USA vs. RUSSIA

[farce poobah]

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.

http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournaments_06/o...226_74_1_0.html

Russia's second goal was a PPG, and the final goal occurred because JJ lost track of his guy.

I thought Chorney and Lee played outstanding D against the best forward lineup top to bottom in the tournament.

JJ, on the other hand was brutal.

11-20-21 Porter-Gerbe-Skille for the USA were also -2 each on the night. Bad own-zone coverage.

Oshie was terrific, just terrific.

================================

I don't care about Canada's fans. I want Toews to come back to GF with a Gold Medal. GO Give Em He-double-hockey-sticks Jonathan!

[sagard]

I don't think blame can be laid at the US defense's feet. The forwards should have been able to score plenty against the Swiss and one extra against Canada and we wouldn't have had to face the Russians on short rest.

From the sounds of it I think Kyle didn't help. The US had four capable lines and he really didn't seem to use all the forwards until forced to against the Czechs and Russians.

That Swiss game is the one that wrecked the tourney for our guys and I'm bitter.

[tnt]

Hey, if you came from a country who's self-proclaimed greatest Canadian is Tommy Douglas... Exactly! Who? Canada obviously wants to have one thing that is better than the US, and even that is slipping away, now that the U.S. has more than five people who care about hockey. Look out if the popularity grows, because Canada will be looking to work harder at tiddly winks as their national pastime. Those Canadians who wouldn't cheer against your neighbor ignore this, for the rest of you -- think about it!

[DAR]

http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournaments_06/o...226_74_1_0.html

Russia's second goal was a PPG, and the final goal occurred because JJ lost track of his guy.

I thought Chorney and Lee played outstanding D against the best forward lineup top to bottom in the tournament.

JJ, on the other hand was brutal.

I thought Chorney was OK, nothing great this game. He was beaten bad a couple of times but he and Lee held their own as best they could. The best defenseman on this team was no doubt Erik Johnson. Hopefully he will jump right to the pros before ever putting on the Gopher sweater. He will be a very good college player and probably put himself in the running for the top pick with this tournament. He was definitely the most physical of the US defenseman followed by Jack Johnson. One thing about Lee and Chorney paired together is they just do not have any physical element at all to their game. When was the last time you remember either of those guys throwing any type of thundering hit or making an opponent think twice about coming into the zone with speed. I think both players would be better if they were paired with a punishing stay at home defenseman.

[DMT]

Because AZSIOUX hasn't started the USA-Finland thread yet, I will post here.

Is CenterIce going to show the game live? I am trying to decide if I should leave work to watch or stay up late and watch the tape delay on FSN.

[AZSIOUX]

we were outmatched last night. malikn should be playing on a line with sid the kid in pittsburgh and it seemed when we had 2 guys for ex. kessel and oshie cyclying the puck there were no other USA players in sight over and over. just cant stand how the russians finish out their games vs USA. bunch of puck azz mofos....

as for the canadian fans i laugh at the whole anti american thing...actually very funny. i know we have some canadian fans on this board that may be like that but many that are not. one of the main reasons they wanted russia to win is they couldn't possibly stomach a game vs the USA because there was a shot at losing the game and obviously could take a loss to russia a bit easier i guess. maybe its treated like the red sox yankees or even sioux vs gophers as you sure in hell dont want to lose to your rival so root against them so that possibility will not even arise.

at the end of the game it got ugly but could have gotten way uglier, i found myself saying put in paukobich and let him torpedo those commies into the boards. then i thought keep lee, chorney and especially oshie off the ice please and keep kessel and wheeler and stick frazee in their to fight that puck azz goalie russia had , but then i thought oshie may be one of the guys to be able to easlily handle his own as he flattened a russian right in front of their bench. the end of the game was a joke. the canadian faithful was also happy to see many scrums as they had to be on their hands and knees praying the Malkin got a DQ and could not play vs canada but that didn't seem to happen. i would have loved for a USA player to throw off his helmet and drop his gloves and challenge one of those panzi azzes to a fight and see what they would have done. i guarentee that they would not fight 1 on 1 as the team would probably jump on whoever was figting for the USA...not sure how CANADA will be able to stop russia as i feel the usa should have gotten beat worse...time to go to work..

1 more thing that bothered me, that fool on russia with the white skates, he should have gotten his azz kicked just for that reason. he painted them all white because he rufused to wear the brand of skates the the wjt uses so instead of taping over the logo on his skates which is what the wjt asked him to do, he paints the dang things all white.

[jloos]

* Aykroyd, Dan

* Candy, John

* Carrey, Jim

* Chong, Thomas:Cheech and Chong

* Green, Tom

* Hartman, Phil

* Levy, Eugene

* MacDonald, Norm

* Michaels, Lorne

* Moranis, Rick

* Myers, Mike

* O'Hara, Catherine

* Steinberg, David

They all suck!

American TV Anchor: But, Mr. Minister, it isn't like this film is the first troublesome thing to come out of Canada. Let us not forget Bryan Adams.

Canadian Film Minister: Now, now, the Canadian Government has apologized for Bryan Adams on several occasions!

The people in BC are a bunch of pot smoking tree hugging wack jobs, I wouldn't be too concerned about them. The fans in GF last year were not that bad, it was a very small group that was doing the anti-US stuff and they were likely from BC - or they were dirty French Canadians.

[brianvf]

If this group comes back we will get revenge:

E. Johnson

J. Johnson

B. Lee

T. Chorney

M. Mitera

P. Kessel

P. Mueller

J. Skille

B. Ryan

N. Grebe

J. Frazee

That looks to be a good start for next year's team.

Am I the only one that was not impressed with Bobby Ryan? At times it looked like he had learned to skate just last year. Very slow moving around, errant passes, not covering his man in the defensive zone, etc. He was out on one of the USA PPs last night, and it looked like he almost single-handedly killed it off for the Russians by losing the puck over and over.

[Canuck]

Let me pose a question to all of you who are Vikings fans: If you were at a Packers-Chargers game, who would you cheer for/against?

Ok, maybe Packers/Bears would be a better example

Back to hockey; I truly believe it will take a herculean effort for Canada to beat this Russian team. I agree with the earlier posters that said this will be much different than the exhibition game, which I was able to see while in Canada. I don't want to say for sure, but it seemed like the Russians were intentionally laying down for us in that one. Who knows.

Pogge will have to be on top of his game and, just as importantly, we need to learn from the last two Russia-U.S. games and not let their antics shake us. We need to be able to stay out of the penalty box, channel energy from all of the B.S. and play a sound, three-zone game.

[sagard]

Pogge will have to be on top of his game and, just as importantly, we need to learn from the last two Russia-U.S. games and not let their antics shake us. We need to be able to stay out of the penalty box, channel energy from all of the B.S. and play a sound, three-zone game.

Canada is going to work the Russians just like last year. Hopefully.

[Sioux_Hab-it]

Hey, if you came from a country who's self-proclaimed greatest Canadian is Tommy Douglas... Exactly! Who? Canada obviously wants to have one thing that is better than the US, and even that is slipping away, now that the U.S. has more than five people who care about hockey. Look out if the popularity grows, because Canada will be looking to work harder at tiddly winks as their national pastime. Those Canadians who wouldn't cheer against your neighbor ignore this, for the rest of you -- think about it!

Don't blame me for Douglas winning the greatest Canadian as I voted for Dr. Banting and Best. As I stated last night BC and Quebec are two completely different parts of Canada anyway and even TSN commented that this was an anomaly in their article about the game:

"The 18,630-seat G.M. Place looked about two-thirds full for the game. The anti-American feelings evident all tournament continued with chants of "Russia, Russia," something rarely heard in a Canadian arena."

http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/news_story/?ID=149345&hubname=

Read the chat about the game below the article and you will find that the Vancouver fans are getting an earful from many other Canadians.

Edited January 4, 2006 by Sioux_Hab-it

[sagard]

Am I the only one that was not impressed with Bobby Ryan?

I'm willing to cut all the 17/18 year olds competing in this tourney a little slack. Let's see where he is at next year.

[jk]

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."

[I Ranger]

I said the same thing in the US vs Canada thread and someone nearly ripped my head off. I agree I think he is pretty bad and I don't see a guy with that kind of skating ability making it in the NHL especially the new NHL let alone being the second pick overall. Hopefully, I'm wrong becuase I would like to pull for this kid.

[The Sicatoka]

As Diggler already said, I would even take a goal from Paukovich. I would take a hatty from the devil himself.

But you repeat yourself.

[The Sicatoka]

Canada v. Russia? Too much red on the ice, and maybe not enough red on the ice in some cases.

Quick, call your bookies! I just got the short box score from the gold medal game.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

RUS 0-0-0 -- 0

CAN 0-0-1 -- 1

First Period

[sprig]

Seperate Bourque and Kessel. Forget the 5 goal/5 assist game vs. Norway. Bourque looks like he's trying to outshine Kessel by going on his own over and over again. Brutal (Bourque) at the point on the PP. Brutal (Bourque) in the US end.

Canada is much better in their own end than the US was, and that may give them the edge they need against the Russians. If the Russians have a lead late in the game a bench clearing brawl could well end the tourney.

[Vegas]

Seperate Bourque and Kessel. Forget the 5 goal/5 assist game vs. Norway. Bourque looks like he's trying to outshine Kessel by going on his own over and over again. Brutal (Bourque) at the point on the PP. Brutal (Bourque) in the US end.

Canada is much better in their own end than the US was, and that may give them the edge they need against the Russians. If the Russians have a lead late in the game a bench clearing brawl could well end the tourney.

And then the Russians and Canadians would get kicked out of the Tournament and the U.S. wins gold as predicted (assumming they win the bronze medal game)

[Canuck]

And then the Russians and Canadians would get kicked out of the Tournament and the U.S. wins gold as predicted (assumming they win the bronze medal game)

There certainly is precedent for that

The Punch-out in Piestany anyone?

[DAR]

I really think this team lacked chemistry and that is the biggest reason for going home without the gold. It seemed to me like there were to many individual agendas and one on one play. This was more a team of all stars than a team assembled to win a gold medal. The 2004 team that won gold seemed to genuinely like and get along with each other and the result was gold. Everyone on that team seemed to know and play their role (example Stafford as a checker) and it worked to a tee. This team had the tools to win gold but to me it seemed like guys were more concerned with impressing the scouts in the stands rather than do what it takes to win. Oshie is the one guy who stood out to me as the total opposite of this, he did all the little things and if more guys played with the grit and determination that Oshie displayed this team would have won gold. Erik Johnson was the other guy who really stood out to me. I thought Lee and Chorney were a little out of their league against the Russians.

[brianvf]

I'm willing to cut all the 17/18 year olds competing in this tourney a little slack. Let's see where he is at next year.

I agree that he is young and has lots of time to improve, but I was just expecting more from the 2nd overall pick from last year's draft. Usually with these young, talented players you can see flashes of brilliance mixed in with their youthfullness, but with Ryan I didn't see that.

Granted, I have only seen him in two games, so I can hardly judge him based on that, but that is just what I saw from those two games. We'll see how he improves for next WJC.

[Siouxdonyms]

I will be cheering for the Canadian's on Thursday evening, regardless of the behavior of the Vancouver fans throughout the tournament towards Team USA. I'd like to see Toews get the gold, and I just can't see me ever cheering for the Russians. However, I do think Canada will have their hands full. IMO, this Russia team is the "team to beat" in this tournament. They've got 3 solid lines, and play a very solid game. They move the puck great on the PP, and hope Canada realizes that they need to stay out of the box.

As far as the US team goes, I think Kessel performed way under expectations in this tournament. That sounds funny, as he leads the team in scoring, but take away the Norway game, and the truth comes out. He's been one of the most selfish players I've seen, and has tried to do too much on his own. In all reality, that's been the problem with the majority of the Americans on this team. They failed to work as a team throughout the majority of this tournament. The chemistry has not been there. The US has been awful in 3rd periods throughout the tournament, and are lucky to be playing for a medal at all. I'm sure I appear to be biased when I say that Oshie and Gerbe have been the best two forwards in this tournament for the Americans. The statistics don't show it, but anyone whose followed this tournament has seen the impact these two players made in each game. 1 or 2 goals won't get it done against Finland, who will be hungry for redemption after the loss they had in the first game. In all reality, Finland probably should have won that game, or at least earned a tie.

Good luck to Team Canada and as always, go USA!

[AZSIOUX]

Im cheering for TEAM TOEWS and thats about it....hope he scores all of the goals unassisted

[sagard]

...As far as the US team goes, I think Kessel performed way under expectations in this tournament...

I think you are being too critical or your expectations were too high. Very few 18 year olds are able to dominate this tourney.

[Let'sGoHawks!]

I'm not going to bash Kessel, except for his one and only move he always pulls. I think Oshie was one of the top 3 US players on the ice last night, drawing penalties, etc. Chorney got burned on the one goal. I thought all in all, Lee and Chorney did a decent job on the speedy Russians. The chemistry just isn't there, it is a bunch of individuals playing. Boy do I hate those Russians though. The Canadian crowd can boo all they want, I will be cheering for the Canadian team and Toews.