I was not overly impressed with Canada today

I watched 2 games today, Canada Russia and USA Finland.

I rank the 4 teams as follows:

Finland
USA
Russia
Canada

Finland - effort, high speed
USA - combination speed and strength
Russia - some new skilled players
Canada - every now and then the defence totally crumbled, this is unacceptlable. It was like they occassionally fell asleep.

I invite anyone with better hockey to comment here and correct my observations and tell me I'm wrong. But, keep it simple so I can understand you.

 

well, for starters, canada beat russia 6-3, but you ranked russia ahead of them. so, it's very hard to take you seriously.

 

17,

Come on... not worth commenting on.

 

Canada got 2 pp in the 3rd.

That tying goal early looked like goalie interference.

Meanwhile, the Russian goals made our d look silly.

I know, it was 6-3.

Big deal.

 

Simple? Alright here is simple......

You're wrong.

 

I went to both of those games, and the Canadians looked like the best to me by a fair margin. The Russians actually surprised me and looked super good. The Americans were awful, it's just my opinion but if they were playing either Canada or Russia the score wouldn't have been competitive. Finland has a super feisty team and can skate but they're tiny and don't have great finish, Canadians and Russians don't have the same problems.

 

Terrific, accurate and insightful post.

 

If you actually went there then you must admit Canada made lots of sloppy mistakes and occassionally took the foot off the pedal.

 

I think everyone who read your Forum lead is assuming you are trying to either :

A) Pick a fight;
B) Be funny;
C) Be silly;

Whatever your motives, what you wrote is so far from the truth it is hard to take you/it seriously.

 

so not only did russia lose, but they also have poor penalty killing, but you'll still them rank them above canada. i am now 100% convinced by your logical and reasonable assessment of team talent.

 

Okay, I'll bite.

If I had to rank the teams I would turn your list upside down.

 

I like the you/it seriosly part.

Canada sucked today. That's all I'm gonna tell you.

 

Yeah but nobody's game was perfect. And Canada's was definitely the best, they beat a tougher opponent than the US in a much more convincing fashion. And I don't know how you can rate Russia ahead of Canada, Canada beat them 6-3. There were definitely some holes in Canada's game, a few of the forwards definitely looked nervous and the defensemen made a ton of errors. But as a whole, they looked pretty damn solid, the Canadian forecheck is unreal. And I hate to say it as he's a Hab but Louis Leblanc looks like a kid that's gonna be a menace to everybody, holy **** is he fast. Foligno also had a very strong game and the powerplay looked in tune which means goals will not be that hard to come by (which was a lot of peoples' worry for this team).

 

Yes, I was there, and I will agree. But Russia made more mistakes, both offensively and defensively ESPECIALLY on the PK, which looked horrendous. I am a fan of Russia (2nd favorite team after USA) but I was very pissed at the effort they put on that ice. Check the last page of the team Russia thread where I basically lay out all of Russia's faults.

 

When you are right you are right. Canada sucked today. I am off to bed.

 

Two of the tournaments favourites played highly touted underated teams.

Russia is a top 3 team in this tournament, I wouldn't be surprised if they won gold.

USA got outshot, Finland will probably end up 2nd in their pool, they're icing a good team this year.

 

Exactly. Canada looked the best of the 4 teams I saw play. And NEVER count out Sweden/Switzerland.

Between those 6 teams, in this years WJC, it's anyone's game.

 

The Swiss got outshot by the Germans buddy, Conz and Nino are the real deal for Switzerland.

 

Nino looked GREAT!!! Big and fast!

 

I think some people have unrealistic expectations of Canada. They are a talented team but they are not going to be an offensive juggernaut, rolling over teams as good as Russia. They will typically also improve as the tournament goes on. No need to worry yet.

 

This.

Not to mention the fact that, while it was a closer game than the score would indicate, for the majority of the game Canada dominated the down low play and was the better team.

Canada has had a couple years where they are slower to come together than some of the other clubs; the fact that they played and beat a very good Russian team in the tournament opener (a club who beat Moscow Dynamo 5-2 in exhibition) definitely bodes well.

The biggest concern for me is Canada has to play through a very tough group to make the medal round. If we can pick up wins against Sweden and Czech and secure the bye, we will likely be able to avoid the U.S. (bye to semis, cross-over against the 2A-3B winner) until the Gold Medal game (if we get there).

That definitely helps some.

 

I was impressed with Canada's speed and aggressiveness on their forecheck. I also liked the adjustments they made on the PP. Our defensive zone coverage was a little shaky at times and we had more neutral zone turnovers than we would have liked. Roy also let in a bad goal five hole. Overall though, they stuck with the gameplan and had a descent game. They upped their level of play in the 3rd and pulled a win. When you open the tourney by doubling up against the Russians, you probably did a lot of things right.

 

I was also not overly impressed with Canada today. And I agree with some of your analysis. But it's the "I rank the 4 teams as follows" part that makes me think that there is something missing in translation here. Are you ranking your favorite teams? The teams with your favorite prospects? Because you must not mean that you think that the Finns or the Russians are more likely to win this tournament than the Canadians...

 

Yeah, sadly, we may not have to play the States this year, I see the Russian's beating them in the Semi's.

 

Me too.