GDT: Gold medal game CAN-RUS part 2

[Cellee]

The problem I see is that very little number of players from KHL can try to play for national team. Yes they have sometimes chance to play in Euro hockey tour but our coaches change them very quickly so they can't get needed chemistry. On other side when NHL players comes to the team they give wrong attitude to our KHLs on the team. They think that they world stars. Couple years without medal round or even relegation will quickly show the all problems with defense development and coaching.

I could see an argument being made for the WHC I suppose.

 

[Antonglk]

I could see an argument being made for the WHC I suppose.

Yes.

 

[Macman]

Some Russian players are saying they left because there was an open gate. What are they, cows? Thank God somebody opened the gate or they'd still be standing there. They've been to enough of these things to know how it works.

 

[YWGinYYZ]

Enough with the political talk. It's OT for any forum outside of the Politics Forum.

 

[kasps]

Can't believe the Russians tried to stare down the Canadian's in the pre game.By far the dumbest thing you can do with a Canadian team. Lucky Canada didn't score 12 against them. Giving a Canadian team any type of extra motivation is a bad idea. Russia slithering off the ice during the Anthem was cowardly and they get to live with that for the rest of their lives .

 

[WindsorGirl]

Well, there are repercussions for the Russian team walking out:
http://tass.ru/en/sports/795279

 

[Cellee]

It is just absurd. I wish we could hear them talk about it in the locker room.

This is a men's tournament, right?

 

[Yakushev72]

As predicted from the start, separating all of our elite wingers (Kovalchuk, Tarasenko, Panarin, and then Ovechkin) from our only elite center (Malkin) was a recipe for disaster, and one of several critical errors by Znarok.

Sure, Kulemin and Mozyakin fill their roles well against lesser nations, but both (especially Kulemin) are way out of their element against elite Canadian players. A guy like Tarasenko can actually generate offense for himself (but much more so if he's paired with an elite C like Malkin, as we saw on the PP during the tournament). Is Kulemin ever going to dangle through traffic? Is Mozyakin ever going to beat his man by driving hard from the outside?

Znarok isolated Malkin (who had to put up an amazing individual effort for us just to get by a decent Swedish team) and it cost us in many big games: against Finland, against USA part 1, against the Slovaks, and ultimately in the gold medal game.

What's worse, by doing this Znarok also isolated all 4 of our good scoring line wingers. When it came out that Anisimov was playing injured, we should have loaded up the Malkin line. Instead, Znarok spread out the scoring depth so thinly (across all 4 lines) that it disappeared altogether.

To top it all off, when Znarok finally got desperate and started line shuffling, he put Ovechkin with Malkin...as if Sochi didn't prove that the two have anti-chemistry going on, making each other play worse. Hope Znarok is gone after this joke of a performance.

Not that I believe we would have won this game, even with Mike Babcock at the helm. We were missing all of our decent Dmen, so our bad D got a lot worse. But we could have played Canada a lot closer than we actually did, I mean a bad Czech team basically lost 2-0 with a disallowed goal, due to half-decent coaching. Znarok by comparison is a bad joke.

The reason Znarok separated Malkin from the other top forwards is that he didn't want to neutralize the other top forwards. Did you watch the Olympics? Malkin was paired with Ovechkin, which had the effect of taking Ovechkin out of the game. Malkin is technically a center, and a brilliant talent, but he loves to take the puck all by himself and put his beautiful moves on display, forgetting about the fact that he has teammates who are also capable of making plays. If you are going to pick a center for Ovechkin, you have to pick someone who will pass him the puck when he is in scoring position. Malkin won't!

 

[Cellee]

The reason Znarok separated Malkin from the other top forwards is that he didn't want to neutralize the other top forwards. Did you watch the Olympics? Malkin was paired with Ovechkin, which had the effect of taking Ovechkin out of the game. Malkin is technically a center, and a brilliant talent, but he loves to take the puck all by himself and put his beautiful moves on display, forgetting about the fact that he has teammates who are also capable of making plays. If you are going to pick a center for Ovechkin, you have to pick someone who will pass him the puck when he is in scoring position. Malkin won't!

Seemed to find James Neal enough.

 

[Ralgo]

... I mean a bad Czech team basically lost 2-0 with a disallowed goal, due to half-decent coaching. Znarok by comparison is a bad joke.

First - that bad team would probably kick ur butts - as some teams can get energy from fans and national dress. And also from playing against SOME nation Second - even if that goal was allowed (as it should have been imho), I dont believe we would have won. Canada locked us in the third for two reasons - they wanted to spare energy and they didnt want to get into some crazy shooting scene, where anything can happen. So they just took 2-0 and sat on it.

Also Jagr as MVP is funny, he was outside the top 20 in scoring. I miss when these awards used to go to the best players, ie. before this tournament.

There was no other player SO important for his team. Without Jagr there, we wouldnt even make semifinals (and thats no kind of praise for the rest of our NT).

I think you'll find every other player/family member/guest from all the other participant countries loved their stay in Czech Republic. It was a hugely successful tournament by any measure.

Exactly what I was saying - everyone was happy, except ONE team, whose members act like jerks...just because its them.

 

[Rebuilt]

Definitely not a secret.

Kovalchuk is garbage, and has been a dick from junior to now.

I wouldnt call him 'garbage' but I would say he is not worth the contract he would demand if he tries to come back to the NHL.

 

[Makar Goes Fast]

to be fair, i have ZERO issue giving Jagr MVP.

The award was more for teh fans than it was for Jagr himself.
No one on Canada would care if they won MVP. they showed up to win gold and thats what they wanted.

Jagr being named MVP was a fantastic way for the Czech's to show respect to him infront of his country.I can understand the uproar from some but honestly no one cares about tournament MVP but a few fans.

 

[Cellee]

I wouldnt call him 'garbage' but I would say he is not worth the contract he would demand if he tries to come back to the NHL.

I meant more in a character sense, but his play certainly doesn't look like it warrants a big NHL contract either.

 

[LaGu]

So apparently Russia was waived off by the officials.

Makes sense, I think the Czechs messed up the ceremony. Normally (?) you allow a bit of celebration, then national anthem and finally the cup with the real celebration (other team goes off).

 

[Makar Goes Fast]

So apparently Russia was waived off by the officials.

Makes sense, I think the Czechs messed up the ceremony. Normally (?) you allow a bit of celebration, then national anthem and finally the cup with the real celebration (other team goes off).

where did you see that?
i have read that IIHF will be punishing Russia, which kind of contradicts what you are suggesting.

 

[LaGu]

where did you see that?
i have read that IIHF will be punishing Russia, which kind of contradicts what you are suggesting.

Russian coach comments.

Anyway, it did look strange to me even prior to hearing his comments. I guess he could be talking bs, but I still think it was a very strange celebration (see my previous post).

IIHF are never wrong, never. Of course they will at least say Russia was wrong and/or punish them.

 

[Tomas W]

Congrats to Canada to take home the gold. Canada really is pretty golden right now, in supreme hockey reign. WJC, OG, IIHF WC...maybe the NHL WC soon too? Impressive indeed. Long time ago Canada looked as dominant as right now. Of course THIS particular tournament is always about getting enough good players out of the NHL, but point still stands.

 

[Stats01]

Congrats to Canada to take home the gold. Canada really is pretty golden right now, in supreme hockey reign. WJC, OG, IIHF WC...maybe the NHL WC soon too? Impressive indeed. Long time ago Canada looked as dominant as right now. Of course THIS particular tournament is always about getting enough good players out of the NHL, but point still stands.

The thing is with Canada they're really golden right now and we still have a pretty young core, with additions of McDavid and young guys like Ekblad, MacKinnon, Couturier, Seguin, guys in their primes: Crosby, Price, Weber, Doughty, etc etc the depth of this country is amazing really. I've never seen as much depth in my life right now. This country is scary deep in talent

 

[General Zodd]

Can't believe the Russians tried to stare down the Canadian's in the pre game.By far the dumbest thing you can do with a Canadian team. Lucky Canada didn't score 12 against them. Giving a Canadian team any type of extra motivation is a bad idea. Russia slithering off the ice during the Anthem was cowardly and they get to live with that for the rest of their lives .

no rispeck

 

[The Kingslayer]

Dallas Stars win the Gold!

Colorado Avalanche you mean

 

[Makar Goes Fast]

Colorado Avalanche you mean

 

[Tomas W]

The thing is with Canada they're really golden right now and we still have a pretty young core, with additions of McDavid and young guys like Ekblad, MacKinnon, Couturier, Seguin, guys in their primes: Crosby, Price, Weber, Doughty, etc etc the depth of this country is amazing really. I've never seen as much depth in my life right now. This country is scary deep in talent

It feels like the young Canadians are really skilled. Canada have always had big and powerful players, but not THAT many players with crazy puck skills. It's going to be tough to stop Canada in the future, at least not when NHL'ers involved.

 

[Faterson]

This country is scary deep in talent

Goaltending isn't so scary, compared to offence and defence.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Kovalchuk was so bitter.

 

[Rocko604]

Great performance by Canada. Well done boys!