Jeanine+McKay

​U.S. and Canada in Fight for Olympic Hockey Gold
Printed February 28, 2010 By Charles McGrath and Jeff Z. Klein New York Times

There will probably not be a lot of dazzling Olympic-style hockey in the game. Don’t look for fancy stickwork — for dangles, spin-o-ramas, between-the-legs drags. The Europeans are mostly gone, and with them their artistry. Vanoc, the Vancouver group that organized these Winter Games, has said all along that the decision to play the games on an N.H.L.-size rink instead of the larger international surface was practical and financial, not strategic. But the smaller ice has clearly not hurt the Canadians or the Americans. The game will **probably be old-fashioned trench warfare, fought in the corners, along the boards, in the no-man’s land in front of the net.**

The Canadians built a 3-0 lead against Slovakia on Friday night by playing tough, **blue-collar** hockey, but they had to hang on once they began skating around **wildly hurling** themselves at the Slovakian attackers. “I was trying to put the foot on the gas and saying, ‘Let’s go after ’em, let’s go after ’em,’ but that just wasn’t happening,” Babcock said. “Sometimes when you want to win so bad, you can get away from yourself.” He added: “When the fans started chanting, ‘We want the U.S.’ with 14 minutes left, I was scared to death.” All three of Canada’s goals came from **grunt** work in front of the net — a pair of tip-ins, and a rebound swatted in by Ryan Getzlaf after he had been knocked to his knees. The second of these goals was scored by Brenden Morrow, who Babcock freely admits was chosen not for his skill but for his grit.

This is the classic Canadian style — get the puck in deep, then crash the net — and it may account in part for why the immensely gifted [|Sidney Crosby], though skating hard and well, has been such a puzzling nonpresence. He clearly misses the equally talented Evgeni Malkin, his linemate with the [|Pittsburgh Penguins]. But Crosby’s flair and creativity don’t always fit very neatly with the grind-it-out habits of some of the others, and Babcock has been juggling lines trying to find some combination that works with Crosby. Given what players on the Canadian and American teams were saying after their very different semifinal victories, the first few minutes may be a deciding factor. The Canadians walked over Russia in the quarterfinals because they had the Russians on their heels from the opening face-off. Canada came out hard and bottled them up in their own end, forcing turnovers and making players like Malkin, [|Alex Ovechkin] and [|Ilya Kovalchuk] play defense. The United States had a similar approach against Finland, and the game was over before the Finns had a chance to take a timeout and collect their bearings. Coach Ron Wilson summarized the Americans’ strategy this way: “Go on the attack and take advantage, try and force them into mistakes.” Neither the American nor the Canadian power play has been especially formidable, but all the same, both teams would be smart to stay out of the penalty box. The teams are so closely matched that an extra man or two could tip the balance. And, obviously, goaltending is the most crucial factor. The United States has advanced this far largely because of [|Ryan Miller]’s **spectacular** efforts. After [|Martin Brodeur]’s **wobbly** performance [|in the first meeting] against the Americans, Roberto Luongo has righted the ship for the Canadians. He said that the game against the Slovaks, which required him to make a number of acrobatic saves in the closing seconds, was some of the most fun he had ever had.

Babcock said that the first time against the Americans, the Canadians did not get enough rebounds and deflections, adding: “We were too easy on Miller. This time, we won’t be.” One of Miller’s strengths is the way he comes out of the net and squares himself to the shot, and the big Canadian defenseman [|Chris Pronger] suggested that the way to counteract that was to get in his face. “We need to get traffic in front, force him back in the crease,” he said. The Canadians have much more at stake in this game. The entire country is expecting the gold and will be devastated by any other result. Babcock is drawing on a national talent pool so big that almost half his players are the captains of their N.H.L. clubs, and yet he has not hesitated to ask them to accept subsidiary roles. He did not even think twice about benching Brodeur, the best goalie of his generation and a future Hall of Famer. This has already been a hugely successful and rewarding learning experience for the United States, the youngest squad here, with only three players who have prior Olympic exposure. On average, each makes $3 million a year less than his Team Canada counterpart, and there are many fewer stars. “We’re not asking 30-goal scorers to do the grunt work,” Burke said. “We have grunts doing the gruntwork.” But they’re not expecting to settle for silver. “We’ve been playing for the gold medal all along,” the captain, Jamie Langenbrunner, said.

U.S. and Canada in Fight for Olympic Hockey Gold
Printed February 28, 2010 //Summary//: In this article,the writer is summarizing some of the Canadian and American Men's hockey games that have been completed. While the writer criticizes the Canadian Men's hockey team, it positively describes the American Men's hockey team. This article cleary shows bias.

The words and phrases that are bolded show bias because the writer is clearly criticising the Canadian Men's hockey team's strategy. The writer makes it sound like the Canadians are big and aggressive and play a slopy game with the expressions: "old-fashioned trench warfare, fought in the corners, along the boards, in the no-man's land in front of the net", or "wildly hurly themselves" or "grunt work". The writer then compliments Ryan Miller for his "spectacular efforts" and right after criticizes Martin Brodeur for his "wobbly performance". In conclusion, this article is a distinct example of showing bias.