Vlad The Impaler said:
Completely agree. The forwards have gone off easy. I'll raise your raise: that coaching has been very erratic as well. When almost nothing is going for you, those things can happen. I'd be hardpressed to pin point the one single thing that has derailed this team.
Overall, it's just one bad year. Maybe the US will bounce back in dramatic fashion now that it's crunch time. If they don't, it will just be a year to forget.
Many of these players are very talented. Not the first time a very talented country disappears for a year.
Russia did last year for starters.
When you look at team USA's play of late, you can find fault with so many things. Bad point play on the PP, poor defensive zone coverage by the forwards, inability to clear the net on almost every scoring chance, weak goals consistently let in.........The whole team has played poorly. Being a Nashville fan, I have kept my eye on Ryan Suter, and while his play in one game was not up to my expectations......I have liked what I saw. Regardless of how this tournemanet pans out, I think he is a good prospect and will be on Nashville's blueline in the near future. That aside, I can be critical of his game as well. He made a horrible breakout pass in the Belarus game. Sure the US was already down 4 - 1, and the ensuing goal was savable......it still doesn't excuse his mental lapse. Montoya and Schenider, lets not kid ourseleves, have been horrible. Schneider just looked bad in his brief tenure, and Montoya has been so inconsistent its hard for him to give his team confidence. Still, I think Smokey was a little easy on the goaltending when he said only 8 of the goals were soft goals. I would say 3 of the Russian goals, 4 (if not 5) of the Belarus goals, 2 against the Swiss, and from others comments 1 against the Czechs (and the other was slightly questionable). Thats a lot of bad goaltending and when your goaltender lets you down, its hard to play with confidence in front of him. On the flip side, the barrage of good scoring chances other teams can accumulate on the US certainly plays a role in the lack of saves the goalies are making. Basically, the US team stinks right now from coaching to players. They need to wake up against the Swedes if they want to repeat their win over the Russians and medal.