Canada has been truly dominant during six-plus years of perfection
TORONTO — Five players from the last Canadian team to lose in the best-on-best format have retired. Another spent last season playing in Germany.
Indeed, it’s been a while since Team Canada dropped its last game, a 5-3 decision to the United States in the preliminary round of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. The Canadians have been on a remarkable tear in the nearly seven years since, winners now of 16 straight games and three straight best-on-best tournaments, including two Olympic gold medals and the 2016 World Cup.
“Everyone wants to beat you when you’re playing for Team Canada,” tournament MVP Sidney Crosby said. “There’s a lot of expectations when you play here, we understand that.”
The numbers during the unbeaten run are staggering: Canada has outscored its opponents 62-20 and outshot them 40-26 on average. The Canadians have been outshot in only seven of 50 periods. They’ve been outshot in a game only once.