Biggest Dissaopintments and Surprises

[Eds]

I guess the appreciation depends a bit on where you are as well. I usually get far more excited about the World Championships than I have of this World Cup so far.

 

[H/H]

Not only that but why isn't Johan Hedberg on the roster? He may not be a Brodeur but he's a much better choice than the other two goalies Sweden currently has dressed for this tournament.

Hedberg got sick at always being backup to Salo, so he's not interested in playing for the national team anymore unless he's guarantueed the no.1 spot.

 

[High flyin' Habs*]

Two words: watch the games. Ok, that's three words but you probably get the drift.

Selänne has been good (not great but definetly good) offensively and played solid defensive game as well.

Whatever.

 

[Gary]

Who in your opinion are the biggest dissapointments and surprises up to date (player and team)?

For me, the most dissapointing team is Slovakia. We play with 0 desire and wilingness. I hope a miracle happens and we start to play tommorow or else we need big .

The most surprising team is Finland. Many experts ranked them behind SWE and CZE but they won the group. They play with desire and want to win. Kiprusoff is also helping them.

Players: Modin is playing very good for SWE. (I dont watch NA games except SVK so I cant say who is the best over there). Also Daniel Kreutzer (GER) played good and created chances. Not the best player but he surprised me.

Dissapointments: There are a lot of players who can go here: Satan, Naslund, Hull etc.

Top 3 players playing below their standards? 1. Lemieux (Looks lethargic and 2 steps behind everyone else) 2. Forsberg (battled alot of injuries and such so i dont hold it against him) 3. Markov (BRUTAL defense)
Top 3 players playing better then i thought? 1. Briseboskov(sp?) russian goalie-Gives them a chance to win every game 2. Blake-Brings a spark that the rest of the team should be feeding off 3. Thornton-yeah i'm a Bruins' fan and maybe this is a little biased because he's EXPECTED to play great but he's been doing it with SEVERELY limited icetime. That's what i'm mostly impressed with + Draper and Doan arent the 2 most offensive minded wingers to play with

 

[crump]

Afinogenov is truly an example of style over substance. I don't recall a player in recent memory who looks so good, yet accomplishes so little.

Berezin But even Berezin had some goal scoring success...same style though...he will deke out the entire opposing team only to cough up the puck a the worst time.

 

[(lone)Yashinfan#79]

Afinogenov was never a first line winger, even with Dynamo, so i'm not sure where the [offensive] expectation comes from (other than him being the 1st line RW the other night v. Slovakia)... but i am a firm believer in having a solid 2-way forward on the top line, and i think Afinogenov is one of Russia's sounder defenisive forwards so i don't think he's at all out of place w/ Kovalchuk, Datsyuk.

agreed, he is a crafty stickhandler, and is a great skater, just doesn't seem to finish that often... wouldn't call him a disappointment, though.
other than Kovalev, however, he is probably the best forward [on the team] at cycling the puck down low..

 

[northernKing]

Afinogenov was never a first line winger, even with Dynamo, so i'm not sure where the [offensive] expectation comes from (other than him being the 1st line RW the other night v. Slovakia)... but i am a firm believer in having a solid 2-way forward on the top line, and i think Afinogenov is one of Russia's sounder defenisive forwards so i don't think he's at all out of place w/ Kovalchuk, Datsyuk.

agreed, he is a crafty stickhandler, and is a great skater, just doesn't seem to finish that often... wouldn't call him a disappointment, though.
other than Kovalev, however, he is probably the best forward [on the team] at cycling the puck down low..

He does get the puck down low, but I really don't think he cycles it well. IMO the Yashin-Frolov-Zubrus combo did a great job of keeping the puck down low and cycling it against Slovakia.

Also I think Frolov is playing very well. It is hard to believe that he was not an original member of the team seeing as he is getting quality PP and PK icetime.
Harry Neale said that he has impressed in both the tournament and pre tournament games and Hrudey was also singing his praises.

 

[VanIslander]

I am surprised at the lack of surprises.

Things are going pretty much as I predicted.

 

[Papa Smurf]

One of the big dissapointments:

America's lack of interest in the WC. Look at all those empty seats in Minnesota.

 

[Mr. Penguin]

Disappointments:

- Slovakia and Sweden (Both could have gotten much better results)
- Näslund, Forsberg, Satan, Hossa, Tellqvist, Iginla
- America's and Germany's lack of interest in the WCH.
- Commercial breaks. Those are annoying.


Surprises

+ Finland and Russia (Russians are taking this tournament seriously and Finland... woah! They won their group!)
+ Selänne, Hagman, Kovalev, Zidlicky, Modin, Bryzgalov
+ The quality of the games. This is the best hockey I've ever seen.

 

[borro]

From Team USA

+Gomez
+Martin
+Blake
+Esche
+DiPietro

-Chelios
-Hull
-Wilson (for not starting Langenbrunner, Blake and Martin sooner)
-Amonte
-Roenick (obnoxious in the booth) "Oh Guerin does a great impersonation of Chris Farley...'IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!'" Great.

Guerin & Tkachuk get "evens." They've scored goals but taken dumb penalties that have cost the team.

Martin has really impressed me alot. Is he a free agent or does someone own his rights????

 

[borro]

I've been impressed with Esche a lot.

I cant comment too much about Alfredsson since I only see him play in the Finland game and some here seems to think he have play well so far. But for me, he was definitely trying too much agaisnt Finland. Especially in the 3rd when trailing by a goal, we have seen Alfredsson trying to deck all Finlands players instead of looking for a pass. Sweden have lost several occassions on offense simply because this guy was loosing the puck trying to scores all by himself. Perhaps it was because he really was trying more than others but...

Esche has played well...DiPietro has been better!

 

[roast]

Martin has really impressed me alot. Is he a free agent or does someone own his rights????

I believe he is property of the Devils

 

[Drake1588]

I believe he is property of the Devils

You could say that. You could also say he played 70 games and had 24 points for NJ this year. He's an NHL regular already.

 

[Drake1588]

Reading over this thread, it's really apparent how meaningless the preliminary round robin phase of a tourney in which every team advances to the elimination round really has been. One day into it, and the shaky to terrible performances of the Czechs and US teams until today are completely forgotten, and suddenly they're semi-finalists.

 

[(lone)Yashinfan#79]

hats off to team russia and team usa for a high drama quaterfinal... lots of 'could haves' here, like if Nabokov were in net; if the tourney was being played on a larger Int'l sized ice surface; if the team didn't have to uncharacteristically trap in order to adapt to the 'nhl rules', this would have been a completely different outcome.

ah well, here's to boring dump and chase hockey!
but seriously, congratulations to team usa, they showed a lot of grit and determination, even if it was painful to watch... conversely, props to team russia for some exciting hockey...

*Afanasankov's goal put life back in the russian bench (the Ovechkin Chubarov Afanasankov line was +2 in the quarterfinal)

*Bryzgalov thwarting Blake's penalty shot (Bryzgalov played admirably overall considering he's had one NHL level start)

*the slick one-touch pass from Yashin to Zubrus early in the third period to tie the game at 2-2

*Vitaly Vishnevski +5 in the WC

and big ups to Keith Tkachuk (and Alexei Yashin, too) for playing solid two-way hockey--can't think of two players more villified in recent years for their lack of production in key games.
Tkachuk was just unconscious out there. If he wasn't already, he would now have to be considered one of the elite LW/power forwards in the world (watch, now he'll choke).
(F- Brendan Shanahan, i imagine Tkachuk's numbers would be comparable or better with the supporting cast Shanahan has benefitted from).

Robert Esche was.... so-so..
i like team usa's chances much better with Dipietro.

to me, it's not about which country you were born in/national allegiances, etc., i was pulling for team russia because they are far more exciting to watch.
i think team russia played some inspiring hockey in this canada cup, and the contributions of its new generation of players (Chubarov, AO) bode well for its future national teams... russia will return to prominence because spoiled underachieving 'stars' no longer comprise the core of this team.

 

[VanIslander]

The surprising non-NHLers at the World Cup​

Ville Peltonen has had a very good tourney and the NHL misses what he used to bring, at least this fan does.

I guess I was a bit surprised that Sweden didn't go with unproven young sensation Henrik Lundqvist in net in place of continually second-rate Tellqvist.

Tomas Vlasak has played well for the Czechs and I'm surprised that the guy's NHL career stalled a few years ago after, like, only a dozen games or so with the L.A. Kings.

Daniel Kreutzer had some spitfire in him for Germany and Tino Boos played well, though he seems a step behind the NHLers.

Any others I missed?

(Though, before long, the list of non-NHLers might become huge.)