Key takeaways:
- Team Canada plays the United States on Friday in the next game.
- Benjamin Street #10 of Team Canada marks his goal with teammates Eric O’Dell #19 and Owen Power #22 during the first half against Team Germany during their opening-round match at the Winter Olympic Games at Wukesong Sports Centre on Thursday in Beijing.
Canada’s hockey journey starts with a win:
Ben Street netted a goal and an assist as Canada’s Olympic men’s hockey squad stormed out of the gate early before moving to a 5-1 win over Germany on Thursday at the Beijing Games.
Alex Grant, Daniel Winnik, Maxim Noreau, and Jordan Weal also scored in both nations’ tournament opener, while Eric O’Dell and Kent Johnson added two assists each. Edward Pasquale earned 23 saves.
Tobias Rieder responded for Germany, which worried another group of Canadian non-NHLers in the semifinals of the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang.
Mathias Niederberger saved 22 attempts.
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In a dramatic twist, Hockey Canada declared moments before warmup that Claude Julien, who had been tabbed to train the squad before hurting his ribs during training camp in Switzerland, had joined the group and would continue his duties following the match. Jeremy Colliton, who footed in to fill Julien’s gap, will now retreat to an assistant’s position.
The United States beat China 8-0 in Group A’s other match.
The match at Wukesong Sports Centre, which hosted basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics, didn’t feature the star might hockey fans expected two months ago after the NHL removed from the event because of COVID-19 problems.
And while the preferences of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Leon Draisaitl, and Tim Stutzle were thousands of kilometers out for the 9:10 p.m. regional opening in front of a few hundred flag-waving Chinese viewers, the match still had name recognition from a Canadian view.
