Monday, February 18, 2002
Canada takes its first steps
By AL STRACHAN -- Team Sun
PROVO, Utah -- It may have been the party line, but it was consistent. The Canadians felt that their 3-2 win over Germany was a step in the right direction.
"Yes it is," forward Jarome Iginla said. "It's a lot of steps in the right direction. It's our first Olympic win. We wanted to support each other better. As a five-man group, we played better, and defensively we were stronger.
"There's no doubt that we can be stronger, but we're definitely moving in the right direction."
"It was another stepping stone for us," forward Joe Nieuwendyk said. "We have to get much better in a short period of time and I think it's important that we take a step forward every time out.
"The more we play together, the better we'll be."
OPTIMISTIC
Eric Lindros was as optimistic as everybody else.
"Obviously, we had a lot of chances and we didn't bear down," he said. "Well, we bore down, but we didn't find the back of the net. But I thought, overall, there was some progress made."
Again and again, the Canadian forwards said that even though the progress might not have been evident to the fans, the players felt themselves jelling into a team.
"It's good for us," Brendan Shanahan said. "We're getting to know each other better. We had more scoring chances.
"We're getting closer. We're better than we were the other night and we're getting better."
Today, they will have to be better still against the Czech Republic.
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
