Team Canada vs. France World Championship Live Updates, Score, Result

UPDATE: Team Canada, as a huge favorite, drops a 3-2 shootout decision to France in its opening game of the IIHF World Championships in Minsk, Belarus. Here is Frank Doyle’s live blog of the game.

It’s easy to shrug off the IIHF World Championships. I know; I did for years.

You have the Stanley Cup playoffs in full swing and Team Canada pulls together a rag-tag bunch of non-postseason players for a tournament somewhere in Europe. Back in the day, a lot of the guys who went were looking for a vacation.

Sports Interaction’s IIHF World Championship odds

Sports Interaction’s NHL playoffs odds

Canada really didn’t put much stock in this tournament up until the last decade or so. Meanwhile, outside of the Olympics, European teams considered this the pinnacle of international hockey. If you start talking hockey abroad, you’re going to hear about how many world championships Sweden or Russia has. It really matters to Europeans, whereas it’s still a bit of an afterthought to Canadians – understandably so when most of our best players don’t take part.

That said, I’ve been lucky enough to see a handful of Team Canada IIHF World Championship games live, and truthfully, it was the best hockey I’ve ever witnessed in person.

Let’s hope for the same this year as Canada heads into the tournament as a +200 favorite on Sports Interaction’s odds board.

PREGAME:

Team Canada vs. France, 9:30 a.m. ET

Odds: Team Canada -14493 favorite

– This line is actually up significantly since the open. Canada was around a -11000 favorite in this game yesterday. I have no idea who’d even bother putting a bet in at that price, but obviously there are more than a few people eating chalk.

– I mentioned yesterday that this could be a huge tournament for James Reimer’s career. He gets the start today and has an opportunity to greatly improve his stock on the trade market. Now that Randy Carlyle isn’t going anywhere, Reimer will request a trade.

– Still not sure I’d bank on Reimer as a starter in the NHL. His aw-shucks postgame routine after giving up four goals on 15 shots isn’t good for your blood pressure.

PERIOD 1

Alex Burrows, Kyle Turris and Nathan MacKinnon start. That’s a heck of a top line.

Early PP for Canada. It’s always a bit of an adjustment to get used to watching a game on the big international ice after you’re used to NHL rinks.

Keep an eye on Kyle Turris. He was one of the consistent players on the Senators this season and could crack 75 points next year.

Love seeing veterans like Troy Brouwer making his Team Canada debut this late in his career. GOOD CANADIAN BOY.

Burrows to the box for tripping. Somewhere, Trevor Linden slowly shakes his head.

Rotten rebound control by James Reimer as France strikes first on PP vs. Team Canada. 1-0 bad guys.

MacKinnon draws a penalty in front so Canada will have a chance to equalize before the end of the first.

Braydon Schenn ties it up on a wicked wrister from the slot. He had all day to rip that one top shelf.

Team Canada 1, France 1 after one.

Pretty typical opening period for a Canadian international team. A lot of our guys haven’t played in a month and are dealing with a plucky France team and the big ice. Canada settled down a bit near the end of the period and looks good with the man advantage. Reimer made a couple of decent saves, but he’ll keep his defence busy as he spills rebounds all over the place.

PERIOD 2

Cristobal Huet is still a solid goalie. He had some great years in the NHL then bounced to Europe while still under an NHL contract. That’s the way to do it, kids.

Nate MacKinnon draws another penalty. Might as well Sharpie him into the next Team Canada Olympic lineup.

Sports Interaction’s IIHF World Championship odds

Sports Interaction’s NHL playoffs odds

Canada still looks like a work-in-progress. So far the forwards haven’t had much sustained pressure in France’s zone. That in itself is a little concerning because, well, FRANCE.

Another PP coming up for Canada. Not sure what France did to the referee in warmups.

Huet doing his I-could-still-play-in-the-NHL thing. He’s probably right.

This one’s starting to heat up a bit. That was actually a decent little scrum in front of Huet. France isn’t backing down an inch.

Brouwer take a stupid penalty late in the second and I take back everything I said about him earlier. Dummy.

And there’s another penalty to Bieksa. This isn’t good.

Canada 1, France 1 after two periods

If Canada didn’t realize it already, this game is completely up for grabs heading into the third. Huet has been great, but Canada needs to keep the puck deep in France’s zone instead of trading chances. First thing’s first: kill off this 5-on-3 to start the third. After that, we hope the team wakes up. Also, Rod Black doing IIHF Worlds is as uncomfortable as Don Cherry working a synchronized swimming event.

PERIOD 3

Canada gets out of deep trouble by killing off the 5-on-3. Need to get pucks and bodies to the net immediately.

France’s Antoine Roussel is an excellent, tough young player. France is following his lead in this one as he hits everything that moves.

CANADA SCORES! Finally.

Erik Gudbranson snaps one from the slot to give Team Canada a 2-1 lead with 9:18 left. Looked like MacKinnon set him up.

Ew. Da Costa with his second of the night to tie the game at 2-2. Reimer swimming all over the crease on that one, not that you Leafs fans would know anything about that.

Down to less than 5 minutes left in regulation. Gut-check time.

Sports Interaction’s IIHF World Championship odds

Sports Interaction’s NHL playoffs odds

Huge save by Huet in the dying seconds to keep this one level.

OVERTIME

NO GOALS.

SHOOTOUT

Oh boy.

Turris first – SAVE.

Reimer stops first France effort.

Huet stops Monahan’s deke.

Reimer finally stops Da Cosata.

Matt Read denied by Huet.

GOAL. FRANCE WINS. That was Pierre-Edouard Bellemare beating Reimer for the win.

Final thoughts:

Wow. Well I’m not even sure what to say about this mess. Canada really wasn’t all that bad, but didn’t have any killer instinct around the net. They floated for the better part of 40 minutes and then couldn’t beat Huet. I don’t have enough fingers to start pointing them at specific players who didn’t show up today, so I’ll just hold off.

I do have one for coach Dave Tippett though. Just guess which one?