maybe if the russians could do what they used to do- you know, take their top 30 players and force them to live year round in army barracks and take orders from a tyrant coach like tikhonov- they would be good again. maybe they could bring back tretiak and those guys from the 70s. the guys now obviously don't care.
Swiss over Czechs 3-2...shock of the tournament so far. Definitely takes a little heat off the Americans.
these small teams that have practiced for a while have some advantage early because the nhl based teams have not played together at all. as the tournament goes on the stronger teams will get better quickly.
Russia defeated Sweden 5-0, preserving a shutout for Team Russia/San Jose Sharks starting goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. U.S. plays Kazakhstan later today. -G
True enough, which kind of makes Finland's performance thus far all the more impressive. I initially had them as a darkhorse medalist, but figured all hope was loss when both Kiprusoff and Lehtonen dropped. If Niittymaki can hold up against the bigger powers, they might still prove to be one of the more dangerous teams. That being said, the Czechs are going to be angry and hungry on Saturday, Canada will still be the favorites on Sunday, and you can be sure the Germans won't roll over and die on Tuesday (especially if they beat the Swiss on Sunday). Russia's dismantling of Sweden was very impressive. And right now, Latvia is trying to make a game out of it with Slovakia; at the very least, they are exposing their big weakness: goaltending. Ultimately, this first round is fun, but since really any match-up can occur now in the second round (especially considering the way Group B is shaping up), it's all going to come down to goaltending--just like in the Stanley Cup playoffs. But, in this setting, all a goaltender has to do is put together 3 solid games. I think this tournament is more wide open than I initially thought. I still feel, though, that Canada is just way too good to not win gold; doesn't mean the next week and a half won't be exciting to watch, though.
That's what happens when you light a fire under the Russians arses... Finland defeated Italy 6-0 in the first game this morning... Canada-Germany at 2pmET and USA-KAZ at 3pmET
this reminds me of the glory days of soviet hockey. like for example cccp 8 canada 1 in the 81 canada cup final. yes, the dreaded red cccp team, circling around the ice making their opponents dizzy. often when the nhl teams had run out of patience they would resort to cheap shots against players like kharlomov, especially kharlamov. the canadians singled him out for the roughest treatment. the passing was amazing to watch. its a pity no nhl teams play that way.
I'm pleased that unlike the late-70's/early-80's disco-pop music being played in the women's games, the men's games feature the more traditional hockey-arena music. Though I'm also pleased that like in the women's games, the cheerleaders are present in the stands for the men's games too. -G
They're showing most of the games in Canada on TSN and CBC...if you can get somewhere with a dish you might be able to catch it? not sure....
Greiss in net for Germany instead of Kolzig. Is Germany effectively throwing in the towel against Canada and resting Kolzig for the Italy and Swizterland games (2 must wins), or was there an injury a I haven't heard about?
Back to back games, plus Kolzig has had the long NHL season to deal with... It's 3-0 Canada after 1...
oh shoot, sorry! is that what you meant by playing spoilers? i thought you meant the germans playing spoiler...ok, i won't update any Canada scores today...
But this thread has an "(R)" so scores are expected in here. Don't mean to be an ass, but if you don't want to know the result of the games, you should probably stay out until you watch the game(s).
Fear no more I was sticking up for others since I got red carded to posting scores. So post way my fellow canuckers
The Slovaks are doing quite well for themselves so far, eh? They're a lot better than they showed in 2002, one bad qualifying tournament forced them to play in the prelims, which started before the opening ceremonies for some reason.