Personally I like the United States top two, but Canada's for all around depth. People are attacking JJ because of one game. He's still a top notch d-man, calm down. Erik Johnson is a beast, pure and simple and, IMO, is significantly better than any of Canada's guys. Just my thoughts.
Offensively, I'd tend to agree. On the defensive end, however, Staal and Parent were better at last year's tourney
and look to be better this year so far.
Staal and Parent were virtually flawless in their own zone today, and both Johnsons made some glaring errors that cost USA the game.
1. JJ. Gets drawn out of position chasing a hit, which leads to the odd-man rush where Downie scores the first goal of the game.
2. EJ and JJ. JJ makes a poor pass that gets intercepted by Toews, then EJ throws his stick when Zatkoff seemed to have the situation handled. Toews scores on the subsequent penalty shot.
3. EJ. Gets out-hustled by Darren Helm who goes on to score on the partial break.
Still fine prospects with more impressive pedigrees than Staal or Parent, but its almost self-evident that they aren't on the same level as Canada's top pairing when it comes to neutralizing the opposition.