VANCOUVER, B.C. - It was only fitting for a sledge hockey game that started at 10 a.m. local time that the Canadian team hit the snooze button for the first two periods.
Four years after thumping Italy by double digits at the Turin Paralympics, Canada led the Italians just 1-0 through two frames, before waking up and pouring it on late to notch a 4-0 win on Saturday.
Canada thoroughly outhit and outchanced the Italian squad but couldn't put its pesky opponents away early. Goaltender Santino Stillitano made a number of spectacular saves and got some help from his best friend, as the Canadians rang multiple pucks off the post.
It wasn't until Greg Westlake scored the first of his two goals in the third period to make it 2-0 that the defending Paralympic gold medallists appeared to find their swagger.
"Once we got that second goal, I thought we loosened up a little bit and played a little bit better," said Canadian coach Jeff Snyder. "But we seemed to be tight before that. Just couldn't get the guys to relax and play with confidence."
Snyder said the crowd, which some Canadian players confessed was the largest and loudest they've played in front of, might have had a role in his team's slow start.
"There was a lot of nervous energy around the game," Snyder said. "We thought we had them prepared for the kind of crowd that we got, but maybe they were a little bit nervous.
"I thought we were just kind of squeezing our sticks and not executing the way we normally do the first couple of periods. But I thought we were better in the third."
No player seemed to be squeezing his stick tighter in the early going than Westlake.
The 23-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., had a number of glorious chances but couldn't quite light the lamp.
Stillitano made a brilliant glove save on the Canadian forward in the first period, and sprawled to make another great stop on a shot from the slot in the second.
Westlake snuck free on a breakaway in the third period and made a beautiful deke, shifting the puck from his right stick to the left while trying to tuck it inside the far post. But Stillitano was even better, lunging out to deny the Canuck and keep the score 1-0.
Westlake got his revenge a few minutes later, picking up a loose puck and rifling it into the top corner. The puck flew out of the net so quickly that the play went to video review but the goal eventually stood.
Westlake said afterward he wasn't worried the hockey gods were against him after his string of missed chances.
"I've had games where I'm completely snakebitten, had way more chances than that, haven't scored. I've had games where I've had pucks just bounce in off my sled," he said.
"You just keep battling."
Westlake, who was a member of the 2006 gold medal team, said the Canucks might have expected an easier game from the Italians but it's a positive sign for the sport that they didn't get it.
"We were expecting to win and maybe we were expecting to win too much," he said.
"I'm proud of Italy. They're getting better and they're starting to play a lot better systems and clog up the middle of the ice."
Westlake said the team also drew some inspiration from a pre-game phone call from Steve Yzerman, the Detroit Red Wings legend and architect of the 2010 men's Olympic hockey team.
Westlake's goal-scoring performance might well have been Yzerman-esque and Snyder said he was the best Canadian player on the ice Saturday.
"I think he kind of took the team on his shoulders there in the third period and said, 'Hey look, we've got to win this game,"' Snyder said.
"He's not afraid to take the team on his shoulders, he wants that responsibility. And I think he's emerging into that kind of player."
Marc Dorion gave Canada a 1-0 lead in the first period when his centring pass banked off an Italian defender's skate and slid into the net.
Dorion, who rang a shot off the crossbar just minutes earlier, said he'll take the goals any way he can get them.
"It's really great to have that first goal of the Paralympics on home soil," he said. "It's just absolutely amazing."
Captain and Paralympic flagbearer Jean Labonte added a goal in the third period to make it 4-0.
Netminder Paul Rosen made just four saves in picking up the shutout.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was on hand for the game.
The Canadian team will be back in action Sunday against Sweden.