World Cup: Sep 2 GDT - Russia vs. USA

[I Hate You All*]

I love the Russian national anthem.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Where exactly does the USA now stand in hopes of winning the tournament?

We're not standing, or even sitting. I'm thinking more along the lines of in a casket six feet under. Unless there's another [CLICHE ALERT!] "miracle on ice," we're done in the quarters.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I see alot of people slagging on guys like Guerin and Tkachuk in this and other threads, but guess what? They have our only two goals and are practically the only forwards with a pulse! This team better learn to score some goals in a hurry.

 

[Slay]

Full marks to the Russian team. They played with skill, tenacity, and a defensive presence.

2 days ago on Russian TV was shown the game of World Cup 1996 Russia - Canada. The Russian game really impressed me with the way they were moving puck. imo this Russian team has ways to go to achive that level of interaction. Though 1996 team seems was not so well organized in defence and especially in powerkilling.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

2 days ago on Russian TV was shown the game of World Cup 1996 Russia - Canada. The Russian game really impressed me with the way they were moving puck. imo this Russian team has ways to go to achive that level of interaction. Though 1996 team seems was not so well organized in defence and especially in powerkilling.

I don't think the question marks about the Russian team revolved around talent, more about consistency. Which Russian team was going to show up? Last night, the Russian team was on the ball (or puck as it were), and played a great game. If they can do that on a regular basis, they should be a favorite for this tournament.

 

[The True Blue Crew]

Hey, no need to draw wrong conclusions.
I don't hate America.
But I hate dumb fans whoever they are.

It was one person, why do you hate america so much?

 

[Slay]

Highlights from the game that you can save on your harddrive:

http://hulk.zianet.com/mon/USAvsRussia.wmv

 

[unt]

Okay I don't know WHERE This post will apear and on which page, but I actually felt the reffing, while generally good in that they let BOTH teams play, did let the russians get away with some things too much a couple of times.

Like it happened at least 3 times that i was watching and saw something happened and went OH $*** we're gonna get a penalty (i'm russian), but they didn't and i breathed a sigh of relief.


What impressed me about the team was the defense. Forget the individual talent. Russia's always had that and always will. Forget even the TEAM talent. I think they did a great job and much better than in 2002 but that's still not the reason they won.

They won because of their defense. They did a SPECTACULAR job of clearing loose pucks, of tieing up the american players, of winning battles along the boards, and of blocking shots. In 2002 they just relied on khabibulin to be their defense. Not so this year. Granted bryzgalov played really well but it's the defense that was the stars. A while ago I was really scared for the future of the russian defense but now seeing how guys like volchenkov play it's great.



Finally i think it's a GREAT thing that guys like fedorov and mogilny aren't playing. They have nothing to prove and would've been skating around there not caring much. Instead you have guys like frolov and afinogenov who are offensive guys getting extra minutes and they have SUCH jump it's great to see. Meanwhile guys like chubarov are good in a defensive role and wouldn't be on the roster if the bigger stars were there.
Speaking of big stars - i have to give where credit is due to yashin. WHen he was named to the roster I thought it was a bad idea - that he was just a big name and ANYBODY would be better than him - hell - bring tretiak out of retirement and make him play as a forward and it'd be better than yashin. I thought he would be a huge defensive liability and lazy as hell. COuldn't be more wrong. He was hustling HARD, never giving up, trying to steal pucks, everything. But that was a pattern with the whole team - even kovalchuk was playing defense.

I think credit must really go to the coach - offensively and defensively the team played like a unit for 60 minutes.

Well put. I'm also totally thrilled about how russia played. This may be a turnaround for Soviet hockey that is long over due.