WJC 2015

[NWTHabsFan]

Slovakia stuns the Czech Republic 3-0. Reway with the empty netter.

[CentreHice]

Canada destroys Denmark 8-0. Do they go back to Comrie....or stay with Fucale, who saw only 13 shots?

[NWTHabsFan]

Jan 2, 2015 22:23:13 GMT -5 CentreHice said:

Canada destroys Denmark 8-0. Do they go back to Comrie....or stay with Fucale, who saw only 13 shots?

Only two more games left if you win the next one, have to lock up Fucale as the starter for the semis now I would think.

Neither guy has hurt this team, which is a nice place to be.

[blny]

Enigmatic Russians are scary. They haven't played particularly well all tournament, but keep finding ways to win. Have to wonder about the US. It's been all or nothing for them the last number of years. Couple of gold, a bronze, and several years out of the medals completely. How much would having McCarron in the fold, and using him, have helped?

Hats off to the Canadians for allowing the Danes to salute the crowd first. A bit of a coming out party for Denmark. They're on the rise, despite the blowout today.

[seventeen]

I wasn't happy with Fucale in previous games, but I liked his play today. He looked solid and made the required saves when necessary. The save on Ehlers breakaway was important.

I'd start him Sunday for sure.

[Skilly]

Edmonton decision to not let Draisaitl play, possibly changed the 2016 tournament completely ... I don't think Germany gets relegated if they have Draisaitl. And as strange as it may seem, it could have possibly been Slovakia, who got to the Semis.

[NWTHabsFan]

The Jeckyl and Hyde ride of the Russians continues, with them punting Sweden 4-1 to get themselves a spot in tomorrow's Gold final.

[blny]

Consistently the team I fear the most.

[seventeen]

Jan 4, 2015 18:37:15 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

The Jeckyl and Hyde ride of the Russians continues, with them punting Sweden 4-1 to get themselves a spot in tomorrow's Gold final.

I didn't see the entire game, but I had a couple of impressions. One was that the Russians were playing with some desperation, while the Swedes weren't. The Russians won a lot of individual battles. The second was that the hockey gods favoured the Russians and perhaps that's because they were working harder. On the third goal, the Swedish defenceman blew a tire circling the net, and it wasn't a really sharp turn...he just went down. Russians get it, a shot or hard pass goes toward the net where it hits either a Russian forward 10 feet in front, or the Swede checking him and goes right to a wide open Russian forward who takes a good shot. Two bad bounces led to the goal.

But overall, the Swedes just looked off. I suspect they underrated the Russian team and didn't take them seriously enough. Their bad.

DelaRose went back into his "there's a force field in front of the net" impression. He didn't put up many points and didn't look that dangerous. If we're looking at a trade, I don't mind if someone wants him badly enough. He's a very responsible defensive player and we have enough of those.

[seventeen]

Canada up 2-0. Goalie pulled.

[Disp]

You can feel the hate in this one. Awesome.

[blny]

Should have been 2 penalties after the Russian goal. The roughing that was called and unsportsmanlike for the blatant taunt in front of the Canadian bench.

[CentreHice]

As good as Domi has been, there's no need to leave your feet ANYWHERE on the ice, let alone 200 feet from your own net.

Took a page out of the old man's book on that one. Remember the elbow on Niedermayer in the playoffs? I know….Leafs-playoffs….a long time ago…..

[blny]

Agreed CH. A clear charge, that doesn't get called enough at the NHL level. Leave your feet, it's a charge. Period.

Absolute worst thing you can do against a skating team is stop skating. Total loss of focus and discipline in the second. Stop skating against Russia and the ice tilts hard and fast.

They came out refocused in the third. Nurse was in full beast mode.

Godla named goalie of tournament. Gavrikov defender. Domi forward. Apparently Gavrikov is undrafted. Good size, had a really good tourney. Might be worth a flyer.

Congrats to Slovakia for winning bronze.

[Skilly]

Best tweet of the night ... "Darnell Nurse is already Edmonton's best defenseman"

I tweeted the Prime Minister ... "Canada puts more sanctions on Russia - an embargo on WJC gold"

[blny]

LOL re Nurse tweet.

I didn't see the Bronze game, but it was great to watch the highlights and see how much of a factor Reway was. He's so small, I worry about his ability against mature players, but he's a very smart player with a lot of skill.

[PTH]

I really hate seeing Duclair doing so well out there, knowing that we could have drafted him instead of Connor Crisp. And Duclair was seen by many as a quality prospect (including the secretary at work who didn't think much of Grigorenko, but told me to watch out for Duclair).... it's missing out on local prospects like Duclair that can make a guy like Timmins get underrated...

[seventeen]

On the contrary, I wasn't all that happy with Duclair. He scored some lovely goals, but he had some bad turnovers at times and I'm not sold on his hockey IQ. Third period, empty net and he tries to force a shot through the Russian defenseman laying on the ice. A smarter play would be to fake the shot and drive around the guy, leaving either an open net, or if someone else dives, a teammate would be in position to score. That one really annoyed me and then there were the myriad of chances he didn't score on. Yes, he got one tonight, and missed about 3 others that were really good opportunities. In any case, there has to be a reason, a non-physical one for him going as late as he did.

[Cranky]

Great game. Watched it with the wife and she was all screams and tension. I'm sure I have 10% less hearing from the left ear.

Not impressed with Fucale. He has a way to go in terms of catching the puck and rebounds. The high slide was also a nono.

Nurse impressed.

[blny]

Jan 6, 2015 4:30:30 GMT -5 Cranky said:

Nurse impressed.

.. in the third.

His horrible pinch near the end of the second nearly resulted in a tying goal and did result in a penalty to start the third.

[Disp]

Fucale looks like he's a long way from a pro goalie. Didn't look very good at all.

I had the impression he was mentally tough, but he sure looked like he had the jitters last night.

[blny]

IMO, he got little to no help in the last five minutes of the second. Pucks going in off his own players, etc. I'll admit that he can look 'small' in the net at times, but the end of the second is on the skaters in front of him. They stopped skating. You can't, ever, do that against the Russians. Ever.

[BadCompany]

Amazing game to watch. The end-to-end action was a thrill, and how many times did they go three, four, even five minutes between whistles? Edge of your seat kind of game that hockey needs more of. I've thought for a while that the NHL needs to play up the speed of it's game, not just the speed of the players. Figure out a way to have less whistles so that the action is always flowing, as it was last night. Call me Gary, I have some ideas.

As for Fucale, I thought, as the great Jean Perron said, "that he has a weakness between his legs". The high-slide as HA was saying. He's not an overly big goalie so if he's going to rely on post-to-post reflexes he's going to have to figure out a way to do it with his stick covering the five-hole. Otherwise I think NHLers will pick him apart there. But he made the saves when he had to, and if he can make a nice Memorial Cup run with Quebec he'll add some more to his already impressive resume.

[CentreHice]

Jan 6, 2015 8:25:21 GMT -5 BadCompany said:

Amazing game to watch. The end-to-end action was a thrill, and how many times did they go three, four, even five minutes between whistles? Edge of your seat kind of game that hockey needs more of. I've thought for a while that the NHL needs to play up the speed of it's game, not just the speed of the players. Figure out a way to have less whistles so that the action is always flowing, as it was last night. Call me Gary, I have some ideas.

The closest we get to seeing that kind of 5-on-5 hockey with pros is in the Olympics…a short, ultra-important tournament in which the same strict/harsh IIHF rules are in place. No room for goons/goonery….only the best players from each country.

The NHL, on the other hand, has always fostered a goon/fighting mentality…and so the minor leagues groom them. The supplemental discipline re-inforces that mindset with "slap-on-the wrist" punishment….which leads to frontier-justice and more crap.

Among the first of my ideas would be to work towards eliminating the Neanderthal aspect from NHL hockey. The league has to raise the bar…and not care about satisfying the blood-lust of a certain sector of fans.


The Stanley Cup Finals are usually a close second to the Olympics….players know the stakes are super-high, and they don't want to hurt their team's chances. In fact, such goons/high-risk players are either scratched or see very few minutes.

Yes, the game is fast and rough and chippy….but if a player knows there are extreme consequences waiting for him, he thinks twice before lashing out….or he doesn't play. If the NHL has zero-tolerance, those types won't even be drafted. And the minor leagues will stop developing them.

It can be done.


I'd like to hear your ideas.

[blny]

BC, lay out 'the plan' for us!

I'm not sure you can have that sort of pace over the long haul in a league. Lesser competition has its psychological affect. The grind of a long season, and travel. These short tournaments where once you're in the venue you're there, makes it a lot easier. Then there's youthful exuberance. 25 might seem young to most of us now, but if you're 25, with a wife and a baby ... well you know. The grind of the road, and the odd sleepless night at home add up. 18 year old kids think they have distractions (like homework), but they really don't.

Heck even last night, the pace of the first 5 minutes of the game couldn't be maintained. There was a slow down in the second as well, before the Russians found momentum. Do or die brought out the energy found in the third, and you're only going to find that when your back is truly against the wall. Playoffs, elimination staring at you, etc; the regular season just doesn't press you like that.

[BadCompany]

Jan 6, 2015 10:25:38 GMT -5 blny said:

BC, lay out 'the plan' for us!

I'm not sure you can have that sort of pace over the long haul in a league. Lesser competition has its psychological affect. The grind of a long season, and travel. These short tournaments where once you're in the venue you're there, makes it a lot easier. Then there's youthful exuberance. 25 might seem young to most of us now, but if you're 25, with a wife and a baby ... well you know. The grind of the road, and the odd sleepless night at home add up. 18 year old kids think they have distractions (like homework), but they really don't.

Heck even last night, the pace of the first 5 minutes of the game couldn't be maintained. There was a slow down in the second as well, before the Russians found momentum. Do or die brought out the energy found in the third, and you're only going to find that when your back is truly against the wall. Playoffs, elimination staring at you, etc; the regular season just doesn't press you like that.

You’ll never get a Nashville-Arizona game to match the intensity of a World Junior Championship game, but I do think you can still speed up the game. Not necessarily by making the players faster, but by making the game go by faster… We’re in the Twitter/Instagram world now. People don’t want to watch two minute line changes, or faceoffs every 30 seconds. They want to see end-to-end action. Or at the very least, action. They don't want to see whistles and line changes and coaching matchups. So change the rules to cut down on the number of whistles. If you can get the players skating for 2 minutes before a whistle, instead of only 45 seconds, then not only will the game be more fun by default, but you’ll also have to get rid of the specialists, because you’re not going to want a Manny Malhotra on the ice for over a minute, even if he does win faceoffs. The coaching strategies will have to incorporate better line changes (you don't want anybody on the ice for 2 minutes straight), and the better coaches will figure out ways to exploit that, to have designed plays that catch teams trying to change. Again, you’re not going to be at a World Junior excitement level, but I think they could do a better job of speeding up the flow of the game, which to me is more important than figuring out a way to have more goals scored. Nobody likes the 10-8 All-Star games because there is no flow to those games either.

I think they could make some subtle changes though that might help. Like:

* Faster face-offs. Just drop the puck already!

* If the puck hits the netting, keep playing. What is the difference between hitting the top of the glass and bouncing into play, and hitting the net and bouncing into play? The puck is on the ice, keep playing!

* Widen the blueline, to cut down on the number of off-sides. How many off-sides do we see where the puck just inches out? Widen the blueline a little and you can cut some of those out, AND keep offensive plays going.

* Allow hand passes in the neutral zone (or maybe just on the defensive neutral zone). Why only in the defensive zone? For that matter, why not allow hand-passes everywhere? You still can't close your hand on the puck, but batting it to somebody? Why not?

* Change the icing rule so that it’s from your own blueline, and not center ice. How many icings are there per game where the player is like 6 inches away from center ice? The icing rule is supposed to punish teams who are in trouble in their own zone and who just dump it out to save a goal – that’s not the case when you are icing it from center ice. If you are in your own zone (i.e., behind your own blueline) then yes. But if you get it out of your zone, then the danger has passed (for the most part) and most icings from that area are on lead passes, or on dump-ins designed to create offense. Keep those plays going.

* See if there is a way to raise the glass by a few inches. Or maybe have it curved in at the top, so those “ring-arounds” don’t fly out. Or both.

Lots of little, subtle changes that would speed up the game, in my opinion. Again, we're talking about speeding up in terms of there being more hockey actually played, not necessarily the speed of the players. How much time is there from a whistle to the drop of the puck? 30 seconds? That's dead time that would be better spent and more entertaining if the players were actually doing something.

[blny]

First one, the face offs, the rule is in place, but like is normal with the NHL they forget about the rules a year or so after creating them.

Here's one, if a team pulls their goalie they have a power play essentially. The opposing team should be allowed to ice the puck just like when they're killing a penalty. 6 on 5 is no different than 5 on 4.

[Gogie]

Jan 6, 2015 11:22:04 GMT -5 blny said:

First one, the face offs, the rule is in place, but like is normal with the NHL they forget about the rules a year or so after creating them.

Here's one, if a team pulls their goalie they have a power play essentially. The opposing team should be allowed to ice the puck just like when they're killing a penalty. 6 on 5 is no different than 5 on 4.

It's "6 on 6" hockey, not 6 on 5. The fact that one team chooses to have 6 skaters while the other chooses to have 5 skaters and a goalie doesn't make it a "power play".

[blny]

Jan 6, 2015 11:33:02 GMT -5 Gogie said:

Jan 6, 2015 11:22:04 GMT -5 blny said:

First one, the face offs, the rule is in place, but like is normal with the NHL they forget about the rules a year or so after creating them.

Here's one, if a team pulls their goalie they have a power play essentially. The opposing team should be allowed to ice the puck just like when they're killing a penalty. 6 on 5 is no different than 5 on 4.

It's "6 on 6" hockey, not 6 on 5. The fact that one team chooses to have 6 skaters while the other chooses to have 5 skaters and a goalie doesn't make it a "power play".

6 skaters versus 5. I think the folks out there defending against 6 skaters might beg to differ on whether it feels like a PK or not.

[Gogie]

Jan 6, 2015 11:36:33 GMT -5 blny said:

Jan 6, 2015 11:33:02 GMT -5 Gogie said:

It's "6 on 6" hockey, not 6 on 5. The fact that one team chooses to have 6 skaters while the other chooses to have 5 skaters and a goalie doesn't make it a "power play".

6 skaters versus 5. I think the folks out there defending against 6 skaters might beg to differ on whether it feels like a PK or not.

As I said in my previous post - because a team "chooses" not to have 6 skaters doesn't make it a power play for the other team. Pull your own goalie and go with 6 vs. 6 if you're concerned with being out-manned outside of the crease. I don't imagine too many teams would make that choice, but it's still a choice. Why effectively penalize a team for pulling their goalie (and take a little excitement out of the game)?