Wilson said when Cooper actually gave them the call to go on the ice for the offensive zone face-off, all three knew what was needed.
“I think we just all looked each other in the eye and we knew what we were going to do, fast, hard, create chaos, play physical, get pucks to the net, and the good things would happen,” Wilson said. “So simple, fast, hard, hockey. And you know, whenever ‘March,’ he goes into a scrum, it’s hard for me not to go flying in there. I get excited, but you have to keep it cool in a big game.”
In fact, Wilson said the whole Canada bench kept cool, despite falling behind 2-0 in the second period and being smothered by Finns. Team Canada never lost faith.
“We were behind in that game and you know, we had just the belief and some of the best players in the world,” Wilson said, “and we know every guy that goes over that boards is going to do the best job that they can. And if we do that, if we play the Canadian way, we’re going to slowly push them out of the game.”
That’s exactly what Canada did, putting the pressure on a Finland team that seemed to be sitting on the lead, until it was gone. The line of Marchand, Wilson and Bennett were a big reason why.
“I think we’ve been excited to try to play together,” Marchand said. “We’ve played against each other a lot over the years, and kind of have an idea of how each other plays and the intensity of that. I think we’ve always felt like we would kind of connect well.”
Another reason Marchand enjoyed being with and not against Bennett and Marchand?
“It’s nice not having to worry about those two guys taking my head off.”