GDT: Group H • May 4 • United States 7, France 2

[Shrimper]

Okposo' tieing goal was lovely.

 

[Lapa]

How was Lasch in today's game?

 

[Manny*]

Boxscore?

 

[BUCKLE UP]

Is Teddy Da Costa related to Stephane?

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

Is Teddy Da Costa related to Stephane?

Brothers. I think.

 

[Finnpin]

few pics from the game

http://www.jatkoaika.com/maajoukkue.php?sivu=kolumnit&id=14127

 

[Xokkeu]

How was Lasch in today's game?

Had good energy, didn't look out of place, but instead looked like he really wanted to be there. Maybe not the most dangerous player offensively but he did have an assist on the power play if I remember right.

 

[NicolasH]

Brothers. I think.

Yes, they are brothers. They have another brother who is playing in France first league too.

 

[magic school bus]

First, Jack Johnson is Captain America, not Chris Evans.

Okposo absolutely SNIPED one for *his 2nd goal.

overall, pretty easy win for usa. france has some creativity on the rush (and when they had space) and their pp was good, but they just didn't have the puck enough to get on the pp to score goals. France really didn't give themselves much of a chance when they kept taking penalties.

pretty much everyone on the us looked good except butler on one rush when he got burned by decosta. defense could use some work, but it's a good start for team usa.

 

[chewey]

How did Stastny look?

 

[Xokkeu]

How did Stastny look?

The whole first line had multi point games. Stastny had three assists.


He had a bad defensive play on France's first goal, but you can't really have a bad game when you put up three points. Two of his three came in the 2nd period which matters because France was still in the game at that point.

 

[franfrey*]

How did Jeff Petry do out there?

 

[magic school bus]

How did Stastny look?

Stastny's line was dominant. he probably had 3 or 4 assists. Played entire 2 min PP shifts in the offensive zone.

How did Jeff Petry do out there?

Didn't notice him make any mistakes on defense, and Petry scored a on a one-timer on a 6-on-5 delayed call. He ended that nice shift with a goal. Thats about as good as you can expect. Only johnson, fowler, faulk and goligoski got PP time with johnson and fowler getting almost all of it.

 

[franfrey*]

Stastny's line was dominant. he probably had 3 or 4 assists. Played entire 2 min PP shifts in the offensive zone.



Didn't notice him make any mistakes on defense, and Petry scored a on a one-timer on a 6-on-5 delayed call. He ended that nice shift with a goal. Thats about as good as you can expect. Only johnson, fowler, faulk and goligoski got PP time with johnson and fowler getting almost all of it.

Great, thanks!

 

[William H Bonney]

Just finished my recording of the game.

On one hand, I wasn't overly impressed with Team USA today. They started the game lackadaisically as if it were an exhibition. Looked like they were playing a team of players they didn't know or respect and that's not a smart idea, especially when it's a team that's been playing together for awhile. I didn't think any individual players had "bad" games necessarily but Howard was shaky and that was a bit worrisome. I think part of that had to do with him not really being tested and the first time he was it was in the back of the net so that may have thrown him off a bit.

On the other hand, it's not often you can say that Team USA didn't really play all that well yet still came out with a 5 goal victory. Typically in this tournament, if they play average at best, they either lose or eek out a win against a team they should beat almost every time. And even though they were playing France, it's not surprising they started slowly. France was going to play it tight and these players need to develop chemistry and adjust to the large ice. So, that was a nice surprise. I thought the first line was obviously very good and Okposo looks like he could really shine in most games as the secondary option. This is the best (along with the Sweden ex. game) I've seen him look in a USA uniform. Early, I know, but a good start.

Hopefully they can clean up a few things: 1) Gap control in their half of the ice. Too many times a forward was standing still in center ice and that's too easy to step around on the large ice. And the d-men were backing in too much as well. 2) Simplify the PP. They got better as the game went on but you need a strong PP in this tournament and they were trying to get way too cute. 3) Howard needs to be sharp and he wasn't that today.

Oh, and always as expected, the IIHF refs were horrible for both teams today.

 

[Xokkeu]

How did Jeff Petry do out there?

Didn't stand out good or bad.

 

[Xokkeu]

Just finished my recording of the game.

On one hand, I wasn't overly impressed with Team USA today. They started the game lackadaisically as if it were an exhibition. Looked like they were playing a team of players they didn't know or respect and that's not a smart idea, especially when it's a team that's been playing together for awhile. I didn't think any individual players had "bad" games necessarily but Howard was shaky and that was a bit worrisome. I think part of that had to do with him not really being tested and the first time he was it was in the back of the net so that may have thrown him off a bit.

On the other hand, it's not often you can say that Team USA didn't really play all that well yet still came out with a 5 goal victory. Typically in this tournament, if they play average at best, they either lose or eek out a win against a team they should beat almost every time. And even though they were playing France, it's not surprising they started slowly. France was going to play it tight and these players need to develop chemistry and adjust to the large ice. So, that was a nice surprise. I thought the first line was obviously very good and Okposo looks like he could really shine in most games as the secondary option. This is the best (along with the Sweden ex. game) I've seen him look in a USA uniform. Early, I know, but a good start.

Hopefully they can clean up a few things: 1) Gap control in their half of the ice. Too many times a forward was standing still in center ice and that's too easy to step around on the large ice. And the d-men were backing in too much as well. 2) Simplify the PP. They got better as the game went on but you need a strong PP in this tournament and they were trying to get way too cute. 3) Howard needs to be sharp and he wasn't that today.

Oh, and always as expected, the IIHF refs were horrible for both teams today.

I think it was a combination of not taking France seriously and it being the first game of the tournament and an odd start time. Noon. A few of the guys just got over there like Howard so I imagine they are a bit jet lagged still.

Completely agree on some of the finer points like gap control. The defense looks very quick and mobile which is good, but it's obvious they are still getting their heads around the space they have to defend out there.

Fortunately Canada tomorrow will be in somewhat of the same boat in those terms. I didn't see their game so I have no idea how they looked.

 

[ecemleafs]

do they always have so many group stage games in this tournament? seems like they play like 6-7 games.

 

[JoeCool16]

Whoa, France's logo needs work!

 

[Xokkeu]

do they always have so many group stage games in this tournament? seems like they play like 6-7 games.

New format this year.

 

[adsfan]

Fra 1-8 usa

Pretty darn close. I picked up the game at 4-2 and saw the 5th USA goal. Then I headed for bed. France looked good when I watched. The US needs to play better against Canada.

 

[espo*]

Glad that Team Canada played a tougher game/opponent then the U.S had to start out with.


They should be more game shape.

That should be a benefit going into this meeting.