GDT: USA – Slovakia

[SanDogBrewin]

Huska has made some good saves.

 

[flemo]

Peter Cehlarik says hello.

 

[elMatador]

Nonstop PP for USA while 5 on 5.

 

[tobu]

Missed high stick and a goal.

 

[tobu]

Slovaks and refs with a really bad day.

 

[tobu]

I'll share my tournament review for Slovakia here already. Making the quarters after many years is a good result, though I was left wanting more. The team wasn't consistent, had some good games and some awful ones. Having the talented kids on the team was a good development move, but they did make mistakes that led to crucial conceded goals. Overall, offensive production was absent beyond the Cehlarik line, so making the quarters with just that is still a good result.

Best players: Cehlarik, Knazko, Kelemen

On the kids:
Slafkovsky was visible when given the chance, it is a pitty he wasn't effective at all.

Nemec had a great pre tournament, but made too many mistakes here.

Knazko had a great tournament, was our best D.

 

[flemo]

USA play what they want and need right now, SVK just softly bites Game over, my only wish is someone spears Boyle just like he did.

 

[Czechboy]

Sorry Slovakia... States are on a nice roll here and looked great. Congrats on quarters and I look forward to seeing several of your guys going early in a few drafts and starting a new Slovak generation!

 

[elMatador]

My share about Slovakia.
Slovakia got lucky that Russia didn't play hard with them and took a stupid penalty before the regulation. Apart from that game Slovakia had a close wins over GBR and DEN. The game with BLR was decided by a moronic goaltending at the beginnig otherwise it would be a close game as well.

My biggest disappointment is however Ramsay. Maybe my expectation from a Canada guy were higher than he could deliver. Everybody would expect that the skilled guys would be more successful as the games kept rolling. After seeing Ramsay's coaching for 2 years he doesn't know how to adjust a game time changes to get more from his team. He is pretty good at selecting the roster (apart from Liska and Sukel this year) though.

As to a junior guys. Can we stop this nonsens hyping either one? Just because half of the team does have only a single brain cell that can process only one activity doesn't mean that when there are 2 or 3 young players that can skate, stickhandle and think on their feet all at the same time they are sure no.1 draft picks.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Nice win by the U.S. here.

 

[Rangers79]

Glad the US came out hard. Blackwell with a good game too.

 

[member 305909]

It's going to be a final between the USA and Finland.

 

[Rusty7550]

My share about Slovakia.
Slovakia got lucky that Russia didn't play hard with them and took a stupid penalty before the regulation. Apart from that game Slovakia had a close wins over GBR and DEN. The game with BLR was decided by a moronic goaltending at the beginnig otherwise it would be a close game as well.

My biggest disappointment is however Ramsay. Maybe my expectation from a Canada guy were more than he could deliver. Everybody would expect that the skilled guys would be more successful as the games kept rolling. After seeing Ramsay's coaching for 2 years he doesn't know how to adjust a game time changes to get more from his team. He is pretty good at selecting the roster (apart from Liska and Sukel this year) though.

As to a junior guys. Can we stop this nonsens hyping either one? Just because half of the team does have only a single brain cell that can process only one activity doesn't mean that when there are 2 or 3 young players that can skate, stickhandle and think on their feet all at the same time they are sure no.1 draft picks.

And something positive? Don't get me wrong but its seems like you are enjoying when SVK lose but after victory you are silent Anyway, games vs SWI, CZ and today were terrible but we were MUCH better than both GBR and Denmark. Games vs Russia and Denmark were our best, Sweden game was also solid. Slaf and Nemec are special players and this is not an opinion of Slovak fans/media but people/scouts from different countries. Nemec had bad game today (like most of the team) but he was really good yesterday and vs BLR too. Obviously there is still a long road in front of them but they definitely have a potential to be NHL players in the future. Cant wait to see them at Hlinka - Gretzky cup. And I like Ramsays work in our national team, he isn't perfect but much better compare to previous years.

 

[elMatador]

And something positive? Don't get me wrong but its seems like you are enjoying when SVK lose but after victory you are silent Anyway, games vs SWI, CZ and today were terrible but we were MUCH better than both GBR and Denmark. Games vs Russia and Denmark were our best, Sweden game was also solid. Slaf and Nemec are special players and this is not an opinion of Slovak fans/media but people/scouts from different countries. Nemec had bad game today (like most of the team) but he was really good yesterday and vs BLR too. Obviously there is still a long road in front of them but they definitely have a potential to be NHL players in the future. Cant wait to see them at Hlinka - Gretzky cup. And I like Ramsays work in our national team, he isn't perfect but much better compare to previous years.

I try to call a spade a spade. Some positives:
Cehlarik was very consistent and I still think he could be a regular in the NHL. Look at Donato who Bruins signed after Olympics in 2018. He got traded because he was not the right fit for them as was eventually Cehlarik neither. Donato was a one dimensional player however he has worked on his game. Now he plays for Sharks, Cehlarik plays in Europe.
Nemec has a tremendous potential however is yet to be seen if he will reach it. In his thread I wrote that I think Slovak league has no pace nor the skill to challenge him in his development. Today he got a taste from Garland and Robinson (upcoming NHL stars) how is a modern hockey played overseas, fast paced, quick decision making, physical, no time to admire the beauty of a pass/shot, no space to being cute. The example of how not to do it is Liska and Sukel who are still young. Both had a very good tournament in Kosice in 2019 with a lot of upside for the future. In 2 years they regressed and became useless soft euro players who play a pond hockey.

 

[Lindberg Cheese]

Really falling in love with this US team, effort, unity, personality, structure despite lack of big names. Sum is greater than the parts which is nice to see

 

[Antiillafire]

Since everyone else is doing it I’ll share my thoughts on the teams tournament.
First the positives,
-Young guys: Yes they made mistakes and costly ones at some points but this will be valuable learning experience for them. I’d rather have Nemec making mistake and learning from this than having Gachulinec make the same exact one. Nemec is a talented defenseman but it is clear he needs to add considerable strength. He gets pushed around too easily on the boards and rarely wins board battles. The moves he makes may work in Slovak league against lesser skilled opponents but as you can see against Americans, even just average NHL player is on another level and will punish you. Slafkovsky was creating a lot of chances but was snake bitten. For a player who just turned 17 2 months ago I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Beniers who many have first overall is turning 19 in a couple months and wasn’t exactly dynamic either. Knazko was good but still makes the same mistakes as he does in junior, being too casual with the puck.

Cehlarik was another positive, I still think he can be an NHL player but he needs to use his size more.


Negatives:
Ramsay’s roster selection wasn’t bad but his line rotations and line selections game to game were sub par. He’s rolling 4 lines still and we are only up by 1 or down by 1? The game against Sweden this was particularly noticeable. Why still roll 4 lines or at least adjust the lines. Slafkovsky was going that game yet he didn’t make the adequate decision to get him on the ice.

Liska, Sukel, Skalicky, Grman, Gachulinec: Not much to say other than these guys aren’t on this level.