Sioux_Hab-it

The only two things that kept Finland in the game were their goaltender and their edge at winning faceoffs. Toews rang a post in the game. Runnin with the Dogz did your hear the big news about Sparky from the holidays and how did you take it?

Popped him a couple of knuckle sandwiches and then picked him up and threw him to the ice.

I am and it is 1-0 Canada after 1. Shots were 15-5 Canada and Russell has the goal.

Their forwards are their strength and they will cycle all of their lines so the US had better be ready to the same. Most of what I saw of them was the exhibition game against Canada. When pressured their D will cough up the puck and I don't believe they have solid goaltending. The reason they breezed through the preliminary round is because their forwards controlled the puck most of the game and there was not much contact from the likes of Sweden, Czechs and Slovaks. The Latvians probably gave them their most physical game and only lost to them 3-1 therefore some good old North American style hockey may be just what is needed to ground them.

Key to stopping the Russians is to shut down Malkin which given his size and skill will be no easy task. If the US can take the play to them their D and goaltending don't match up to their talented forwards.

The US is seen as the main hockey rival because they have closed the gap. Look at the first round of last years draft and watch this years draft and you will see that US hockey players are now on a par with Canada talent wise. Just as in professional sport, fans will boo their greatest rival so you should try and see it as a compliment than a vice. I think we should keep politics off the Sioux chat. Bad mouthing each other is what political leaders do much too often for my liking. They do it because it is an easy way deflect voters concerns away from the real issues that haunt both of our great nations.

Actually that is what some Western Canadians said about Eastern Canadians in the Trudeau era.

Sweden and Finland have gone into overtime still 0-0. Shots are something like 50-24 for Sweden. The referee for the next game is the Canadian so the US can feel free to deliver North American body checks.

I was debating on whether or not to weigh in on this topic and decided that I might as well. For those of you who played varsity sports at the same age as these players think back to how you behaved. Some of the players may seem like prima donas to you but based on my own experiences I would have to say that the players who pull on the Sioux hockey jerseys conduct themselves in a very mature and modest manner. They know that as individuals and as a team they are the cream of the crop in Div I hockey; however, every other Div One team knows this as well and would like nothing better than to upset them. I still believe we are in for an exciting finish to this season. Finally, I don't think it is fair to single out Stafford. I know I have personally noted that we only seem to win whenever he scores. That wasn't meant as a slight against him, rather it was meant to imply that with the balance of talent on this team the Sioux should be able to win even when he isn't a factor on the scoresheet.

Both quarter finals will be shown by TSN this evening so either FSN or Center Ice should pick up the feed for the US game I would imagine.

It would appear that Coach Berry is up in Vancouver getting in on the fun. Apparently he played in the RBC Fanfest Game that pitted the stars of Canada's 82 team against the Stars of the 85 team. http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/news_story/?ID=149066&hubname=

Here is a link from a recent Q&A with Ryan Parent. http://www.hockeysfuture.com/article.php?s...hreaded&order=0 And for the benefit of Slappy who only believes only what he can read on the internet a little TSN article about Team USA's chemistry where Bob MacKenzie admits he was one of the analysts who raised the subject on the Pre-tourney special. Are you a happy Slappy now. http://www.tsn.ca/columnists/bob_mckenzie.asp

He spent half of last nights game on his butt courtesy of Staal, Barker, Bourdon and Parent. Now that is funny!

Yes, it is. He is the type of BCJHL goaltender that Denver and Colorado College usually go after.

The best returnee for the Czechs is their goaltender but it would appear that the Russians lit him up like a Christmas tree last night. The US just needs to give more ice time to the non-Kessel lines and they should do just fine.

It was no accident that the Sioux and the Pies made last years final. Both had the best Ds in the nation and both lost just as much talent from that position. Sure they still have Carle but by himself he is not enough whereas the Sioux reloaded their D with talent across the board. It should be an interesting battle between the Sioux, Dogz and Pies for 4th, 5th and 6th.

Johnson was not suspended. As for Downie, no word on whether he has a concussion or not. As a player he is an antagonist and clearly he pushed all of the right buttons with Johnson to send him over the edge like that. In another post a suggestion was made to take other players to Alaska. I seem to recall Hak commenting several weeks ago that he was going to take the whole team to Alaska just in case the guys from the tournament were too tired to play.

It was unfortunate to say the least. However, when it comes to payback it is usually done in the Pros so Downie will have his chance some day. The US is playing and coached like Kessel and Johnson are their only hope. They need to get all of the other talent involved because they played right into Canada's hands as their game plan was to focus specifically on those two players.

Based on the TSN pregame, I believe the Russian referee in question can pack his suitcase after tonight.

Since Frazzled is riding the pine I think one more goal will do the trick and young Jonathan T is overdue.

Good preparation for Schneider as the Canucks fans heckle their own goaltenders on a regular basis, tough town. Gerbe got away with a chop that broke Russells stick and Russell held him to get the penalty that led to the US PP goal. The announcers have noted that Johnson the D-man is begginning to look fatigued from too much ice time and wonder if he will have anything in the tank come the third. And yes Lee respected the fact that he was looking at Toews' numbers. I was holding my breath for both of them.

Only the opposition calls him that to and rile him. Sorry I have been watching the game on the big TV downstairs. My favorite play of the first period was when Kessel tried the hows it going move that worked against the Swedes. This time it was against Staal and Kessel gave the ice a butt kiss for his trouble. I forgot to add that you are doing okay on the names. The only spelling I noted is Comeau, a kid you mentioned earlier

TSN's Paul Maguire just called Oshie the most underrated player in the tournament!

Good lead in article for todays game on TSN. More praise for Toews and it lists the USA as Canada's main international hockey rival so now you understand why the fans in Vancouver were hoping for upsets. Based on what we have seen so far this should be a great game with plenty of goals. http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/news_story/?ID=148783&hubname=

Actually Tootoo is from the Inuit community of Rankin Inlet in Nunavut. He may be small but he plays Prpich's game at the professional level.