It wasn't totally pretty, but the score probably doesn't tell the whole tale.
Put beside the Americans' 7-1 throttling of Slovakia or even Finland's eight-goal outpouring against Austria, Canada's 3-1 win over a seemingly hopeless Norwegian team looks pretty lame. Like a shot duck. But then again, this Norway team was much better than the same national squad that was handed its own butt by Canada in 2010, when it lost 8-0. This Norway team was even better than the Swiss team that took Canada to a shootout in 2010, too. This Norway team... was actually pretty good.
Canada still brought it when it had to, outshooting Norway 38-20. Goalie Lars Haugen was outstanding, and the Scandinavians threw some pretty slick players Canada's way, including captain Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, New York Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello (who may have just own some more ice-time from coach Alain Vigneault), and a couple brothers with the last name Olimb, which sounded a lot like Ohlund when Jim Hughson said it, and that really confused me.
Shea Weber opened the scoring for Canada. Jamie Benn and Drew Doughty added nifty follow-ups. Patrick Thoresen scored for Norway.
They're all below...
CANADA GOAL: Shea Weber makes its 1-0
CANADA GOAL: Jamie Benn makes it 2-0
NORWAY GOAL: Patrick Thoresen makes it 2-1
CANADA GOAL: Drew Doughty makes it 3-1