Top 5 Moments of the World Cup of Hockey
- Dec 12, 2016
- 5 min read
The World Cup of Hockey 2016 was a best-on-best tournament featuring the best players from the original six hockey countries of Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and the Czech Republic. This stems from the Canada Cup, a tournament held five times between 1976 and 1991, where these six countries competed against each other for the Cup. However, Canada and the Soviet Union were the only two legitimate teams, and they always faced off in a polarizing finals that were as much politics as they were sport, Canada versus the USSR, capitalism versus communism. The World Cup of Hockey was held in 1996 and 2004, with the United States and Canada winning, respectively. However, due to the system being old, in 2016, the organisers of the tournament decided to add in Team Europe, comprising of players from European countries who weren’t represented in any of the four European tournament and consisting of players from eight different countries; and Team North America, a dangerous and skilled team made of under-23 players from Canada and the United States.
The World Cup of Hockey featured world-class talent on all teams, including the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and Auston Matthews. Each team had a different narrative, and while Canada ended up winning (as it does about 99 percent of the time), the other teams put up an impressive effort, especially Team Europe, once considered the “worst team in the tournament,” but who ended up playing in the final against Canada.
Now, on to the top 5 moments of the World Cup!
Number 5 – Auston Matthews’s First Goal on a Large World Stage
Team North America was known throughout the tournament as a team of speed and skill, and this goal was no different from their previous ones. In this game against Sweden, Connor McDavid, team captain, came roaring into the offensive zone, dangling players back and forth as if he had the puck on his stick, and he had almost made it to the goal line when he took a shot that was blocked by Henrik Lundqvist. However, there is a rebound, and Auton Matthews, who is pushed onto his knees, is able to stickhandle the puck – while on his knees – and pulling it past Victor Hedman from Sweden. He passes across the ice to Morgan Rielly, who takes a shot but is blocked, and the puck goes to Matthews’ stick, leaving the net wide open, where he buries the shot. (Note: Although I did my best to describe this, there are no words that can say how good Matthews’ dangles while on his knees were. I suggest you actually watch the video. Same with all the coming situations.)
Number 4 – Sidney Crosby’s Mind-Boggling Goal Against Russia(!!!!!)
The puck goes into the defensive zone, and Team Russia’s Alexey Marchenko makes a failed attempt to board the puck, sending it to the left side of the Russian zone. Sidney Crosby is right by his side, putting pressure on him, but the puck is picked up by Dmitry Kulikov, who turns right around, trying to bring the puck out of the zone. However, a moment of hesitation by him, and the puck is taken by Crosby, who singlehandedly dangles half the Russian team, gets to the net, and buries a shot on the unsuspecting Sergei Bobrovsky, who certainly did not expect someone to be able to steal the puck from one of his defencemen at such close range. (Note: I will say this again; words fail to describe how amazing Crosby’s play was. You have to see it with your own two eyes.) I could just watch this one over and over and never get bored. How do you do something like that? How? If someone knows, please let me know because I want to score a goal like that someday (in my dreams). iGlobers, let’s just take a moment, no, a couple of moments, to appreciate this goal.
Number 3 – Nathan MacKinnon’s abcdefjkijklmnopqrstuvwxyz(!!!!!!!!) Goal!!!!!
I always get excited when I see this goal, but not as excited as when I see Crosby’s goal. The only reason I put this one ahead of Crosby’s goal is because of the significance of this game for Team North America, and because it was an overtime goal. During this goal (see my last article), Team North America had to win to have a chance at making the semifinals. The game, which contained six breakaways and an incredible display of North America’s dazzling speed, ended when Daniel Sedin of Sweden took a shot on John Gibson, and the puck was taken into the offensive zone by Johnny Gaudreau. Gaudreau took a shot and the puck went out of the zone, but MacKinnon stayed in front of the net, and just as he had anticipated, the puck landed on his stick, he made a series of moves in front of the net, deked out Henrik Lundqvist, and put the biscuit in the basket.
Number 2 – Canada ties the game with 2:53 to go!
I am ashamed of myself for using this many exclamation marks, but this game was hands-down the best hockey game I have ever seen. And I’m not exaggerating. The World Cup of Hockey Final was a best-out-of-three, meaning that whoever won two games first won the tournament. Canada easily took Game 1 over Europe, beating them 3-1 with no effort needed. After that, lots of hockey analysts were saying Europe could make an unlikely comeback, and I was nervous when the second game came rolling around. At first, Europe was leading 1-0, then with 2:53 to go in the waning minutes of the game, Brent Burns takes a long shot, and Joe Thornton and Patrice Bergeron are in front of the net, and Bergeron tips it in. The crowd goes crazy and so do I! And everyone assumes the game will go into overtime….
Number 1 – Canada WINS the World Cup of Hockey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With about 50 seconds to go, the puck is in Team Canada’s zone, and the Canadians are down one man, and it looks as if Team Europe will either score a shorthanded goal and win, or the game will go into overtime tied. No one is expecting Team Canada to score shorthanded. However, with a series of incredible moves, Jonathan Toews dangles three European defencemen and somehow manages to pass the puck back to Brad Marchand who takes the puck and puts it in!! With 43.1 seconds to go, Canada is leading 2-1, and it was a shorthanded goal. My brain cannot think of descriptions for this game, and I’m glad I didn’t turn the TV off when Europe was leading 1-0, because then I would have missed the best game of my life.
So, that’s it for the top 5 moments of the World Cup of Hockey. When I first heard about this tournament, I was dismissive of it, because I thought the NHL was doing it to gain sponsors, but now, I think they should hold this tournament every year. I have never seen so much talent in a single tournament! From Sidney Crosby’s goal to Nathan MacKinnon’s overtime thriller, this tournament gave hockey fans a lot to remember.
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