2024 WJC

[IamCanadiens]

Dec 29, 2023 12:48:04 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

Dec 29, 2023 11:54:04 GMT -5 IamCanadiens said:

Fowler playing against Czechia. Saving Augustine for the Slovaks. Settling in to watch the rest of the game.

Augustine is a bit sick, so Fowler keeps the net. Hutson with a really nice play and primary assist on the third USA goal to tie it up at 3. Czechia taking to the USA defense a fair bit in the second period. Still weird that the USA coach does not put Hutson on his PP but plays him as a PK defender. Odd choices and not how I would have written it up.

Thanks. Missed the start of the game and was surprised to see Fowler. Extremely entertaining second period. Turnovers killed the US. Hutson has been very noticeable and dangerous.

[NWTHabsFan]

Hutson on the PP in OT and he had two great controlled zone entries without using a back pass. Hmmmm.

Hutson with nothing burger games against two weak opponents while teammates were stacking their stats, but now in a tight game against a tough opponent, he has his best game of the tournament. Big game clutch.

[NWTHabsFan]

Fowler was really good in the shootout. USA wins it after 7 shooters each.

[NWTHabsFan]

Why the heck not? 26:16 of ice time with Casey out sick. He was not on for any of the three goals against.

[Willie Dog]

Dec 29, 2023 13:45:29 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

Fowler was really good in the shootout. USA wins it after 7 shooters each.

I just watched the OT, Fowler did well, that left pad made some great stops

[NWTHabsFan]

SWE playing a very positionally sound game, with lots of skill to make you pay for mistakes. Today, so far, none of Canada’s lines seem to have any chemistry going. Rousseau solid again.

Beck taken hard into the boards from behind and favouring his shoulder.

[Andrew]

Really entertaining game between USA and CZE. Hutson looked like he was trying to do too much at times, with a number of stretch passes that didn’t connect vs simple plays he could have made. Balancing that out was great dynamic play in the offensive zone, and a beauty assist.

Fowler, as advertised, made the big stops when they needed him to and was dynamite in the shootout.

[drkcloud]

Slovakia is sure pumping out some good looking players. Mesar looked confidant and showed some nice hands, playmaking.

But I was blown away by Dalibor Dvorsky.. big strong tall center with good wheels and finesse hands. Couple beauty goals buried. He has the tools to be a stud

[seventeen]

The knock on Dvorsky (but not a big one) was that he was terrific with his own age group but couldn’t produce when moved up. He has 34 points in 20 games with Sudbury but had no points in 10 games with Oscarshamn in the SHL along with -6. We don’t know, though, how he was used and how much the coach trusted him.

[jkr]

Mesar with his 1st of the tournament to go with 6 assists. That late goal made it 3-2 for the U.S. but the Americans came back with 2 very late goals. Now 5-2 for the Americans after 2 periods.

[Willie Dog]

US wins 10-2... boy Slovakia could have used Slaf and Nemec... US has too much firepower

[Willie Dog]

Mesar scores a beauty ppg shoots between D man's legs and top corner far side

[NWTHabsFan]

Another day at the office for Lane. Three assists and loads of ice time.

[NWTHabsFan]

Here is the beauty goal from Slovakia’s player of the game in the big loss to the USA today.

[NWTHabsFan]

This Canada WJC is definitely lacking top end skill and offensive flair; however, I still have no idea why Minten gets first line and top PP time. He does not even shine on this average group. And “the NHLer” in Poitras, seems very underwhelming and lacking in top end skill. How Dumais scored so many in the CHL but looks so incapable in this tournament is a big puzzle too. Wood has been a big disappointment too, even though he might be battling some lingering injury stuff. We need these guys to really up the game the rest of the way for a chance at Bronze.

[NWTHabsFan]

There you go Dumais. Needed that!

[NWTHabsFan]

Beck got his first of the tournament early in the third today. If you were just stat watching, you could surmise he has had a bad WJC. Au contraire, he is second in the event in faceoffs, plays in lots of key 5 on 5 matchups and on the PK, and has been Canada’s most responsible defensive forward ( he is in a checking centre role on this team). He is doing what the coaches have asked of him and gets lots of touches and looks.

[NWTHabsFan]

Celebrini gets an insurance goal from a tight angle after the goalie comes out to poke check it. He is worth the price of admission again.

[IamCanadiens]

The quarterfinal against Czechia gives me the heebyjeebies. The have a big goaltender that can steal games, a lot of fire power and they're great at moving the puck on the powerplay. Canada must be disciplined or they are ripe for the picking.

[NWTHabsFan]

Dec 31, 2023 16:07:48 GMT -5 IamCanadiens said:

The quarterfinal against Czechia gives me the heebyjeebies. The have a big goaltender that can steal games, a lot of fire power and they're great at moving the puck on the powerplay. Canada must be disciplined or they are ripe for the picking.

Yup, it is not a great matchup for Canada.

[NWTHabsFan]

Quarterfinal times for Tuesday.

[Willie Dog]

Canada gets bounced... wow...

[Willie Dog]

Mesar ties the game vs Finland late in the 3rd... nice shot

Then in 3 on 3 the checia D man let's a fin skate by him and go in all alone... Mesar is bounced after a great tourney

[NWTHabsFan]

Mešár ends the tournament with 9 points in 5 games, temporarily tied for tournament lead in scoring (it will change once the USA game is over). Shockingly, he was not one of the top three Slovakian players picked by their federation. He had a 1g 1a today in what was probably the biggest disappointment of the two “upsets” so far today. This Slovak team was good and fun to watch. Canada, not so much unfortunately.

Mešár wins the faceoff, fires on net, and the rebound is fired in with 1.7 seconds in the first.

After Finland take the lead with less than two to play, Mešár ties it up with 43 seconds left to send it to OT. Second clutch point of the game.

Between his great play in Kitchener for half the season and his superb WJC, there is a lot more to like about Mešár than there was six months ago. He is having a great development year. It all started once he got away from Houle and got lots of ice time. 😉

[Willie Dog]

Jan 2, 2024 12:03:07 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

Mešár ends the tournament with 9 points in 5 games, temporarily tied for tournament lead in scoring (it will change once the USA game is over). Shockingly, he was not one of the top three Slovakian players picked by their federation. He had a 1g 1a today in what was probably the biggest disappointment of the two “upsets” so far today. This Slovak team was good and fun to watch. Canada, not so much unfortunately.

Mešár wins the faceoff, fires on net, and the rebound is fired in with 1.7 seconds in the first.

After Finland take the lead with less than two to play, Mešár ties it up with 43 seconds left to send it to OT. Second clutch point of the game.

Between his great play in Kitchener for half the season and his superb WJC, there is a lot more to like about Mešár than there was six months ago. He is having a great development year. It all started once he got away from Houle and got lots of ice time. 😉

Houle has to go, if he doesn't like you forget it... he's MTHEADish

[Cranky]

I wonder how much more "promise" there is Mesar, Hutson and Beck after their WJ.

I want all of them in the AHL or trying on the big club ASAP.

The season is getting closer and closer to another bottom 5 finish so might as well go into overdrive on development.

[jkr]

I have seen a lot of comments saying the Swiss were screwed by the refs in their game against Sweden.

What happened?

[Cranky]

I wonder how much more "promise" there is Mesar, Hutson and Beck after their WJ.

I want all of them in the AHL or trying on the big club ASAP.

The season is getting closer and closer to another bottom 5 finish so might as well go into overdrive on development

[seventeen]

Dec 31, 2023 17:18:47 GMT -5 NWTHabsFan said:

Dec 31, 2023 16:07:48 GMT -5 IamCanadiens said:

The quarterfinal against Czechia gives me the heebyjeebies. The have a big goaltender that can steal games, a lot of fire power and they're great at moving the puck on the powerplay. Canada must be disciplined or they are ripe for the picking.

Yup, it is not a great matchup for Canada.

Not unexpected. I usually tape the games to watch later and didn't bother with this one. Premonition?

There were a couple of glaring weaknesses to this year's crop and it's going to sound stupidly simple...our defense wasn't very good and we weren't strong up the middle. A good post mortem would look at who we chose (Minten and Poitras) and who we may have left behind. Those two were our top centres and both were there because of perceived success vs NHL players. But we have seen some guys have great camps and then recede. I'm still trying to understand how Poitras is putting up points with Boston. He seems to move the puck reasonably well, but it didn't translate into points at the WJC. Minten just didn't look that dangerous, period.

Did we have worse centres in the rest of the country? Did we misplay some of the guys we had. Danielson, for example, looked pretty good to me, but he was on the wing on the 4th line much of the time. Is he not a centre? Could Minten not have been moved to wing? Anyway, just one of those years. A lot of good players are 17, and the guys picking really like to have 19 year olds. We certainly need better age balance on the club. A few guys have to be repeat attendees and that was not the case this year. Beck was technically the only guy and he was a 3 game replacement. Were there any 18 year olds on our team, guys who might be back next year? Danielson, Cowan, Yager. Any more?

The defense should be better next year, with several players being highly touted.

[Willie Dog]

Jan 2, 2024 17:02:02 GMT -5 Cranky said:

I wonder how much more "promise" there is Mesar, Hutson and Beck after their WJ.

I want all of them in the AHL or trying on the big club ASAP.

The season is getting closer and closer to another bottom 5 finish so might as well go into overdrive on development

You feel very strongly about this... lol