Tortorella: Canada game 'is our championship'
John Tortorella knows it's do or die for the United States at the World Cup.
After his team's stunning and disappointing shutout loss to Europe on Saturday, the American head coach is preparing for Tuesday's game against Canada as though all the marbles are on the line.
Related: Tortorella's puzzling decisions put U.S. in danger of early exit
"This is our championship game," he told reporters, per Frank Seravalli of TSN. "We knew we'd have to go through Canada, it's just come earlier than we thought."
Torts: "This is either you're afraid of it or it's a fantastic opportunity."
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) September 18, 2016
To be sure, a loss to Canada would all but end USA's hopes of advancing to the semifinals, especially if Europe is able to beat the Czech Republic.
The games, however, are played on the ice and not in theory, and the logical outcome isn't always what comes to pass, as the Americans can surely attest to now.