Haha. I'm still not worried, though. Put this team in a must-win situation, and I think that's where they'll really thrive. Right now we're guaranteed to get to the Quarters. I just don't understand why we're struggling so bad. This is the same team that won the 2004 World Cup (18 returning players). Did the team chemistry just vanish? We need to play less as individuals and more as a team. Our defence has to be stronger and stop getting pushed around by smaller, weaker players. They also have to start actually hitting the net with their shots. Their accuracy is horrid. Our forwards need to stop trying the pretty plays and start reverting to the basics of dumping and chasing, causing turnovers with speed, and shooting more. They need to get in front of the goalie to cause screens and create more chances. More shots! We also need to be more physical. And we can't lose the lead early in the game to these European teams! If we do, they just clog up the neutral zone with 4 players on their blueline and it's close to impossible to penetrate the zone. Get an early lead, that way you force them to play your game, instead of losing it and getting trapped. Shake up the lines, as well. Put Lecavalier between Bertuzzi and Nash. Put Sakic between Heatley and Gagne. Put Thornton between Iginla and St. Louis. And for christs sake, Pat Quinn, get McCabe out there on the point on the powerplays! No more Brad Richards, please!
I think Canada just needs to get their shit together, I ma not worried as we are not at a do or die situation yet. But I mean the coaches in this are just fucking horrid. Seriously after the got down to Finland, all they did was trap and all Canada did was try to pass it through the neutral zone. It's kinda hard to make a pass through 4 guys. The coaches should right on top of this coming up with another game plan. But seriously, Pat Quinn? Give me a fucking break, I'd rather ahve MacTavish as a coach of team Canada and you all know my opinion of MacT. The best Canadian coach doesn't even have anytinhg to do with the team. Honestly where in the hell is Marc Crawford?
Talk about a blowout in women's hockey. Canada's goals for: 46 goals against: 2 Crow sent in a defenseman against Hasek in Nagano.
I'm a Leafs fan and I don't have any confidence in Quinn. He's too stuck in the 90s to develop new coaching strategies. I even think Brian Burke would be a great coach for Canada. Or Brent/Darryl Sutter. Even Mike Babcock. Yay for the Canadian Women for beating Sweden for the Gold Medal! Great game. I think we'll get a real look at this Canadian team tomorrow against the Czechs. They undoubtedly want to erase the memory of the last two games and show they can play together as a team before the playoffs start. Should be a doozie of a game. And DIDN'T USE GRETZKY!!!
Yah just cause Borque could hit 4 targets. Pretty questionable call but every man is human and I don't hold that against him. I mean I guess every man in the system gets one chance to prove themselves, so this might be Quinn's final straw with team Canada if they dont coem out victorious. But yah one of the Sutter brothers would actually be a great fit right now for team Canada. Gretzky's challenge probably will not go unheard.
Yeah, when he's standing still 15 feet from the net and shooting at an open net. I wouldn't pick Bourque over Gretzky and Yzerman back in 1998. Hah. But then again Hasek was in his prime at that time and probably would've stopped anyone. I just feel cheated because we didn't put our best players out for the shootout. That doesn't mean I wouldn't welcome Crawford as coach, though.
I wouldn't pick any d-man over forward as far as that goes. But yah I would forgive Crawford for that, but to me it seems like hockey Canada doesn't forgive that kind of stuff.
We were badly outplayed in the second and third periods, but we beat the Czechs! If we can play like we did in the first for a full 60 minutes in the quarter finals, I think we have a shot at moving forward. Martin Brodeur was absolutely brilliant. And the Czech players kept running him. It was terrible.
Pronger's one of the most overrated, overpaid, and undisciplined players in the NHL. I am fucking rotted. This is absolutely ridiculous. Where the hell did the chemistry go? We couldn't do any of the little things right, and we were trying to be too pretty all tournament. Fuck! How is it possible that this team isn't at least in a medal game? What the hell happened?
Mark, you could have seen it coming. The other teams will not automaticly lose just because you are Canada.
Looking at these teams, Canada clearly had the most stacked roster, from forwards to defencemen to the best goalie in the world in Brodeur. They just didn't click as a team. Why? I have no idea. I guess I've become accustomed to Canada being the champions because of our success at numerous tournaments over the last 4 years. Every tournament, we made it to the finals, and every time except once, we won. You can't say Canada wasn't the most dominant hockey country in the world over the last 5 or so years. So no, I didn't see it coming before these Olympics started. But I did see it when we lost to the Finns and Swiss, nearly lost to the Czechs, and saw how our team played today. We were badly coached and badly outplayed in almost every game. It's a shame, really. That being said, we still have a bright future. I can't wait to see Crosby in a Canadian sweater in 2010, with Nash, Staal, Spezza and Gagne entering their primes, and with leadership like Iginla, Thornton, Smyth, and Sakic as veterans. We'll be better than ever.
Who watched the game? On the no-goal? That was the MOST FUCKING SHITTY call ever. The overhead camera showed that the puck was in the net, and a Russian player scoops it out. I am so fucking pissed off. I hope that player feels guilty for the rest of his life. Anyone have a video link? I need to show it to my dad. The worst penalty of the game wasn't Pronger's; it was Bertuzzi's. Pronger stopped someone from scoring an empty netter. Bertuzzi checked someone when the Canadians had possession. Bertuzzi takes the worst penalties ever. Especially since most of the ones he takes are unnecessary. But hey, on the bright side, we won two golds and two silvers today! Plus, I totally agree with Mark about having awesome potential for 2010. Even better, I'll be there.
That was such a bad penalty on Bertuzzi's part. He should've just stopped in front of the player, not leaned into him and checked him. He still would've blocked him from getting to the player. And it's weird too, because Bertuzzi was one of our best players in the first 3 or 4 games of the tournament, in my opinion. It all came down to not being able to do the small things right. The passes weren't fast enough, or they were no-lookers, or they were totally off the mark. The shots were either too high, too wide, tipped, or into traffic. We didn't crash the net with enough authority, we didn't screen. Our dump-ins were too weak and easily recovered by opposing teams. We didn't get early leads, and were losing to European teams which trapped us into submission. So many things done wrong, and I'll attribute it to too much pressure on the guys.
Beruzzi was great in the first couple of games. Iginla was awesome in the first game, but was almost as invisible as Marty Turco in the other games. We were totally out-skated and out-played in the tournament. Man, the Russians were so fast. What do you think about the non-goal? Which teams do you think will medal? I don't have time to do this now, but I will later. Rank the players on your team with how their performance has been so far, and out of ten. Cluster players together by position. Example: Brodeur (9) Edit: Oh, FUCK. I was so caught up with trying to be positive that I momentarily forgot that Mattias Ohlund (cracked ribs) and Sami Salo (dislocated shoulder)have been injured. FUCK. Now the Canucks defense will be made out of 5 players that played in the AHL last year. FUCK.
I've become accustomed to non-goals on Canada from the refs. Ridiculous IIHF rules. I think Sweden will win the gold medal, with the Russians winning silver and the Czechs winning bronze. Brodeur: 9.5 Doan: 9 Bertuzzi: 8.5 Lecavalier: 8.5 Draper: 8.5 Luongo: 8.5 Gagne: 8 Smyth: 8 Richards: 8 Redden: 8 Foote: 7.5 Nash: 7.5 St. Louis: 7.5 Bouwmeester: 7.5 Heatley: 7 Blake: 7 Iginla: 7 Regehr: 7 Sakic: 6.5 McCabe: 5.5 Thornton: 5 Pronger: 5 And regarding the Canucks defence? Hah. Welcome to the Maple Leafs' blueline for the last 2 months. McCabe and Kaberle plus 3/4 rookies (Kronwall, Wozniewski, Colaiacovo, Harrison).
We've been playing with those types of players too. This is the first season Baumgartner played more than 10 NHL games. (He's doing awesome, almost 30 points.) Jovo makes plays that are so bad he should be making minimum wage. McCarthy has made some bad decisions too, and was playing in the AHL last year. Bieksa was playing in the AHL before he was called up. He's been playing well so far. Plus he's tough as hell. Bryan Allen has relatively little experience, and has played really well. Have you ever heard of Tomas Mojzis, Sven Butenschon, or Prestin Ryan? Plus, the 'Nucks are in the Northwest Divison, the toughest, closest, evenly-matched, and most talented division. Calgary: 73 pts Vancouver: 71 pts Colorado: 70 pts Edmonton: 68 pts Minnesota: 63 pts 4 of 5 teams in the NW division are in playoff positions, and Minnesota is 5 points out. Gap between 1st and 5th in NW division: 13 Gap between 1st and 5th in NE division: 21 East vs. West games record? Don't even go there. The Habs are currently in a playoff spot, and they've been a joke this year. The only cups they'll win this year are in their jock straps. I feel your pain. Watching the rerun, huh? I wanted to break the TV too, but I was watching at school. Maybe because the GODDAMN connection broke up every 3 seconds in the last 2 minutes. One of the teachers was so pissed, he kicked the librarian.
I know hardly anything about hockey, but I knew that Canada wasn't gonig to get gold this time around. Gretzky had to much shit on his plate, the team was pulled together a few days before they left for Turin and the arrived in Turin a day before their first game. Brodeur also said some stuff about how he wasn't feeling so hot I believe but he still played amazingly well. Like I said, I know next to nothing but I do read and lsiten the titles and some of the articles in the paper, on T.V. or in magazines, such as McClaines which recently had a massive article about Wayne's life at this time. All my friends are saying there wasn't enough young blood or enough leadership as Lemieux retired. Oh, if you want to hunt down all the members of the team and have a good chat with them, 411.ca is the place to fidn all their numbers, addresses and postal codes.