2012 IIHF World Junior Championships

you know, we would have lost to Sweden anyway. They're due!

Big Ev wrote:you know, we would have lost to Sweden anyway. They're due!

Don't count out the Russians yet (again); the jersey *will* be worn.

Now, do I have the balls to wear it to work today? That's another question.

I still wonder, how would the game have gone if he;d started Visentin? More experience, a bit of the "redemption" factor.

Overall, do you think Hay did a good job? He put a goal down for his team of 4 or fewer minors per game, and they failed at that one, miserably. The competition was pretty soft -- I don't think Mrazek played anywhere near as well against them as he did later in the tournament, and the Finns were not very strong this year. The only serious competition was Sweden in the preliminaries, and that's the game that knocked Visentin out of consideration (in Hay's eyes, at least).

Oh, well, there's always next year, and the fact that our best *are* playing in the NHL. I wonder what would happen if the CHL clubs decide to hold back their best (Euoropean) players -- don't even know if they can.

Unreal game. We just caught one too many bad bounces. You gotta wonder how things could've been different if the game hadn't turned into a sideshow there for a while in the 2nd.

I don't think we really played that poorly, just a couple defensive meltdowns that Russia capitalized on and then a couple good bounces went their way early.

Oh, and

Man. What a heart breaker. Gotta feel for Murray with those first goals going in off him.

Canada has been the big dog for so long... everyone guns for you when you're the big dog.

I'd say the Canada/Russia rivalry is alive and well once again.

It's nice that we're talking about the comeback that almost was instead of the blowout that almost was - but I don't think you can forget the fact that our defence looked like it didn't have any place in a game against those Russian forwards for at least 40 minutes.

Hope there are some great 16 year old goaltenders out there

That's what you get when you let politics into hockey. Oleksiak shouldn't have been there and his inexperience cost the team in the big way. Murray was just unlucky, physical mistakes happen and they always will. Good thing he chose to play for Canada and not the US.

Not that I really care about international tournaments for the most part as 1 game knock outs prove who is best on a certain day, not who the best team is, but if Canada chooses it's best (even from those not in the NHL) they would have had a better chances. Canada deserved to have to happen to them.

Not to blame the goaltending, but does Canada ever come to these things with truly elite goaltending? Fleury was horrible. Price was pretty bad in regulation. We always seem to concentrate so much on having the best forwards, the toughest D that it really becomes a case of the goaltender only having to be good enough not to lose. When's the last time the Canadian team wasn't as good as its goaltending, when the goalie truly stole a few games they had no right being in?

Oh, and who goes for the Russians, now, I wonder. Is the 17 year old kid out of his depth now? Makarov looked really poised. Can you imagine getting thrown into a game like that with that kind of momentum going for the other team? He did not get the win, but I firmly believe that if he didn't come in then Canada would have scored another 2-3. If anything, the coach was too late pulling Vasilevski (actually, I wonder if both coaches were too late pulling their starters).

P.S. They keep saying how Kuznetsov was the only returning member from last year, but wasn't Makarov the backup last year?

Not enough skill. Leave the grinding to the bottom six and bring in some additional skill next year.

P.S. I'm glad I decided to hold off on the jersey until tomorrow. Sitting here in the Myers (car dealer) waiting room waiting for a shuttle, and every screen is tuned to TSN showing all the replays. I may have gotten away with wearing a Team Russia jersey at work (squirreled away in my cubicle ) but it would have been tough here.

Big Ev wrote:

LeKid wrote:

Big Ev wrote:

LeKid wrote:

Big Ev wrote:HAHAHAHA Good luck winning gold after 2 epic meltdowns!

Sorry dude but this sound like a serious damage control

WJC, Skill > grit, time to accept it.

Ok but too bad this team wasn't built on grit. They had a lot of skilled players. I'd say they LACKED GRIT. Where's the big hits? Where's the momentum changing forechecking? None of that tonight or in the previous games IMO.

Russia didn't win because of their skill. They won because Canada decided not to play in the first two periods. Pretty simple. Canada controlled their own fate. Russia didn't win, Canada lost.

Again, good luck winning gold after giving up a 3-0 lead in one game (against the team they are now going to play for gold) and then nearly blowing a 5 GOAL LEAD in an another. Team folds like a cheap tent when they face serious pressure from the other team.

When you have a 6-1 lead with 1 period to go that's usually what happens, no matter who you are.
They completely shut down Canada's forechecking system in the first 2 periods and it had nothing to do with Canada's willingness to compete, they just skated better so they retrieved the puck before Canada could even reach the red line.
They won this game, blowing lead or not they played with enough passion to win. Time to stop overrating Canada. They were not good enough on paper. Not 1 game changing player. Yakupov and Kuznetsov made them their Wing Dang Doodle.

Yeah it's so common for you to give up 4 straight goals and almost blow your 5 goal lead. I see it happen all the time!

Canada didn't have a game changing player but they didn't leave anyone out of the team who was. Who is a game changing player that they left off the roster? And no, Ryan Murphy and Nathan Mackinnon aren't acceptable answers.

You know what I meant, leaving the foot off the pedal a little.

NEELY wrote:That's what you get when you let politics into hockey. Oleksiak shouldn't have been there and his inexperience cost the team in the big way. Murray was just unlucky, physical mistakes happen and they always will. Good thing he chose to play for Canada and not the US.

Not that I really care about international tournaments for the most part as 1 game knock outs prove who is best on a certain day, not who the best team is, but if Canada chooses it's best (even from those not in the NHL) they would have had a better chances. Canada deserved to have to happen to them.

That's what I'm saying. Grit, experience etc does not matter in this tournament. What has Howden, Jenner or Visentin done in this tourney? Sweden and Russia have how many returning guys in their line ups? Probably less than 5 combined.
Danault, Murphy, McKinnon may not be game changers but they have more skill and skate better than half this team and that's what you need in short tournaments because those guys are not tired they can save enough stamina to skate fast for the whole 2 weeks. The power play alone could have changed the momentum of this game and it's clear Beaulieu and Hamilton are not PP QBs.
The last time Canada won Gold they were the best skating team and their PP was unstoppable. Ellis and SUbban were skating up and down the ice and nobody could stop them.
Sweden and Russia are the best skating teams in the tournament and that's why they are in the finals.

Yeah, have a line that you can throw out who won't hurt you, but can be physical, and a 3rd line that is the Howden's and Jenner's of the world, but leave the top 6 for the most talented players in the world, age is no concern, scoring and winning is - as the Russians showed.

That's Hockey Canada for you. You have to leave some skill off the team to make room for role players and you need to let guys on because of what they've done in the past and you need to leave others off because they need to earn it...

All you guys *do* realize that the Canucks have been in the Gold Medal game 10 years straight, right? It's not like we are the perennial almost-shows. Some perspective, please!

The Cold War is back on!!!!

Heh heh.

SpezDispenser wrote:Yeah, have a line that you can throw out who won't hurt you, but can be physical, and a 3rd line that is the Howden's and Jenner's of the world, but leave the top 6 for the most talented players in the world, age is no concern, scoring and winning is - as the Russians showed.

The most talented Canadians ARE IN THE NHL. THEY ARE NOT GOING TO ADD 16 OR 17 YEAR OLD PLAYERS TO THEIR TOP LINES.

The Russians top lines were made up mostly of 19 year olds! They had an advantage! Yakupov is also 18 and a late birthday

LeKid wrote:

NEELY wrote:That's what you get when you let politics into hockey. Oleksiak shouldn't have been there and his inexperience cost the team in the big way. Murray was just unlucky, physical mistakes happen and they always will. Good thing he chose to play for Canada and not the US.

Not that I really care about international tournaments for the most part as 1 game knock outs prove who is best on a certain day, not who the best team is, but if Canada chooses it's best (even from those not in the NHL) they would have had a better chances. Canada deserved to have to happen to them.

That's what I'm saying. Grit, experience etc does not matter in this tournament. What has Howden, Jenner or Visentin done in this tourney? Sweden and Russia have how many returning guys in their line ups? Probably less than 5 combined.
Danault, Murphy, McKinnon may not be game changers but they have more skill and skate better than half this team and that's what you need in short tournaments because those guys are not tired they can save enough stamina to skate fast for the whole 2 weeks. The power play alone could have changed the momentum of this game and it's clear Beaulieu and Hamilton are not PP QBs.
The last time Canada won Gold they were the best skating team and their PP was unstoppable. Ellis and SUbban were skating up and down the ice and nobody could stop them.
Sweden and Russia are the best skating teams in the tournament and that's why they are in the finals.

Boone Jenner was excellent in this tournament for the role he was given, not sure what you were watching. Quinton Howden was a returning player and should have been used more. He is a very skilled player himself.

And AGAIN talking about Danualt? Leads me to believe that you don't really know who he is.