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Tonight Team Canada will begin their final stage in their quest for the World Cup of Hockey against those upstart and pesky Europeans in what many are calling the biggest mismatch since Lake Placid. Even a bigger mismatch. Of course you’d be hard pressed to find anyone picking Team Europe to win this, but the same can be said for Team Europe even being in this Final.
No, I am not the one that is going to pick Team Europe -- nor would I even pick them to win a game in this best of three -- but this kind of David vs. Goliath battle is the kind that either goes quickly as it should or is so unpredictable that we get an epic ending to this tournament.
Instead I wanted to debate my belief that this Team Canada is the best Team Canada of All-Time and in fact the Best Hockey Team of All-Time. The competition among Team Canadas is always great, but for this article I am going to compare the two Team Canadas I believe to be the best ever.
The 2016 World Cup of Hockey Team Canada vs. The 1987 Canada Cup Team Canada.
Results…
The 2016 Team is so far 3-0 having scored 13 goals and allowed only three. The 1987 Team went 3-0-2, scoring 19 goals and allowing 13. They won Gold in an incredible best of three versus the Soviet Union, with all three games ending 6-5.
We all know the current Team Canada roster, so here is the 1987 Roster....
1987 Team Canada: Forwards: Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Dale Hawerchuk, Mike Gartner, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Dineen, Michel Goulet, Brent Sutter, Rick Tocchet, Brian Propp, Doug Gilmour, Claude Lemieux, Defense: Raymond Bourque, Larry Murphy, Paul Coffey, Doug Crossman, Craig Hartsburg, Normand Rochefort, James Patrick Goal: Grant Fuhr, Ron Hextall, Kelly Hrudey, Coaches: Mike Keenan, John Muckler, Jean Perron, Tom Watt ------------------------------------------------------ Is the 2016 Team better than the amazing roster put together in 1987? What would happen if these two teams were to meet?
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) April 26, 2016