Europe: Underdogs or Just Underrated?

When Mike Babcock is in the media room, the aroma reeks of confidence. When Rickard Gronborg is talking, everyone listens.

But when European head coach Ralph Krueger speaks, there's just something different about it. It's just like, no matter what, the conversation is about how Europe are the underdogs, and that everything up to this point has truly been a surprise.

The questions feel the same, the answers remain the same. Europe likes being seen as the underdogs, but you won't here them calling themselves that.

I went out and asked ten fans wearing various different jerseys, including Canada, USA, North America, Germany and Sweden, what they thought of Europe's chances. Without even knowing their opponent, all ten said Europe was going to lose in the semi-finals.

People truly don't believe in this team, do they?

The attendance for their games is really telling. Sure, two of their games came during the afternoon, including a Monday matinee match-up. But there just aren't many people going to their games. Nobody is wearing their jerseys, either, because a lot of Europeans truly hate the idea of this team existing.

Yet, they've completely advanced through the tournament as one of the top teams riding one of the top goalies in the tournament. Sure, they lost against Canada, but with both teams already focusing their attention to the semi-finals, it wasn't a pressing issue for them.

The odds were against them from the start. Whether it be the amateur skeptics online or the Las Vegas bookies, it was tough to find anyone who really wanted to give Europe a chance coming in.

The team themselves seemed to think otherwise.

"They (Team Europe) always believed we'd have a shot at being where we are today," said Krueger following Europe's game two victory over the Czech Republic. "Probably nobody outside of our room did."

It's true. It really seemed like nobody else believed that they had a chance. Some of their best key players are well past their prime. Their depth couldn't compete against the top stars in the tournament, could they?

Their goaltending seemed like the biggest question mark of all. But, of course, Jaroslav Halak has been one of the biggest stars in the tournament. And that's what just makes this team so fascinating.

After watching North America in their first two pre-tournament games, fans flocked to their skill, the same skill that drew them in in all three tournament games. While North America was fun to watch, Europe was at the other end of those two slaughters, failing to show any true strength and leading most fans to believe they had no chance when the real thing began.

Could their poor performance be chalked up to the players being unfamiliar with each other? Most likely, but as some of the players have pointed out, that's not an issue anymore.

"Maybe the first game was a little awkward because we didn't know all the guys but it didn't take long for us to get on the same page," Mark Streit said.

With many long-time NHL stars on the roster, many with extensive Olympic and World Championship experience, among other tournaments, Europe had the most experienced international hockey roster. The problem: most of these players had never played together internationally and in a tournament where many of the teams have had a key core for many years, it was going to take some adjusting.

But like anytime a team in any league was assembled, the group meshed very quickly. Sure, they were at a disadvantage, but that didn't seem to bother them. Through two games, the team got a strong performance from some of the younger players such as Leon Draisaitl and Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, who looked like two of the stronger players in the tournament overall. Halak had a 35-save shutout against the Americans to start the tournament, a game most people expected the Americans to take easily. Europe has done an incredible job of keeping the game simple, taking advantage of small mistakes by their opponents and turning those chances into victories. Simply put, they're tearing down all the misconceptions people expected about the team and has turned themselves into a quiet, yet effective team.

But just because they beat the Czech's and Americans, who went into the final game of the tournament without a victory, doesn't mean they'll have any success against Sweden when the two teams meet on Sunday in the final elimination game. But when it comes to goals for and against, their nearly equal, with Halak allowing just one more goal than the combined efforts of Henrik Lundqvist and Jakob Markstrom. Many expect Canada to eliminate Russia rather easily, especially when you look at how the two teams have faired in international play since 2010.

But what about Europe? Do they have what it takes to beat Sweden? What does Mats Zuccarello have to think about their chances?

“The U.S. won the 1980 Olympics, didn’t they? Miracles can happen.”

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