Iginla scores twice as Canada routs Germany 8-2 to set up superpower showdown against Russia

Canada routs Germany 8-2, now meets Russia

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Canada and Russia will play in a superpower showdown that couldn’t be much bigger unless it decided a gold medal.

Jarome Iginla scored two goals as a revived Canadian hockey team beat Germany 8-2, setting up a quarterfinal matchup against Russia on Wednesday — or four days sooner than predicted.

It’s a game hockey fans have craved ever since Russia’s Alex Ovechkin and Canada’s Sidney Crosby developed into the sport’s two top stars for hockey’s two fiercest rivals.

“I mean, that’s a big rivalry. We all know it,” Crosby said. “It’s something everyone’s been talking about. It’s something at we thought that sooner or later it was going to happen. I don’t think anyone believed it would be in quarterfinals.”

Canada prompted the early meeting after being exiled to a qualification game by its surprise 5-3 loss to the U.S. That pushed Canada to change goaltenders from Martin Brodeur to Roberto Luongo, but the switch hardly mattered Tuesday as offense-thin Germany had few good scoring chances until the game got out of hand. Luongo also will start against Russia.

The change that made a difference was shifting Eric Staal and Iginla onto Crosby’s line, where Iginla scored three goals against Norway. Iginla scored two goals in slightly more than five minutes to make it 4-0 as Canada used its scoring depth and talent to take control against Germany, which was held to five goals while losing all four games in Vancouver.

Crosby also scored, Staal had three assists and Joe Thornton — nicknamed “No Show Joe” for disappearing in Canada’s first three games — scored in the first period. And Shea Weber had a goal that left scorch marks in the net.

The game, as expected, was little more than a warmup that allowed the favored Canadians to regain their confidence, offense and, perhaps, the trust of a rattled nation.

By late in the third period, fans in Canada Hockey Place began chanting, “We Want Russia, We Want Russia.”

“They were just saying what they wanted,” Crosby said, smiling. “They are confident.”

Canada was left afterward with little time to prepare.

“I don’t think it’s take it easy tonight,” Luongo said. “We’re going to have a nice meal, but once we get back to the village we start focusing on Russia. It’s only 24 hours away.”

There were plenty of holes in Germany’s defense for Canada that won’t be there against Russia, and one in the net, too.

Weber’s slap shot from the right point early in the second period singed the net as it sailed through the hole, causing a slight delay as officials confirmed by video replay that the puck went through rather than past the net. Arena workers were seen stitching up the net between periods.

“I was pretty sure it was going in unless something weird happened,” Weber said. “It just looked weird.”

Canada coach Mike Babcock also performed some quick repair work on a team whose psyche might have been shaken by a near-miss shootout win against Switzerland and the country’s first Olympic loss to the U.S. in 50 years.

Whether the goalie move is regarded as prescient or premature may be determined against Russia, which landed alongside Canada and 2006 Olympic champion Sweden in the same overloaded bracket when it lost to Slovakia in a shootout.

Told that Canadian fans had been hoping for a gold-medal matchup between the two powers, Russian general manager Vladislav Tretiak said, “Me, too.”

“Unfortunate, or fortunate, I don’t know,” Russia forward Sergei Fedorov said, referring to the early-round game. “It’s just the way it came out with the way the standings work.”

It’s a game that’s more than Crosby vs. Ovechkin, Russia’s speed vs. Canada’s vast depth and teammates vs. teammates. Crosby and Evgeni Malkin won the Stanley Cup together last season in Pittsburgh.

This has been hockey’s biggest rivalry since the Canadians won the famed 1972 Summit Series in Moscow, a victory considered Canada’s greatest in the sport. And Canada beat the Soviets in the 1987 Canada Cup on a Wayne Gretzky pass to Mario Lemieux.

The tension lessened somewhat when Soviet players began migrating to the NHL, yet players remain fiercely loyal to their countries. Ovechkin, the NHL’s most dynamic offensive talent, has threatened to leave the Capitals to play in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, if NHL players don’t take part. The two-time NHL MVP also brags that Russia has the best of everything — especially, he said, the best hockey players.

“We don’t have the kind of pressure that Canada has right now because they’re the home team,” Ovechkin said.

Crosby and Ovechkin, the NHL’s two premier talents, don’t get along, either. Crosby dislikes Ovechkin’s showboating and his penchant for targeting opposing players for questionable hits, although Crosby said no one on Canada’s team would be intimidated.

“We don’t want to be caught in the railroad tracks,” Babcock said, referring to Ovechkin’s ability to level players — like he did Jaromir Jagr earlier in the tournament. “We know he’s a big body. He will be excited. Sid will be excited. All of us will be excited.”