Canada Denies It’s Built for the U.S.

When Canada announced its men’s Olympic hockey roster, defenseman Rob Blake declared that it was geared for the United States and to remedy faults the U.S. exposed in defeating Canada in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

But Bob Clarke, general manager of Canada’s men’s hockey team, bristles at the thought that Canada, which still considers itself the world’s premier hockey nation, would react to the U.S. in any fashion.

“I don’t think we looked at the World Cup team and analyzed it to the point where we would make this team because of losing one game to the Americans,” Clarke said. “We picked the players we thought would best fill roles.”

The Canadian team that began Olympic play Friday against Belarus at Big Hat is younger, grittier and more diverse than the World Cup squad.

“They didn’t necessarily take all-star guys. They picked [players for] certain roles,” defenseman Chris Pronger said. “That’s vital. We’ve got to jell early and play at a high level. There’s not too much room for error.”

Belarus, led by Mighty Duck defenseman Ruslan Salei--and supplemented for this round by King left wing Vladimir Tsyplakov--defeated France and Germany and tied Japan to win preliminary Group B. Like Kazakhstan, which won Group A and will face Russia today at Aqua Wing, it’s a former Soviet republic and has worked its way up from the C Pool at the world championships to A Pool status.

However, the Russian team believes its unity under a new coach--Vladimir Jurzinov--will enhance players’ spirits and produce a better showing than its 2-3 finish in the World Cup. Duck goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov is expected to start in goal.

“The World Cup was a different attitude,” defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. “We had nothing to prove. We are more of a team now. Nobody expects much from the Russian team now, and that’s good.”

In the other game, Finland, bolstered by NHL scoring leader Teemu Selanne of the Ducks and King defenseman Aki Berg, played the Czech Republic at Aqua Wing. The Czechs rely heavily on right wing Jaromir Jagr, who trails Selanne by a point in the scoring race, with 67, and on goalie Dominik Hasek, who is tied for the NHL lead with seven shutouts.