2008 World Championships

Post by **Shadd666** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:52 am

I disagree on the fact that Sweden played better... France was always in the penalty box... So yeah, team Sweden was pretty dominant, but it's not that hard to be so when you're regularly with the man advantage against a clearly weaker team. France lacked discipline, Lhenry wasn't at his best in net, and Sweden took advantage of that, but they didn't really forced that... Anyhow, France dominated Sweden in the physical play, no question about that

Switzerland is way more disciplined, way faster, more physical and way more skilled that France... So if Sweden doesn't improve their level of play, i wouldn't be surprised to see the Swiss emerge victorious...

France will be destroyed by Belarus and will have to face relegation. Not a surprise though. I just hope we'll be able to resist to Italy or however we'll face in the relegation series, and stay in the Group A...

Kekkonen · Post by **Kekkonen** » Tue May 06, 2008 12:21 pm

Tasku wrote:Finland 3 - 2 Norway OT.

Not very convincing. I hope we can get it together by the Slovakia game on wednesday.

I'm not worried, not yet anyway. Just like a dominating 7-0 win would not have made Team Finland an instant favorite, just barely squeaking by Norway will not mean they stink.

Tomorrow's game vs. Slovakia be totally different; the other team will not be content with trapping the heck out of Team Finland, and I assume our guys will be prepared for a tough match. Last night they certainly weren't.

Post by **Tasku** » Tue May 06, 2008 1:06 pm

Mr. Kekkonen, I agree. Finland seemed a bit out of focus, and they were propably expecting an easy win, which they know for sure won't happen against Slovakia, and they'll be more prepared.

Shadd - a team losing 9-0 can't really claim they dominated any aspect on the ice, they were simply overrun, no question what so ever.

I didn't see the game, but when you lead in such big numbers, there's no point giving your all to the game and wearing yourself out.

Kekkonen · Post by **Kekkonen** » Tue May 06, 2008 1:14 pm

Tasku wrote:Mr. Kekkonen, I agree. Finland seemed a bit out of focus, and they were propably expecting an easy win, which they know for sure won't happen against Slovakia, and they'll be more prepared.

This is where every Finn should say that bit about "95% preparation -> 50% performance" in their best Juhani Tamminen voice.

Post by **Shadd666** » Tue May 06, 2008 3:58 pm

Tasku wrote:Shadd - a team losing 9-0 can't really claim they dominated any aspect on the ice, they were simply overrun, no question what so ever.

Well, to be more precise, they were the only team giving hits... Then, they can't skate, can't make a good pass, make the wrong decisions, aren't organized offensively, aren't well positionned defensively, aren't disciplined, etc.

But they gave hits

For what it worthed...

That being said, yes, they were totally overrun. No doubt. But you couldn't expect anything else out of such a lopsided game

Olympic hockey champions versus former soccer world champions means no suspense

holydogg · Post by **holydogg** » Tue May 06, 2008 5:22 pm

Shadd666 wrote:They actually play with Stefan Liv in goal, one of the best goalies in the Elitserien. Impossible to judge his performance tonight, as he faced only 11 shots so far in 53 minutes, while Sweden is leading 8-0.

Maybe the Swedes are not lost

and about Cristo, he always give a soft goal every game in NHL, hopefully he also do a miracle per game

Post by **joehelmer** » Tue May 06, 2008 5:32 pm

holydogg wrote:
Shadd666 wrote:They actually play with Stefan Liv in goal, one of the best goalies in the Elitserien. Impossible to judge his performance tonight, as he faced only 11 shots so far in 53 minutes, while Sweden is leading 8-0.
Maybe the Swedes are not lost

and about Cristo, he always give a soft goal every game in NHL, hopefully he also do a miracle per game

And it was Nicklas Bäckström who scored that goal on Huet.

Post by **Tasku** » Tue May 06, 2008 6:17 pm

Point taken, Shadd.

That's actually what was missing from Finland's game against Norway yesterday too. Finland has always been a hard hitting team, especially when their game is not going according to plan, but none of that was to be seen in the Norway game.

Post by **joehelmer** » Tue May 06, 2008 6:33 pm

Right now it's Russia against Denmark. Russia leads 1-0 after the first period. I really thought it was going to be more goals in advantage for Russia. But maybe it's just Sweden and Finland that's having problem with teams that they should beat easily.

Post by **joehelmer** » Tue May 06, 2008 6:58 pm

Henrik Lundqvist is going to join the swedish team, if he pass the medical control at Rangers, if the doctors says that he can play he's going to play. Finally, a goalie that can be useful against better opposition than Switzerland, Belarus and France.

Post by **Shadd666** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:12 pm

Canada beats USA 5-4, thanks to a rocket by Heatley in the final minute! Nice game to watch. Way more suspense than in Sweden-France

(okay, it wasn't hard to do...)

hobbitrjw · Post by **hobbitrjw** » Wed May 07, 2008 3:17 am

Shadd666 wrote:Canada beats USA 5-4, thanks to a rocket by Heatley in the final minute! Nice game to watch. Way more suspense than in Sweden-France (okay, it wasn't hard to do...)

So does this mean that USA is out? Sorry for asking but I can't seem to find this on anywhere on TV here in the USA,which stinks because we have a team in this thing and we can't even get it on TV,that is just ridiculous.

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 07, 2008 3:36 am

No. They move to the next round with Canada and whoever finished 3rd in their tier. Likely Belorus.

You take your record with you against the teams that go to the next round with you.

So Canada goes at 2-0 (wins over USA and Belorus...Latvia does not count since they are not moving to the next round)

USA goes at 1-1 (win Belorus, lose Canada)

and Belorus goes in at 0-2 (beat Latvia, but it does not count.. except to actually get them to the next round and lost to USA and Canada)

hobbitrjw · Post by **hobbitrjw** » Wed May 07, 2008 3:59 am

batdad wrote:No. They move to the next round with Canada and whoever finished 3rd in their tier. Likely Belorus.

You take your record with you against the teams that go to the next round with you.

So Canada goes at 2-0 (wins over USA and Belorus...Latvia does not count since they are not moving to the next round)

USA goes at 1-1 (win Belorus, lose Canada)

and Belorus goes in at 0-2 (beat Latvia, but it does not count.. except to actually get them to the next round and lost to USA and Canada)

Wow thats.....a really messed up way of doing things,I mean I totally understand your example,but I would rather see it be like Fifa's World cup a bit more,where you play 3 games and the top 2 teams in each grouping advance

Is there a website where I can follow this more closely,since I cannot seem to get it on TV?

Post by **joehelmer** » Wed May 07, 2008 7:57 am

Belarus is not even in Canada's group, they're in Sweden's.

The four teams in Canada's and USA's group are Canada, USA, Latvia and Slovenia.
With Canada, USA and Latvia going to the next round, Slovenia in relegation group.

The other three teams that has gone through from group D, are Russia, Czech and Denmark. With Italy going to the relegation group.

Here's a site where all info of the World Championship is, IIHF official site.

Andrew R · Post by **Andrew R** » Wed May 07, 2008 9:02 am

holydogg wrote:Nicest jersey: France's "poulet"

Looking at some of the pictures there, that's not too hard. Those red Czech Republic shirts are hideous.

Sbufkle · Post by **Sbufkle** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:34 pm

Speaking of jerseys, the Canada ones worn vs US are hands down my absolute favorite ones ever. (Canada Cup)

Kekkonen · Post by **Kekkonen** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:40 pm

joehelmer wrote:Henrik Lundqvist is going to join the swedish team, if he pass the medical control at Rangers, if the doctors says that he can play he's going to play.

According to the Finnish teletext news, he's been cleared to play. This is a major boost for Sweden. The Swedish roster isn't that great, but with King Henrik they can go a long way.

Post by **joehelmer** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:57 pm

Yeah, he's cleared. Just forgot to update it here in this thread. And he's probably going to play the next match.

holydogg · Post by **holydogg** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:45 pm

hobbitrjw wrote: Sorry for asking but I can't seem to find this on anywhere on TV here in the USA,which stinks because we have a team in this thing and we can't even get it on TV,that is just ridiculous.

Even here in Montreal, the media talk more about the Habs elimination and post-mortem than the world champs..

10 pages about how Gainey and Carboneau SHOULD build a better team, 1 page about Canada-USA game, nothing about the rest...

Come on, forget about them for 2 weeks and concentrate on world champs and the conference finals.. In late june and in July the media will get enough stuff to rant about with the drafts and the UFA...

darn you Journal de Montréal, darn you CKAC Sports!!!

hobbitrjw · Post by **hobbitrjw** » Wed May 07, 2008 3:46 pm

holydogg wrote:
hobbitrjw wrote: Sorry for asking but I can't seem to find this on anywhere on TV here in the USA,which stinks because we have a team in this thing and we can't even get it on TV,that is just ridiculous.
Even here in Montreal, the media talk more about the Habs elimination and post-mortem than the world champs..
10 pages about how Gainey and Carboneau SHOULD build a better team, 1 page about Canada-USA game, nothing about the rest...

Come on, forget about them for 2 weeks and concentrate on world champs and the conference finals.. In late june and in July the media will get enough stuff to rant about with the drafts and the UFA...

darn you Journal de Montréal, darn you CKAC Sports!!!

Well I looked on the above link to the offical site and they do have a TV listing for USA,but it is some channel called WCSN which I have never even heard of before....and that is ridiculous here in the USA we have sports channels crawling out of our ears,like ESPN, Fox Sports,and all and none of them can seem to make time for this major event because they have to have their stupid sports news shows like SportsCenter,and their old replys of stuff from 1960.

It's upsetting that no Major sports channel here is willing to at least support Team USA by Showing the games.

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 07, 2008 6:23 pm

joehelmer wrote:Belarus is not even in Canada's group, they're in Sweden's.

The four teams in Canada's and USA's group are Canada, USA, Latvia and Slovenia.
With Canada, USA and Latvia going to the next round, Slovenia in relegation group.

The other three teams that has gone through from group D, are Russia, Czech and Denmark. With Italy going to the relegation group.

Here's a site where all info of the World Championship is, IIHF official site.

Bah...Slovenia Belorus...Whatever....both can beat Sweden.

And hobbit...Don't bother ranting about American TV and hockey. And Americans in general care even less about the World Championships. They just don't matter.

IN fact it is really only recently that Canada cared about World Championships. In fact I am somewhat surprised that we do.

American TV-- They just don't care. No money in it for them. ESPN may come back on board next season though for the NHL. They have hired Don Cherry to work on Sportscenter...Yeah right. Promote hockey without showing it on your network. Sure.

hobbitrjw · Post by **hobbitrjw** » Wed May 07, 2008 6:48 pm

batdad wrote:
joehelmer wrote:Belarus is not even in Canada's group, they're in Sweden's.

The four teams in Canada's and USA's group are Canada, USA, Latvia and Slovenia.
With Canada, USA and Latvia going to the next round, Slovenia in relegation group.

The other three teams that has gone through from group D, are Russia, Czech and Denmark. With Italy going to the relegation group.

Here's a site where all info of the World Championship is, IIHF official site.

Bah...Slovenia Belorus...Whatever....both can beat Sweden.

And hobbit...Don't bother ranting about American TV and hockey. And Americans in general care even less about the World Championships. They just don't matter.

IN fact it is really only recently that Canada cared about World Championships. In fact I am somewhat surprised that we do.

American TV-- They just don't care. No money in it for them. ESPN may come back on board next season though for the NHL. They have hired Don Cherry to work on Sportscenter...Yeah right. Promote hockey without showing it on your network. Sure.

I am actually honestly suprised that you are surprised that Canada does care,because I always thought Hockey was a Canadian Sport,I mean look at our NHL players most of them are either from Canada or Russia it seems like.

and I dsn't just rant about American TV and Hockey,I rant about the Princple of the thing,That we have a team in this thing,our own National team,and yet it seems no one down here in the USA even has a single idea that this competition is going on,and that is sad.

I mean ESPN gladly showed the FIFA World Cup when that was going on,and that is Soccer (okay Football for those that are not American) and it isn't even a American Sport either,yet we still got to see it.

I just rant because it's a matter of National pride and we obviously don't seem to have any because we can't even be able to see our National Hockey Team on TV.

Post by **batdad** » Wed May 07, 2008 6:57 pm

It is our thing. But over the last 10 years it has just become interesting to watch the World Championships. Back in the day, the best players on our WC teams were 3rd liners or at bets 2nd liners on weak teams. It was horrid for all of the 70s and 80s and only got better in the mid 90s at best.

Plus..in Canada...one thing matters...the STANLEY CUP! That is all. International hockey until recently was always for the guys who

1. were not good enough for the NHL (most Olympic teams)
2. out of the NHL playoffs and not on strong teams at all...World Champ teams.

We NEVER sent our best to WC and still do not. The difference is neither do the other countries. Before Swedes, Russians, Czechs and Finns played in the NHL the WC was just a joke for Canada. Never showed anything..cause it was never our best, whereas it was the others.

Principle does not matter unfortunately hobbit.All that matters is money to TV networks. Idealism is great...but in the world of American TV...not gonna matter. Poker has more people watching than hockey. So poker gets the timeslot. Period.

Soccer--has more fans in the USA than hockey does. Always will.

It would be nice (I think) if more Americans cared about hockey...but us Canadians have learned that it really does not matter what Americans think about the game in general. It is still our game, and it always will be. We used to wish that the USA would get it, and try to sell it to them, and push it on them. Now...we just say the game is great. You guys are missing out!

Sbufkle · Post by **Sbufkle** » Wed May 07, 2008 7:05 pm

Although I do understand to others, especially in europe, they liek the WC... well I never bothr with it and think its a second rate tourny thats never interested me even for one year.

I actually turned down tickets for playoff games in Quebec City in this years tourny. I think they were semi finals but either way, I coudlnt be bothered!!

Hope it doesnt rub anyone the wrong way... but seeing teams that only have a week or two to get together and whos line ups actually change DURING the tourney as guys get knocked out of playoffs... its just hard to take seriously...