Sioux_Hab-it

The player who did both dirty deeds was Della Rovere and Goon will recall that I predicted he would be the Downie of this tournament. I think that one game proved me to be correct. However, like the rest of the Canadian team he wasn't wound up or a factor in the game until the stick in the face incident in front of the Team USA bench. That type of play seems to make him go psycho and you could see it in his eyes following the hit on Shattenkirk.

You know I was wondering where the hot dogging was coming from but Don Cherry revealed something in the first intermission of the Winter Classic that I didn't see from my nosebleed seat last night. It turns out that Hayes from Team USA may have in fact triggered alot of what happend in last night's game as after his goal he went past Team Canada's bench and cupped his hand to his ear. I remember that actions like that use to fire up Sioux teams and it obviously fired up Team Canada although the goals alone should have done the talking and Tavares didn't have to give it back to them.

You would be correct, as it has been pointed out in the sports media before that he has taken exactly the same path as Brett Hull, with a Canadian father who was a NHL player, played his youth hockey in Winnipeg, the dual citizenship, the US college route and playing for the USA. It is from the Winnipeg connection that he became one of Jonathan Toews best friends. I also read some of the comments about Tavares. He is great player otherwise he wouldn't have broken most of Wayne Gretzky's junior scoring records and he did score the two important first goals but there was another unsung hero who I would have selected as Canada's player of the game, Cody Hodgson. He is the player that won most of the important faceoffs and set up three of Canada's goals. He also hit four goal posts and if one or two had gone in everyone would be talking about him today instead of Tavares. Finally, Team USA at the U-17 tournament in BC should punch their ticket into the Semis with a win against Slovakia. It may be a chance to watch UND prospect Forbort on TSN this weekend.

Just got back from the game and wow did it turn ugly at the end of the first. The fireworks started when one of the Team USA players, Tagnardi I think, stuck his stick out from the bench into the face of DiDomenico. In the scrum that followed Della Rovere clocked VanRiemsdyk. If it weren't for incompetent international officiating both would have received majors and the game may have settled down but that was not the case. At least the wide wide open back and forth play, the on ice war and the bad officiating had me thinking back to some of the classic WCHA games I watched many years ago. Too bad their had to be a loser because going through Sweden is not going to be easy.

We still don't know the most important factor of all. Which team is going to draft him. Some teams have a tendancy to rush development and some are short of talented forwards. At least wait until after the draft to have this debate. I would be very nervous about the Islanders having an early pick if I were you.

Kristo only played the PK in the Germany game as well so he clearly has been pegged to be the 13th forward on this years team. Now that I have had time to reflect on last nights game I guess I was expecting more firepower from Team USA with that lineup of prospects but other than the top line they got nothing. The other thing that surprised me is that the Czechs outhit Team USA at least 2 to 1. Sagard may have been right with his comment about a lack of physical D-men on this team. Their coach also seems to be very business like and it seems to have trickled down to the teams character as their doesn't seem to be very much emotion on the USA bench, even when they score.

That was me and I did give the coach a piece of my mind in the third period. Team USA was losing races to the puck and could have used Kristo's speed instead of him sitting on the bench as the 13th forward. I know he heard me because he muttered something my way. Schroeder and VanRiemsdyk are very talented forwards and McDonough is a talented D and it was those three players alone that managed to salvage the win because the rest of the supporting cast didn't show up. I will cut Wilson some slack as he appears to be playing with a broken hand. As for fans at the game, where is the USA support. There were three tiny little pools of USA supporters, probably the parents. I can tell you that there were at least 4 x the number of Czech fans with their faces painted and wearing their jerseys and they were a loud bunch.

A team that doesn't belong in the tournament, Khazikstan. The good game today is the Czech/USA matchup tonight and I am off to that one at the end of this period.

Despite playing the worst team in the WCHA this one is scoreless.

Worst team in the WCHA and the Sioux still can't score.

Sioux need to go the net and give up the worthless play along the boards.

What a Mickey Mouse Broadcast with someone talking about spitting their gum on the floor.

That has to leave a mark.

So which is the real game thread Don't the Sioux remember what worked before Christmas. Go hard to the net boys.

These announcers crack me up with their barely offside comment. Do they typically do basketball by any chance?

After last night changes were in order. Kozek is lucky that he isn't watching this one.

I agree, Kozek has demonstrated that he is only fourth line material and should be used in a checking role

Gregoire is overdue so I'll go with him.

I am not typically critical of the coaches but that was the most uninspired Sioux performance this season and the blame has to rest on their shoulders.

The PWR isn't going to get this team into the NCAAs this season.

Sadly today's Canadian players know how to do the European I've been shot fall to the ice when someone touches them. You can add giving someone a glove face wash or some stickwork and then running away to that pathetic list as well. Another European favorite, the knee on knee hit has become much more prevalent in our game. In a recent interview Gordie Howe revealed that his biggest nemesis was Milt Schmidt of the Bruins however he added that after every bone jarring hit Schmidt would ask him if he was okay. There is no longer this type of respect for each other amongst professional hockey players so yeah I think some other countries definitely deserve some credit.

Tavares knows how to pick his spots but the most exciting player to watch on the team is Ennis. Hopefully Canada didn't lose their top shutdown player to a fracture last night. Della Rovere blocked a shot with his foot or ankle and it didn't look good.

Other than being drunk there was no excuse for cheering for the Russians at that tournament. I can tell you that most of us agree with Don Cherry and could care less if there were any Russians in the NHL. I am off to the game.

I don't know if it is partially due to the transit strike or the economy but the arena was surprisely empty for the game and some of those fans may have been cheering for the underdog because they correctly recognize that the USA is the biggest obstacle to gold. Goon I assume you are talking about the year that fans in Vancouver were cheering for the Russians. As I have said before judging Canada based on the flakes in that city would amount to judging all Americans based on certain parts of California .

Barring any unforeseen injuries or upsets there are three teams in this tournament that will compete for the three medals, Canada, USA and Sweden. I will concede that USA has the best crop of forwards in this tournament but I really like the Canadian blueline and role players. Della Rovere will be as hated as Downie by the end of the tournament. Both teams also have strong goaltending. As for the Swedes they are a well balanced team as well and can't be taken lightly but I will predict a Canada-USA final showdown that is decided in overtime or a shootout. Finally Kristo had better play on 28 Dec or the Team USA coaches are going to hear about it directly from me.