World Cup of Hockey Finals 2016: TV Schedule, Live Stream for Canada vs. Europe
Canada vs. Europe is not the final that everyone expected to see in the World Cup of Hockey, but because the United States team was such an abject failure, it's the championship matchup hockey fans will get.
And the clash has a bit of a David-vs.-Goliath feel to it.
Canada and Europe will engage in best-of-three championship final, with the games scheduled for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (if necessary). All three games will be held in Toronto, will be televised by the ESPN family of networks and will be live-streamed on WatchESPN.
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The first game will be played at 8 p.m. ET and broadcast by ESPN.
The Canadians are the top-heavy and powerful favorites who most expected to win the title when rosters were announced last spring. Team Europe, meanwhile, appeared to be one of the weaker entries in the eight-team tournament, as it appeared beset by age and a lack of speed.
| Europe at Canada | Sept. 27 | 8 p.m. | ESPN | WatchESPN |
| Canada at Europe | Sept. 29 | 8 p.m. | ESPN2 | WatchESPN |
| Europe at Canada (if necessary) | Oct. 1 | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 | WatchESPN |
When the two teams met in the round robin, the Canadians came away with a 4-1 victory. However, Team Europe has picked up quite a bit of steam since that loss, and it earned its way in the medal round and upset Sweden 3-2 Sunday in overtime.
Tomas Tatar scored the winning goal at 3:43 of the extra session.
The reason the Europeans have been able to turn things around and get to the championship round is that they have avoided mistakes and taken advantage of their opportunities. They have strong veteran leadership in center Anze Kopitar and defensemen Zdeno Chara and Roman Josi, and they don't try to force offensive opportunities that aren't there.
Canada head coach Mike Babcock is not often prone to hyperbole when assessing his team's opponents. However, he likes what he sees in Team Europe.
"You put all those countries together, there's lots of good players there," Babcock said, per ESPN.com writer Pierre LeBrun. "I like their back end, I like the goaltending, I think they've done a real good job through the middle of the rink with their team."
While the Europeans have discovered how to survive and advance, Canada has been a dynamic force in international hockey. It has outscored opponents 19-6 in this year's tournament and has reeled off 14 consecutive international victories since Sweden won Olympic gold in the 2006 Torino Olympics.
The Canadians rolled into the final after taking down Russia by a 5-3 margin in Saturday's semifinal. When they fell behind 2-1 in the second period, Brad Marchand scored the tying goal late in the same period and the go-ahead goal early in the third.
The line of Marchand, Boston Bruins teammate Patrice Bergeron and Sidney Crosby has been the dominant trio in the tournament, and it will be tough for Team Europe to hold them in check.
Crosby leads Canada in scoring with seven points, while Marchand has five. Bergeron is one of six Canadian players who has scored four points.
Mats Zuccarello has scored four points to lead the Europeans, while Kopitar and Christian Ehrhoff have scored three each.
Clearly, the Canadians have an edge in firepower.
Jaroslav Halak has had an outstanding tournament in net for the Europeans. He has a 3-1 record, a 1.96 goals-against average and a .947 save percentage, according to the World Cup of Hockey website. Canadian goaltender Carey Price has a 3-0 record with 1.67 GAA and .948 save percentage.
As good as Halak has been to this point in the tournament, he is going to have to be even better to lead his team to an upset over the powerful Canadians.
It doesn't look likely, but then again, who gave David much of a chance against Goliath?
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