jk

UAA passing: Peter Cartright to Hoss to Little Joe

I listened when Hennessy called the comeback from down 7-3 with under four minutes left in Duluth. Part of me wishes I hadn't, because I now always believe it's possible. So of course I'm still here.

Shots now 32-18 UND. This bites.

So is Marvin playing in place of Radke? Any idea why?

Once the first period reached 5-on-5 play, and into the second, the Sioux owned the even-strength play. The middle of the second, though, has been spent in front of Lammy. Sioux need to turn it around here and get some pressure down in the other end.

Shots so far 22-14 UND.

Besides maybe some of his teammates and the coaches, you know who is really POd right now? Watkins. He gets all amped up for the game, he's maybe looking at an expanded role with Oshie and Toews having limited minutes, and he gets kicked out on his first shift.

With this feed I have to imagine half of what I'm hearing (thought I heard Hrkac to Romaniuk to Parise), but it didn't sound to me like the Sioux were getting schooled. They gave up the early PP goal, then had to kill the 5 minute PP. Then the Zajac line came out and had a solid shift, and all of a sudden it was 2-0. Was the second goal a softy? I couldn't tell. From then on the Sioux had plenty of chances, and the mythical creature opponents few. I agree with PCM that being down 2-0 to a team with a hot goalie is a dangerous place to be. It sounded like the first PP unit was Zajac, Spirko, Oshie, Lee and Chorney. The second sounded like Stafford, Toews, Duncan, Marvin?? and someone else (I must not have heard that one right). Keep the faith.

There's not really a good place for this, but this'll do. In reading the Boys of Winter about the 1980 US team, a couple things jumped out at me. One, and the reason I picked this thread, is that Mike Ramsey, in addition to being a star hockey player, also starred in high school tennis and football. Sound familiar to anyone? Also, and having nothing to do with this thread, when the Soviets failed to score on a few glorious first-period chances, they were completely unbothered by their failures. They had zero urgency, because they well knew that there would be other scoring chances, many of them, and if they missed on the first five then the next one would probably go in and the floodgates would open. It was a perfect description of that (forgive me) horrible 1-0 loss to Denver two years ago. Complete control, but a calm approach because the team knew eventually they would break loose. Then calmness switched to sheer terror, only too late to do anything about it. BTW, the hockey/tennis/football star is Forney.

There were times, especially in the Russia game, where I thought Lee was running around a bit, and generally he didn't control things like I hoped he would. The excuse that he's young, though it may seem tired, still has quite a bit of truth to it. Until three months ago, his highest level of hockey was MN high school. As for the disappearing stars in the bronze game, I think it's no accident that the US's best players in the last game were the ones who were underutilized earlier in the tournament. Kyle ground the top guys into the ice earlier, so I'm not surprised they were dead at the end. IMO this was the biggest issue for the US, as it turned what should have been the US's strength, depth, into a weakness. It's also why I would seriously consider limiting the ice time (even to 0) for some of the US's returning players in Anchorage the weekend. Lucia would be a great choice for next year. He might even get a chance to coach Erik Johnson then, if his NHL team releases him. Generally about the WJC: This tournament's structure is seriously flawed. The medal round should either be eight teams deep or four teams deep, or they should have a rest day between the quarterfinals and semifinals. When the US took the ice against Russia, it was their fourth game in five days. We watch the game and think they look outmatched or just aren't trying, but maybe sometimes the heart steps on the gas, but there's nothing left in the tank.

I haven't heard any mention of his status since the start of the period. All they said was that he wouldn't return for the remainder of the game. Remember the passion of that Parise/Stuart led team? Where did that go?

Mueller ejected for elbowing. Maybe not ejected, maybe 2 and 10. That'll help get the team back into the game. What a lousy tournament this turned into for the US. The big thing now is to hope Oshie's OK.

4-2 Finland with about 4 minutes to go. SOG are 47-38 Finland.

Oh well isn't that just lovely. Oshie won't return in this game, according to Rich. Just over a period left in the whole tournament and he gets hurt.

Porter, Oshie, Wheeler Mueller, Ryan, Schremp

Either way, a current Sioux player will be on, so I'll be tuned in. I still have no audio for this game.

"Programming note: Today's game is also being televised by FOX Sports Net North (DirecTV, Channel 641) at 11 p.m. EST." From the usahockey website. Looks like they are in fact showing the bronze game. Kind of a bummer because I think I'd rather see the gold medal game.

I have already accepted revising his Sioux career down from three years to two. I'm not ready for it be just one.

About that Oshie picture ... You wouldn't know it from the picture, but Oshie was the puck-carrier in that play. The Russian was trying to stand Oshie up at the blueline.

Canuck, I just watched the end of the game again, and the chippiness started when Skille got taken out with the elbow, followed very shortly afterward, on the same shift, with someone running Porter in nasty fashion. Shremp's high stick followed. Right after Schremp went in the box, Oshie ran over the Russian defenseman, followed by someone trying to take Oshie out. You simply cannot expect a team that is both frustrated on the scoreboard and being subjected to cheap shots to not retaliate. Call it poor sportsmanship if the losing team starts the cheap stuff, but when the leading team does it they are asking for trouble. I wish there had been a Greene type defenseman on the US team to really even the score. Nothing cheap, just a little old time hockey justice. Cardinal, save for a few shifts here and there, JJ, EJ, Lee and Chorney have each pretty much played half the minutes since Butler went down.

I'll definitely be pulling for Canada because the Canadian players deserve it, even if the jerk fans don't. Also, the Russians absolutely are punks. They get the late lead and start throwing cheap shots. I thought that's what the losing team was supposed to do. Anyway, Bob McKenzie apparently had enough of the crowd at just the same time I did last night: http://www.tsn.ca/columnists/bob_mckenzie.asp?id=149310 "I'm going to make a little editorial comment now, which I don't do very often. I understand why the fans in Vancouver adopted the Americans as the villians in this tournament, but there came a point on Tueday night when the intensity of the booing aginst the Americans really started to get to me. When I see a classy kid like U.S. captain Kevin Porter get cleaned out by a Russian check that was a bit of a head-shot, and see the crowd goes crazy... I don't know. I guess I was raised in the 1970's and 80's when the Russians were the enemy. I understand that the Americans are the new rival, but something about it just bothered me on Tuesday night."

Too funny, sagard. The US had some real nice defensmen on this team, but they're all so young. Also, losing Butler hurt, as he seemed to play quite a lot, meaning the other main guys had to eat up his minutes. Chorney and Lee were out for Russia's second goal, but I think the first, third and fourth were JJ and EJ. The last was Lee and JJ.

I'll be cheering for Toews for sure, and I hope he gets to experience the gold.

I have not made one post anywhere about the Canadian crowds, but them rejoicing about these big hits with a 5-1 score has finally gotten to me. I could not previously imagine cheering against Canada in any game except a US one, but I can imagine it now.

Nice PK by Oshie. Ryan would be better this week if he wasn't testing out Bauer's new "Cinderblock" line of skates.