Tournament Surpises

[barkerjb]

I have seen a good majority of the teams play at least one game so far. Sweden is playing pretty good hockey when they actually bother to play. They have good speed and transition. Many people are getting down on Russia. I watched their game against Belarus and granted it was Belarus they were playing, but they looked very organized and they were skating hard. A better test would be how they finish in the qualification round.

From other teams like the Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Latvia, they played well but still lack a true scoring touch and depth, but they can stick with another team for at least a period or two.

The Germans as I understand have just played some awful hockey. I watched a few minutes of a couple of their games, but I noticed from the preliminaries that they didn't rack many goals. Maybe they didn't bring their best team or the team in Austria just doesn't want to play, I don't know. It would be horrible if Germany is relegated, but I don't see that happening.

Anything can happen since no one has yet to be eliminated but that is what I have seen so far.

 

[f1nn]

So far, Sweden has done way better than I thought, Finland has done somewhat better than I thought, and Russia has been a lot worse.
Also, Germany's apparently not doing so hot, either.

you must have had low expectations!

 

[Everest]

The tourney is really just getting rolling today..to this point we are only looking at "potential suprises". There are always a few games that are closer than expected...The Swiss/Russia game was an " " but those games serve the "big teams" well later on in the tourney...so many contenders need wake up calls...now we get to see who has answered and who is still "sleeping in".

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

no respect at all....slovakia isn't germany.....you'd better get use to it....

no no no.. I mean they are usually place like 3-5, now i think they are gonna win this whole competition and they are playing like they could win!

I really like slovakia, awesome players!

Chara,Gaborik,Hossa,Palffy,Satan and our own boy Budaj.

I put my own 3 euros to slovakia.. hopefully they win! (i can get like 15 euros.. YES)

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I am suprised the Mike Modano continues to struggle...he did finally score a goal yesterday...but for the most part,he is uninvolved and not getting near asdmuch time on the puck as his linemates...Knuble and Cole,both working hard...you'd think it would spark Modano...but suprisingly,Modano is just not a force. The Americans as a team came to this tourney with a "new look" and were supposed to be a fast,2 way team...but Mike York (who has played all year) is invisible and the great goaltending that they had last year...has been left behind. Conklin and Dipietro are "treading water" right now.
USA showed well versus Canada...but against the Finns there inept finishing manifested again...now they are 1-1-1 in this round and really look capable of "folding up" like they have done in the past...despite the "new guys" who were supposed to energize the team.
Park,Parrish and Weight are carrying them right now...and its a heavy load!

You make some valid points, but I'd like to address a few things you're saying (I should mentione I have seen every game the U.S. has played so far):


Modano: He has struggled to put up points, but he is dealing with an injury and linemates that he isn't really familiar with. He's been used to guys like Hull, Tkachuk, Leclair, Guerin etc in situations like this, and now he's playing with Knuble and Cole, nice two-way players, but not elite snipers. There are several top names in this tourney who aren't putting up alot of points (Canada has a few), yet it doesn't mean the players are at the end of the line. I noticed TSN ran a feature on Modano and pointed out he hasn't scored many goals in three or so of the last international competitions, but they failed to mention he racked up a ton of assists. As a center he's been in a playmaking role, and as I said, Cole and Knuble aren't Hull and Leclair. Hopefully scoring a goal against Finland will wake him up.


The U.S. team in general: This is a fast two-way team. The "problem" so far is a lack of balanced scoring. Maybe that will change, maybe it won't. As for the goaltnending, I wouldn't say either Dipietro or Conklin are on the top of their games, but they're hardly in the toilet. Each gave up a couple of softies, but so have most of the goaltenders in this tourney. Dipietro has a shut-out to his credit and a close, 3-1 loss to Canada, and Conklin played well in the win over Latvia and tie with Finland. Yeah, he gave up a softy in the latter game, but also made several key saves. Goaltending won't be a problem.


The status of the team at this point: I would agree that the U.S. team should have finished a few more of it's chances, but they did score four goals and had the intestinal fortitude to fight back and tie the game after giving up the lead. A team that is set to fold wouldn't have done that. The U.S. has some things to work on, but it's not to late to do so.

 

[espo*]

I'd have to agree with that,it's far from being too late to work on those areas and turn it around.I liked what they showed against Canada and thought the defense handled things better then i thought they would.It's still a pretty good team overall i think.I don't know about gold but medalng is still in the cards from what i saw of them.

 

[Everest]

Yes,its true Rabid Ranger...there have been indications that USA has more resilience than some of the results have produced. I could almost back track on saying the USA has been a disappointment...but I think your being generous in saying the goaltending has looked even "OK". You sound a bit like John Davidson..."the US' goaltending is...??"

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Yes,its true Rabid Ranger...there have been indications that USA has more resilience than some of the results have produced. I could almost back track on saying the USA has been a disappointment...but I think your being generous in saying the goaltending has looked even "OK". You sound a bit like John Davidson..."the US' goaltending is...??"

Don't get me wrong, Conklin and DiPietro have been shaky at time, I just don't think they have been horrible. If that were true, the U.S. wouldn't be 2-1-1. They probably would have lost both the Latvia and Finland games.

 

[Exisled]

The goaltending has been horrid. We gave the Canada game away, giftwrapped by horrid goaltending. Now the tie (not as bad, but we needed better in net). If we go beack to DiPietro, it's his spot on the squad to lose.

The wingers look strong, though. Hope they go to a strong forecheck and take the burden off the goaltending (DiPietro got hammered with 25 shots giving up two soft goals, Conklin giving up the one soft to Jokinen on a more "pressing" shot total).

Our goaltending just has to be better than it has. Much better.

 

[nyrmessier011]

To me the Russian lack of success is most suprising to me. There struggling out there so far.

 

[Exisled]

Don't get me wrong, Conklin and DiPietro have been shaky at time, I just don't think they have been horrible. If that were true, the U.S. wouldn't be 2-1-1. They probably would have lost both the Latvia and Finland games.

16 shots Slovenia....we win.
16 shots Latvia....we win.
25 shots Canada we lose on two flubs.
27 shots Finland we tie.

Our goaltending got the tie, despite the bad goal to jokinen, against Finland, but the two wins were hollow (7-0 Slovenia, 3-1 Latvia) and the loss to Canada was horrid with two softies that crippled our effort.

They're 2-1-1 because of the scheduling.

 

[Exisled]

To me the Russian lack of success is most suprising to me. There struggling out there so far.

Their powerplay has been cold, their PK horrible, their goaltending suspect.

The lack of scoring with Kovalchuk, Kovalev barely producing to lead the squad combined with Zvyagin not playing well....Russia sure has something going wrong. Coaching? Motivation? Time for food rations to be cut (wait...Cold War's over....)

Maybe Yashin can show up.

 

[mattihp]

Finland's suckiness was a surprise. Mostly due to Olli Jokinen playing like Oh-lee Joke-ihn-ehn

 

[nikki9]

Surprise??Canada losing today. I know the Swedes are good but come on!!!!

 

[Riddarn]

Finland's suckiness was a surprise. Mostly due to Olli Jokinen playing like Oh-lee Joke-ihn-ehn

That line is strange. You got Kallio that is about as physical as Huselius at ballet practice, and then there's Peltonen who's pretty small and also a bit of a peripheral player. Sure, those forward has great skating and stick handling but it feels like thats a line composed to play in the SEL/SM-Liiga, not international hockey.

 

[mattihp]

That line is strange. You got Kallio that is about as physical as Huselius at ballet practice, and then there's Peltonen who's pretty small and also a bit of a peripheral player. Sure, those forward has great skating and stick handling but it feels like thats a line composed to play in the SEL/SM-Liiga, not international hockey.

They've played awesome together before... Olli taking care of the physical play and shooting... Tomi getting the puck out of the corners, and also helping a bit defensively (alot more than Huselius at least) and Ville being the passing and scoring dynamo with awesome moves and good positional play.

 

[Chaos Giraffe]

Brodeur's performance has been quite a surprise. Regardless of how his team has been playing in front of him, 10 goals in 3 games is pathetic.

 

[Riddarn]

They've played awesome together before... Olli taking care of the physical play and shooting... Tomi getting the puck out of the corners, and also helping a bit defensively (alot more than Huselius at least) and Ville being the passing and scoring dynamo with awesome moves and good positional play.

None of those players are doing what they should be doing then. That line should be dismantled.

 

[RorschachWJK]

Brodeur's performance has been quite a surprise. Regardless of how his team has been playing in front of him, 10 goals in 3 games is pathetic.

No surprise there, IMO.

A: He is not exactly a big ice goalie.
B: He hasn't played a meaningfull game since last September.

I think he is doing what he can in front of a pretty horrible defense.

 

[Everest]

The weak defence of Canada is now a suprise...nobody was expecting dominance from "2nd tier guys" like Souray and Hannan..but they have been far worse than I ever imagined they could be. As of todays loss to Sweden...not one guy has been consistent.
I think that poor play from Jovo,Hannan,Souray and now everyone else back there has sacked Canadas momentum and confidence.
They had a simple task for the 2nd half of todays game...protect a 2 goal lead...but they took penalties,made turnovers and were generally slow...our Forwards have been the best group in the tourney..but the defence is without a doubt more of a problem than I ever imagined they could be!!
Remember back when Jovo played tough? Remember back whern Hannan was good?
Long time ago now...

 

[Chaos Giraffe]

Remember back when Jovo played tough? Remember back whern Hannan was good?
Long time ago now...

Basically, the guys who haven't played all year are really sucking in this tourney.

I mean, even the usual ROCK SOLID Regehr looks pathetic.

 

[mattihp]

None of those players are doing what they should be doing then. That line should be dismantled.

Yep. I'd love to see Jussi Jokinen and Niklas Hagman on Olli's wings.

 

[RorschachWJK]

The weak defence of Canada is now a suprise...nobody was expecting dominance from "2nd tier guys" like Souray and Hannan..but they have been far worse than I ever imagined they could be. As of todays loss to Sweden...not one guy has been consistent.
I think that poor play from Jovo,Hannan,Souray and now everyone else back there has sacked Canadas momentum and confidence.
They had a simple task for the 2nd half of todays game...protect a 2 goal lead...but they took penalties,made turnovers and were generally slow...our Forwards have been the best group in the tourney..but the defence is without a doubt more of a problem than I ever imagined they could be!!
Remember back when Jovo played tough? Remember back whern Hannan was good?
Long time ago now...

Agreed, your D was clearly better in September, but I wasn't that impressed by them in the WCH2004 final (relatively speaking, that is). At times they were running around and looked a bit lost out there, as our backchecking was really ferocious. Brodeur and the firepower of your forwards (and the help they gave your D) won that game for you IMO.

 

[Everest]

Agreed, your D was clearly better in September, but I wasn't that impressed by them in the WCH2004 final (relatively speaking, that is). At times they were running around and looked a bit lost out there, as our backchecking was really ferocious. Brodeur and the firepower of your forwards (and the help they gave your D) won that game for you IMO.

This team/tournament has NOTHING to do with the World Cup,different players,different hockey,different country! So don't try and sneak a jab at the World Cup Champions...they were undefeated for a reason!
But...THIS Team Canada...has been defeated...and they have NOT improved over the past 3 weeks of playing/practicing...that suprises me!

 

[FLYLine27*]

I think it quite obvious SWEDEN is the big surprise, looking at everyones predictions for the WC more then 75% of people put Sweden to finish above 6th place. I will not be surprised one drop when they get a medal.