2007 WJC

[seventeen]

Let's keep it all together in this thread...and lets hear from the Mikus, Valentenko, Kostitsyn fans and from the Price naysayers (whoa, am I giving away my true feelings?)

[seventeen]

End of the first period, 1-0 for the good guys. Bourdon on a screened shot from the point on a PP. Overall, the PP has been pretty bad, though. The PK, as usual has been very good. Price hasn't been overworked, but made two solid saves on an early Sweden PP. He looks confident. The two solid saves came after a couple of weak turnovers in the Canadian end. The team just couldn't get the puck out on two occasions where they should have. It was a great time for Price to made those saves as he bailed out his penalty killers.

In other action, two upsets, Belarus over Finland 4-3 and Germany over the US 2-1 in O/T. Wow, you gotta be ready for these games.

[seventeen]

Mid way through the 2nd. Pretty even game. Sweden has a solid team with a couple of forwards who are better than any forward on Canada, but our team defense is pretty solid and Price has made some timely saves. His positioning has been very good, so shots are hitting him and he's not giving up many rebounds.

[seventeen]

2-0 Canada, another PP goal. It was kind off odd, though. Canada was having another poor PP, they finally get set up, Letang takes it deep toward the net, shoots at a bad angle, the goalie makes the easy save, but gives up a short rebound right in front and Brad Marchand was standing between two d-men and easily pops in the rebound. Duh. It was almost too easy after such a struggle even getting set up. Hopefully Canada gets their game cohesiveness together as the tourney goes along. The same thing happened last year. Their passing between each other isn't crisp because they haven't played much together, they're still getting their system down, etc. The lack of individual talent to break down the defense is apparent, though. I hope someone steps it up. Price continues to look solid. He hasn't had to be spectacular, but he hasn't made any mistakes and he sure takes up a lot of the net. On one Sweden PP, a forward might have scored as Price went down too early and was off to one side, but he recovered enough to make the guy tighten his hands, and the shot hit the side of the net. A good scorer would have put it upstairs. That was the only time he didn't play it perfectly and he played it pretty well nonetheless. He is making tough saves look easy, as the saying goes. Trade value keeps escalating. ;D

[franko]

What a day. No work, the TV to myself (Mrs with a book and a fire in the front room wanting "alone time" -- my pleasure !) . . . a book, a bag of chips, a plate of baking, some other Christmas candy, a case of "my" type of drinks in the fridge, and the remote control in hand. Life is good.

Price looking unspectacular. That may be because the Swedes are buzzing but their "real" chances are few and far between or because he is playing so well without dramatics -- just another day at the office.

Obviously, the D has taken lessons from the Habs. Poor clearing attempts, and few tape-to-tape passes.

But the work ethic is there. Looks like thety don't expect to win just because they are wearing the red and white black.

[seventeen]

Price should end up 1st star. He made some key saves again in the 3rd, without looking spectacular, just in the right place, not giving Sweden much space to shoot at. I like the Team Canada defense, but their offense....? Ouch. The second guessing can start now. The choices have sure been to go with two way players. As Habaroni & cheese mentioned, how they can keep McCardle and not choose either Maxwell or Setoguchi, both good offensive players, raises some eyebrows. They were outshot badly today and didn't create a lot of good scoring chances. In any case, a solid win and a great start for Carey Price.

[habernac]

they moved the puck poorly, Price was sharp when he needed to be. Good start, beating the host team, but we have to be much better if we expect to go anywhere in this tournament. No one but Price looked really good out there.

[Anardil1]

Agreed with most here. Totally unimpressed with this year's edition of Team Canada. Great goaltending, world class defense, and four lines of Steve Begins up front. Living in Montreal, I don't have a chance to follow junior hockey, however, I have a hard time believing that there isn't at least one line of offensively gifted forwards in this country. I know it's only the first game, but I didn't like what I saw. The forwards were always beaten to the puck when trying to establish a forecheck. And on the odd occasion that they were able to pressure the Swedish d, they rarely won the board battle to gain possession of the puck. They better regroup quickly because they face a desperate U.S. team tomorrow, that lost to the Germans today.

On a side note, also on this day of upsets, Kosty Jr. with a goal and 2 assists in Belarus' 4-3 victory over Finland.

[NWTHabsFan]

This team sure looks like goals are not going to come easily. Pretty decent D, although they were forced to play tougher since their forwards were not helping them at times in their own end. Price looked good, although he overslid a few times. No biggie as he was pretty solid overall today keeping his team in the game. For now, I too am scratching my head wondering why guys like Esposito, Tavares and Maxwell are sitting at home with their junior teams right now.

[habmeister]

yep i said it a few times previous, i've seen enough of mcardle 11 rows up to know he isn't anything special at all. maxwell is a much better player, they should play franson more too, he's one of the best offensive defencemen i've ever seen in junior hockey. he is risky though and coughed up once at the blue line that almost cost them a goal and i didn't see him out for a shift after that.

what i did notice is they weren't finishing their checks at all. that is not canadian hockey, i didn't like last years edition they way they played, i'd rather they play a skill game with grit, than just running around hitting everyone. even downie wasn't hitting much, maybe its the ice surface size and the coaching staff was saying to lay off on the hitting as they can get out of position when they miss, but the passed up on many chances along the boards to finish their check.

it seems like a lot of times canada has a slow start, until they bond, and then lookout.

i'd rather see carey price get lots of good tests anyways than like pogge last year who rarely saw 20 shots/game.

[Skilly]

I posted this is the main thread but will repost it here to keep it all together.

skilly said:

habmeister said:

when you put up over 7,000 posts some are bound to be way out there, just chalk it up to too much turkey and wine.

Are you referring to HA's post?

2000 WJC - 0.939 S%, 1.83 GAA
2001 WJC - 0.942 S%, 1.51 GAA

The above numbers were obtained by the same goaltender. So this guy had TWO outstanding WJCs and then was traded March 19, 2002 after only playing 2 NHL games (in which he went 0-1, with an 0.889 S%, but a respectable 2.37 GAA).

This goalie's name was Maxim Ouellet. And he was traded for a first/second line center.

The trade was:

To Washington - Maxim Ouellet, a 2002 first rounder (that was traded to Dallas who selected Martin Vagner), a 2002 second rounder (Maxime Daigneault), and a 2002 third rounder (Derek Krestanovich).

To Philly - Adam Oates


With a salary cap, the draft choices will be the way deadline line deals will be made to keep their rosters in tact.

This also highlights something else.... while we can all be proud od Carey Price, let's not get out the anointing oils just yet. Maxime Ouellet has only played 12 NHL career games since he WJC days. The WJC are littered with Canadian goalies who stand on their heads and do not amount to nothing more than average or worse NHL goalies.

[Skilly]

anardil1 said:

Agreed with most here. Totally unimpressed with this year's edition of Team Canada. Great goaltending, world class defense, and four lines of Steve Begins up front. Living in Montreal, I don't have a chance to follow junior hockey, however, I have a hard time believing that there isn't at least one line of offensively gifted forwards in this country. I know it's only the first game, but I didn't like what I saw. The forwards were always beaten to the puck when trying to establish a forecheck. And on the odd occasion that they were able to pressure the Swedish d, they rarely won the board battle to gain possession of the puck. They better regroup quickly because they face a desperate U.S. team tomorrow, that lost to the Germans today.

On a side note, also on this day of upsets, Kosty Jr. with a goal and 2 assists in Belarus' 4-3 victory over Finland.

Sure they didnt even invite Daniel Ryder to camp. The 3rd leading (maybe 4th now) scorer in the OHL ... but they did invite his teammate Downie who has less goals and assists??? Sure Ryder is suspended in the OHL, but that suspension does not carry over to the WJCs. Every year the Candian coaches decide to leave 2 or 3 top goal scorers off this team.

[NWTHabsFan]

Pavel Valentenko +2 in Russia's 3-2 win over the Czech Republic. Good start for him.

[seventeen]

skilly said:

Sure they didnt even invite Daniel Ryder to camp. The 3rd leading (maybe 4th now) scorer in the OHL ... but they did invite his teammate Downie who has less goals and assists??? Sure Ryder is suspended in the OHL, but that suspension does not carry over to the WJCs. Every year the Candian coaches decide to leave 2 or 3 top goal scorers off this team.

They place a lot of emphasis on discipline and character, when making their choices. As you've said, that doesn't explain the choice of Downie. I'm not defending their choices, just clarifying some of the factors that may have played into it. I'm sure they also looked at roles and who could and WOULD fit into a different role than they may have been used to. Some of their choices, in hindsight,look weak right now. In week's time the may look at lot better. We shall see.

[duster]

I hope it gets better. I can't say the first game inspired a lot of confidence in the team's ability to score. Toews can't do it all himself and they can't always rely on Bourdon and Letang to generate offense. Letang looked iffy at times too...

I have a hunch that to get anywhere this year, it's going to be a matter of playing solid defense and getting clutch goaltending more than anything else. At least Price is used to being shelled. He must have felt right at home during the third period against the Swedes.

[habmeister]

i'd like to see them give cody franson more of a role on the team and pp, he's an excellent rushing defenceman that can make great tape to tape passes over 2 lines. he's not the greatest in his own zone though, but he should be on the 1st pp in my opinion.

[Skilly]

seventeen said:

They place a lot of emphasis on discipline and character, when making their choices.

I am not saying that Daniel Ryder would have been a difference maker ... just questioning why he wasn't invited to camp. To say it is because of "discipline and character" is a bit of a stretch though.

Ryder was suspended for 10 games because he placed a hand on a refs shoulder when explaining his case to him. He never shouted, he never went ballistic, he simply lay his hand on the shoulder of the ref as the ref was skating by him. You see players all the time with their arms around the ref as they skate together, and the player pleads his case. Ryder had his hand on the ref's shoulder. The ref put "abuse of official" on the game sheet ... which is an automatic 10 game suspension. If anything, Ryder showed "character" by not appealing the punishment and took it as a learning experience.

[NWTHabsFan]

Mikus gets his first goal of the WJC in today's game in which the upstart Germans beat Slovakia 4-2.

Carey Price gets the win against the US in a big 6-3 today in Mora. He was screened on the first, the second was off a huge bounce off the backboards that left a forward totally alone with the empty half of the net (don't quit on the play skaters!), and the third was off a non-call goalie interference in which he was flattened. I thought he had a solid game overall and made some big saves during the second when the US looked their most threatening. He also was really solid during all of Canada's PK's, and there were a few. Canada is still perfect on the PK after two games. The next matchup is against the fellow 2-0 Germans...who knew how big a game that would be!?

Edit: Kosty Jr held pointless as the Swiss beat up on Belarus 4-1.

[habmeister]

hartsburg listened to me and put franson on the first unit pp, nice move. good game, they had more intensity today and it showed on the scoreboard, price was solid and had no chance on the last 2 goals.

[seventeen]

skilly said:

seventeen said:

They place a lot of emphasis on discipline and character, when making their choices.

I am not saying that Daniel Ryder would have been a difference maker ... just questioning why he wasn't invited to camp. To say it is because of "discipline and character" is a bit of a stretch though.

Ryder was suspended for 10 games because he placed a hand on a refs shoulder when explaining his case to him. He never shouted, he never went ballistic, he simply lay his hand on the shoulder of the ref as the ref was skating by him. You see players all the time with their arms around the ref as they skate together, and the player pleads his case. Ryder had his hand on the ref's shoulder. The ref put "abuse of official" on the game sheet ... which is an automatic 10 game suspension. If anything, Ryder showed "character" by not appealing the punishment and took it as a learning experience.

I didn't mean to suggest anything about Ryder's character or other attributes. I've never seen him play and don't know anything about him. I was just pointing out some of the 'attributes' that are a focus when selections are made. They may or may not apply to Ryder. I also don't defend their choices. I suspect they had a core group of top 6 forwards they had already pegged and if you didn't fit into their models for the next 6, you were offed. That also suggests they were certain about their top 6, something I'm questioning after seeing their top 6 play. I always like Toews, going back to last year. Cogliano has a lot of speed but iffy hands. The rest?...all suspect.

[Skilly]

seventeen said:

skilly said:

I am not saying that Daniel Ryder would have been a difference maker ... just questioning why he wasn't invited to camp. To say it is because of "discipline and character" is a bit of a stretch though.

Ryder was suspended for 10 games because he placed a hand on a refs shoulder when explaining his case to him. He never shouted, he never went ballistic, he simply lay his hand on the shoulder of the ref as the ref was skating by him. You see players all the time with their arms around the ref as they skate together, and the player pleads his case. Ryder had his hand on the ref's shoulder. The ref put "abuse of official" on the game sheet ... which is an automatic 10 game suspension. If anything, Ryder showed "character" by not appealing the punishment and took it as a learning experience.

I didn't mean to suggest anything about Ryder's character or other attributes. I've never seen him play and don't know anything about him. I was just pointing out some of the 'attributes' that are a focus when selections are made. They may or may not apply to Ryder. I also don't defend their choices. I suspect they had a core group of top 6 forwards they had already pegged and if you didn't fit into their models for the next 6, you were offed. That also suggests they were certain about their top 6, something I'm questioning after seeing their top 6 play. I always like Toews, going back to last year. Cogliano has a lot of speed but iffy hands. The rest?...all suspect.

I agree. The team had a "Gretzkyesque" feel to it this year. By that I mean, the core of the team was decided long before camp. If they brought in talented players they would have had to defend their choices, and the media would have ripped their explanations to shreds. Especially if someone went in to camp and exploded with lots of goals and hard work.

I almost get the feeling from this team that they think they are ordained to win again ... better get their heads out of the clouds, I say ..... showing up is not good enough anymore against any team. Take Germany lightly and it they'll be saying "von ende bis anfang" or "an erster Stelle".

[NWTHabsFan]

Pavel Valentenko received his first point today with an assist in Russia's 6-0 rout.

Juraj Mikus scored one goal (his second in two games) in Slovakia's 6-3 loss to Sweden.

[seventeen]

Canada has not taken Germany seriously. After they scored, they've been a bit lazy, allowing Germany to outwork them and get some chances. A spurt by the Downie line and a near goal. Hopefully that hit by Downie pumps them up a little.

[NWTHabsFan]

Russia spanked Belarus 6-1 earlier today.

Sergei Kostitsyn had an assist on their only goal, and Pavel Valentenko had one of the Russian six. The Russians seem to be gaining steam, albeit without having seen any of the games.

[NWTHabsFan]

Carey Price really solid in the 3-1 win in the snooze-fest with Germany. He made a great across the crease save late in the game when Germany was pressing, in one of their only sustained offensive shifts of the game. The one goal was 5 on 3 and was a cross crease pass that went in off Parent's skate. No chance for Carey. He and his teammates were really solid in a third period 5 on 3 with the game still 2-1.

Off to the semis now for our lads in red. Last round robin game is against winless Slovakia with Habs prospect Juraj Mikus. It is a real early game on Sunday morning...I will catch the TSN replay!

[habmeister]

is there a link anywhere with the scoring leaders?

[Skilly]

habmeister said:

is there a link anywhere with the scoring leaders?

www.iihf.com/hockey/tournam/tournaments.htm#

Click on W20. Then all games and stats will be at your disposal.

[Skilly]

seventeen said:

They place a lot of emphasis on discipline and character, when making their choices.

I was talking to someone today who knows Daniel Ryder and he did not expect Danny on the team for "character" issues. I won't go into it in the open (legalities) but what he told me makes sense if true.

[NWTHabsFan]

Kosty held scoreless in a 2-1 loss to the Czechs.

Mikus with the only goal in a 6-1 loss to the Americans.

It will be interesting to see if Coach Hartsburg sits Carey Price for tomorrow's game against the Slovaks, because that would mean he does not play for four days. That is a long time to be out of a game situation in a short tourney. Maybe he splits between Carey and Leland Irving to give them both some ice time tomorrow. Or maybe he sticks with his #1 the whole way.

[habmeister]

nwthabsfan said:

Kosty held scoreless in a 2-1 loss to the Czechs.

Mikus with the only goal in a 6-1 loss to the Americans.

It will be interesting to see if Coach Hartsburg sits Carey Price for tomorrow's game against the Slovaks, because that would mean he does not play for four days. That is a long time to be out of a game situation in a short tourney. Maybe he splits between Carey and Leland Irving to give them both some ice time tomorrow. Or maybe he sticks with his #1 the whole way.

bob is that you?