BOSTON — Regarding 4 Nations, which picks up here Monday afternoon with a potential elimination game for both mighty Canada and upstart Finland:
1. Mike Sullivan, the Pittsburgh head coach who holds the same position for Team USA, was asked before the tournament how he would balance patience with urgency in this type of shotgun tournament in which one defeat shoves you to the precipice.
“How you envision it sometimes on paper and what you think makes sense doesn’t always play out in a practical environment. You don’t really know until you see it on the ice,” Sullivan said. “We put line combinations and defense pairs together with certain intentions based on complementary skill sets that will give us the best chance to win. Now we’re going to sit and watch it and see how it all evolves.
“I think that is the art of coaching, where it’s always going to be that line of patience and allowing players to work through things, but also when you need to step in and be proactive and effect some change. We’ll watch, we’ll see, and if we have to make adjustments, at the end of the day, we’ll do that.”
