Ok day two and no thread. Well Hockey Fans this isn’t Lord Stanley’s cup but it is a world class even any thoughts so far?
The US is incredibly lucky to be in this game at all. Robert Esche has been standing on his head. (Canada leads 2-1 as I type, 5 minutes to go in the 3rd)
Sweden is pretty much going to win. No holes whatsoever, and the Germans were no slouches. They looked better than the Fins did yesterday too.
Jeremy Roenick is cracking me the fuck up. I love it when he gets excited and completely drowns out Thorne and Clement with his “OH!!! OH!!! WHAT A SAVE!!! OH!!! WHAT A SHOT!!!” I hope he gets a color job someday.
Now that was a good opener for Team Canada (Though I can’t say as I like the Uniform colour).
Esche played an awesome game and kept The United States in right to the end. It’s a shame the two teams met so early (aside from the exhibition games) I have a feeling we’ll be meeting again in the finals.
Finland was a bit of a surprise I didn’t figure the Czech’s would have been mauled so handily.
I just found out I got tickets to See the Russia Slovakia game on Sunday, it’s not the home team but how often do you get free premo tickets for this kind of event.
GO CANADA!!!
OK, so maybe they have a hole. The 5-hole. 
Or that hole that seems to be slowly getting bigger in Tommy Salo’s glove. He flubbed 2 easy shots yesterday.
Today’s Czech Republic vs. Sweden game:
Telllqvist played today and almost let go of a 4-0 lead. I didn’t see the game so I can’t comment on the goals. But this goaltending thing could pose a problem for the Swedes.
Link
Just being careful. You never know if someone has the game on tape.
GO CANADA!!!
A tournament with this much talent is going to be something of a crap-shoot… anyone can lose one game. I think Sweden has an amazing squad, with an offense as talented as any team that has ever played. That said, they have a giant hole in net. You put Martin Brodeur between the pipes for that squad and they could take on anyone, ever.
I think Canada has to be the favourite just because of Brodeur. He’s got two Stanley Cups and a Gold Medal, and is a proven big- game goalie. The way he can handle the puck is a huge bonus against any team trying to dump it in. Look out for darkhorse Finland- Kiprusoff took a similar Calgary Squad to the Stanley Cup final.
I’m rooting for Canada (not the way you’re thinking you Aussie pervs), but really I’m just happy to be watching some truly kick-ass hockey. And I’m glad my 100th post was in a thread about the greatest sport ever played by man or woman.
That’s the game to which I was referring. Tellqvist watched a couple of slow rollers meander through the 5 hole.
Great game last night between Slovakia and Canada. Brodeur won the game when he stopped Gaborik who was in cold on a breakaway. The Slovaks played a good game considering they are missing four of their top players to injury. Today’s games should be good. I think Finland will win in a low scoring match with Germany, and as to USA vs Russia, that should be exciting! If the Russians can break the game open into a runnin’, gunnin’ shoot out, I think they’ll win. If team USA can keep it tight and defensive, they should prevail. I’d love to see a wide open game, but any team taking on the Russians with that style is going to be in trouble. Og bless quality Hockey in early September.
You know this is some iof the best hockey I’ve seen in a while. No trap bogging down the flow of the game just pure hockey. Russia did far better than I thought they would. The rookie they have in net was outstanding. I have been unable to see the afternoon games so I’m not sure if it has been the sameopen game.
Damn I wish The NHL would do something about eliminating the Trap so that all the games would be this exciting.
Yah, that kid Bryzgalov was outstanding in the Russian net. Esche played an excellent game as well, I think that was the most exciting game I’ve seen so far. It was really too bad about the Russian’s 1st goal. I’ve always hated Chelios, but let’s face it the guy is an automatic for the Hall of Fame when he retires. In a game that close, where both goalies are putting on an incredible show, to see a fluke goal open the scoring off a defenceman who would rarely have something like that happen to him… let’s just say that stinks. Otherwise- wotta game! Esche has been outstanding so far, and goal was an area I was expecting the US to be weak in. I think that team could come together at the right time. I’m very excited to see Finland vs. Sweden on Saturday- It’s like the battle of Alberta, only with about 2000 years more history and funny accents! Canada vs Russia should also be an excellent game. If it turns into a shootout Russia has the edge- those guys can skate. The only disappointment I have with the whole event is that Russia and Slovakia never get to skate before a home crowd. I’m sure that the emotion of playing even one game before their fans would really pump them up. I’d say that every team has a shot right now (except the Germans) with the edge going to Canada for Brodeur’s experience in net. The elimination round is going to be tense!
Kovalevs goal was just sweet. Yeah it was Amonte he put the moves on not a d-man and Eshe went down too soon but man what a shot.
The US seems slow and undersized on D. When Russia started cycling down low the US just couldn’t catch them. There was several times that the US d just needed to plant some body and didn’t get it done. The forwards are being out skated and not generating many shots.
Russia played more like a team than I’ve seen in recent years. They look good but Canada is just stacked at all positions. In the other group Finland hasn’t let up a goal yet. Kiprusoff has picked up right where he left off the NHL season. Gonna take more than a hot goal keep to beat Canada though
[hijack]
Firstly, several teams in the tournament are playing the trap (I hate that term), or some variant of it, and every team will use it at some point. They just have the talent to implement an offensive dimension of the trap. The trap is a very effective counter-punch system, when a team has the players with some offensive talent and the coaching philosophy that allows for risks to be taken.
Secondly, the trap has been around since at least the 50’s as teams tried to deal with the then “Flying Frenchmen”. It was used in the '72 Summit Series by both Canada and Russia. The Canadiens of the 70’s used it frequently and the Oilers of the 80’s faced it game in and game out. The 90’s saw the trap become a fixture until the '99 playoff series between Dallas and St.Louis. St. Louis, even though they lost the series, was successful in punching through the Dallas defensive system consistently. This past year’s final between Tampa Bay and Calgary demonstrated that the trap can be played and still result in exciting hockey as both teams employed the trap heavily in the series.
Finally, the problem is not with any system per se, but a prevalent philosophy that sees teams playing for a tie rather than pushing for a win. I can coach a team to play a 2-1-2 system that will put you to sleep. Conversely, both the Lightning and the Flames showed that the trap can be very exciting.
Sorry. I don’t know you or your hockey knowledge but I have several friends who spout off about the trap without knowing anything about it other than that it is bad and I don’t have patience for it.
[/hijack]
Russia looked good in their game with the US. Afinogenov looked like he was a 50 goal scorer the way he was generating chances. canada will have their hands full with their young blueline. Quinn doesn’t like to match lines but I hope he will try to keep a kid like Boumeester away from some of Russia’s big guns.
The US looks somewhat disinterested. Hull is floating and not really pushing to find seams. Esche looks sharp as long as teams shoot from inside 40 feet.
I have not seen the games on the far side of the pond but want to catch a couple as Sweden is sounding strong.
Looks like Wilson agrees. He’s been anounced as a healthy scratch for the Slovakia game
I didnt even know that Canada or the USA were any good at hockey. It is usually Holland, Germany, Argentina, Australia or Pakistan that do well.
ummm… Ice hockey. Not field hockey.
I hope you’re catching this Sweden vs Finland game. Crazy end to end action with the Finns ahead 4-3 after the second period.
To continue your hijack, do you think that the bogging down of the NHL game could be alleviated by increasing the size of the rink? I read somewhere recently that many NHL players would love to see this happen. Makes sense as it is a lot harder to clog up the neutral zone if there’s more of it. Perhaps this is something the NHL owners could undertake during the looming lockout…
I hope no one gets too upset that I posted a bit of a spoiler in my previous post. I sincerely apologize. :smack:
I got to come home for lunch to watch the first period of the Sweden v. Czech game.
The czechs look like they might actually want to play hockey today. Even Jagr looks to be skating.
Straka’s scored first on a 3 on 2 rush that the swedish d-men tried to play man to man. News flash guys, there are 3 of them and 2 of you. Straka gets the puch and walks in alone and Sean Burke in the intermission says that it was a weak goal!! WTF??
I don’t care for conspiracies but I swear that the netwoks are bringing in “analysts” to uneducate hockey viewers. And Sean Burke was/is a goalie too. He should know better.
Nobody wanted to play the czechs for exactly this reason. And Vokoun is going to shut up anyone lamenting the loss of Hasek. The kid is gooooood.
I missed the game but the highlights made it look sloppy. I believe there is a difference between good hockey, which can produce low and high scoring games, and sloppy hockey which generally produces high scoring games.
I am going to continue the hijack because I can’t see opening a new thread just for hockey theory. If someone objects, I will make a new thread.
I disagree. The system called the trap as we know it today was used extensively in the '70s by the Swedes in order to contain the Russians and create some scoring chances. Not only that, but after watching the Olympics from '98 and 2002, we see that even on a big ice surface with the best offensively talented players in the world, it is very possible to play a suffocating neutral ice defensive system. In fact, the Czechs right now are playing a 1-4 and not allowing Sweden to skate through center ice at all. Germany played this way and gave themselves a chance against Finland yesterday.
It is true that the big ice surface offers more skating room but the effect of the trap is the same. A player gets forced into a position where he has to a)give up possession, b)retreat, or c)make a low percentage, high risk pass across the ice. The pass has to travel that much further on the big ice that players have more of a chance to pick it off. The players can still make the same “reads” so that they will be in position to intercept that pass so the fact that they have to cover more ice is moot.
The offensive zone is a double edged sword as well. There are more “soft zones” (areas of the zone where defensive pressure is less - i.e. At the hash marks on the boards or behind the net) but those soft zones are so far away from a scoring chance that your only option is to pass while the defense sags to prevent that from happening. By the time the player takes the three strides to get into a scoring position, the defense can move to take it away. It looks more like a basketball game with players darting in to try and break through the defense.
I think some of the best suggestions for the NHL to consider are:
1)Bring back tag up offsides. I think this has already been approved but this should never have left the game. It allows the forecheck to continue and forechecking produces chances either by forcing a turnover or by the beating the forecheck and getting an odd man rush.
2)Eliminate the “Gretzky” dimension. Anybody who dreamt that having an extra couple of feet behind the net at the expense of the area in the neutral zone was delerious. Even the Great One didn’t like the change because it was too far to just step out from behind the net for a scoring chance (See above regarding bigger offensive zone advantages and disadvantages). Bring it back down to 10 feet and boost the neutral zone back up to 60 feet.
3)Contract 9 teams. The talent is thin. Players that were grinders and defensive specialists are now first and second line players. This is ludicrous. Great players generate scoring chances regardless of what defense they face. As an example, Jagr, when he wants to play, can still make defenses look stupid. Why? Because they can’t play him the way they do other players. You can’t rush him because he will find the seam to make a pass or just roll off the check into a scoring position. You can’t hold back because he has too good a shot and his vision allows him to find seams that the defense doesn’t even think they are showing. The result is you get players hesitating on the ice because they are not sure what to do. Watch old films in the 80’s with Gretzky. The defenders look like they are doing stop-n-go drills when he is on the ice. Your damned if you do, damned if you don’t. The more talent on a team, the greater chance that the coach will loosen up and go for it, provided his name is not Jacques Lemaire