’s best save was on Goc’s power-play redirection — a bit of technical, fundamentally sound goaltending that Babcock sought when he dropped Brodeur, the starter at the last two Olympics.
"I thought it was a good thing that we gave him a little action," Babcock said. "It’s good for him. It’s good for us. This is his building. They love him here. He has got to feel real comfortable. We need him to be fabulous [tonight]."
Just as this game could open a new golden era for the Canada-Russia rivalry, it also has the capacity to change the way people view Luongo, who has posted magnificent statistics in the National Hockey League but, at age 30, has never travelled beyond the second round of Stanley Cup playoffs.
During the Canucks’ pre-Olympic road trip, Luongo took his team to Umberto Cerbone’s restaurant in South Florida. Luongo is married to Umberto’s daughter, Gina. It was all-Italian — lots of kissing and hugging, many relatives, and great food and conversation. There was excited chatter about the Olympics and how much it would mean to Roberto.
When Babcock named Brodeur his starter after Luongo shut out Norway 8-0 in Canada’s tournament opener, Luongo said it wasn’t about him, but about his team. He was there to do whatever was asked, to serve the country his own father, Tony, moved to from Italy before Roberto was born.
"We’re here to play for our country," Luongo was still saying Tuesday. "There’s no individualism here. We’re all working for the same goal here -to win the gold medal. In the future, 20 years down the road, nobody’s going to remember who played in goal. But they’ll remember that we won."
imacintyre@vancouversun.com
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