Jarome Iginla and Team Canada finished the first period ahead 1-0, before cruising to a 7-2 opening win.

Canada finds legs,
rolls past Italy
By Phil Coffey | NHL.com
Feb. 15, 2006

TORINO, Italy -- Team Canada made an emphatic statement Wednesday as it began the defense of its Olympic crown, namely that once the Canadians get their legs going, they appear to be nearly unbeatable.

That certainly proved to be the case against the host team, Italy, Wednesday, as Canada netted five second-period goals en route to a 7-2 win that was a bit more dicey than it appears.

Team Canada appeared to be a weary lot in the first period against Italy at the Palasport Olimpico in the first game of the preliminary round, leading only 1-0 after the first 20 minutes.

"I don't how it looked, but it felt like a fast first period," said Calgary Flames forward Jarome Iginla, who scored Canada's first goal at 5:33 of the first on a shot from the right circle. The remainder of the period saw the Canadians misfire on some shots and passes, a sign that the cohesiveness that was apparent later was lacking at the start.

Once the Italians tied the score with a power-play goal 43 seconds into the second, it was like alarm clocks began ringing all along the Canadian bench.

And those alarms ended up ringing the bell of Italian goalie Jason Muzzatti, a former NHLer. He was under siege for virtually the entire second period, surrendering five goals as an unfortunate run of mistakes by his teammates opened the floodgates for Canada's superior talent.

Smiles abounded among the Canadians after the game, with the players happy to have come through the Olympic's first test unscathed.

On Thursday, Team Canada faces Team Germany, while Team Italy will meet Team Finland.

"In the first period we got a little tired," said Canadian forward Todd Bertuzzi, who had two assists in the game. "Then, we got our legs going."

And the show was on, helped by the Italians, who consistently lost the battle with the larger Canadian forwards in front of Muzzatti, unintentionally setting screens in front of their goalie that allowed goals by Shane Doan and Jarome Iginla. Another big mistake saw the Italians make a bad line change that resulted in a two-on-none break that resulted in a slam-dunk goal by Dany Heatley.

"Yeah, we made a bad change," Italian forward Andre Signoretti said. "You give up a bad goal to them and it's tough to recover."

But if the Italians were awestruck to play against their more famous opponents, it didn't show early on, and even after the score got out of hand, the Italians continued to play hard.

"They were excited to play us," Canadian goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "They came out pretty good."

To a man, the Canadians rejected the idea that fatigue and jet leg were any kind of a factor in the game, especially in the sluggish first period.

Large Canadian forwards, like Todd Bertuzzi, mucked it up and created havoc for the Italians.

"Hey, you just deal with it," Doan said. "There is definitely a toll, but I remember in pee-wee hockey when we played five games in three days. They had great emotion and passion. They battled and it was fun. When they scored, the crowd really got into it. It was a terrific atmosphere. But we got our legs in the second period, but we gave them a lot of chances and they pushed us."

"Once it's game day, you don't think about the plane trip," said Iginla, who scored two goals in the win. "It's the Olympics. It's a great atmosphere and you're playing for Canada.

"We had a lot of respect for Italy," Iginla continued. "They had some good chances."

But the Canadians had even more and finished with a 50-20 edge in shots. The goal parade followed. Heatley made it 2-1 just 1:55 into the second. Doan scored on a backhand that Muzzatti was screened on at 5:38. Iginla netted a power-play goal at 6:04 and Marty St. Louis made it 5-1 at 13:53, followed by Tampa Bay Lightning teammate Brad Richards at 14:38.

Italy's John Parco finished out the scoring at 18:08 of the second.

"We approached it like any other game," said the Canadian-born Signoretti, who played at Ohio State and then two seasons in the ECHL before starting play in Italy in 2002-03. "I thought we did an excellent job. The fans were really into it. I hope this Olympics brings back interest in hockey. It was very big here 15 years ago. This is good for us."

And Team Canada certainly wasn't complaining either.