Hockey talk in Canada
The World Juniors start tomorrow. I'm going to see two games, one right after the other. I've been watching past gold medal games on TSN over the last week. It's interesting to see who used to be hot prospects and who actually turned out as top NHLers.
Canada's up 11-0 after 2 with Latvia, hopefully this years edition can stay focused and guard against overconfidence, also interesting list of former NHLers that where never drafted:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NHL_players_who_were_not_drafted
16-0. I know goal differential can matter in these tournaments, but it still seems like running up the score to me. To embarass these teams that come up from the second tier when another team is relegated doesn't do a heck of a lot to sell hockey in those countries.
They should find a better tie breaker than goal differential, and stop running up the scores. It's bad for the game.
They need to cut down on the number of teams if they can't compete. But $$$ rule the day again.
[url=http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/12/24/12258641-sun.htm... Doctor cuts up Cherry[/url]
Cusimano's contribution to the journal, meanwhile, cited Cherry from an April 2003 CBC broadcast questioning then-leafs forward Alexander Mogilny for going to the team dressing room following a suspected concussion.
Cherry said in the broadcast that players Jeremy Roenick and Darcy Tucker had been "knocked out, down, out cold" and asked: "Why do they never miss a shift?"
Cherry is quoted as saying: "Mogilny, all of a sudden, this is the most important game, they win that game with the biggest score in the National Hockey League and the playoffs, and why does he miss the game? Because he went back to the dressing room.
"All I'm saying is the real guys don't go back to the room."
Perhaps you should have gone back to the room Don, methinks. That rattling sound is your lost marbles.
They need to cut down on the number of teams if they can't compete. But $$$ rule the day again.
But I think the Latvian hockey program probably benifits economically from appearing in a tournament like this, only to be negated by Latvians turning away from hockey to something more interesting than watching their boys get shellacked 16-0. I think these lop sided opening round scores show that there's no long term vision for growing the game. That's bad for us as fans, and, allowing reality in for a second, it's just plain bad business practice, too.
Agreed Tommy, They're making short-term gain for long-term pain just like Don's motto. 
With appologies to Bill Veek Jr., Hockey must be a great game. Not even the owners can kill it.
Best rofl of 2009. Thanks TP.
They should have a limit for what an individual games differential can contribute. Say 5 goals.
That's a stellar idea, Pogo.
If you think that's bad, try [url=http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3577150]82 goals to nil[/url] just last year in women's pre-qualifying Olympic hockey. I think I'd try and instigate a slugfest to get the team going, or something.
Yzerman's Choice:
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/hockey/news/newsid=24018.html?cid=rsstsn
story does not add much detail, but frames the Big Decisions to be revealed for tomorrow;
Globe hockey writers' team choices:
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/hockey/news/newsid=24020.html#globe+writers+team+canada+picks
anyway, I say he takes the whole Sharks line, but sadly no Vinnie or St Louis unlike Torino 2006,
and maybe a surprise young sniper a la Toews or even Stamkos ....
countdown to noon EST announcement:
Drew Doughty seems to be a last-minute buzz favourite for addition as 7th or whatever defenceman , but little buzz for Patrice Bergeron or Brad Richards, both excellent playmakers
I would love for Vinnie to revive his career with another MVP turn here, but sigh, 
won't happen
....
and away we go;
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=511636&navid=DL|NHL|home
The worst/best aspect of player selection is that the next best 23 players would challenge for a medal.
16-0. I know goal differential can matter in these tournaments, but it still seems like running up the score to me. To embarass these teams that come up from the second tier when another team is relegated doesn't do a heck of a lot to sell hockey in those countries.
They should find a better tie breaker than goal differential, and stop running up the scores. It's bad for the game.
Phew, I'm back online. My computer caught a virus for Xmas, and I haven't been able to post until today. I wanted to give a live report from the World's Juniors, but wasn't able to.
During Game One James Duthie said "Hi" to me on the mezzanine, which was nice.
Anyway, Latvia became a crowd favourite in Saskatoon. After that 16-0 game the fans felt sorry for them or something. During the Latvia-Slovakia game we were hollering "Go Latvia Go!" and cheering madly when they scored. That game was more fun to watch than any of the first three Canadian games. At one point, though, some drunk guy (there was a lot of drinking going on at the games) yelled "Slovakia Sucks," which seemed pretty stupid to me.
The Latvians were apparently happy to have our support; they said it was encouraging for both the players and their hockey program.
The official Pepsi cheerleader attends Canadian games, giving out Pepsi t-shirts and trying to get the crowd to yell, "Eh - O Canada Go." Some of us yelled "Pepsi Sucks" instead, but couldn't get the crowd to go along with us.
There are still tickets available for the gold medal game, but they'd cost almost $800 for the four of us. I guess we'll watch the game on TV and save our dough.
That's a big Canadian flag in the stands in Saskatoon - how do they see through it? It just warms my heart seeing those hockey fans give the Pepsi chant. 
What I saw of it it looked like the Ruskies were all over the Swiss - what happened?
And so it begins.
How long has it been since Canada has not scored the first goal?
3-1 end of 2nd period
"Eh - O Canada Go."
6-1.
Canada is going to the finals again, but they'd better lose their bad work habits if they expect to win it against either Sweden or the U.S. (who we didn't really deserve to beat in the Round Robin).
All of my good feelings towards the Swiss were erased by a nasty hit from behind with 30 seconds to go.
Tomorrow's game, 5 PM Vancouver start time, won't be so easy for Canada. Will Canada win? Maybe.
what was going on betwen Nazem Kadri and Niederreiter?
from the Globe:
Forward Nazem Kadri, one of the few practising Muslims in the upper reaches of international hockey, refused to shake hands with Swiss forward Nino Niederreiter after the game.
"He said something that I really didn't enjoy hearing," said Kadri, the Toronto Maple Leafs' first-round draft pick last spring, who refused to elaborate.
"I went to shake his hand and he took his hand away," said Niederreiter, the hero in a 3-2 overtime victory over Russia in a quarter-final game Saturday. "I don't know why."
.............
update:
move along, nothing to see:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/world-juniors/kadri-regrets...
what was going on betwen Nazem Kadri and Niederreiter?
I noticed some weirdness between Kadri and some of the Swiss players in the first game. They'd take extra shots at him after whistles, and it looked like a lot of beaking was going on.
I assumed the Swiss were saying anti-Muslim things to him, but then I would. I even wore a red-and white- kaffiyah to the game, to accessorize my Winnipeg Falcons hockey sweater.
Those pesky and speedy Americans might just win this time around. I hope it's not a blowout.
It's actually a little difficult to decide which group of prospective millionaires I will be rooting for.
"Eh - O Canada Go."
I think whoever scores the first goal will win.
Yea!
Canada 1, USA 0
Oh, oh!
1-1
Oh, no!
USA 2, Canada 1
But Canada will win.
That didn't take long!
2-2
Great game so far.
Canada's not going to win if they keep playing shorthanded.
Great gane, and Canada should be leading, as they appear to be all over team USA, but they are not, leading that is.
3-3 going into 3rd period
Whew!
Overtime!
Oh well.
I think we pinched too much, not learning our lessons from New Year's Eve. And, frankly, we were outcoached. The U.S. coach yanked his goalie after one weak goal. If Desjardins had done that, Allen would have been out after the first or second goal (since all but the fourth goal should have been a fairly routine stop... and the fifth goal was pathetic).
We'll have to start a new streak next January... not the the U.S. will be easy to beat.
Damn and blast.
We're a small country by comparison, and it was only a matter of time before the Yanks started producing hockey players in significant numbers. Footie used to be England's game, too.
Congrats to the Americans, they were faster and the better team tonight, the ole Canadian charge notwithstanding.
No shame boys, you played great!
What we've been doing with this sport in relation to our population is pure magic, many in the US don't realize that several of their boys come from Canadian parents,
Like Canadians are brought up, we share now and then. 
Meh, they deserve their moment.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/world-juniors/the-american-...
Geez, the Grey Cup, now this?
While disappointing, the loss wasn't entirely unexpected. After having seen the Canada-Slovakia and USA-Slovakia games I thought the US had a noticeably faster team, so I was worried about Canada's chances pretty early in the tournament. I also agree with Scott P.'s saying that Canada was outcoached in the final.
I had a game myself right after the Gold Medal game, in a rink beside Sask Place. As I drove to the rink I passed cars leaving the game, going the other direction. That seemed like a long, sad line of headlights to me. Once I hit the ice and saw the signs all over the walls I realized I was in the same rink that was featured in the TSN pre-game programme, where they showed some clips of a practice shootout. That seemed kinda cool.
Last night's game was the first with our snazzy new sweaters - 1940s Chicago Blackhawks style. While we may not have been as good as Max and Doug Bentley or Bill Mozienko, we looked good, and even won the game, with yours truly tipping in a waist-high point shot while taking a rare shift at forward.
Life goes on...
For all the pressure in the U.S. end it could have just as easily been a blow out for Canada, we've also won games in the past when the opponent has carried the play, definetly a faster squad and better at the counter attack, I thought we where much better on the forecheck and that will always give you a chance to win, Allen had a bad game unfortunately but will surely get over it as the Fleury's of the world have done, can't win em all, they are still great to me and represented with class.
Thanks for the Canadiana Al Q, I can relate.
The Canucks are played extremely well these days, H. Sedin is leading NHL scoring (and Don Cherry can kiss his Swedish ass), and I'm half interested in seeing this team do well. There's some idiot sporting event in Vancouver in the spring, but once that is out of the way then we can get on with the playoffs.
My kid got three goals, two assists and a couple of penalties (one rough, for smacking an opposition player in the cage during a goalmouth "scrum" - that almost counts as a Gordie Howe hat-trick right?) tonight, plus he crunched a few guys. His team won. PeeWee hockey is the greatest; it's so full of dreams and possibilities.
I got a kid on my pee wee team that knows every NHL players name,hometown,height and weight, they are so driven to be like these guys, the big boy hormones are just firing up at this age, lots of talk about keeping your cool this year, unless of course your goalie is being run. LOL
Yea, my MMM in hockey is from pee wee level. I think I have the record for the longest game in the history of Xxx Minor Hockey Association (as winning goaltender in a lengthy overtime game). An interesting detail is that the other team was so incensed by our victory that they STOLE the winning crests and it took some time to get them back. Ha. I even heard about it, years later, in college from classmates who were rivals in that game. I am legend. ( Well, in my own mind, anyway.)
If the kids are dreaming hockey even in summer, then it could be a sign of greater things to come. I did two summer sessions of power skating classes when I was a kid, and it really made a difference for me as well as one kid I grew up with who did have what it took to play in the big league eventually. The instructor was a figure skater, and she really put us through the paces with line drills and skating with full equipment on. I felt badly for the two or threee goaltenders enrolled in the class that summer. We worked like sled dogs. I remember nearly vomiting outside the arena the end of the first class I was so exhausted. I remember having aches and pains in parts of my legs I'd never felt before. That young woman was a slave driver. And I think she was the reason some of us didn't give in and quit. We coulda been playing road hockey or even pinball at the air conditioned arcade, I remember thinkin.
Poor Fleury. He never learned PR. From the Calgary Sun:
Burning perhaps the last bridge he had to the hockey world by referring to those in the Flames organization and the NHL who gave him the chance to clear his name with a comeback attempt last fall as "stupid" the 41-year-old went further by suggesting he never should've been cut.Taking shots at Craig Conroy and Robyn Regehr who both had the class to speak well of Fleury during camp despite the fact all players thought his publicity stunt was a joke, Fleury tried justifying his words Thursday by suggesting "Oprah and Larry King don't have to take calls and explain every blog they write."
Yet, by mid-afternoon the blog had been removed from his site theofleury14.com as "it wasn't worth the headache."
No, the Leafs didn't sign promising 12-year old winger, Sergei Stravinski, of Металлург Магнитогорск, but they did blow two first round picks and a second rounder to acquire Owen Nola..er, Phil Kessel.
I take that back.
At least Owen Nolan scores once in a while.
In local hockey news...Pierre McGuire ought to come back to town and watch my kid play hockey- he's a monster!
After that one-man wrecking crew performance I told you about upthread, last night against Delisle (home of the Bentleys) he broke open a tie game in the third with a couple of highlight-reel goals. I swear he looked like Mario Lemieux on the first one. What's really fun about this is that he didn't have those moves two weeks ago. Then again, he spends hours out in the back yard rink, practicing with Moose Dupont (the huge dead weeping birch in the middle of the rink - you have to keep your head up or a branch will take it off).
Luckily for your boy, al-Q, there's no chance of the Leafs picking him up in the first round. He might end up with a contender after all, like, say, Boston.
Well, I can't believe I'm the first to comment on the Patrice Cormier assault on Mikael Tam.
http://www.thestar.com/sports/juniorhockey/article/752246--world-junior-...
Cormier should do jail time.