Here's to the USA!

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Charge_Seven

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Even though their run ended to the tune of "OVER-RATED" my hat is off to a very talented team.

Jack Johnson proved he was the best defenceman in last years draft. Phil Kessel showed the speed and skating ability (but apparently left the finishing touches at home) that will make him a very high pick. Erik Johnson was amazing. TJ Oshie was amazing.

They were certainly fun to watch.

Sometimes things don't work out, no matter how hard you try--and this was a case of that for Team USA.
 

Oilers Chick

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Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the games, but caught up by reading all about what happened with each game. The only webcast I caught was the game vs. the Czech Republic. Judging from everything that I've read and the from the webcast I listened to, Team USA had some things that needed to get sorted out/put together that didn't happen (such as unnecessary penalties) but not all of it was bad. Cory Schneider looked to have played some terrific hockey. Erik Johnson, by many accounts that I've read, seemed to be the best player overall (can't wait to see him at Minnesota next fall!) and guys like Tom Fritsche got the job done at times as well. Phil Kessel was among the scoring leaders.

While I'm disappointed that the team fell short and just couldn't make a medal happen, I'm pretty proud of many of the individual accomplishments, especially that of Geoff Paukovich, who MANY of you said in previous posts didn't belong on the Team USA roster to begin with. He was there, he contributed and I, for one, am pretty darn proud that he was selected to the team. Let's hope for a better tourney next year by our boys.

Congrats to Team Finland on winning the bronze. Good luck to Teams Canada and Russia. Both are excellent squads and it should be a terrific game for the Gold Medal.
 

Transported Upstater

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Oilers Chick said:
Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the games, but caught up by reading all about what happened with each game. The only webcast I caught was the game vs. the Czech Republic. Judging from everything that I've read and the from the webcast I listened to, Team USA had some things that needed to get sorted out/put together that didn't happen (such as unnecessary penalties) but not all of it was bad. Cory Schneider looked to have played some terrific hockey. Erik Johnson, by many accounts that I've read, seemed to be the best player overall (can't wait to see him at Minnesota next fall!) and guys like Tom Fritsche got the job done at times as well. Phil Kessel was among the scoring leaders.

While I'm disappointed that the team fell short and just couldn't make a medal happen, I'm pretty proud of many of the individual accomplishments, especially that of Geoff Paukovich, who MANY of you said in previous posts didn't belong on the Team USA roster to begin with. He was there, he contributed and I, for one, am pretty darn proud that he was selected to the team. Let's hope for a better tourney next year by our boys.

Congrats to Team Finland on winning the bronze. Good luck to Teams Canada and Russia. Both are excellent squads and it should be a terrific game for the Gold Medal.



OC, I think the individual accomplishments are what many USA fans like myself have a problem with. This team was good enough to medal, and didn't represent our country's hockey program the way I personally felt it should.

Not only was the whole less than the sum of its parts, it often felt like the parts were being subtracted, not added.
 

Vomiting Kermit*

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I really wanted to see them medal. It would have been nice to see them get treated better, too.

Nontheless, congrats to the USA. :handclap:
 

Oilers Chick

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TransportedUpstater said:
OC, I think the individual accomplishments are what many USA fans like myself have a problem with. This team was good enough to medal, and didn't represent our country's hockey program the way I personally felt it should.

Not only was the whole less than the sum of its parts, it often felt like the parts were being subtracted, not added.

Agreed but the individual efforts of players such as Paukovich, Fritsche and Schneider (from everything I've read and heard) were for the betterment of the team and that's what I was driving at. Schneider wasn't there just to impress any of the Vancouver Canucks people, he was there to help keep Team USA in games, he demonstrated that. Fritsche and Paukovich (from what I've been able to gather) were relegated to primarily "support roles" and seemed to have really shined without all of the so-called "fanfare" or "spotlight". I would venture to guess that there were some ego and/or personality clashes that contributed to their downfall as well.

To quote Herb Brooks... "the name on the front is a h*lluva lot more important than the name on the back". Perhaps some of them didn't get it.
 

Transported Upstater

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Oilers Chick said:
Agreed but the individual efforts of players such as Paukovich, Fritsche and Schneider (from everything I've read and heard) were for the betterment of the team and that's what I was driving at. Schneider wasn't there just to impress any of the Vancouver Canucks people, he was there to help keep Team USA in games, he demonstrated that. Fritsche and Paukovich (from what I've been able to gather) were relegated to primarily "support roles" and seemed to have really shined without all of the so-called "fanfare" or "spotlight". I would venture to guess that there were some ego and/or personality clashes that contributed to their downfall as well.


Agreed.

I was impressed somewhat by several players who I felt should not have been selected to the team, and turned off a bit by some of the bigger names.

But the team chemistry was a disaster. Reminds me of how I now am immune to sulfuric acid burns due to numerous chemistry lab errors/spills/brain farts as an undergraduate (in my major field, as well) :D
 

Pekka Lampinen

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Oilers Chick said:
Agreed but the individual efforts of players such as Paukovich, Fritsche and Schneider (from everything I've read and heard) were for the betterment of the team and that's what I was driving at. Schneider wasn't there just to impress any of the Vancouver Canucks people, he was there to help keep Team USA in games, he demonstrated that. Fritsche and Paukovich (from what I've been able to gather) were relegated to primarily "support roles" and seemed to have really shined without all of the so-called "fanfare" or "spotlight". I would venture to guess that there were some ego and/or personality clashes that contributed to their downfall as well.

Paukovich caught my eye today. Admittedly the really visible part was his skating and balance - the way he kept tumbling over all the time was almost comic relief - but he kept making correct decisions and in the end he was very often successful with his plays. Just like Fritsche, who was doing something right every time his name was mentioned. There were guys like Oshie and Porter who managed both flashy plays with the puck and hard work, and I see the difference to Paukovich and Fritsche and your point about the roles.
 

wildone26*

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If Schremp and Ryan were given the major roles they deserved, and some of the overrated players who played on the first 2 lines were given the minor roles they deserved, they would have had a much better tournament. They will probably continue to hire idiot coaching staffs and shock pundits with their so-
called "underperforming" though.
 

Puck33

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wildone26 said:
If Schremp and Ryan were given the major roles they deserved, and some of the overrated players who played on the first 2 lines were given the minor roles they deserved, they would have had a much better tournament. They will probably continue to hire idiot coaching staffs and shock pundits with their so-
called "underperforming" though.



I agree...
 

Oilers Chick

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wildone26 said:
They will probably continue to hire idiot coaching staffs and shock pundits with their so-called "underperforming" though.

Who would be your personal pick for next year's team, then?

Mine would be Mike Eaves. He's already guided a USA U-20 team to a gold medal. He's a no-nonsense, won't-take-crap-from-anyone, methodical coach who isn't afraid to light a fire under ANYONE'S butt. I'm not implying that Kyle didn't do it this year, but IMO I think Kyle and his staff got better results overall than Sandelin and his staff did the year before.
 

yasdnil9

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:clap: Very skilled and classy team. Even after all the abuse they took from the fans, they still shook Brent Sutter's hand and wished Canada luck. They may not have won a medal, but the Americans should be proud that they have a team of really nice and classy guys.
 

jake1

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wildone26 said:
If Schremp and Ryan were given the major roles they deserved, and some of the overrated players who played on the first 2 lines were given the minor roles they deserved, they would have had a much better tournament. They will probably continue to hire idiot coaching staffs and shock pundits with their so-
called "underperforming" though.
Oh, please. Ryan deserves more ice time the minute he takes off the cement skates. He just flat-out couldn't keep up. And Schremp had a ton of PP time, plus regular second-line duty, and just didn't produce. Not that I think the team was well-coached, but the whole "MJ players got the shaft" story is tired.

As for Kyle getting more out of this year's team than Sandelin last year, I don't see it. They finished in the same spot, and this year was arguably quite a bit more talented.
 

wildone26*

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jake1 said:
Oh, please. Ryan deserves more ice time the minute he takes off the cement skates. He just flat-out couldn't keep up. And Schremp had a ton of PP time, plus regular second-line duty, and just didn't produce. Not that I think the team was well-coached, but the whole "MJ players got the shaft" story is tired.

As for Kyle getting more out of this year's team than Sandelin last year, I don't see it. They finished in the same spot, and this year was arguably quite a bit more talented.

Schremp was on the 3rd line, not the 2nd line, and sometimes was benched for periods or half-periods, and had almost no PP time. If a real coach was coaching the team Schremp and Ryan would have been on the 1st line and the makeup of their team last year would have been totally different too. The coaching staff are dimwits and if you find the whole "MJ players got the shaft story" tired, get used to it, since it is so blatantly obvious it will be brought up over and over again.
 

babybruin

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danny.7i said:
I really wanted to see them medal. It would have been nice to see them get treated better, too.

Nontheless, congrats to the USA. :handclap:


Agreed, the US development program has improved a lot. Hats off to some talented kids from the south of the border.
 

SwisshockeyAcademy

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Congrats to the USA? Congrats !? For what? A super , top notch choke job that began with the Swiss game and ended with a loss to a fully inferior Finnish team that none the less take pride in their national team and playing hard. There is no way in hell to sugar coat a pathetic effort from a program that puts one heaping pile of money in to be amongst the worlds best. Pitiful.
 

wildone26*

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You cant play your best when two of your best players are given diminished roles because they dont play in the U.S college program.
 
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jake1 said:
Oh, please. Ryan deserves more ice time the minute he takes off the cement skates. He just flat-out couldn't keep up. And Schremp had a ton of PP time, plus regular second-line duty, and just didn't produce. Not that I think the team was well-coached, but the whole "MJ players got the shaft" story is tired.

As for Kyle getting more out of this year's team than Sandelin last year, I don't see it. They finished in the same spot, and this year was arguably quite a bit more talented.

Ryan might not've been the fastest guy out there, but he was what, 3 points away from the tournament leaders? And that's with like 7 minutes of icetime per game. There might not be an official stat for point leaders per icetime, but if there was, I'm sure Ryan would've been the runaway leader of that.

Him and Schremp were totally misused. You can keep Kessel and Bourque on the first line, but if you put those two and Skille(who also was underutilized) on the second line with alot more icetime, I think the US would've done alot better.
 

MassiveHabs

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As a Canadian/American, Ive never really cheered for team USA, but I would still like to say congrats, and hopefully next year will be able to pull it together a little bit. Phil Kessel looked pretty good, the little bit i saw of him.


:handclap:
 
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