World Juniors....anyone watching?

The Blue Meanie · Post by **The Blue Meanie** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:49 pm

Anyone on here been watching the World Jrs?

Sweden took it on the chin yesterday losing to Raask despite completley outplaying Finland.

No matter...that should make it easier for Canada who chased Finland out of the rink in their first meeting. It wasn't the score, (5-1), but the manner in which they demolished the Finns...the Swiss and Danes put up a much better fight despite haven't players not nearly as talented as the Finns..

But Canada's got a weak goalie, (he spends the entire game on his knees!), so the Finns are in with a shout...

The US is in tough with Russia too...I'm backing the ruskies even though both teams seem pretty undisciplined at times...and the states got the star power....

Anyway its been a great tourney,(except for the Finn/Sweden snoozefest), and I'm looking forward to its conclusion with Canada as champs!

Forsberg · Post by **Forsberg** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:28 pm

Sadly no since there is no coverage here in denmark, but I assume you meant Norwegians not danes in your post

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The Blue Meanie · Post by **The Blue Meanie** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:07 pm

Yeah..sorry...Norwegians not Danes...but you got the gist of it...

Too bad its not televised there...the Jr. Championships have a huge following here in Canada....

We just got the Spengler Cup televised here too...did Canada ever get waxed in the final!

David Zetterman · Post by **David Zetterman** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:41 pm

It isn't televised in Sweden either!

But is Pogge really that bad?
Oh, and do you have Tuukka Rasks address?

Forsberg · Post by **Forsberg** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:44 pm

Problem is Icehockey is only the third largest sport in Denmark, considering we arent competing ourselves there is no chance it gets aired sadly.
But at least we have decent nhl/world cup/danish league/olympics coverage thats all that really matters anyway

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David Zetterman · Post by **David Zetterman** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:53 pm

In Denmark? In Sweden, we hardly have any real game coverage at all...

Forsberg · Post by **Forsberg** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 7:01 pm

You do if you have canal +

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Post by **E5150_ca** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:05 pm

Pogge is VERY quick to go down, but I thought he was playing quite well regardless.

eme · Post by **eme** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:41 pm

Yes, i was watching the game between finland and sweden. As a finn, im ofcourse happy that Finland took the win, but im not glad how they did it

. Rask played amazing game, but thats pretty much the only good thing you can say about finland's game.

Now, there is coverage on tv, but just the finland games are broadcasted, and even they are only partially live. Though thats better than nothing. The Jr. Championships are not really followed here in Finland. People do like to hear good results, after all, hockey is the most popular sports in Finland, but thats pretty much it. People like to watch adults world championships, and those are one of the most followed sport events.

Oh and, allmost forgot, If Jr. Championships are big thing in Canada, what about the adult ones?

Systemfel · Post by **Systemfel** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:36 pm

Forsberg wrote:You do if you have canal + .

But that channel sucks. All they're thinking about is the Flyers and then, off course, Forsberg.

Forsberg · Post by **Forsberg** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:50 pm

Systemfel wrote:
Forsberg wrote:You do if you have canal + .
But that channel sucks. All they're thinking about is the Flyers and then, off course, Forsberg.

Need I say more

, all those years of watching Colorado on Canal + certainly was fun, when you include playoffs the number of games were just wicked

. But I feel sorry for teams like Nashville/Atlanta etc just never seemed to be shown at all which is

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OneBadMan · Post by **OneBadMan** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:37 pm

This is the first time Ive been able to watch the tournament(NHL center ice) and I love the intensity in some of the games. The USA vs. Canada was a great game and cant wait to see russia play the us.

Post by **Minstrel** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:42 pm

They tend to pop the notice that they're carrying the games very late into the sched for CenterIce so while I don't see anything yet maybe all hope isn't lost for gettign to see the games. Odd they carried a couple of games and don't seem to be carring any more?

Well in any case

The Blue Meanie · Post by **The Blue Meanie** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:51 am

the USA plays live tonite @ 11 pm EST and 8pm PST...

To answer the previous post...the only thing I can equate Canada and hockey to is Brazil and soccer

You are literally expected to win every tourney you enter...anything else is failure...

like Brazil we have a top rival...Russia...or to continue the soccer analogy, Argentina..who is pretty well on par with us....

we have other rivals a step beneath that can win the tourney if things don't go right...Finland, Sweden, Czechs...I'd equate them to England, Italy, and France in soccer...

and beneath that you got the US and the slovaks...quality sides with a lesser chance...like Holland or Sweden in soccer...

I'm sure I'm making some enemies with this post....

For the Swiss to win a major championship in hockey is roughly equatable to Greece winning a major tourney...oh wait...they did....

So yeah...the world championships are huge too...I personally prefer the juniors because I don't necesarily expect to win like I do the worlds...so the disapointment isn't as great if they don't...and I get pisssed off with the selection of cdns for the world tourney where I don't with the jrs as I don't know the players as well...

But I think I'm correct in saying the Stanley Cup is still the most important to Canadian fans...

eme · Post by **eme** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:53 am

I actually find it quite funny that you canadians think Russia as a top rival. Ofourse they are good, especially on tournament such as olympics or world cup, but still i thought americans are the one you consider to be around equal

.

But i might also add, when it comes to World Championships, i consider that only few teams has chances to reach to medals, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Czech, Russia, Canada and US. These teams are ofcourse in everyones mind. But, I also expect finland to always beat Russia, Canada and US, and rest of the list are also beatable. Also i was pretty surprised when Canada won world championships back in 2003. Mostly because Canada hasnt really had that much succes in World Championships before.

Olympics and world cup alike tournaments are different, since then every team can use all the best players they have.

eme · Post by **eme** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:58 am

Oh and, Finland sucked vs Canada, Canada sure is the right team to go to finals with Russia. Let's hope we can atleast good up a good fight with US.

The Blue Meanie · Post by **The Blue Meanie** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:03 pm

To be quite honest, we never considered the US a quality rival until very recently, the last 10-15 years or so.

Prior to 1972, (and the great 8 game series against cccp), we always regarded ourselves as without peers in the hockey world and would never send top quality players to international tournaments...we would send fourth or fifth rate amateurs and expect them to win...

After several extensive series against the soviets in the 70's and 80's, (in which it was pretty much even), we became much better again as the soviets and canada were able to learn a great deal from each other and solidify our roles as the top two hockey nations.

The Swedes and Finns are still not considered to be quite equal to the Soviets and Canada. Although their reputations are improving quite a lot over the last 15-20 years. It used to be a hockey insult in Canada to say that one 'played like a Swede'...it meant you were afraid to go in the corners or of the rough areas. A lot of people were shocked when our NHLers went over to Europe during the strike and didn't dominate the european leagues to the extent that we assumed they would.

But I agree with you, in a short tourney, like the Olympics, any one of the seven 'main nations' are all capable of winning a medal.

And the americans? We're just like the rest of the world, a little resentful of our powerful neighbour...they were booed like anything in every game in this junior tourney. We used to cheer for them too when the iron curtain was still up, but since then, and the strides they have made as a hockey nation, have made us distinctly uneasy. Noone wants to see them dominate another sport, especially not our sport!

The Blue Meanie · Post by **The Blue Meanie** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 3:26 am

Well...it was a great game and a great end to a great tournament. Canada beat the Russians 5-0.

It easily could have gone the other way...Russia was outshooting them 18-3 at one point in the first period, but Pogge and the Cdn defencemen managed to keep the Ruskies at bay. Actually, the shot count wasn't wholly indicative of the play as it was fairly even, just Russia was getting more shots off.

Then Canada got two quick goals on fortunate bounces...then Russia 'scored' early in the second period...only for noone, (including the Russians), to notice the puck had gone in the net.

After that Canada slowly pulled away...the russian wunderkid must have gotten hurt as he was hit at every opportunity and he stopped playing very much after the first period.

Canada played a very physical game and the Russians lost their composure a little...but it would have been a very diferent story if the puck had bounced the other way early in the game.

Rask got tender of the tourney, Staal's kid brother got best d-man, and the Russian wunderkid got best forward.

The Finns beat the States 4-2 for third, and once again the USA was very undisciplined...and it cost them.

Great tourney!

And some of the russian defenders were impressive...one guy hit a cdn, knocked him down, turned around just as another cdn hit him from the other side, and that cdn fell too! Leaving the one russian looking down on both of them. What a rock!

The Blue Meanie · Post by **The Blue Meanie** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 3:30 am

I stand corrected on Pogge...guess he's ok...after all.

but he sure looked shaky to me the first couple of games...

Post by **Minstrel** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:31 am

Slighty OT but ya know Carolina had at least one maybe two chances to reunite the Staal brothers and didn't; I think a lot of teams are going to regret letting him fall as far as they did

Post by **E5150_ca** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:56 am

Well he was drafted 12th overall...I don't think thats too bad considering who the top 10 were.

Post by **Minstrel** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 6:09 am

Man us old guys and our fleeting memories... here I was thinking he fell to mid second round I guess it was just that every pick they mentioned his name and made this rant when Carolina didn't take him...

Ummm, nevermind.

*these are not the droids you're looking for; go about your business*

eme · Post by **eme** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 10:14 am

Hmh, bronze medal match was the only good match from finland i've seen in the tournament. Tho in the match Rask let in an "easy goal", pretty much the only one so far.