2010 World Juniors

[Tankdriver]

I don't think this team will be good this year. Personally I would of kept Tyler Seguin - just seems wrong that the next possible first overall pick won't be on the team, plus he was I believe the second leading scorer in the OHL. I don't believe in changing/modifying players games - but changing the game to fit the player.

[NWTHabsFan]

Canada against Finland on TSN tonight in pre-tourney action leading up to the WJC.

Habs' prospects Joonas Nattinen, centre, and Peteri Simila, goaltender, still hanging around on the Finnish roster. I expect Nattinen is as close to a lock for the team based on his performance last year as a 17 year old. They likely will finalize their roster after this game.

Game time is 7:00 pm local (MT) as it is in Calgary. Folks out east will have to stay up late if they plan on watching.

[NWTHabsFan]

No surprise, but Danny Kristo makes the final US roster for the WJC. Wonder if he gets the "C" on this team.

usahockey.com/world_junior_championships_2010/default.aspx?NAV=AF_01&id=276794&DetailedNews=yes

The US games that you can all catch live on TV are as follows:

Sat Dec 26 SLO-USA 8:00 pm ET (TSN)

Thur Dec 31 USA-CAN 8:00 pm ET (TSN)

TSN/TSN2 will also feature playoff games, so more to come once the final seeding is done through the round robin games.

Viewers in the US should check your NHL Network listings, as I believe they are showing all the US games.

[oldhabsfan]

U.S. captain Danny Kristo did well in the game against Slovakia yesterday: 1 goal and 1 assist. I watched the third period and he impressed me.

Maxim Trunev scored Russia's first goal against Austria.

The commentary at
www.russianprospects.com/public/article.php?article_id=688

says that he "played a very good match."

We will have a chance to see Nattinen in Finland's game against the Czech Republic today at 6 PM Eastern Time on TSN2.

[NWTHabsFan]

Dec 27, 2009 14:30:36 GMT -5 oldhabsfan said:

U.S. captain Danny Kristo did well in the game against Slovakia yesterday: 1 goal and 1 assist. I watched the third period and he impressed me.

Maxim Trunev scored Russia's first goal against Austria.

The commentary at
www.russianprospects.com/public/article.php?article_id=688

says that he "played a very good match."

We will have a chance to see Nattinen in Finland's game against the Czech Republic today at 6 PM Eastern Time on TSN2.

Yeah, Kristo's goal was a nice job of going hard to the net and taking a beautiful feed on the fly to pop it into the empty side of the net. His assist was great too, with some really nice moves to get to the net and then an unselfish feed to D'Amico who was parked near post for the easy tap in. Nice to see him on their second line and getting specialty teams ice time as he plays both PP and PK. A far cry from the 13th forward role from last year.

Great to hear and read about Trunev. He too is on the second line, which is good considering the depth of Russian forwards.

[CrocRob]

Nattinen picked up an assist on the GWG in Finland's unbelievable 4-3 victory against the Czech team today.
Finland came back from a 3-0 deficit, scoring 3 goals in the 3rd period to claim the W. I didn't get a chance to watch the game, but some other people have said Nattinen was okay.

[NWTHabsFan]

Dec 27, 2009 21:39:59 GMT -5 CrocRob said:

Nattinen picked up an assist on the GWG in Finland's unbelievable 4-3 victory against the Czech team today.
Finland came back from a 3-0 deficit, scoring 3 goals in the 3rd period to claim the W. I didn't get a chance to watch the game, but some other people have said Nattinen was okay.

Czech's made a classic strategy blunder and sat back on a 3-0 lead and slowly watched it slip away over the last half of a game. Quite the comeback and a very important game as the fourth place team in this group gets sent to the relegation round with Sweden and Russia being the top two seeds. The Czech Republic is now in tough with a 0-2 start after two days.

Nattinen looked good, he has decent size, good on the faceoffs, seems to protect the puck well enough, and gets back in the play defensively. He won the key faceoff in the Czech zone that led to the winning goal.

Anaheim pick Vatanen on defense was the star in today's game with two key goals in the comeback...they were beauties too.

[seventeen]

From what I saw of Nattinen, I wasn't impressed. I only caught the first half so he might have gotten better, but it looked like he was on the 3rd or 4th line, and the Finns themselves didn't look that great either (remember, this was the first half of the game), so you factor a 3rd or 4th line guy on a relatively weak team and my impression meter didn't register much. Yes, he's above average in size and he's not a bad skater, so there's time for him to improve.

I had to grimace at Maguire again today. He was talking about Greg Nemisz, who is the only player on the Canadian team who doesn't have a point yet. He pointed out some good things about the kid, which is fine, but he could not resist stating Calgary was able to pick him because they traded Alex Tanguay. That alone is fine because it explains the trade. Then he felt compelled to point out that Tanguay is no longer on the Habs, insinuating it was a huge mistake, which in hindsight it was, but there was no way to predict that at the time the trade was made. Too bad his colleagues wouldn't point out every mistake Maguire has made, even years after he made them.

THE most impressive player for my buck on Team Canada is Ryan Ellis. He makes such great decisions and makes his teammates better.

I can't help being bitter about Leblanc being left off. (Yes I carry a grudge). Braydon Schenn has been very unimmpressive. Hey, I can appreciate he may have had a better camp than Leblanc, but I can still be immature and pout. So there.

[Disp]

Dec 28, 2009 18:00:57 GMT -5 seventeen said:

From what I saw of Nattinen, I wasn't impressed. I only caught the first half so he might have gotten better, but it looked like he was on the 3rd or 4th line, and the Finns themselves didn't look that great either (remember, this was the first half of the game), so you factor a 3rd or 4th line guy on a relatively weak team and my impression meter didn't register much. Yes, he's above average in size and he's not a bad skater, so there's time for him to improve.

I had to grimace at Maguire again today. He was talking about Greg Nemisz, who is the only player on the Canadian team who doesn't have a point yet. He pointed out some good things about the kid, which is fine, but he could not resist stating Calgary was able to pick him because they traded Alex Tanguay. That alone is fine because it explains the trade. Then he felt compelled to point out that Tanguay is no longer on the Habs, insinuating it was a huge mistake, which in hindsight it was, but there was no way to predict that at the time the trade was made. Too bad his colleagues wouldn't point out every mistake Maguire has made, even years after he made them.

THE most impressive player for my buck on Team Canada is Ryan Ellis. He makes such great decisions and makes his teammates better.

I can't help being bitter about Leblanc being left off. (Yes I carry a grudge). Braydon Schenn has been very unimmpressive. Hey, I can appreciate he may have had a better camp than Leblanc, but I can still be immature and pout. So there.

I watched the last half of the game and thought the same about Nattinen. Didn't do much. 1 game is not enough to get a handle on a player though.

Maguire mentioned it a couple days ago as well. His constant bashing would be a little easier to take if he was even handed about it. How many 1st rounders have the leafs, for example, traded away over the years?

[NWTHabsFan]

Kristo with 2 goals and 8 shots on net in the USA's big 12-1 win over Latvia today.

Trunev on the ice heading into the third as Russia is down 3-1 to Sweden in a first place matchup in their group. The game is on TSN2.

[oldhabsfan]

In Canada's shootout win over the U.S. ending the round robin, Danny Kristo had a goal for the Americans and hit a post as well. He seemed to get more ice time as the game progressed, which is a good sign. All in all, he looks quite promising.

[blny]

The Americans have some very fast forwards, and he's one of them.

[blny]

Watching the Russia vs. Switzerland quarter final game. Saw one nice rush from Trunev, and that's about it. The Russians are generating some scoring chances, but in a game they really should be dominating, they don't look all that into it.

[NWTHabsFan]

Jan 2, 2010 17:38:45 GMT -5 blny said:

Watching the Russia vs. Switzerland quarter final game. Saw one nice rush from Trunev, and that's about it. The Russians are generating some scoring chances, but in a game they really should be dominating, they don't look all that into it.

I expected more from the Russian forwards. The Swiss trap is effective in clogging up that neutral zone and making this game a bit of a snoozer.

Swiss forward Nino Niederreiter looks pretty good. There are lots of good young players on that Portland Winterhawks team that are draft eligible this season, and he is the best of them.

[blny]

1-0 swiss.

[NWTHabsFan]

Niederreiter ties it in last minute of play with goalie pulled. 2-2 going to OT. Winner plays Canada tomorrow. Trunev did not play in the second half of the game, no idea what happened to him.

Edit - Trunev playing in ot, so he is okay.

[NWTHabsFan]

Nino shoots on net and tipped with 20 seconds left. Swiss with first win against the Russians in OT today.

[NWTHabsFan]

Kristo with a lovely assist on the US's third goal. They are currently leading the Finns 4-1 with 12 to go in the third. Nattinen with no points, but playing a safe and good overall game for the Finns. Kristo up to his usual speed antics.

Edit: Kristo gets the 6th US goal after they got an empty netter to make it 5-2 in the last minute of play. Kristo with a nice wrister snipe on his right wing. Good goal. Danny Kristo the last Hab prospect left in the final four. Nattinen/Simila (Finland) and Trunev (Russia) all lost today in the quarter finals, so no soup for them.

[oldhabsfan]

Dec 27, 2009 14:30:36 GMT -5 oldhabsfan said:

U.S. captain Danny Kristo

My mistake; the U.S. captain is Derek Stepan.

[oldhabsfan]

Jan 2, 2010 22:52:40 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

Kristo with a lovely assist on the US's third goal. They are currently leading the Finns 4-1 with 12 to go in the third. Nattinen with no points, but playing a safe and good overall game for the Finns. Kristo up to his usual speed antics.

Edit: Kristo gets the 6th US goal after they got an empty netter to make it 5-2 in the last minute of play. Kristo with a nice wrister snipe on his right wing. Good goal. Danny Kristo the last Hab prospect left in the final four. Nattinen/Simila (Finland) and Trunev (Russia) all lost today in the quarter finals, so no soup for them.

Kristo got a lot of ice time. At the end of the game the camera showed his face with a couple of good sized red welts on it. Looking good.

[seventeen]

He has played quite positively. Not dominating, but it seems you can't give him a lot of space or he'll make you pay. His goal against Canada was a goalscorer's goal. He had a Canadian d-man bearing down on him on a partial breakaway, shielded the puck and made a quick stick fake and then shot immediately, through the 5 hole.

Nice trickery against Finland too, where he drove toward the goalie deep down on the left side, dragged the puck partially around a Finnish defenseman and when the goalie had to square up to him in case he shot, he dropped the puck back to the trailing teammate who had a wide open far side to put it in.

I think he'll be fine. As with so many youngsters he will need to get stronger to be able to fight through checks in the pros. Fortunately, while not big, he's not small either and he certainly has wheels.

I only saw the highlights of the Finn game, so didn't get a chance to evaluate Naittinen again. He has looked better than he did in the first game, where he was nondescript. He did make some good decisions and had some patience with the puck. Good size and a good skater, so he has the opportunity to make something of himself.

[seventeen]

We're beating the Swiss, 4-1, but I'm not overly impressed. We've created few clear cut scoring chances and when we do get close, we don't seem to set up a shooter for a clear chance. I'm still ticked at Leblanc being left off the team, especially when I see Kadri and Schenn having underwhelming tournaments. I'm glad we didn't have a chance at Schenn, as he seems to be a step behind mentally at this tournament. He may end up being a very solid guy, but I'm not sure he'll score enough to justify that high a draft position. Then again, I've been wrong before. We just wasted a 5 on 3, with hardly a scoring chance.

Maybe they were expecting to play Russia and can't get up enough for the Swiss.

edit: 5 minutes later, it's 6-1. The Swiss are wearing out.

[NWTHabsFan]

Jan 3, 2010 13:53:16 GMT -5 seventeen said:

I only saw the highlights of the Finn game, so didn't get a chance to evaluate Naittinen again. He has looked better than he did in the first game, where he was nondescript. He did make some good decisions and had some patience with the puck. Good size and a good skater, so he has the opportunity to make something of himself.

Joonas Nattinen definitely looked better in his last few games. He is not an offensive weapon, that's for sure, but he does have decent size, good skating, good defensive awareness and is very good in the faceoff circle. He also seems to protect the puck well enough and does have some decent hockey sense and vision. Nothing really bad, but nothing really earth shattering either.

[NWTHabsFan]

Great matchup coming up shortly on TSN2 (or live streaming on tsn.ca) at 9:00 pm ET (7:00 pm out here in MT). The second semi final features Danny Kristo and the USA against the co-favourites, Sweden. The Swedes have looked really solid in all their games, and they are talented in every position. Markstrom is a fabulous goalie (nice pick Florida), Pajarvi-Svensson is a pure stud on offense (nice haul Oilers, you have two good ones in Eberle and Pararvi-Svensson), and Ekman-Larsson (2009 first rounder) and Adam Larsson (projected top 3 pick in 2011) round out a decent defensive corps. They will be up against the speed and tenacity of the American team, that definitely plays every shift balls to the walls.

Not sure who is going to take this one, but it should be a good one.

[blny]

Here's hoping they tire one another out determining who plays Canada.

[NWTHabsFan]

CAN-USA for gold on Tuesday night.

Same night as Habs against AO in Washington.

[Boston_Habs]

I DVR'ed the US/SWE game. Kristo didn't get any points but had 3 shots on goal. I wish sites like TSN, USA Hockey, IIHF showed game stats with ice time for each player.

[Anardil1]

I hate to say this, but I think that the U.S. will win it this year. They have a team that simply flies, and very solid goaltending. I don't like the Canadian d-men this year. Team Canada always seems to have the "intangibles" edge. They will need it this year IMHO. Go Canada GO! (I refuse to use that new Corporate Canadian cheer.)

[ValkyrieNS]

Jan 4, 2010 12:34:07 GMT -5 Anardil1 said:

I hate to say this, but I think that the U.S. will win it this year.

Blasphemer!

Jan 4, 2010 12:34:07 GMT -5 Anardil1 said:

Go Canada GO! (I refuse to use that new Corporate Canadian cheer.)

But if you sign up for "Cheer Nation", your name will be displayed in the HHOF... and yes, Mr. Val and I are signed up for it ;D

[CrocRob]

So Pepsi bought the HHOF?

The whole premise of a manufactured cheer is dumb to me.