Congratulations to the USA for what I thought was a dominant performance. If you didn't watch it, dominant might sound too strong for a 2-1 game, but only some great goaltending from Kotchetkov kept the score close. The Americans were superior in every facet of hockey. The most glaring difference was in skating speed, but they were also superior in stickhandling, and passing. Their shooting wasn't special, which may explain why Kotchetkov kept his team within striking distance. They were clearly hungrier and more motivated, which, when combined with their speed, might explain why they won the race to every loose puck and outnumbered the Russians around the puck all day. After looking disinterested and dispassionate in the first two periods, Russia tried to pour on the pressure in the 3rd, but the American smothered them on the perimeter and barely gave them a sniff of the goal. I'll never understand how it could be that kids from tropical beach cities in Florida and California, where a snow flake has never flown, can have superior hockey skills to kids from Siberia, but I guess that is what we have.
What was really stunning for me was how badly the Russians were outcoached. The Americans have been using the same forecheck and collapsing defensive schemes throughout the tournament, but Russia used no special tactics or strategies to counteract the American schemes. Instead of organizing a methodical attack, the Russian kids just tried stickhandling solos up the ice to see how far they could go before the Americans stripped the puck away from them. The kids have great skills, but they had no way to use them productively to get the job done. There was no road or avenue leading to success, which is what coaches are supposed to provide. It just seemed like the kids didn't know what to do, which is again the fault of the coaching staff.
