Team USA Players Have Confidence in Themselves Entering World Cup
Two practices remain for Team USA to work out the kinks.
Good thing, too, with the country’s opener in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey coming on Saturday afternoon at the Air Canada Centre against Team Europe.
“I think all around you can’t really say there is one part of your game that is dialled in right now or not,” U.S. captain Joe Pavelski said during a conference call on Wednesday.
“The conditioning can still improve and it will. It has got a lot better from the first day of camp. You can feel it. Being able to go through the routine a couple of times (in three exhibition games), it was nice to get back in there and really start feeling like you are getting closer to regular-season form.”
The Americans beat Team Finland in the final tuneup for both teams, registering a 3-2 victory in Washington on Tuesday night before arriving in Toronto in the small hours of the morning.