A Victory Designed in Hospital

Team USA, relying on strategy designed hours before by seriously ill coach Bob Johnson, got its first two goals from Jeremy Roenick of the Chicago Blackhawks within 2:08 of the first period and defeated world champion Sweden, 6-3, in a Canada Cup opener Saturday at Pittsburgh.

Only a day after undergoing emergency surgery to remove a brain tumor, Johnson, coach of the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, chose the USA’s lineup and outlined strategy to combat world champion Sweden’s physical forechecking.

Johnson, partially paralyzed and unable to speak, sketched up the plans and gave them to USA co-general manager Craig Patrick on Saturday morning.

“His mind’s as sharp as ever,” Patrick said.

Said NHL scoring champion Brett Hull: “The whole day, we were real quiet, we knew what was going on and nothing needed to be said. It’s so unfortunate. Coach Johnson’s such an awesome guy. I wouldn’t have expected anything less than what he did today. He’s quite a man.”

Hull, Tony Granato of the Kings, Chris Chelios of the Montreal Canadiens and Craig Janney of the Boston Bruins also scored for Team USA.

Hull suffered a sprained left knee midway through the third period, but said the injury, although scary at first, was not serious.

In other first-round games, Canada and Finland tied, 2-2, and Czechoslovakia beat the Soviet Union, 5-2.

The Kings’ Luc Robitaille scored one of Canada’s goals.