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3 reasons nothing stands in the way of Canada winning the World Cup

Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport / Getty

It's no longer the Canada Cup, but the host nation's sure had ownership so far.

Canada has cruised into the knockout stage of the World Cup, beating the Czech Republic, United States, and Team Europe by a combined score of 14-3 - which works out to a goal differential eight points better than any other team.

The competition is about to get much tougher in this best-on-best, with Russia in the semifinal and perhaps Sweden looming, but the Canadians haven't provided a single indication that anything will change.

Here are three reasons why nothing stands in their way.

Bulletproof

This is the thing about Canada: It regenerates.

Canada lost four players from its initial roster in Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Jeff Carter, and Duncan Keith. Together, they combined for 267 points last year, have nine career All-Star appearances, and boast Art Ross, Norris, and Conn Smythe trophies to go along with six Stanley Cups.

Canada isn't better without those four players, but consider this: their replacements - Corey Perry, Logan Couture, Ryan O'Reilly, and Jay Bouwmeester - have each since won roster spots over players appointed to the original roster.

No other team has the type of quality to improve itself, whether it's by introducing more balance or filling a specific need, when multiple bodies go down.

The right Price

Just two real, live-speed hockey games over the last 10 months, and you still wouldn't want anyone else in goal.

It may not quite be the iteration of Carey Price that conceded just three times throughout the entire gold-medal crusade in Sochi, but he remains the best in the world, even as he shakes off the rust.

Price is 13-0, and has allowed less than one goal per outing as a member of Team Canada in senior competition after earning his fifth shutout in the 6-0 win over the Czechs in the opener.

Knowing nothing else

With five Triple Gold Club members and a three-time Stanley Cup champion with perhaps the most remarkable international portfolio in hockey history (as pointed out by TSN's Gary Lawless), Canada's set a standard it simply does not deviate from.

It starts at the top. Mike Babcock has a perfect coaching record for Canada in international competition. He's the first coach to lead Canada to world junior and world championship gold, and the second from any nation to spearhead back-to-back Olympic titles.

Then there's captain Sidney Crosby, who scored the overtime winner at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, clinching one of his four career international championships in five opportunities to go along with two Stanley Cups.

And finally, the three-time Stanley Cup winning captain and holder of the aforementioned unmatched record is Jonathan Toews, who owns a ridiculous 45-1-1 record while wearing the leaf, and has won six of seven competitions he's participated in.

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