World Junior 2015: The Tao of Groulx defines Team Canada's relaxed vibe

TORONTO — A malaprop by coach Benoît Groulx has become a masterful mantra for Team Canada.

Many hockey teams wear warmup shirts with a boilerplate pump-up slogan. Team Canada's have "tic-tac-tao" emblazoned on the sleeves, harkening back to how the bilingual Groulx pronounced "tic-tac-toe" — as in a pretty passing play — during one of their first team meetings. It's become a running gag for a team that seems to have found the optimal point between relaxed and zeroed on the task at hand. Groulx, the first Quebec League coach to lead the national junior team since 2004, has also slipped it into at least one post-game press conference.

"I know he said it one of our first times together, not jokingly, and a lot of us held in our laughs and bit our lips a little bit," defenceman Madison Bowey said after Saturday's off-day practice, where Canada went through its paces ahead of Sunday's semifinal vs. Slovakia (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, TSN/RDS/Buzzing The Net livechat). "He said it a few more times and we kind of giggled after that. It made the group a lot more loose and it was a fun time and that brought us a little more together.

"In these kind of tournaments, especially on your home soil, you can really be uptight or a little nervous," added Bowey, the captain of the Western Hockey League's Kelowna Rockets. "For him to joke around like that is great for us."

Those who were around the 2009 iteration of Team Canada, the last to capture a world junior championship gold medal, often point to how the late Pat Quinn (who was appointed after Groulx left the Gatineau Olympiques to coach in the AHL) instilled a certain looseness within the ranks. Tic-tac-tao is a tip-off about how this group has got comfortable with each other; they can joke about it. 

"Ben is a serious guy, but at the same time he can be pretty loose," said right wing Anthony Duclair, one of the team's four Quebecers along with goalie Zach Fucale, centre Frédérik Gauthier and defenceman Samuel Morin.

"It's good to see. We all respect him as a coach and for what he's done in junior hockey [winning three President's Cups in the Quebec League with the 'Piques]. He has a great relationship with the players."

Canada is seemingly getting a softer ride to the final. The win over first-time quarter-finalist Denmark on Friday set up a rematch with Slovakia, which it beat 8-0 on Boxing Day. Slovakia was a little pie-eyed that night and has settled into a structured defensive game in front of goalie Denis Godla, so it might not be as easy this time around.

Canada seems to have absorbed the concept of resetting to zero with each new day in the tournament.

 "Whatever happens the day before, we got to be never too high and never too low," Duclair added. "We touched on that before and as the tournament's gone on, even in an emotional game like the U.S., we turned the page fairly quickly."

'Band of brothers'

That very well could have been true of past national junior teams during the five gold-less years too, of course. Having a more seasoned cohort of top-end players — two 19-year-olds in net, six on the blueline, three forwards who have played in the NHL this season, plus Max Domi, and so on — has been a big plus. Russia, which plays Sweden in the first semifinal, is the only team with an older roster, with 19 players born in 1995.

"All of us have played in these tournaments before and that really goes a long way in these tournaments," said Bowey, a Washington Capitals product. "We came together really quickly that week there. We're all really a band of brothers, I guess you could say, and we're all really close and shows it on the ice."

Fucale will make his second successive start in goal on Sunday. Every Team Canada forward now has a point after Friday's win, although Duclair was a touch off on several goalmouth chances against cherubic Denmark goalie George Sorensen.

"I'm pretty confident with where my game is," said the New York Rangers rookie, who had 50 goals last season as an 18-year-old in the QMJHL. "We're playing well together as a line and feel the goals will come."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.