World Junior Tourney

[jodcon]

Shelling them this period.

[brianvf]

The US needs to work on their PK.

4-3 US

[brianvf]

KRISTO scores!

5-3 US

[Goon]

Kristo already nailed near the head in the first shift of the US/Slovak game.

Slovakia actually hitting people, unlike Latvia in the Canada game.

And now Zucker absolutely nailed someone, drawing a ton of blood.

5min major. The Canadian crowd loves it.

That was a brutal call I don't think that was a 5 Minutes Major penalty.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

I've really noticed Kristo tonight, and it is not because he is a UND guy. Very good effort thus far by him.

[brianvf]

Agreed.

Kristo, Stepan, and D'Amigo have really stood out to me.

The US appears to have great team speed (which we also saw against UND), but I still think Canada has them beat on fundamentals (at this point).

[brianvf]

Schroeder pounces on a loose puck in front.

6-3

[redwing77]

Ok, I give up. Anywhere I can pick up the remainder of the game on the internet? My folks don't have NHL Network.

[brianvf]

US scores again off a nice pass from Kristo.

2 pts for Danny now.

7-3 US

[choyt3]

Justin.tv click here for the USA - Slovakia game

[82SiouxGuy]

Ok, I give up. Anywhere I can pick up the remainder of the game on the internet? My folks don't have NHL Network.

Try justin.tv and go to Sports. The quality is pretty poor, but you can watch some and hear the rest.

[brianvf]

Blais has Kristo running the point on the PP as well...

[brianvf]

US wins 7-3

Kristo with 1g/1a and had plenty of other chances.

BSU has a recruit on the Slovak roster.

[redwing77]

Thanks choyt.

The game was good (what I saw).

Slovaks played better than the score indicates (well, ok, I only watched the last 9 minutes). They did get the lions share of penalties though.

The best scoring chance I saw was a Slovak chance on the PK.

The live chat on justintv was rather harsh.

[Goon]

BSU has a recruit on the Slovak roster.

He is supposed to be pretty good as well. Hum, start out your first season with a significant player.

[brianvf]

He is supposed to be pretty good as well. Hum, start out your first season with a significant player.

Yeah, he got the POTG for the Slovaks.

[Wilbur]

I like how Blais has built this U.S. team. They absolutely fly around like gnats in the offensive end, and create a ton of scoring chances. I think in the past they have tried to create teams with bigger guys that would possibly out physical Canada, which we all know is impossible. Overall not a bad start to the tournament.

Other observations:

~Kristo is the man, played very well. Was the best player on the ice IMHO.

~Lee was okay. Probably see Campbell tomorrow against the Swiss.

~I wish Morin played college hockey.

~Why in the h e double hockey sticks did D'amigo or whatever his name is go to RPI.....why??? Like he's going to be an engineer.....

~I don't know what it is, but I always feel comfortable with Blais on the bench. It just seems like even when things go bad he always has it under control.

I still say the top two teams in the tourny are the Swedes and Canadians. That will be the gold medal matchup.

[brianvf]

~Why in the h e double hockey sticks did D'amigo or whatever his name is go to RPI.....why??? Like he's going to be an engineer....

Well, technically, he may never be an engineer, but he is already an (RPI) Engineer.

[AZSIOUX]

nice win. kristo was friken awesome the whole game. wow i would have guessed 3-4 pints for how much he created out there along with a few others. stepan and kristo may have some good chemisty out there. lee was ok, lets see campbell tonight hopefully. lots of wcha talent out there. fun to see.

[DAR]

The USA team is deep at forward and defense. My concern is goaltending. They seem more balanced throughout 4lines than us teams of the past. We shall see.

[Goon]

The USA team is deep at forward and defense. My concern is goaltending. They seem more balanced throughout 4lines than us teams of the past. We shall see.

I am not impressed with Lee as a goaltender either.

[redwing77]

The USA team is deep at forward and defense. My concern is goaltending. They seem more balanced throughout 4lines than us teams of the past. We shall see.

I'm not that worried. Canada did alright with Fleury as goaltender (except one year) and he wasn't all that impressive until recently anyways.

[brianvf]

I'm not that worried. Canada did alright with Fleury as goaltender (except one year) and he wasn't all that impressive until recently anyways.

IMO the goaltending has been the achilles heel for the US in recent years of the WJC.

They need a really strong team to compete with the Canucks, and with subpar goaltending it just isn't possible.

[brianvf]

US and Swiss still scoreless with 6min left in 1st.

US just killed off a big 5x3 PP for the Swiss.

[brianvf]

Stepan with a great chance, Swiss goalie with a good save right in the slot.

Now D'Amigo with a quality chance.

US with some good rushes, but the Swiss goalie is playing well.