Adam Tambellini had two goals, including one on a penalty shot, and three assists as Canada survived an early scare Tuesday to defeat China 7-2 in the qualification round of the men’s hockey tournament at the Beijing Olympics.
Jordan Weal, with two goals and an assist; Eric Staal and Jack McBain, with a goal and an assist each; and Eric O’Dell provided the rest of the offence for the Canadians, who got 27 saves from Matt Tomkins. Maxim Noreau added three assists.
Cory Kane scored twice for China. Jeremy Smith stopped 15 shots for the hosts in the first period before injuring his left leg. Paris O’Brien made 23 saves in relief for the Chinese, who went winless in four matches and were outscored a combined 23-4 in the program’s first Games.
The Canadian roster of non-NHLers, which beat the Chinese 5-0 on Sunday in the round-robin finale and are the No. 5 seed after concluding second in Group A behind the United States, will now take on Sweden in Wednesday’s quarter-finals at 8:30 a.m. ET.
They’ll need to be a whole lot better if Canada’s going to play for a medal in Beijing.
In other qualification-round matchups, Slovakia defeated Germany 4-0, Denmark topped Latvia 3-2 and Switzerland got past the Czech Republic 4-2.
Slovakia will take on the U.S. in the quarters, while Denmark faces off versus the Russian Olympic Committee, and Finland meets Switzerland.
China’s team at the 2022 Winter Olympics was composed of Kunlun Red Star, a Beijing-based KHL club that concluded last this season. Of the country’s 25 players, 18 were born or grew up in North America, including 11 with ties to Canada, while one is Russian.
Vancouver native and former NHL winger Brandon Yip, who has Chinese heritage through three of his four grandparents, served as the team’s captain. But others like Smith and Jake Chelios, the son of Hall of Famer Chris Chelios, had no ties to the country before signing contracts with Kunlun.
“They were tough, they came out hard. We knew they were going to come out hard, but I think we just kept our composure and played well,” said O’Dell.
The International Ice Hockey Federation, which contemplated replacing China with Norway because of competitive imbalance, ruled players in that category met residency requirements despite the fact Kunlun relocated to the Moscow area because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
