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Team Canada takes businesslike approach into Team USA showdown

TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 16: Sidney Crosby #87 charge up ice with Head Coach of Team Canada Mike Babcock at practice during the World Cup of Hockey 2016 at Air Canada Centre on September 16, 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)
Sidney Crosby and Mike Babcock take part in Team Canada’s practice. (Getty Images)

TORONTO –Team Canada looked loose at morning skate at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday. There were laughs and smiles in between the drills.

But when it was a players’ turn to jump into a play they got businesslike awfully quickly.

This mixture of a fun and professional mindset has made the Team Canada core group so successful over the last several ‘best-on-best’ international tournaments. They’re relaxed when they need to be, which helps them deal with the day-in-day-out struggles of a short tournament. But when they need to focus, no group is better at turning their attention to the task at hand.

“It’s such a short tournament and to think about the big picture – it’s tough,” forward Ryan O’Reilly said. “You could lose one game and be fighting for your lives. We have to take it one game at a time – even shorter than that. For us, we have to have a good start. It’s getting off to that and continually staying present and not getting ahead of ourselves.”

This type of demeanor has helped Canada to high levels of success against the United States, Tuesday’s World Cup opponent, in the last two Olympics. In 2010 they lost one game to the U.S. but bounced back to beat the Americans in the gold medal game.

In Sochi, they negated Team USA’s attack in a shutout semifinal victory.

“The most important game in the tournament is the one you’re playing,” Team Canada coach Mike Babcock said. “We understand the situation totally. Their big boys, they’ve been watching TV for two days, they know what’s going on. They watched the other games. They know how hard it is to win. I think it’s pretty straightforward. We’ve been through this a number of times and in these tournaments one day you feel like everything is going great and the next day you’re reeling. Just keep on getting better and prepare yourself the best you can and play the best you can.”

This mindset could be frustrating for the Americans, a group that was built to beat Canada and often harps on the importance of downing the Canadians in international tournaments.

“It’s a rivalry that’s been building for 20 years,” Team USA forward T.J. Oshie said. “You grow up in the summer playing against Canadian teams. For me, it was going up to the Vancouver area. Sometimes being the only American team in the tournament, so everyone hates you. That’s the way it is. Even the parents get into it in the stands, for little 12-year-olds.”

But is it really a major international rivalry, or something that was contrived for this World Cup? The game has prime time billing on ESPN, and the pre-tournament commercials often brought up a desire from both countries to beat one another.

“For me, I remember growing up when I started playing travel Triple-A hockey, whenever we played the American teams there was ‘you have to beat the Americans,’” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “So playing the Americans from a young age and really determined to beat them every single game we play them so it has built ever since I was a little kid and it’s the best of North America obviously too so that adds to it.”

Said Tavares, “Obviously they’re our neighbors geographically. Familiar with a lot of the guys obviously playing in either country playing against each other as kids, some of us. And then through international level starting with under-18s through the World Juniors to the senior level. Just a lot of battles over the years throughout the NHL as well. There’s a lot of pride and there’s just a lot of history there.”

No matter how the teams see one another if Team USA loses to Canada, their World Cup won’t go past the preliminary round. The Americans were beat 3-0 by Team Europe in the tournament opener. Meanwhile, Canada dominated the Czech Republic in a 6-0 win in their tournament opener.

“You don’t need any motivation at this point,” Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby said. “Every game the desperation is going to be there. We know the situation they’re in but I don’t think that will change our desperation level, I think it just helps understanding just how intense the game is going to be and the fact that we better be ready.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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