TORONTO — The image of Team Europe, a roster of players from eight different countries with an average age of 30, jumping up and down on their skates in unison was a pretty cool moment for the World Cup of Hockey.
The sea of white, blue and teal jerseys celebrating with a group hug in the corner of Air Canada Centre wasn’t what anyone expected for this best-on-best tournament, but Team Europe accomplished its goal of coming together as a team and defeated Team Sweden 3-2 in overtime in the semifinals on Sunday.
Most picked Sweden and Team Canada to be in the finals. Team USA was also thought of as a true contender. Finland always finds a way to finish strong in these tournaments. Once many witnessed the speed and talent of Team North America — and how they handled Europe in pretournament play — the idea that Team Europe could even compete at this level was questioned.
Now, this roster of players from Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, France, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia and Austria will face Team Canada in the best-of-three championship starting Tuesday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
“I don’t think anyone wanted us here in this tournament and now we’re in the finals,” said Team Europe forward Mats Zuccarello. “That’s something we’re really proud of and it’s fun to be here, fun to be playing with these guys and having a chance to go this far in a tournament like this.”
Talk to any player from Europe and they’re quick to credit pride as the reason for the team’s success. The idea that building a roster of completely different players seemed ridiculous. No doubt Europe entered this tournament as the laughingstock. It leaned on its motivation, experience and pride to find a cohesiveness and surprised the entire hockey world.
“Because we have no past, and because we have no future, we are really capable of being in the now,” said Team Europe coach Ralph Krueger.
When the NHL and the NHLPA decided to bring back the World Cup of Hockey, there were many unknowns. The sides reached out to Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara, a native of Slovakia, for his opinion. Chara, who speaks eight different languages, was a key architect of Team Europe. After Krueger was named head coach, he met Chara in New York last fall to discuss the strategy. It was during that conversation that Team Europe’s philosophy was born.
“Come together as a team, that was our No. 1 priority,” Chara said. “We talked about a lot of things but nothing can be accomplished, nothing can be done if you don’t come together as a team and play as one, and obviously create some great memories. It’s not going to happen if you’re not going to have everyone on the same page and playing as a team. The No. 1 priority was to bond as a team and become one. Nobody showed any egos and we worked really hard.”
Krueger has been phenomenal for this group and fantastic for this tournament. The players bought into his system and ideas and it’s been that way since Day 1. It’s still unbelievable to think Team Europe has reached the finals of the World Cup of Hockey. Most thought Team North America, a roster of players 23-and-under, would be the Cinderella story in this tournament.
“We really can’t control what’s been said before the tournament, or what was said during the tournament, or what’s going to be said probably now,” Chara said. “All we can control is being in the moment and inside our locker room. It’s obviously something that not many people predicted, but at the same time we came to the tournament with the approach of taking one game at a time and do our best and being really humbled, but at the same time confident in our group and players we have inside that room. We just work really hard and came together as a team.”
Team Europe struck some as a gimmick. It will probably never exist again after this week. However, it does serve a purpose for Krueger and Co. The team set many goals as it prepared for this tournament, but its desire to inspire young children to learn to play the game at the grassroots level is extremely important to Krueger and the players from the eight different nations.
“I came in here saying that we hoped that a few young children back in those countries get inspired by what we do and become great NHL players in 10 years or 12 years, and if that happens when I’m old and retired, I hope that it was a part of this tournament that did that,” Krueger said.
Team Europe beat Sweden. Yes, it’s true. Sweden, a contender in every international tournament lost to a team that did not exist until 13 months ago. To think that Europe can now beat Team Canada also seems like a stretch. But for Europe, pride and confidence is key.
“Anything you want to get done, anything you want to accomplish, you have to believe,” Chara said. “If you’re not going to believe in what you can do, or you can accomplish something and set yourself goals, then you might as well pack it in. The moment you start questioning yourself, that’s a moment too late. You have to believe, you have to set yourself new goals all the time and push yourself always forward.”
