Without Hayley Wickenheiser, Team Canada makes gritty comeback vs. U.S.

The women in black found a way without Wick.

Maybe the Livestrong uniforms were that jarring, but Team Canada looked out of sorts for a good two-thirds of the game that served as the real start of the road to Sochi 2014. Thirty-four-year-old captain Hayley Wickenheiser, who injured her knee early last month, left in the second period and Canada was chugging behind Team USA. The youthful Yanks, with only a half-dozen players who will be 26 years old — the average age of Canada's current lineup — by the time the puck drops at the Olympics next February, seemed to be in a higher gear.

Yet Team Canada crashed the net to fish out two greasy goals against U.S. goalie Jessie Vetter in the final 10 minutes, leading to Jennifer Wakefield burying the shootout clincher for a 3-2 victory in the two powerhouses’ opener at the IIHF women's world championship. It was a faith-restoring finish; seeing a father telling his young daughter, "see, that's why you never give up" as they headed for the exit confirmed how the effort went over with 9,052 flag-waving fans at Scotiabank Place.

That erased any impressions fostered by the opening 20 minutes, when Canada was a step slow and had only five shots while the U.S. scored two slick goals, one by Monique Lamoureux and the other by Brianna Decker off a deft defence-splitting pass from phenom Amanda Kessel. For a long while, Canada's situation was as scary as, well, The Woman In Black ("we were really on our heels," said defender Catherine Ward, who tied the game off a scramble with 1:47 left).

"The number of shots we had early in the game was unacceptable," said left wing Caroline Ouellette, the no-nonsense veteran. "But as the game went on, we became more connected as a unit of five players. Our passing wasn't up to the level it needed to be in order to beat the Americans, but it came together.

"It's tough to lose a player like Hayley," added Ouellette. "It's unfortunate, we don't know if and when she'll be back. But our younger players really stepped up. I thought Brianne Jenner had probably her best game yet against the Americans. Jennifer Wakefield was huge ... We have to build on that and play three periods like we did in that third."

Wickenheiser's status for the rest of the tournament will be clarified on Wednesday morning. While she wasn't physically present, remember whom the cadre of younger players who helped drive the comeback — — Wakefield and Rebecca Johnston, each 22, and the 20-year-old Jenner — have learned from.

"She's a great player and I feel like we collectively took on her role and picked up the slack and were able to get through," said Wakefield.

"It's definitely a character-builder that we'll have to build off for the rest of the tournament."

Team USA's captain, Jenny Chiu, is the lone 30-something on coach Katey Stone's roster, while Canada has six. It should be interesting to see how each country's roster choices — Canada counting on Wickenheiser, Ouellette and 35-year-old Jayna Hefford to lead them through this Olympic cycle, while the U.S. keeps dipping into different areas of its vast player pool — pan out over the rest of the tournament and on toward Sochi.

Experience still counts for something. That two-goal margin, judging by how Canada started and how it couldn't capitalize on a string of power plays, looked insurmountable. But when a Team USA breakout pass hit a skate and stayed in their attacking zone with 8:47 left, Canada got a chance and Johnston roofed a goal off a scramble. The ice remained tilted in Canada's favour until Ward forced OT after a chance created by Sarah Vaillaincourt, who assisted on both goals.

"We did a good job in the first couple periods of managing the puck and making smart plays with it," U.S. defender Gigi Marvin said. "I think the puck was bobbled around our blueline and we got hemmed in and got stuck in our zone.

"This is not the endpoint, this is another game we can learn from, we can take things from and move on," Marvin added.

'Caused our own havoc'

That segues into the question emanating out of this night, how the different approaches tie into the gold-medal fight in about 10 months. That's where the U.S.' decision to give its young, high-ceiling players such as 18-year-old Alex Carpenter some exposure to a big-time tournament might pan out. On this night, Canada's resilience won out.

"It was a good game, it wasn't a great game," Stone said. "I don't think we played well enough at times. We caused our own havoc. We managed the game and then we turned the puck over. Then it went to the shootout and it is what it is, it's mostly for the fans.

"Sometimes you have to learn the hard way," Stone added. "Tonight's a perfect example of that. We made mistakes, we have to learn from it pretty quickly, we have a week here [before the gold-medal game]. The first game, there's always a lot of energy and emotion and we just have to learn to manage it. There's no better place for it than the world championships in Ottawa. It's an investment in our future and we'll see how it goes."

The upshot for Canada is it won without Wickenheiser and it took far less time to adapt to the Americans' tempo than it did at the 2012 worlds. It didn't get away from them, unlike the 9-2 loss last April in Burlington, Vt., which presaged Canada's dramatic 5-4 OT win in the gold-medal game.

"It's a totally different feeling than it was after the first game last time," Ouellette said. "The difference is we know we're even with the Americans."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.