Canada's Olympic men's hockey team laments quarterfinal defeat: 'Just wasn't enough'

BEIJING — Claude Julien never once faulted his team’s heart or desire.

Canada's Olympic men's hockey coach was also acutely aware of its shortcomings.

"Everybody's got a little bit of a wart in their game," Julien said earlier this week in an eyebrow-raising moment of candour.

"It's about trying to adjust with that and taking advantage of all their strengths."

Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar et al. this certainly was not.

Canada's roster of non-NHLers battled hard at the 2022 Winter Olympics under difficult circumstances.

And even though this iteration was never Beijing betting favourites, it still leaves bitterly disappointed.

The Canadians bowed out in the quarterfinals Wednesday, an exhausted group unable find another gear to break through against a well-drilled opponent in a low-event, 2-0 loss to Sweden.

One mistake was always going to be the difference.

Canada made it.

Jack McBain, a 22-year-old playing for Boston College in the NCAA, threw an ill-advised pass backwards in his own zone. Lucas Wallmark stole the puck from a surprised Eric O'Dell, a 31-year-old KHLer with 41 games of NHL experience, moved in and fired a shot off a defender's stick that fooled the rock-solid Matt Tomkins midway through the third period.

Canada tried desperately to equalize, but never truly threatened — getting on the inside against the stifling Swedes was an issue all night — before the game was sealed into an empty net, resigning the hockey power to its first Olympics without a men’s medal since 2006.

"We tried our best," said David Desharnais, a 35-year-old former NHLer playing in Europe. "Just wasn't enough."

Thrown together less than a month before the Games after the NHL withdrew because of COVID-19