Elite group in Nova Scotia, Canada. Group A (At Sydney) Switzerland 4 Belarus 2 Russia 5 USA 1 Slovakia is the 5th team in this group Group B (At Halifax) Canada 8 Sweden 2 Finland 4 Germany 0 Czech Republic is the 5th team in this group
I was just going to start this thread. Not much hype about this this year on here. Canada played well, but I actually thought an over-matched Sweden (who is apparently quite weak this year) played a good game. Their goaltending was shoddy and the Russian ref didn't do them any favours, but they showed a lot of fight and probably deserved better than 4-2 after two, though they deservedly got run off the ice in the third. In the first two periods, we missed the net on our good chances and seemed to score soft goals. If Canada can start hitting the net on their chances I like our chances, because we created a ton. Fleury impressed me a lot, he looked really solid making the first save. Does anyone else know why Bell and Eminger played nearly 30 mins in the first game? That's an exaggeration, but not a big one. Eminger played well, but let's save some of that for the medal round. I was a little disappointed in the Halifax crowd, but maybe it was partly the miking done by TSN because I refuse to believe they were that quiet. Winnipeg it was not though. After seeing the US/Russia highlights I thought the US could have used Steve Belanger in goal, but I'm biased. cheers, hobbes
Asside from Aebischer and Reisen, Reto Von Arx played for Chicago two years ago and is the first Swiss to score in the NHL. Thomas Ziegler also played briefly for Tampa and I believe is back in the minors. Von Arx went to Germany last I heard, but is still fairly young. That's it recently I'm 99 % sure. cheers, hobbes
von Arx is back to Switzerland I think. Martin Gerber had some games in the goal for Atlanta IIRC. The attendance in Halifax is good though, no matter if quiet or not. Almost 9.000 for Germany vs Finland and 10.300 for the Canada game is probably far more than Latvia will have for the next A-WC.
Just to note that the bottom 2 teams at this tournament will be relagated to the lower levels. The two lower divisions have each been divided into two tournaments. Austria won the Div. 1B tournament in Slovenia and will be in the elite group next year. The Div. 1A tournament is going on in Kazakstan now with the first results now done. France 10 Croatia 1 Ukraine 3 Japan 1 Kazakstan 3 Italy 2
DoyleG, what's your obsession with renamming sporting events??? U-20??? No, it's the "Junior" Championship! Like the "CFL Championship" is called the Grey Cup. What's next? "NHL Championship Series"?
Why don't you go look at the IIHF website for the tournament. Juniors is a Canadian term. U-20 is the proper term. Moron
Not the World U20 Championship, but Sportsnet will be showing the Spengler Cup. It is a good chance to see some of the European club teams, including a Canadian national team. Most of the games are on tape delay.... Canada vs Sparta Praha tomorrow at 3pm EST in Ontario. In World U20 IIB Championship (in Yugoslavia) Iceland is currently leading Spain 1-0.... you too can follow the game online at the IIHF site... The Mexican roster has a player whose club is listed as the New Jersey Devils. His name is Alejandro Anievas, I was just wondering if anyone has heard of him?
Results from today. Group A USA 3 Switzerland 1 Russia 4 Slovakia 0 Group B Canada 4 Czech Republic 0 Finland 3 Sweden 2
I'll toss onto this thread an article that may interest the Americans. http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/news_Story.asp?ID=19232
Actually of the three teams we played, I think the Germans played the smartest game. They were disciplined and stuck to their game plan. They buried their chance, limited our chances and had good goaltending. It was 1-0 Germany for almost half the game. Then we scored twice in 10 seconds and it was over, but the Germans are tough to team to play against. I expect them to stay up in the championship pool at the very least. cheers, hobbes
It's okay, Germany is playing the first A-U20-WC since five years and it's clear that they can't reach anything in such a hammer group with Canada, Czech Rep, Finland and Sweden. The hopes in the offence relied on Marcel Goc, round 1 pick of the Sharks in 2001. He's developing, but I don't see him far enough yet. They might have done a better pick with goalie Dimi Pätzold - since this season German talents get more and more playing time in DEL, including goalies. Pätzold took his chance in a top team, moving former Caps Goalie Mike Rosati to the bench in many games.
Results from Yesterday Group A USA 8 Belarus 2 Slovakia 3 Switzerland 0 Group B Sweden 7 Germany 2 Finland 2 Czech Republic 2
Final results from the Round Robin Group A USA 3 Slovakia 1 Russia 7 Switzerland 2 Group B Canada 5 Finland 3 Czech Rep. 3 Sweden 1 Quater-finals (Or so they call it) Finland v. Slovakia -Winner to play Russia in the Semis. USA v. Czech Republic -Winner to play Canada in the Semis. Sweden, Belarus, Germany, and Switzerland will play in the relegation group. The bottom two will be relegated to Div. 1 for next year.
In Division One group A 1. Kazakhstan 7pts 2. Ukraine 7pts 3. Japan 6pts 4. France 4pts 5. Italy 0pts 6. Croatita 0pts Each team has one game left. Kazakhstan plays Japan, and Ukraine plays France. The first place team moves up to the elite group.
For any Americans (mostly in NY) interested in watching the semi-final versus Canada, it will be televised on YES tonight at midnight and tomorow at 1 pm.
The gamesmanship has begun. US head coach Lou Vairo has said that he expects the US to lose by eight or nine goals . . . if everything he's read and heard in the Canadian media is true, that's the best they can expect to do. Vairo was taking the piss as far as I'm concerned (and I actually thought it was pretty funny), but it's getting played up in the media here and some are taking it seriously. It should be a good game, the Halifax crowds are really starting to get into it and they were great against the Finns, I can only expect it to be louder tonight. Any of you NCAA fans have any US players to look out for? cheers, hobbes