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  • December 7, 2019 12:08 AM EST

    ANGELHOLM, SWEDEN – Team Canada head coach Brent Sutter blasted his players following an uninspired 3-0 loss to Sweden in an exhibition game Sunday night. Bulls Jerseys China . "Theyre a team that plays hard, they skate, they play with emotion and skill and we had guys who didnt tonight and it just shows that skills overrated unless you have a work ethic and a compete level that you have to have out there. We lost a lot of one-on-one battles. Outside of one guy, we lost a lot of face-offs ... We didnt have the puck, especially in the first period. We were just very passive and on our heels and basically we let them dictate the game and they did and we never seemed to get any momentum or control of it back," said Sutter. "I think its a good lesson for us." Bob McKenzie takes a closer look at why Canada struggled against Sweden. It was an assessment shared by his players. "Theyre a big challenge, obviously, they showed it tonight," said defenceman Derrick Pouliot, "luckily for us its still exhibition [season] so we got some time to improve and well see them down the road for sure." Canada will need to play a lot better if theyre going to beat the Swedes in the tournament, which starts on Boxing Day. The host nation is returning half of their players from last years silver-medal squad and Carolinas Elias Lindholm and Nashvilles Filip Forsberg, who were not in the lineup Sunday, will be on the ice by the time the round robin begins. Canada and Sweden are in different pools in the opening round and can only meet in the playoffs. "We didnt work, starting from myself," said left winger Jonathan Drouin, who sat out the first pre-tournament game on Friday. "I think the key guys have to produce offence and we didnt. We have to work harder against a skilled team like that." "Its not a lot of things that really went wrong," said defenceman Aaron Ekblad. "We just have to work harder as a team. That team outworked us and thats about all you can say about it." DROUIN RUSTY IN RETURN Drouin will be a key factor in whether Canada ends a four-year gold drought. Sunday marked the 18-year-olds first game since sustaining a concussion on Dec. 6 while playing with the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL. Head injuries can be tough to come back from at first and rust was evident. "I thought he was average at best," Sutter stated bluntly. "He didnt play very good at all, but its his first game. It was a feel-out process for him tonight. I guess Im not surprised the way it was. He hasnt played in a while and obviously were playing a top, top team." "Obviously, a little slow start," Drouin acknowledged. "Its been three weeks so first game is going to be a little harder. It was getting better and better as the game went on." Canada wraps-up its pre-tournament schedule with a game against Switzerland on Monday. Drouin believes that one more game should be enough for him to be ready for the tournament opener on Thursday against Germany. "Im sure Ill be fine, like I said, it just took some time and as the game went on I felt better and better," said Drouin, who was picked third overall in last Junes NHL draft by Tampa Bay. "Theres one more game and Im sure Ill be better." DUMBA EJECTED; SUSPENSION LOOMING? A lack of discipline also haunted Canada on Sunday as defenceman Mathew Dumba, named an alternate captain by Sutter on Thursday, was ejected in the second period for kneeing Erik Karlsson. The Swedes scored with one second left in the major penalty. Two of Swedens three goals came on the man advantage. Its possible that Dumba, loaned to Hockey Canada by the Minnesota Wild for the world juniors, may face a suspension for the hit. Canadian defenceman Griffin Reinhart will already miss the first three games of the tournament as he serves out a suspension picked up at last years event. And Sutter made it perfectly clear that going into the championships first game with fewer than six blueliners is not acceptable. "No, its not OK to go into the tournament with five D," he said. "I think youre grasping right now, reaching, thinking its a possible suspension. I couldnt even answer that. He got ejected from the game, but whether theres a suspension label to it? I couldnt tell you." Dumba was cut by Team Canada the last two years and has spoken about how much it means to him to be on the squad this time around. Bob McKenzie breaks down the Dumba situation and how a suspension would put Sutter in a tricky situation LONE BRIGHT SPOT The one player that escaped Sutters wrath was Jake Paterson. The Saginaw goalie kept the game scoreless in the first period as Canada was outshot 16-5. Jamie McLennan takes a closer look at Patersons performance "He played great," said Sutter. "He played outstanding. From the first shot that was taken on him, he was really, really solid for us. He kept it close for us, especially in the first period, but we never responded in the way we wanted to and you have to score goals to win games. We just never generated enough offensively. He gave us chance and I thought he played extremely well." Paterson is competing with Zach Fucale for the starting job. Fucale stopped 31 of 33 shots in Fridays 4-2 win against Finland. "Obviously Im looking, hopefully, to be the starter, but I have no idea what the coaches are thinking right now so I just got to be ready if they call upon me," said Paterson, who stopped 31 of 34 shots against Sweden. Sutter hasnt announced who will start on Monday against the Swiss. Custom Chicago Bulls Jerseys .Y. - Islanders forward Anders Lee has been fined $2,286 by the NHL for elbowing St. Fake Bulls Jerseys . Costa Rica followed up its wins over Uruguay and Italy by holding England to a dour 0-0 draw on Tuesday, enough to finish first in Group D.BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It wasnt supposed to end this way for senior C.J. Fair and Syracuse. After starting the season with 25 straight wins and being ranked No. 1 for three weeks, the faltering Orange lost 55-53 to pesky Dayton on Saturday night in the third round of the NCAA tournament, their dreams of a second straight trip to the Final Four dashed by too many misses from 3-point range and a team that refused to cave at the end. "Theyre a small team, but theyre scrappy," Fair said. "Every time we had the ball, they got a hand in there. They set the tone early. We were playing catch-up the whole game." The third-seeded Orange (28-6), who finished second in their first year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, struggled all game against the swarming Dayton defence. Syracuse led only twice in the second half, falling behind for good after two free throws by Devin Oliver gave Dayton a 41-40 lead with 6:18 to play. Syracuse missed all 10 attempts from beyond the arc, while the Flyers hit seven times from long range. It was the first time in 665 games that Syracuse failed to make a 3. "Its hard to win making layups," Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. "At some point in time, you need to knock something down from the perimeter, and we didnt. It was just not a good offensive game for us. If the other team makes five or six 3s and you make five or six layups, youre six points down. That was what I saw out there tonight." Syracuse star freshman point guard Tyler Ennis was open at the top of the key with 2 seconds left and the Flyers holding a two-point lead. When Ennis attempt to win the game clanged harmlessly off the rim, Dayton had a victory it had been chasing for three decades. "We have a good program with great tradition," coach Archie Miller said after his 11th-seeded Flyers reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in 30 years. "Now, we have the ability to build, and thats what its all about." Ennis had beaten Pittsburgh last month with a 40-foot shot at the buzzer, so he had the confidence to try again, even though Syracuse had missed nine attempts from behind the arc. "The last shot was a great shot. It was the right play," Boeheim said. "A chance to win the game. You dont have enough time to get to the basket. I have no problem with that shot." Neither did the 35-year-old Miller, though he probably aged jusst a little bit while the ball was in the air. Cheap Bulls Jerseys. "That thing was on line and he went for the win," Miller said. "The thing that went through my head was the game at Pitt, when I saw that highlight 7,000 times. I thought he was going to go to the basket. When I saw him raise up, I didnt feel good about it. But Buffalos been good to us these last couple of days on the buzzer shots." It sure has. Vee Sanfords basket with 3.8 seconds left was the margin of victory in Daytons one-point win over in-state rival Ohio State on Thursday. After that game, the Dayton Daily News mocked Buckeyes fans who refer to "The Ohio State University" with a headline that read: "THE University of Dayton." Dayton (25-10) now advances to the South Regional semifinals next week against No. 2 seed Kansas or 10th-seeded Stanford. Syracuse was in position to pull this one out, but Ennis also missed a foul-line jumper with 8 seconds left. He was down in the subdued locker room, with red faces all around, but confident he had made the right decision as he had so many times in a standout season. "Its hard to digest any loss," said Ennis, who finished with 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting. "They did a good job defensively, and the looks we did get we didnt capitalize." Dyshawn Pierre scored 14 points and Jordan Sibert, held scoreless in the first half, hit a key 3-pointer with 47.7 seconds for Dayton. Sibert finished with 10 points and Sanford had eight, but Sibert nearly gave it away when he stepped out of bounds while the Orange pressured him in the corner with 14 seconds left. After Ennis settled for a jumper from the foul line that missed, instead of driving the lane as he had all night, Syracuse fouled Pierre and he made one free throw, giving the Orange one more golden opportunity that they didnt take advantage of. Fair had 14 points on 4-of-14 shooting and 10 rebounds in his final game for the Orange. Jerami Grant had just four points and attempted only three shots before fouling out late. Trevor Cooney, who broke out of a long slump with four 3-pointers in the second round against Western Michigan, had two points and missed all four shots he took from behind the arc. "When you make shots, you win. When you dont make shots, you lose in close games," Boeheim said. "Early in the year, we made shots." ' ' '