EHM The Blue Line

I'm surprised that there is no thread. Maybe because Canada lost their first game

After two days Sweden and Russia top their groupe with 2 wins in 2 games. In the A group Sweden is followed USA ans Switzerland at 3 points. Canada and hosts Belarus are stuck at 0
In the B group Russia is followed by Finland and Czech R. with 3 points, Latvia and Slovakia have zero.

Infos about Russian games here and here

Today Belarus - Canada. Will the Maple Leaf bounce back?

This tournament does not get any media coverage in Sweden at all. Too bad, because it's good players. I bet, there is TONS of scouts at the games. It is the last chance to see the kids before the draft.

Also, it is not so surprising that Canada lost the first game. These kids are probably not used to the jetlag that comes with flying to Eastern Europe. They have a lot of talent and will most likely improve

Manimal wrote:This tournament does not get any media coverage in Sweden at all. Too bad, because it's good players. I bet, there is TONS of scouts at the games. It is the last chance to see the kids before the draft.

Also, it is not so surprising that Canada lost the first game. These kids are probably not used to the jetlag that comes with flying to Eastern Europe. They have a lot of talent and will most likely improve

They won the second game against Belarus. I guess they are waiting new players because they have a little number of players on roster.

There is not a lot of coverage here either, especially since there are NHL and OHL/WHL/QMJHL playoffs. Not many stations left to carry the feed.

Canada is off to the relegation round!

Standings so far:

5 SUI Switzerland
6 CZE Czech Republic
7 CAN Canada
8 SVK Slovakia
9 LAT Latvia
10 BLR Belarus

Teams still in tournament:
Gold Medal game: USA vs. SWE
Bronze Medal game: FIN vs. RUS

And Canada stays in Group A...

Finland beat Russia 5-1 Teemu Pulkkinen scored hattrick

So it's:

3 FIN Finland
4 RUS Russia
5 SUI Switzerland
6 CZE Czech Republic
7 CAN Canada
8 SVK Slovakia
9 LAT Latvia
10 BLR Belarus

Gold medal game is tonight.

Might try find somewhere to watch it, interested to see how some potential draftees go

The tournament does get some coverage here. I know about it. I have watched some of it. But it is on during the day, during NHL/AHL/CHL playoffs...so it does not get the push that the WJC does at Christmas time. Neither does the summer U18. This is just a tournament that the guys who miss the playoffs or get knocked out early go to. Similar to world championships.

IT is cool though as you get to see some of the top prospects for the draft, if not in playoffs anymore over here. But if you look at Canada's roster, there are alot of eligible top rated players not there as still playing here.

Plus the hockey looked like rubbish to me. No hitting, no intensity. But as I have said before...get ready for this. In Western Canada anyway..the officials are pushing hockey this way at the youth level. Noone hits, as if you make a noise...penalty box or tossed out. They really are legislating hitting out of the game. This is not good. Not good.

USA beat Sweden 3-1

Gold: USA
Silver: Sweden
Bronze: Finland

Best scorer: Teemu Pulkkinen FIN 10+5=15
Best forward: Pulkkinen FIN
Best defenceman: Adam Larsson SWE
Best goalie: Jack Campbell USA
MVP: Campbell USA

All-stars:
Johan Larsson SWE-Evgeni Kuznetsov RUS-Pulkkinen FIN
Adam Clendening USA-A. Larsson SWE
Campbell USA

batdad wrote: Plus the hockey looked like rubbish to me. No hitting, no intensity. But as I have said before...get ready for this. In Western Canada anyway..the officials are pushing hockey this way at the youth level. Noone hits, as if you make a noise...penalty box or tossed out. They really are legislating hitting out of the game. This is not good. Not good.

Not only Western Canada. It's all over the place. New rules has severely reduced hitting (and fighting) in the Q and O as well

IT is not new rules Manimal. It is the same rules, with refs being taught to call things differently from the time the kids are 6 or 7 years old. Refs call every touch...kids don't hit...hockey becomes a sport for crybabies. Stupid hockey mom's.

batdad wrote:IT is not new rules Manimal. It is the same rules, with refs being taught to call things differently from the time the kids are 6 or 7 years old. Refs call every touch...kids don't hit...hockey becomes a sport for crybabies. Stupid hockey mom's.

In Finland there's stupid rules for under 12-year-old players: hits aren't allowed and slaphots aren't allowed!! How they can practise shooting if it's not possible even in team practises!!

My friends has said that they had those rules when they were 12 (in early 00's).

I remember when my younger cousin was playing hockey (in the US) as a kid, they weren't allowed to hit or shoot slapshots until a certain age too. I think they wanted to make sure they learned how to protect themselves and also learn the fundamentals before adding those things to their game.

But it would be very good training for both forwards/d-men and goalies. Under 12-year-old kid's wristshots aren't so good that goalie can train blueline shots.

And forwards/d-men can train their slapshots and strenght.

Rule isn't very old, maybe made in mid-90's. We haven't had good goalscorers since Selänne, Kurri, Skriko, Nurminen or Kurkinen, whose were juniors in 70's and 80's.

bruins72 wrote:I remember when my younger cousin was playing hockey (in the US) as a kid, they weren't allowed to hit or shoot slapshots until a certain age too. I think they wanted to make sure they learned how to protect themselves and also learn the fundamentals before adding those things to their game.

Yeah, it is meant for the kids to learn how to skate and carry the puck without worrying about getting light up by the freak 5 foot tall 10 year old.

bestrafer7 wrote:

bruins72 wrote:I remember when my younger cousin was playing hockey (in the US) as a kid, they weren't allowed to hit or shoot slapshots until a certain age too. I think they wanted to make sure they learned how to protect themselves and also learn the fundamentals before adding those things to their game.

Yeah, it is meant for the kids to learn how to skate and carry the puck without worrying about getting light up by the freak 5 foot tall 10 year old.

5 foot tall isn't that tall for a 10 year old. I was like 5'4" when I was 7 or 8 years old.