USA can beat Canada but there needs to be a plan, very simple plan - withstand first period. I have seen in the last 20 years similar teams Canada and they can be beaten if you can take the hard punch in the first 20 minutes of the game. I actually think that US has the tools to do it since. Also the goalie should be on the short leash, specially in the first half.
Or... god forbid, crash the net and try to take soon to be MVP Levi out of the game. Not saying its a plan in the works but it has been one in the past in international tournaments. Who can forget, if you saw it, the slash on Kharlamov in 1972 by Clarke...
"The Slash"
During game 6, Valeri Kharlamov was targeted by Team Canada for attention. According to Conacher, "every time they get a chance, they're taking him for a rough ride along the boards." Kharlamov was the target of numerous body checks by Brad Park.
[90] Things started to heat up in the second period. Kharlamov had knocked down Bobby Clarke, who in retaliation rubbed Kharlamov's face with his glove to raise Kharlamov's temper, and the two exchanged punches. Bergman then stepped in and bumped into Kharlamov and harassed him all the way back to the bench.
[94] Peter Mahovlich later elbowed Kharlamov, who retaliated by dumping Mahovlich to the ice.
[94] Later, Clarke raced down the ice to catch a streaking Kharlamov and deliberately slashed Kharlamov's already sore ankle, injuring it and according to reports,
fracturing it.
[95][96] Kharlamov skated over to the Canadians' bench and yelled at them before limping off the ice to the dressing room. The referees handed Clarke a minor penalty for slashing and an additional 10-minute misconduct penalty. Later, with Clarke still serving the misconduct, the referees also gave Dennis Hull a slashing penalty, during which Yakushev scored.
[91] Despite his injured ankle, Kharlamov returned to play and very nearly scored on a power play later in the second period.
[97]
The incident was widely reported and condemned by the Soviet press.
[98] Kharlamov himself believed that "Bobby Clarke was given the job of taking me out of the game."
[99] The slash was apparently done at the instigation of assistant coach John Ferguson. "I remember that Kharlamov's ankle was hurting pretty bad.
[98] I called Clarke over to the bench, looked over at Kharlamov and said, 'I think he needs a tap on the ankle.' I didn't think twice about it. It was Us versus Them. And Kharlamov was killing us. I mean, somebody had to do it."
[100] Canadian journalist Dick Beddoes asked Clarke about it later at a team reunion, calling it a "wicked two-hander", to which Clarke replied "Dick, if I hadn't learned how to lay on a two-hander once in a while, I'd never have left
Flin Flon."
[101][98]
In a 2006 interview with the Russian
Sport Express magazine, Clarke stated that he was unaware of Kharlamov's sore ankle at the time and does not recall Ferguson telling him to target the ankle. Further, he recalled that Kharlamov had used stick work on him, and Clarke's slash was in retribution for Kharlamov's actions"
