Team Europe continues to shock World Cup, minus the awe

TORONTO – Team Europe entered the World Cup of Hockey as the home for wayward puck nations. It provided a chance for players from Germany, Norway, Slovenia and other small hockey countries to participate in a tournament they otherwise wouldn’t have been invited to play in.

But two games into it, you can throw away that participation ribbon. Team Europe is now providing these players with the chance to win the kind of international tournament their home nations could never hope to win.

“It’s our chance to be in this tournament. It’s our chance to beat a team like USA. Everyone cherishes this opportunity that we have. Playing against really good teams, but playing with really good players. Everyone’s just enjoying the moment,” said forward Mats Zuccarello, after Team Europe defeated the Czech Republic, 3-2, in overtime on Monday afternoon in Toronto.

[Sign up to play Yahoo Fantasy Hockey for free | Mock Draft | Latest news]

Can this hodgepodge of European players actually win the tournament?

“The U.S. won the 1980 Olympics, didn’t they?” said Zuccarello.

“Miracles can happen.”

Only, the more you watch Team Europe, the less miraculous their ascent up the Group A standings seems.

This is a veteran collection of players who have won at every level. They can score. They can defend. And they’ve answered the primary questions that dogged them before the tournament: Could they develop an identity as a team in the short time before the tournament, and could they develop the requisite chemistry to execute that game-plan?

“In the first two games, we were searching for how we wanted to play,” said captain Anze Kopitar, in reference to their two exhibition losses to the U-23 Team North America by a combined score of 11-4. “In the last three games, our game have come together the way we wanted it to. We realized in a hurry that run-and-gun was not one of them. There isn’t a lot of flash in our game. It’s borderline boring.”

Full credit for that personality goes to coach Ralph Krueger and his staff.

“I thank the kids for spanking us so hard, because we had adversity early, which brought us together. It clarified what we needed to do, and the commitment to do that was born then,” said Krueger. “I’ve said it from the start, internationally nobody has got as many games under their belts as we do, and I believe that really then built the group to what you saw today.”

So the gameplan came into focus, and Team Europe has executed it well: They defeated Team Sweden, 6-2, in their last exhibition game. They shut out Team USA in the tournament’s biggest stunner, 3-0. They needed overtime to defeat the Czechs, 3-2, but that was due to Petr Mrazek standing on his head with 38 saves.

“We have a lot of guys that have been in games like this, when you throw the kitchen sink at the guy and he still stops everything. That’s where the experience comes in. You gotta keep on going, keep on going. Nonetheless, we got it done,” said Kopitar.

As far as chemistry goes, Team Europe’s veterans have developed it quickly.

“It’s a really good group of guys in our locker room. I don’t think to build new friendships and to create a chemistry is really all that hard. Everybody wants to be here, definitely wants to be in this position, and if the vibe is positive, it’s not too hard,” said Kopitar.

Krueger said one of the reasons Team Europe has excelled is that many of its players were competing in Olympic qualifying tournaments before the World Cup started. “I think when you’ve been in the trenches like they were, at a much lower level at the Olympic qualification, but so many of our players are battle ready middle of September because of this. So, yes, I’m sure it’s one of the things that’s now tipped in our favor,” he said.

That said, the veteran Swiss coach has never seen a team gel this quickly. “It’s not the buy-in that I haven’t seen, it’s just the speed of the buy-in. I think that’s the big difference,” said Krueger.

And so Team Europe, tournament underdog, rolls on, closing in on a potential semifinal berth.

“Are you surprised?” asked Zuccarello.

Well, yeah.

“Maybe no one thought this, outside of the guys in the locker room. We had to believe. Look at our team. Eight Stanley Cup rings in our locker room. Just because a lot of our guys come from small countries, we can still do well. At the end of the day, we’ve been good. But the puck has bounced our way,” he said.

Krueger said another key to their success is never explaining to his players that the puck isn’t supposed to bounce favorably for a team with 33-to-1 pre-tournament odds.

“We’ve never used any negative motivators in our process. It’s always been about us finding our potential, and the belief that we could match with anybody here at this tournament. We truly believed that,” he said.

“We’ll continue to just worry about ourselves and let people think about what they want. We’re not done with these two games.”

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS