TORONTO - Six years later and almost everything but the result has changed.
The walk into the Air Canada Centre Saturday felt nothing like walk into the Olympic Arena in Vancouver in 2010. The feel in the rink, the feel in the city, the feel in the country. Just not the same.
That old feeling, that same old tension, just wasn’t found. The combination of nerves, fear and excitement wasn’t there. It isn’t something you can necessarily invent. It happens quite naturally, builds on its own, leaves your stomach searching for something to settle it.
The result was the same — Team Canada outplaying, outshooting, outscoring Team Russia in a matchup that is no longer for the ages.