Canada Loses!

[Tankdriver]

What a pathetic showing in the Olympics. 3 games with no goals. Little to no effort. Expect big changes in the future.

[CentreHice]

0 for 8 on the PP. Bertuzzi takes a needless penalty behind the Russian net, leads to Russia's PP goal by Ovechkin.

On that goal, Pronger puts the puck into the slot in front of Brodeur...Doan muffs it and "passes" it to Kozolv....out front to Ovechkin.

Pronger takes another penalty near the end of the game.....then two Habs seal our fate.....Markov to Kovalev....2-0.

Richards with a glorious opportunity to make it 1-1 on the late PP....Nabokov was down....empty net.....and he decided to pass it out front.

Oh the post mortem on this one.

Turns out many critics were correct....Gretzky and Co. picked the wrong bunch of guys. Injuries to Niedermayer and Jovonovski didn't help.....but still....

[roke]

Pommpie said:

1) Gretzky leaves off nine of the NHL's top thirty scorers, because he's a moron.

2) Canada gets shut out three times, including the quarter-final.

Coincidence?

The team had no offense despite all the firepower they supposedly had; didn't use the speed (if they have any); Couldn't beat the trap.

The only thing they had was goaltending. Brodeur was good throughout the tourny, from what I saw.




Some More Thoughts:

2-0 Russia. Ovechkin and Kovalev the goalscorers.


I know you can't expect to win a game when you don't score any goals but...

Todd fogging Bertuzzi


He is definitely not the sole contributor to Canada's losing. With all the supposed firepower on the team they did not actually use it, or it just wasn't loaded or whatever. I only saw the 3rd period of the Czech game, the Finn game and the 1st and 3rd peirods of the Russia game (Canada-wise) but the goaltending kept the Canadians in the game. The goalscoring just didn't show up.

Horrible penalty by Bertuzzi in my oppinion and Lecavelier retaliating after Malkin (I believe) kicked him (that's what I saw anyway) was just as bad as the attempted pick.


Kudos to Russia for handling the puck well, keeping it in the zone and capitalizing on a golden opportunity. Also, Nabokov played very, very well.


I also agree with Pommpie's points completely. Too many powerforwards (some underperforming), not enough speed and playmakers.


Teams just clogged the neutral zone up against our team and the team either:

1) Didn't know how to break this trap
2) Weren't coached well enough in how to break that blue-line trap
3) Didn't bother listening to the coaching in breaking the trap.

[Andrew]

Gretzky and company deserve this loss for picking Bertuzzi.

[Habit]

Lazy passes... no skating... no heart. Wayne should be ashamed of this team he put together. Also the coaching staff should take alot of the blame for this to. Players had no idea what to do on the ice. You could see players miscommunicating, and missing thier assignments, both of offence and defence.

I stoped counting how many pases were to phantom players.

My money is on the Fins now.

[Forum Ghost]

*An absolute and utter disappointment for Team Canada. What a pathetic showing, not only today, but throughout the entire tournament.

*Full marks to Russia for the victory. They deserved to win. They were the better team.

*Bertuzzi always had a reputation for taking boneheaded penalties... today did nothing to shed that reputation.

*Markov to Kovalev for the clincher... hated that it was against Canada, but it was nice to see nonetheless.


Now I'm cheering for teams that have Habs on them, so either Russia or Finland winning would be fine with me.

[Deleted]

I never liked this team to begin with. I mean, come on:

Bertuzzi: He's always in the box;
Lecavalier: Not really that great;
St. Louis: Ditto;
Foote: Pillar on D;

Kariya and Fleury were far more effective during the last olympics.

Eric Staal should definitely have gone. It's disturbing that Canada picked players who played well in the past as opposed to ones who were playing well THIS SEASON. They deserved to lose.

Next time: pick better players.

[Toronthab]

forumghost2 said:

*An absolute and utter disappointment for Team Canada. What a pathetic showing, not only today, but throughout the entire tournament.

*Full marks to Russia for the victory. They deserved to win. They were the better team.

*Bertuzzi always had a reputation for taking boneheaded penalties... today did nothing to shed that reputation.

*Markov to Kovalev for the clincher... hated that it was against Canada, but it was nice to see nonetheless.


Now I'm cheering for teams that have Habs on them, so either Russia or Finland winning would be fine with me.

Da Habs and de Habs not

[blny]

What I said in the Olympic talk thread:

blny said:

The 2006 edition of Team Canada might go down as one of the worst TEAMS I've ever seen represent us. That group of INDIVIDUALS never once were on the same page. Play like losers and you're going to lose.

Communication skills and passing were some of the ugliest I've ever seen. Lots of "you get", and what not.

If it was possible, I'd think they threw the tournament a la the White Sox. Simply awful.

[Habit]

mattdhf said:

I never liked this team to begin with. I mean, come on:

Bertuzzi: He's always in the box;
Lecavalier: Not really that great;
St. Louis: Ditto;
Foote: Pillar on D;

You know what is funny. Everyone of those names you mention above are the names of players that people on this boad, and others, wanted to have in Montreal.

[MC Habber]

habit said:

mattdhf said:

I never liked this team to begin with. I mean, come on:

Bertuzzi: He's always in the box;
Lecavalier: Not really that great;
St. Louis: Ditto;
Foote: Pillar on D;

You know what is funny. Everyone of those names you mention above are the names of players that people on this boad, and others, wanted to have in Montreal.

And I still would. I'd also like Sakic, Iginla, and Heately, to name a few others, despite their less than stellar performances in Italy

[blny]

It's obvious that the team in Vancouver will have a vastly different look. I'm sure NHLers will be a part of it, as the NHL would want a presence again in North American games. The youth movement should be in full effect by then. Crosby, Staal, and Phaneuf should be the backbone of the team.

[Doc Holliday]

I agree BLNY, I'd put it down as a rebuilding year. Guys like Draper and Doan probably shouldn't have been there but to Gretzky's defense those 2 were gold medalists the last time around. Bertuzzi did what he does best, he crashed and banged and was often in the slot waiting for a pass or a rebound that never came.

St-Louis and Lecavalier are guys that should normally do well on big ice surface, but they didn't have gas it seems.

Our D was awful but we were missing key elements there.

Staal, Crosby, Phaneuf and Spezza will be there in 2010, maybe Bergeron too but most importantly, Quinn won't.

[blny]

I agree on Quinn. Forgot to say it in my post. I think it's time for a regime change behind the bench. Quenville, Crawford, or future Jack Adams winner Guy Carboneau .

I don't think Doan was that bad. In fact, for the role he was asked to play, I feel he lived up to his role. He killed penalties extremely well, took the body, and worked hard.

Some of the line combinations had me scratching my head. I can't remember many off the top of my head, and I'm sure Quinn was trying anything to get something going, but they just didn't make any sense.

I've never seen so many passes into the feet of the intended receiver. Or, passes to people that weren't looking. The group never gelled. Never got on the same page. In a tournament with that tight a schedule, you have to find yourselves fairly quick. They never did.

[Deleted]

At least the women's team won gold.

[olematelot]

Interesting to note 6 of the top 10 Canadian scorers in the NHL were not on this team, hmmm. Here are 5 reasons we lost :Iginla, Thornton, Heatley, Nash, Lacavelier, and Bertuzzi. They were invisible except when they did something stupid.

[HabSolute]

olematelot said:

Here are 5 reasons we lost :Iginla, Thornton, Heatley, Nash, Lacavelier, and Bertuzzi.

I count 6 ....