Canada forming bad habits by playing down to level of competition

On the surface, a resolute 4-0 victory over South Korea ought to be a welcome development for Canada, advancing the team to the quarterfinals of the men's hockey tournament at PyeongChang. The defending champion has formed poor habits through its opening three games by playing down to its level of competition, however, and it could come back to haunt it against better opponents.

It could be argued there's little incentive for Canada to submit its best effort until the quarterfinals to begin with. Canada was encouraged to run the score up against South Korea in order to ensure a last-eight berth instead of playing in the qualification playoffs, with no team yet eliminated from PyeongChang. It was an excellent opportunity to shake off the rust from a surprising shootout loss to the Czech Republic. Instead, Canada played on cruise control for large portions of the game, going over six minutes without a shot in the second period. It is an indictment of an overmatched South Korean team that Canada could end up with a 4-0 victory despite playing nowhere near its best; the team will need to be much better at finishing chances against superior nations.

The tournament begins in earnest for Canada on Wednesday, when it will face the winner of the Finland-South Korea game. It would be good fortune for Canada to square off against South Korea again, but it's more likely to play Finland, which lost its final game to Sweden and by cruel fate was relegated to the qualification round despite a strong showing in the preliminaries. It should become apparent with three days' rest that Canada cannot coast on the strength of its power play and take poor penalties in the quarterfinals. Head coach Willie Desjardins has come under fire for his banal tactics, which could cause outright revolt if Canada struggles against Finland or South Korea.

Sweden and the Olympic Athletes from Russia pose the greatest threat to Canada and should serve as the model to look up to going forward. The lone team to win all three of its games in regulation, Sweden is getting contributions across the board and appears hell-bent on capturing gold for the first time since 2006. Meanwhile, Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk have injected the OAR with genuine star power; the former is rejuvenating interest in a return to the NHL with his outstanding play in PyeongChang. For the first time in two decades, Canada is unable to rely on its wealth of NHL-ready talent and will need to play with a greater sense of urgency or run the risk of getting trampled by a better-organized team.

The tournament effectively begins now. Will we see a Canadian team that coasts on its talent and plays lackadaisically for large stretches, or a unit that embraces the unique opportunity ahead of them and rises to the challenge?