GDT: Relegation Round • Jan. 3 • United States 12, Latvia 2

[doakacola*]

3-0. Watson with the hat trick.

Kind of makes you wonder why he's been used so sparingly?

Because Dean Blais wasn't paying attention to they way Watson was playing. In fact
Blais used Rau & Archibald way too much. Watson deserved top 9 minutes early on from what I saw from the Finland, Czech & Canada games. He also didn't utilize Trouba well either, continuing to use Clendening when it was beyond obvious Trouba was outperforming him by miles. Thats a coach that wasn't paying attention IMO.

 

[EbencoyE]

Yeah, no. The US should have won every game they played except for the Canada game.

Says who? The odds were pretty even against the top two goalies in the tournament - Aittokallio and Mrazek. Finland and the Czech Republic are also much bigger hockey nations than we are.

Yes they were the better team, and probably should have won those games as the huge advantage of shots will show us, but hot goalies can do wonders. Like I said, tough group, bad luck. Still not a "terrible" outing at all. It's not like we lost to Denmark.

It's amazing how US fans think the US should medal every year. USA Hockey rarely ever medals at all. Stop putting so much pressure on this team to succeed and maybe they won't disappoint you.

In the last 14 years we've medalled 4 times. This is an average year for us.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Says who? The odds were pretty even against the top two goalies in the tournament - Aittokallio and Mrazek. Finland and the Czech Republic are also much bigger hockey nations than we are.

Yes they were the better team, and probably should have won those games as the huge advantage of shots will show us, but hot goalies can do wonders. Like I said, tough group, bad luck. Still not a "terrible" outing at all. It's not like we lost to Denmark.

It's amazing how US fans think the US should medal every year. USA Hockey rarely ever medals at all. Stop putting so much pressure on this team to succeed and maybe they won't disappoint you.

In the last 14 years we've medalled 4 times. This is an average year for us.

Continue to believe that. We lost due to coaching and lack of effort. A pathetic lack of effort, really.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Because Dean Blais wasn't paying attention to they way Watson was playing. In fact
Blais used Rau & Archibald way too much. Watson deserved top 9 minutes early on from what I saw from the Finland, Czech & Canada games. He also didn't utilize Trouba well either, continuing to use Clendening when it was beyond obvious Trouba was outperforming him by miles. Thats a coach that wasn't paying attention IMO.

Yeah, I hated how Watson was used. Much like my criticism to how poorly Kreider was used last year. And continuing to rely on Clendening was beyond infuriating.

 

[CarlWinslow]

Damnit Latvia. The USA being relegated would have been one of the funniest moments in the history of the tournament. PICK IT UP!

 

[wickedwitch]

In the last 14 years we've medalled 4 times. This is an average year for us.

Not qualify is average? Really?

While not medalling is the norm, doing this poorly is not. And we have medaled the past two years, which should be more reflective of this team than the results from a decade ago.

 

[Statsy]

Says who? The odds were pretty even against the top two goalies in the tournament - Aittokallio and Mrazek. Finland and the Czech Republic are also much bigger hockey nations than we are.

Yes they were the better team, and probably should have won those games as the huge advantage of shots will show us, but hot goalies can do wonders. Like I said, tough group, bad luck. Still not a "terrible" outing at all. It's not like we lost to Denmark.

It's amazing how US fans think the US should medal every year. USA Hockey rarely ever medals at all. Stop putting so much pressure on this team to succeed and maybe they won't disappoint you.

In the last 14 years we've medalled 4 times. This is an average year for us.

You obviously haven't being paying attention to the international hockey scene recently, particularly at the junior level. The US has made many changes to their program over the last few years and netted some strong results. The days of them being a peripheral hockey country are over and with that comes the weight of expectation.

 

[edgevolution]

Says who? The odds were pretty even against the top two goalies in the tournament - Aittokallio and Mrazek. Finland and the Czech Republic are also much bigger hockey nations than we are.

Yes they were the better team, and probably should have won those games as the huge advantage of shots will show us, but hot goalies can do wonders. Like I said, tough group, bad luck. Still not a "terrible" outing at all. It's not like we lost to Denmark.

It's amazing how US fans think the US should medal every year. USA Hockey rarely ever medals at all. Stop putting so much pressure on this team to succeed and maybe they won't disappoint you.

In the last 14 years we've medalled 4 times. This is an average year for us.

The Czech Republic and Finland are not much bigger hockey nations than us . Percentage wise, sure. But here are the number of players in each country:

US: 500,579
Czech: 100, 668
Finland: 65,251

http://www.iihf.com/sk/iihf-home/home.html

 

[Purple hippo]

Goal differential is a tiebreaker, so that wouldn't work. Not the the US is looking like it's going to go to a tiebreaker...

You need 3 countries all who split up the point evenly to need goal differential, a 5:0 forfeit victory would of gave the US the points needed to stay in Elite, for us, why do we care what goal differential is? Head-to-head is the first tie-breaker and that is what happens tomorrow with Denmark.

Edit: Unless you are talking about any match, at any point in the tournament, like if we forfeited against the Russians to rest up for the Swiss.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Because Dean Blais wasn't paying attention to they way Watson was playing. In fact
Blais used Rau & Archibald way too much. Watson deserved top 9 minutes early on from what I saw from the Finland, Czech & Canada games. He also didn't utilize Trouba well either, continuing to use Clendening when it was beyond obvious Trouba was outperforming him by miles. Thats a coach that wasn't paying attention IMO.

Yeah, Blais appeared to fall asleep at the wheel this tourney He didn't have the Stepan line off the hop to least the way and he didn't adapt in the least. Lightning does not strike twice folks!

 

[EbencoyE]

Not qualify is average? Really?

While not medalling is the norm, doing this poorly is not. And we have medaled the past two years, which should be more reflective of this team than the results from a decade ago.

The difference between medalling and qualifying is very slim, especially with the increase of competitiveness in this tournament. No longer is it only Canada and Russia that competes in the World Juniors. Finland and the Czechs are also good teams.

Medalling the past two years means nothing, besides the fact that we had better than average teams the past two years. Medalling two years in a row doesn't mean you are suddenly expected to medal every year.

 

[EbencoyE]

The Czech Republic and Finland are not much bigger hockey nations than us . Percentage wise, sure. But here are the number of players in each country:

US: 500,579
Czech: 100, 668
Finland: 65,251

http://www.iihf.com/sk/iihf-home/home.html

Are you really comparing the United States to those countries based on how many hockey players they have? You have got to be kidding me.

Like you said, they blow us away percentage-wise which is far more telling.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Yeah, Blais appeared to fall asleep at the wheel this tourney He didn't have the Stepan line off the hop to least the way and he didn't adapt in the least. Lightning does not strike twice folks!

Yep. Agreed 100%. Stepan made his team tick. Without Stepan, he is completely lost. No adaptation. No getting his players to care/try. Nothing. All around **** job by Blais.

 

[EbencoyE]

You obviously haven't being paying attention to the international hockey scene recently, particularly at the junior level. The US has made many changes to their program over the last few years and netted some strong results. The days of them being a peripheral hockey country are over and with that comes the weight of expectation.

Oh yes, two years of strong results obviously changes EVERYTHING. You sound as delirious as most of the USA fans here.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

The difference between medalling and qualifying is very slim, especially with the increase of competitiveness in this tournament. No longer is it only Canada and Russia that competes in the World Juniors. Finland and the Czechs are also good teams.

Medalling the past two years means nothing, besides the fact that we had better than average teams the past two years. Medalling two years in a row doesn't mean you are suddenly expected to medal every year.

We don't expect to medal every year, but this team should be competing and not in the ****ing relegation stage. That's a joke and a half.

 

[Fitzy]

Damnit Latvia. The USA being relegated would have been one of the funniest moments in the history of the tournament. PICK IT UP!

Did you think it was at all likely?

Clearly USA is not Canada's biggest rivals in this tournament any more. So I'm not sure what the constant booing of the US and rooting for whatever team plays it is all about.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Did you think it was at all likely?

Clearly USA is not Canada's biggest rivals in this tournament any more. So I'm not sure what the constant booing of the US and rooting for whatever team plays it is all about.

It's a little-man syndrome. I never understood it and I never will.

 

[edgevolution]

Are you really comparing the United States to those countries based on how many hockey players they have? You have got to be kidding me.

Like you said, they blow us away percentage-wise which is far more telling.

We still have 5x the amounts of players the Czech Republic has to choose from.

Minnesota has about the same amount of hockey players as Finland with about the same population. Add the rest of the players from around the country and we should be able to beat them. Numbers play a huge role.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Strange "logic". They should have won the two games they lost by three goals but not the one they lost by one?

Now I know how the AFLAC duck feels.

Yeah, no. The US should have won every game they played except for the Canada game.

 

[Fabs]

It's a little-man syndrome. I never understood it and I never will.

Given how often Americans bash Canada I guess that syndrome goes both ways.

 

[EbencoyE]

We still have 5x the amounts of players the Czech Republic has to choose from.

Minnesota has about the same amount of hockey players as Finland with about the same population. Add the rest of the players from around the country and we should be able to beat them. Numbers play a huge role.

There are only 20 players per team.

The best players of top hockey nations like Finland and the Czech Republic have historically ALWAYS been superior to ours.

 

[edgevolution]

There are only 20 players per team.

The best players of top hockey nations like Finland and the Czech Republic have historically ALWAYS been superior to ours.

This is changing quite rapidly. Hockey is growing in America and it's showing with the number of NHL'ers we're producing now. Stop being a troll

 

[EbencoyE]

We don't expect to medal every year, but this team should be competing and not in the ****ing relegation stage. That's a joke and a half.

Sure its disappointing but not at all "terrible". This is a small tourney, there are only 2 or 3 teams we are historically always better than. I think it shows that this tourney is finally getting competitive more than it shows we had a bad team this year.

Every game we lost went down to the final few minutes. Not bad at all. We even outshot the Czechs and Finns tremendously. Two hot goalies sent us to relegation and thats all there is to it.

 

[EbencoyE]

This is changing quite rapidly. Hockey is growing in America and it's showing with the number of NHL'ers we're producing now. Stop being a troll

How am I trolling by being realistic? Hockey in the Czech Republic and Finland where it is a top sport does not even compare to the US where it is hardly on the radar in most places.

They are major hockey nations, we are not. Our large population may provide a lot of players, but international play has little to do with how many players your country has.

By your logic, China should dominate the soccer world.

 

[UvBnDatsyuked]

Given how often Americans bash Canada I guess that syndrome goes both ways.

Need to know what the syndrome means first before you can claim that U.S. has it.
Kidding yourself if you think any other sport like swimming, basketball, soccer, baseball, etc is booing Canadian players on US soil at amature tourney/meets. The one sport you can get your jabs in, you all do. Sad that you don't even realize that you people aren't on anyone's radar down here