Canada tangles with Slovenia in world hockey opener
Last Updated: Friday, May 2, 2008 | 2:06 PM ET
CBC Sports
Ryan Getzlaf will try to have more success with Canada at the world championship than he did with Anaheim in this year's NHL playoffs. (Mike Dembeck/Canadian Press)Ryan Getzlaf is probably still smarting about an early playoff exit in this year's Stanley Cup playoffs, but his hockey focus is about to shift.
The Anaheim Ducks centre will join 22 fellow Canadians on the ice in Halifax on Friday (3:30 p.m. ET) as they open defence of their world men's championship against Slovenia.
"When you've been skating every day for the last six or seven months you get used to being in the swing of it," the Regina-born Getzlaf, whose defending Cup champion Ducks were ousted in six games by Dallas in Round 1, said. "It takes time to get back into it."
Getzlaf, who had five points in those six games, might not have much trouble regaining that form if, as expected, he opens the 12-team tournament skating on a line with wingers Dany Heatley of the Ottawa Senators and Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Canadian coach Ken Hitchcock paid close attention to Heatley and Getzlaf at the team's training camp.
"Players that have gone deep in the first series [of the NHL playoffs] or have had disappointing ends to their season, our job is to get those guys engaged right now," Hitchcock told reporters.
Heatley and the Senators were swept in four games by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference quarter-finals.
One group of players Hitchcock isn't concerned with are his goalies.
Columbus' Pascal Leclaire and Carolina's Cam Ward missed the Stanley Cup playdowns and had time to prepare for the recent five-day camp in Quebec City, which included two exhibition games.
Ward, who won 37 games with a 2.74 goals-against average for the Hurricanes this season, will get the call Friday.
Leclaire, who finished second to Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers in shutouts with nine this season, boasted a 2.25 GAA and .919 save percentage in a career-high 54 games this season.
"The goaltending's been excellent," said Hitchcock. "It's been really good in practice and really, really good in the games. Both guys have played great and that's why we're going to give both guys a go here."
Slovenia is led by six-foot-four, 220-pound centre Anze Kopitar, fresh off a 32-goal, 77-point campaign with the Los Angeles Kings.
Slovenia and Canada, which beat Finland in last year's gold-medal game, are in Pool B along with the United States and Latvia.
The Canadians play seven games total in Halifax — May 4 against Latvia, May 6 versus the U.S., plus qualification games and a quarter-final.
Halifax is also hosting Pool C games featuring Finland, Germany, Norway and Slovakia.
Quebec City will have both semifinals and final as well as play from pools A and D.
Teams in Pool A are Sweden, Switzerland, Belarus and France, while teams in Pool D are the Czech Republic, Russia, Denmark and Italy.
The tournament runs through May 18 with games in Halifax and Quebec City. The gold-medal game will be held at Pepsi Colisée.
The last host country to win the world championship was the Soviet Union in 1986.
Excluding the Olympics, the tourney has been held 60 times and the host country has won gold on just six occasions.
