Minnesota Wild: Parise and Suter Shine In Team USA Win
Last night Team USA rode its very physical style to a 4-2 win over Team Canada in both team’s first World Cup of Hockey tune up. The game also offered Minnesota Wild fans a first look at its two American superstars, and both delivered a great performance.
To say last night’s game in Columbus was chippy might be a bit of an understatement. Teams USA and Canada met for their first pre-tournament games and did not disappoint on the physical game. In the end though it was Team USA pulling off the improbable win 4-2 despite being outshot by a country mile 43-25. But that’s really what Team USA was assembled to do, win against a more skilled team like Canada through physical grinding play, and they executed their game plan well.
The Minnesota Wild players for Team USA were instrumental to the team’s victory. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter connected on a great first goal for the US that saw Parise deflect a point shot by Suter past Canadian goaltender Carey Price. Parise worked hard behind the Canadian net to gain some space and got in the shooting lane to catch Suter’s shot in the right place to get it behind Price.
Related Story: Suter Named Alternate Captain for Team USA
Suter would continue a strong game in the physical department helping Team USA knock around their opponents and sit on their lead which was never relinquished the entire game. He also was a big part of the Team USA power play moving the puck around very well and contributing even though PP was unable to notch a goal. Perhaps most of all in typical Suter fashion his biggest accomplishment in the tilt was playing monster minutes logging a team high 23 minutes.
For Wild fans the best thing to witness from this game was a healthy and strong Zach Parise. Much of the doubt of whether his back was health was laid to rest last night as Parise logged close to 17 minutes, and was his normal up-tempo self. Early in the game he took a few shots along the boards and looked to be unphased as he continued to play hard and eventually tallied his goal at the 16:56 mark of the 1st period.
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Sure it’s going to be a long tournament and an even longer season, but watching Parise be Parise tonight was a good thing for Wild fans. A lot of worries about his injury were laid to rest tonight and really it was just nice to see Zach play. When he scored, I think most of the fans in the State of Hockey breathed a big sigh of relief.
Team USA and Team Canada will be at it again tonight in what will be another physical game. It’ll be a very important game to see if Team USA’s physical game will continue to work or Team Canada can use their skill to overwhelm them. For Parise and Suter, it’ll be another chance to show the Wild fans a glimpse of what the upcoming season has in store. Last night showed a very promising season ahead from the Wild’s American superstars.