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[Jason]

It's that time of year again, folks. Thanks to the lockout Canada has assembled the greatest team to ever lace up the skates (no thanks to the stupid Panthers though). The States and Russia also have strong teams but it's Canada's year to bring home the Gold.

Gold - Canada
Silver - USA
Bronze - Russia

TSN is showing an exhibition game between Canada and Finland right now (4-zip Canada).

Go Canada Go.

 

[BigJonsson]

GO CANADA GO!

 

[dem]

Dammit.. I was going to make the WJC thead! =P

 

[Mainline]

Finland took 3rd last year, and looked terrible tonight against Canada. Anything can happen in these types of tournaments, but it will be a tough task for any team to beat Canada this year.

 

[AntoneM]

poor bastards who have to play in Thief River, hell, I'm sure Fargo has a highschool arena that's better. Nothing can stand up to the greatness of UND's stadium though, in fact I'd say it's better than any college or pro stadium... well except that the money to build it came from a Nazi-loving Casino owner

 

[calder]

Yep, that Engelstad dude is one crazy fucker all right. The rink is nice from what I've seen, but all the Sioux logo's and his conditions for giving that money to UND are beyond obnoxious.

Pretty awe-inspiring exhibition game tonight though. Don't want to read too much into it, but when it was 0-0 I was talking to my dad on the phone and he said that every line matchup Canada was either bigger, faster or both and that the Fins could keep up for a while but it was going to be a 5-0 type game once the hitting and skating tired the Finns out. Good call for the old guy.

Had a tear in my eye when Gord Miller was talking about the gold medal game in '99 and how the old Winnipeg Arena shook for 10 minutes at the beginning of the game. God that was amazing, and only now can I look back and realize how awesome that Russian team was and how great Luongo had to be just to give Canada even in the game at all.

Dammit.. I was going to make the WJC thead! =P

Me too! :lol

 

[Lambtron]

poor bastards who have to play in Thief River, hell, I'm sure Fargo has a highschool arena that's better. Nothing can stand up to the greatness of UND's stadium though, in fact I'd say it's better than any college or pro stadium... well except that the money to build it came from a Nazi-loving Casino owner

Apparently Theif River just built a huge new facility, at least that's what I heard on the talk radio. It's no Ralph.

For what it's worth, the hockey arenas in this town are all shit. The only one that has enough room for spectators (the Colosseum right by North High) is like 25 years old and dilapidating. But in the current spirit of "let's bulldoze historic downtown Fargo/Moorhead and build new sterile bullshit!" that's been sweeping the area, they want to bulldoze like 4 city blocks downtown (across from the Old Broadway) and build a condo-cum-hockey-cum-basketball arena there.

 

[spliced]

That was sick, Canada looked like they were in a league above. Win or lose if they can play that well thru the tournament I'll be satisfied.

 

[BigJonsson]

Last year I was in Israel during the medal round and when we found out that the US beat Canada we all were in disbelief, utter sadness

 

[fallout]

I was in res last year watching the game. I swear, there were dozens of rooms just filled with people. it was insane... especially after we lost, heh.

Hopefully we don't get shafted again this year.

 

[Socreges]

Last year's Gold medal game was so disappointing. Exciting, but disappointing. Time for redemption!

 

[dem]

I wish there was some sort of fantasy hockey for this tourny... like yahoos NHL fantasy hockey. =\

 

[calder]

Last year's Gold medal game was so disappointing. Exciting, but disappointing. Time for redemption!

That was just soul-destroying. I actually became sick to my stomach and it ruined my whole fucking day.

Listening to it unfold like a slow-moving train wreck on the radio was the worst thing imaginable. I was working with a fellow hockey fan (Mainline) at the time and another coworker named Leanne. I remember Leanne asking if I was going to cry and I said I didn't know. :lol


:*(

 

[Mainline]

That was just soul-destroying. I actually became sick to my stomach and it ruined my whole fucking day.

Listening to it unfold like a slow-moving train wreck on the radio was the worst thing imaginable. I was working with a fellow hockey fan (Mainline) at the time and another coworker named Leanne. I remember Leanne asking if I was going to cry and I said I didn't know. :lol


:*(

I can't belive we had to work, the gold medal game should be a national holiday, AM I WRONG?

 

[dem]

There are only 2 teams that I feel are a threat to Canada this year. USA and Russia... mostly Russia.

Ovechkin/Malkin/Radulov on a PP will be straight up lethal. But as I look at the roster its the same as every year... "Who the fuck are these dmen?" :lol Oh well, whoever they are they always seem to do the job. And that Russian goalie looked pretty damned good when he was in Canada for the CHL/Russia thing.

 

[calder]

Went to the Swiss/Canada exhibition game. I may post actual impressions and thoughts tomorrow or something if I'm bored at work, but allow me to say that I am officially 100% on the Sidney Crosby bandwagon. Holy shit is he impressive; obviously everyone knows he's really good and I enjoyed watching him last year and in a few QMJHL games but seeing him live is amazing. He's freaking 17! He's pretty solid, a very very good skater and his moves are already just sick. When you see how the crowd just becomes so pumped when he gets the puck with any speed it's amazing, the crowd noticably became so much more impressed with him just over the course of one game.

He's also got some serious sandpaper in his game. :lol When guys took little shots at him he'd take a number and whack 'em right back when the play moved on. He gave one guy on the ice a few really good pokes in the stomach right in front of us, then high-sticked the hell out of another guy who elbowed him.

Biggest crowd noise of the night was either one of Crosby's stick-handling displays or else Shea Weber's hit in the second period. That happened right in front of us, and me and my whole family jumped up and applauded wildly then booed the penalty madly. That hit was punishing.

 

[Socreges]

Yeah, Sydney Crosby is fantastic. There's no downside to his game that I can see, though I don't know how strong his fore/back-check is.

I watched the entire game. I'd never do that if there was NHL hockey, especially since this was just exhibition. But I'm glad I did. It's a great, great team this year. Great puck-handling all around, especially.

Biggest crowd noise of the night was either one of Crosby's stick-handling displays or else Shea Weber's hit in the second period. That happened right in front of us, and me and my whole family jumped up and applauded wildly then booed the penalty madly. That hit was punishing.

He DID leave his feet. On replay, it was obvious.

 

[dem]

This might sound crazy.. but I think Crosby lacks some.. finish =P
You know.. I feel kinda strange saying that cause obviously he can score a bunch of goals... but hes a phenom and I want phenom finishing abilities!! I think he could have alot more than he does.

I cant count how many times Ive seen him go in on a goalie and just backhand it into his pads.

Wonderful vision though.

 

[dem]

Shouldnt this be a sticky yet?

Its almost started!

 

[calder]

Crosby's skills are definiely in his stick-handling, vision and skating. His moves, passing skills and overall vision thing are truly world class and he's a strong plus with skating but yeah his shot's just good. He doesn't (yet) bury chances like a pure goal scorer but he does get a fair number of goals so he's not just a passing machine. In last night's game he was looking a bit too much for the pass instead of the shot in a Forsberg kinda way.

Can't wait for Saturday! Game 1! Wooo! It's in the afternoon so I can gorge myself on xmas day dinner (the holiday meals in our household have looong been adjusted to fit the WJC game times) and then watch the Slovaks get tuned in.

I took some pics yesterday but forgot to email them to my home so maybe I'll post them later.


One funny thing that happened yesterday was a kiosk with a few Wheat Kings pimping season tickets. As we walked by a couple of them smirked at my younger brothers... when we got passed Adam was like "oh shit, that jackass made the Dub?? I totally owned him for the whole POE (summer AAA camps), went around him every time I felt like it and now he's a Wheatie and I'm in the MJHL. Damn guess he got the last laugh..." :lol One of the other Wheat Kings was someone who fought both of my brothers in different years playing summer hockey (beefs from HS hockey always get settled over the summer ) and Matt and Andy both were laughing and shaking their heads because he was staring them down, but they knew then that he was likely going to get a scholarship or junior invite. As long as you're 6'3" and can somewhat skate some WHL team somewhere will bring you out.

 

[dem]

Youre right on the mark with the 6'3 and can skate comment.

I know a guy whos like 6'7 and the weight of a gorilla... he ended up drafted by the Wild. Hes not even a good enforcer dammit!


Im a jealous man... =(

 

[calder]

Haha, yeah my brother (3 years younger than me) played against Sven Butchehoweveryouspellit and a couple of other guys who made the NHL and he's bitter as fuck, when we want to bug him we mention how so-and-so signed a contract extension with Nashville or whoever for $200K a year. :lol From squirts to peewee and a bit later Ray was always dominating in games against most of those guys, but they all added 6 inches and Ray topped out at about 5'10" and skinny so by the time they were midget age you can pretty mcch tell who's going to end up a journeyman NHLer and who's going to end up a journeyman electrician working for his dad.


random thoughts:
Cam Barker was pretty terrible yesterday I thought, almost invisible. Dawes looks snake-bit ALREADY but Jeff Carter was awesome so I'm sure last years "big line" will score just fine. I'm a big Shawn Belle fan and I thought he was pretty brutal yesterday for the first half of the game but had a decent third period. Anthony Stewart had some really good shifts but couldn't quite finish. Phaneuf's shot was about as hard as I've seen for a few years, but he wasn't quite as physical as I'd expected. Weber and Coburn were noticably fiestier. Coburn, Belle and Jeff Carter looked massive out there, and the Swiss actually had one really big guy named Sprunger or something but he could barely hit. He did bump into ppl effectively once or twice though.

 

[calder]

This better get stickied tomorrow!

USA Today is looking like it'll report the game more this year (it was one of the few US media outlets to even notice it in years past, let's hope more do this time around).

The 29th World Junior Championships is the only high-profile international hockey championship that Canada doesn't own, and the Americans would like to keep it that way.

"We are defending our gold medal on our own soil, and it's going to be amazing," University of Michigan goalkeeper Al Montoya says. "Repeating is a different challenge."

It's actually an unprecedented challenge because the Americans had never won WJC gold — and owned only three medals — before erasing a two-goal deficit to down Canada 4-3 in last year's final.

The Canadians are reigning Olympic, World Cup and World Championships gold-medal holders, and they will be on a mission to complete the grand slam at the tournament in Grand Forks, N.D., and Thief River Falls, Minn. The WJC television coverage is as much a part of Canadian holiday tradition as bowl games are in America. The Canadians were particularly miffed to lose to the Americans last year.

Some are saying this Canadian team is the best junior team the country has ever assembled, or at least as good as the 1995 squad that had Alexandre Daigle, Ryan Smyth, Jason Allison, Todd Harvey and Jeff Friesen, among others, in another lockout year.

 

[dem]

The American games are actually being played on ESPN2... and if they get to the gold medal game they will show it on ESPN.


I wonder if they'll just use the TSN feed

 

[Mainline]

Yes they probably are as good as the 1995 team..but come on...Ryan Smyth is awesome

 

[Socreges]

Yes they probably are as good as the 1995 team..but come on...Ryan Smyth is awesome

He was fifth in team scoring.

 

[Gregory]

I heard Norway advanced from the B pool in the junior championship this year, so next year you`re all going down!

Anyway, these junior championships seems to be only really popular in Canada, here in Europe it`s mostly about the regular world championships.

 

[Kiriku]

I will be very surprised if Sweden reaches even the 3rd spot. They haven't had much success in the recent Junior Championships.

 

[Mainline]

Well the first game is over, Canada 7 - Slovakia 3 ; Cze is also leading Blr late in the 3rd. I think Canada didn't even look that good today, they needs to step it up on D, they offence is there, how about that penalty shot goal

 

[BigJonsson]

GO CANADA EH!

 

[calder]

First period was very good, but the second and early third Canada seemed to try to get all cute and were lulled by the Slovaks being so shitty to begin the game.

Still, they ended well (omg to McArthur's penalty shot, nice release), the Crosby/Bergeron line owns faces already and they got the win. Bring on the Swedes!

 

[dem]

Apparently the USA/Russia game was a gooder.

And the Robbie Schremp scored a goal!
Though I hear he barely played.. =(

Incase someone is avoiding the score so they can watch on tsn tomorrow..

Spoiler

USA wins 5-4

Oh yeah
Go Canada

Hard to get excited over that game though. Is it me or does Canadas group just suck nuts this year?

 

[fallout]

Yeah ... I thought the Fins might put up a good fight, but .... well, look at the exhibition game. It'll be interesting to see who actually take the other two spots in the pool (or "group" if you prefer).

Anyway, Mike Richards is from my hometown and my mom knew his mom and that sort of thing, so we're rooting for him a little more this year (especially after the heartbreaker last year, ugh). I seriously love this tournament though, it's such an annual tradition around here.

 

[Shinobi]

I was too busy watching Rocky vs Tommy Gunn (aka Shaq vs Kobe) on Christmas Day, so I missed Canada's opening tilt. Today's game takes place at 4:30pm, so I'll be sure to make some time for it.

Does anyone here care about the Spengler Cup? I think Sportsnet is showing games from that tourny. It strikes me as being one of the most pointless, who cares tournaments in the history of hockey, but interest the last couple years has really picked up over here. Wonder if the lockout has helped make those teams stronger.

Also, does anyone own any Team Canada gear? The last three hats I've bought have all been Nike Team Canada's, plus I've got a black, grey and red t-shirt. Eventually I'd like to get a red Iginla jersey, but it'll be a while before I can afford one. Also seen a sick Nike leather jacket for like 400 bucks...if I had the dough, I'd be wearing it tomorrow.

 

[calder]

I had my favourite Team Canada pro-fit cap (red) stolen from my car last year. I have a toque and a faded grey practice tshirt, but I'd love to get a proper replica. I would like an old-style TC from the Jr. teams of the mid 90's, or else those nice black Nike practise jersey's (the one with the circular logo).

I watch the Spengler Cup. Sure it's a third rate event, but it's a treat for me to see so many former NHL guys playing in europe get to play for their country - they seem to really love the chance. The hockey is alright, you get to see how Euro club teams stack up to what would be a very good AHL level club in Canada and the atmosphere is great. But mainly I watch for the "hey, there's Hnat!" aspect.


Nice to see Canada get pissed after all those penalties (you'd like to think with all the stick calls eventually it'll sink in... hey this isn't the Dub anymore ) and start to take it to the Swedes; 7-1 now. Crosby scored a frigging amazing goal, that backhand from his knees with his back to the net and at such a tight angle was sick.

 

[dem]

When does this tourny start again?

 

[fallout]

When does this tourny start again?

Two days ago.

Good win for Canada today, but holy shit were there a lot of penalties. Nice to see Richards get player of the game, he really worked his ass off.

EDIT: :lol, nevermind my first comment, just realized who made that post.

 

[dem]

This is just stupid...
Canada destroys the Germans 9-0


I have a feeling this will hurt Canada in the end.

 

[calder]

The inexplicable lack of a sticky for this topic continues to hurt the thread, but really I think it's the utter ease of the games so far for Canada have sort of dampened enthusiasm. Like the Sun said yesterday - can't anyone at least give the juniors a game?! It's like the tourney won't start until the semis... yeah I said it the semi's, I'm not penciling Canada in for the quarter final bye I'm writing it in permanent felt marker in big letters because I simply can not even imagine the Fins keeping it close let alone actually winning their last game.

With the Americans looking shaky on D (gotta love Montoya's GAA of *4*) and the Russians looking good but not exactly great I'm not even sure there's a team in Pool A that matches up on paper. If this was 7 game series' I'd call the Gold already, but those pesky single elimination games are a bit scary. If the Russians play decent D for one game and their goalie doesn't let in any softies then you know Ovechkin, Malkin and Kusnetzkov will score and suddenly anything can happen.

Did see my brother on TV yesterday. There was a random crowd of screaming yahoos and sure enough, I was just thinking that one of the howling goobs looked just like by brother when I noticed his best friend in the crowd too. :lol I'm sure they were in on the "go jets go" chants.

 

[Mainline]

I can't even think of anything to post, the germans were destroyed, I was hoping for 10 :/

 

[calder]

The only really question I have for Group A is - what the hell is up with Ovechkins big mirrored bubble shield?

There's some hilarious face gear at this tourney - I saw one Swede with a half-shield so big and fat it was pretty much a full shield. But when I first saw Ovechkin's smoky mirror job we all yelled "THEO!" in appreciation of Fleury's old tinted eye wear. :lol

 

[Shinobi]

Did see my brother on TV yesterday. There was a random crowd of screaming yahoos and sure enough, I was just thinking that one of the howling goobs looked just like by brother when I noticed his best friend in the crowd too. :lol I'm sure they were in on the "go jets go" chants.

:lol Hope you managed to get a tape of that.

Heh, the lack of drama for Canada is almost aching...I've missed the start of all the games, and by the time I tune in they're already up 3-0 halfway through the first period...doesn't give me much incentive to stick around.

BTW, the Czechs are leading the Swiss 1-0 on TSN right now...game's about halfway done.

 

[dem]

1-0 Belarus


GOOO BELARUS!

 

[dem]

2-0 BELARUS


HAHAHAHAH

GO BELARUS

 

[Mike Works]

An Edmonton Oilers fan cheering Belarus? Well I never.

 

[dem]

shit
2-1

Kessel is good..

Lil small though...




btw
After seeing this and game against Switzerland... fuck... I dont even want to play the USA. Just gunna steamroll them like the rest of the weak sisters.

Bring on Russia.

 

[dem]

I'm sorry for bumping this... but i HAVE to

3-1 BELARUS

im dying here :lol

 

[dem]

4-1!?!?

OH MY GOD

THIS IS INSANITY
:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

 

[Crazymoogle]

TOWER OF POWER! BELARUS~!

Seriously, the americans are falling apart right now. Belarus players with a big grin when Montoya got sent back in, and now a pre-blue line goal...

 

[Shinobi]

:lol WTF...is the US goalie getting paid off or something? Unreal.