WJC 2005 Tournament Thread

[FunkyBlueFish203]

I don't understand how my team's penalty box did not remain empty. I didn't think we were that reckless, we were not even that physical. Yes, we made mistakes but not enough for the refs to keep blowing the whistle on us every minute. The penalties really irritated me. The Russians were going down too easy as well, a fact that wasn't lost on the players and announcers alike; that was a very bad display.

I'm very angry about the loss. Mad enough to break someone's face. I have never seen such a pathetic display like Team Russia's. When T J Hensick scored that last goal against Sweden, he didn't do any celebrating, and that's what you're supposed to do if you're winning in a landslide. You don't flop and dive or dislodge nets for the entire game or throw your gloves at the opposition or have your trainer taunt the other kids. I didn't expect this from Ovechkin and Malkin. And Rudalov. I hope someone lines him up for a hit and gives him a big one. Someday these kids are going to be in the NHL and will square off against each other. Guys don't forget. This sort of crap puts the classy Russian players to shame. I hardly think Russia whooped us last night or played that much better than us. Despite being a man down for almost the entire game, we held up pretty good. I don't care about the empty netters. The coaching was horrendous throughout the tournament. To his credit, Montoya sobered up quite well in the last 2 games despite a shaky start. Nothing can justify Team Russia's behavior in last night's game. You play with class and that's how you get your opponents to tip their hat to you. If not, you get your ass whooped by someone else. I have lost respect for the Russian hockey organization. I hope Canada totally destroys them on Tuesday.

Team USA certainly wasn't as strong as last year but they were still decent. It's rough chemistry-wise because these boys don't play together for the remainder of the season. They did a decent job. Montoya was good last night. By the second period he had faced close to 35 shots. The biggest factor is defense, and that's what killed us this tournament because the core was very young. Once Bourque was lost, it's like we were playing with 1 d-man, Suter. Discipline was also a big factor. Playing from behind combined with playing a man down for most of the game doesn't present the best chances. When your top line can't generate offense, it's also a problem. No worries. We did okay. Missed opportunities come to mind when you lose a tough game like this but that's a part of it all. Played a good game and went down fighting. Hope we can use our anger constructively and pull out the bronze. Still doing the U-S-A chants here.

The guys playing international hockey in the big tournaments for us right now don't constitute the best team and it's the whole thing about the gap between the guys who're done, guys who're here and guys who will be here. We're going to struggle at the 2006 Olympics and the World Championships, and that's okay because the U-17, U-18 and WJ teams haves shown a lot of promise over the last few years. The NTDP has done a great job churning out talent. I can't wait to see these guys in the big boys uniforms. I love Fritsche and Montoya and O'Sullivan and Stafford and everyone else. They play hard, they play with heart and they play with pride. Good show.

[bruins4777]

^nice analysis, i disagree about montoya....but nice analysis regardless.

[FunkyBlueFish203]

bruins4777, you don't think Montoya got better later on in the tournament? I realize he continued his trend of an early goal or two but he completely saved our bacon in period 2 against the Swedes and the Russians. His peformance was way below the show he put on last year and I'm not saying he put on solid shows in the last 2 games, just that he performed better than he had in the 1st 4 games. A shaky defense didn't aid him, not like they could do anything about the 50-foot goals he was giving up, but a shaky d-core didn't help him at all. Derek made a good point about that using Richter and the Rangers as an example.

[Derek21]

Nice analysis Funky. I hear what you're saying. Agreed on the coaching. But overall, this team just wasn't as good as last year's. They had better D and Parise and a great performance from Montoya.

That magic was gone this year. And yes, Eaves did a better job than Sandelin. But Sandelin didn't have as much to work with. Why Jack Johnson wasn't selected is a mystery.

Just one correction for ya. Bourque was a forward. Not D .

Maybe they should have selected Robbie Earl as well. He's tearing it up for Wisconsin. Oh well.

On Al, he played better the last two games. But he was still flopping around last nite too much. He needs to work with our goalie coach Allaire. I think his problems can be fixed.

Hope they take the bronze tomorrow. That would be a nice finish.

[Weekes Head]

Will the bronze medal game be televised?

[bruins4777]

bruins4777, you don't think Montoya got better later on in the tournament? I realize he continued his trend of an early goal or two but he completely saved our bacon in period 2 against the Swedes and the Russians. His peformance was way below the show he put on last year and I'm not saying he put on solid shows in the last 2 games, just that he performed better than he had in the 1st 4 games. A shaky defense didn't aid him, not like they could do anything about the 50-foot goals he was giving up, but a shaky d-core didn't help him at all. Derek made a good point about that using Richter and the Rangers as an example.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Derek did make a good point, but also factor in that richter was getting up there in the ages when his downslide started, and richter played the type of game that required speed and reflexes, richter was going up in the ages and slowing down which hurt his game. This was another factor. So i don't think the montoya is applicable in this case.

As for montoya getting better? Yeah he got better, but certainlly not enough. I wasn't even asking for a performance as good as last year, just a solid performance. As much as you want to paint the U.S. defense as "shaky" there is no distracting from the fact that he played poor at times. The true clutch and best goalies make saves when the game is on the line. Montoya did this at times after his team was coming back from a huge deficiet, but remeber montoya PUT THEM in that deficiet. True clutch would continually keep them in the game. Kari lehtonen for example was dominant at the WJC in his chance as starter, despite a very mediocore finnish defense. Sure the finnish defense had best dman joni pitkanen, but what outside of that? Very little. If your going to say, its only because lehtonen is a better prospect? Then what about hannu toivenen, he carried a team that wasn't even supposed to place past an alexander ovechkin led russia. The fact is montoya was shaky, so what if he made a couple big saves at certain times, his overall play was not there. He should have been better and he knows that, consistency is a huge part of goalies games, and he needs to learn that.

If you didn't notice I'm not the biggest montoya fan

[bruins4777]

Will the bronze medal game be televised?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank god yes.

[Derek21]

Here is today's first result. Germany wins ! But Team USA couldn't even beat Belarus. That kind of sums things up:

01/03/2005

1st 2nd 3rd Total

BLR 2 1 0 3

GER 1 1 2 4

Rink: Ralph Engelstad Arena

Surface: ICE

Attendance: 7580

Game summary

First Period

1-BLR : Alexey Ugarov (2) 01:29

(Zakharov)

2-BLR : Alexey Ugarov (PP) (3) 13:52

(Zakharov)

3-GER : Fabio Carciola (1) 17:15

(Blank)

Penalties:

01:05 - GER: Robert Dietrich (22) - 2:00 Hooking

01:05 - BLR: Vadzim Karaha (9) - 2:00 Unsportsmanlike

07:49 - BLR: Vauhen Haranin (6) - 2:00 Hooking

07:49 - GER: Marco Schutz (8) - 2:00 Boarding

12:16 - BLR: Team Penalty (0) - 2:00 Delay of Game

12:39 - GER: Benedikt Schopper (11) - 2:00 High Sticking

13:44 - GER: Moritz Muller (12) - 2:00 Checking from Behind

13:52 - GER: Moritz Muller (12) - 10:00 Misconduct

20:00 - GER: Sachar Blank (23) - 2:00 Tripping

Second Period

4-BLR : Konstantin Zakharov (2) 05:22

(Volkau, Karev)

5-GER : Alexander Janzen (1) 12:45

(Kink)

Penalties:

05:58 - BLR: Alexei Savin (10) - 2:00 Hooking

08:09 - BLR: Alexey Ugarov (18) - 2:00 Cross Checking

14:39 - GER: Benedikt Schopper (11) - 2:00 Holding

17:46 - BLR: Aliaksei Shahau (19) - 2:00 Tripping

Third Period

6-GER : Marcus Kink (PP) (1) 13:44

(Carciola, Blank)

7-GER : Andre Reiss (PP) (1) 18:07

(Busch)

Penalties:

01:45 - GER: Kai Hospelt (18) - 2:00 High Sticking

05:08 - BLR: Aliaksei Shahau (19) - 2:00 Interference

07:04 - GER: Jens Baxmann (29) - 2:00 Roughing

11:53 - BLR: Artsiom Volkau (28) - 2:00 Holding

17:29 - BLR: Aliaksei Shahau (19) - 2:00 Elbowing

Shots on goal:

BLR: 12-11-6 (29)

GER: 13-9-6 (28)

Power-play conversions

BLR: 1/6

GER: 2/7

Goaltenders

BLR: Stepan Goryachevskikh 24 SV, 60 min (L)

GER: Youri Ziffzer 26 SV, 60 min (W)

Officials

Milan Minar ®, Tobias Wehrli, Anders Karlberg,

Team record

BLR: 1-5-0-0

GER: 1-5-0-0

BLR:

Zakharov- 3 points (1-2-3)

Ugarov- 2 goals

Goryachevskikh, 4 GA, 24 saves

GER:

Kink- PP goal and assist

Blank- 2 assists

2-7 PP

Ziffzer, 3 GA, 26 saves

[Weekes Head]

Will the bronze medal game be televised?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank god yes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What channel? I checked ESPN and ESPN2's listings, neither had it listed.

[Derek21]

Will the bronze medal game be televised?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank god yes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Are you sure?

[bruins4777]

What a suprise lazy kastisyn, did nothing.

Um...as for rough...err i thought i heard it was? Maybe derek can give a better answer. I'm 99 percent sure it is.

edit:i guess not....i was so sure i heard it somewhere. God if it isn't bagh.

Edited January 4, 2005 by bruins4777

[Derek21]

Here is the second result. Slovakia edges Switzerland:

01/03/2005

1st 2nd 3rd Total

SVK 2 0 1 3

SUI 0 1 1 2

Rink: Ralph Engelstad Arena

Surface: ICE

Attendance: 7820

Game summary

First Period

1-SVK : Tomas Bulik (2) 00:29

(Ruzicka, Barabka)

2-SVK : Peter Olvecky (3) 18:13

(Jencik, Mikus)

Penalties:

04:21 - SVK: Stanislav Lascek (20) - 2:00 High Sticking

05:39 - SUI: Kevin Romy (21) - 2:00 Hooking

08:59 - SVK: Tomas Bulik (11) - 2:00 Cross Checking

11:59 - SVK: Juraj Gracik (12) - 2:00 Boarding

Second Period

3-SUI : Yvan Benoit (2) 06:28

(Wick)

Penalties:

03:56 - SVK: Tomas Bulik (11) - 2:00 High Sticking

08:38 - SUI: Christian Haldimann (18) - 2:00 Tripping

09:05 - SUI: Patrick Von Gunten (10) - 2:00 Hooking

10:51 - SVK: Peter Olvecky (26) - 2:00 Hooking

17:05 - SUI: Philippe Furrer (7) - 2:00 Boarding

19:07 - SVK: Boris Valabik (9) - 2:00 Hooking

Third Period

4-SUI : Kevin Romy (3) 08:36

(Stancescu, Kaser)

5-SVK : Marek Hascak (1) 13:07

(Zagrapan)

Penalties:

03:30 - SUI: Matthias Bieber (14) - 2:00 Roughing

10:28 - SVK: Marek Zagrapan (8) - 2:00 High Sticking

14:40 - SUI: Yvan Benoit (12) - 2:00 Roughing

14:40 - SUI: Yvan Benoit (12) - 10:00 Misconduct

15:40 - SUI: Clarence Kparghhai (23) - 2:00 Slashing

19:34 - SVK: Stefan Ruzicka (23) - 2:00 High Sticking

Shots on goal:

SVK: 9-5-12 (26)

SUI: 6-16-10 (32)

Power-play conversions

SVK: 0/8

SUI: 0/8

Goaltenders

SUI: Michael Tobler 23 SV, 58:54 min (L)

SVK: Jaroslav Halak 30 SV, 60 min (W)

Officials

Jyri Petteri Ronn ®, Joseph Ross, Anton Seminov,

Team record

SVK: 4-2-0-0

SUI: 2-4-0-0

SVK:

3 different scorers- Bulik, Olvecky and Hascak (GW)

Ruzicka- assist

Halak, 2 GA, 30 saves

SUI:

2 different scorers- Benoit and Romy

Wick and Stancescu- assist each

Tobler, 3 GA, 23 saves in 59 mins

[bruins4777]

yay ruzicka!!! How many points for my boy ruzicka?

[Weekes Head]

99 percent, eh? I'm going to have to kill you if you're wrong, I'm afraid.

[bruins4777]

99 percent, eh? I'm going to have to kill you if you're wrong, I'm afraid.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

maybe i'll lower it to 50-50 then....

[Derek21]

And the final result was a classic match between bitter rivals that needed sudden death:

01/03/2005

1st 2nd 3rd OT Total

FIN 1 0 2 1 4

SWE 1 1 1 0 3

Rink: Ralph Engelstad Arena

Surface: ICE

Game summary

First Period

1-SWE : Carl Soderberg (4) 07:12

(Salmonsson, Ericksson)

2-FIN : Ville Mantymaa (1) 15:25

(Hokkanen, Korhonen)

Penalties:

02:39 - FIN: Risto Korhonen (5) - 2:00 Holding

19:15 - FIN: Teemu Laasko (28) - 2:00 Cross Checking

Second Period

3-SWE : Nicklas Bergfors (PP) (1) 14:13

(Videll, Soderberg)

Penalties:

02:47 - SWE: Johan Fransson (5) - 2:00 Holding

07:57 - SWE: Per Savilathi-Nagander (14) - 2:00 Holding

11:27 - SWE: Mattias Hellstrom (15) - 2:00 Hooking

13:17 - FIN: Lauri Tukonen (27) - 2:00 Slashing

Third Period

4-FIN : Aki Seitsonen (1) 07:08

(Makkonen)

5-SWE : Nicklas Bergfors (2) 12:35

(Svanberg, Soderberg)

6-FIN : Teemu Nurmi (1) 19:10

(Nokelainen)

Penalties:

01:17 - FIN: Teemu Laasko (28) - 2:00 Slashing

03:03 - SWE: Nicklas Bergfors (16) - 2:00 High Sticking

04:00 - FIN: Bench Bench (0) - 2:00 Too many men

09:01 - SWE: Nicklas Grossman (12) - 2:00 Holding

OT

7-FIN : Janne Kolehmainen (1) 01:37

Penalties:

No penalties

Shots on goal:

FIN: 7-7-12-1 (27)

SWE: 10-13-14-1 (38)

Power-play conversions

FIN: 0/5

SWE: 1/5

Goaltenders

SWE: David Raitio Berguv 23 SV, 60:53 min (L)

FIN: Joonas Hallikainen 35 SV, 61:37 min (W)

Officials

Thomas Schurr ®, Lars Schoeter, Miroslav Valach,

Team record

FIN: 3-3-0-0

SWE: 2-4-0-1

FIN:

Nokelainen and Makkonen- assist each

Mantymaa- goal

Haallikainen, 3 GA, 35 saves in 61:37 mins

Kolehmainen- OT winning goal (1:37)

SWE:

Soderberg- goal and 2 assists

Bergfors- 2 goals

Salmonsson, Ericksson and Videll- assist each

Raitio Berguv, 4 GA, 23 saves in 60:53 mins

[bruins4777]

I'm really suprised turkonnen's impact on this tournament was so small...I was hoping that rask would have played...i guess he's played so much already

Edited January 4, 2005 by bruins4777

[FunkyBlueFish203]

Nah. The bronze medal game is not being televised in the US.

Derek, I thought Sandelin was a poor choice for coach. Yes, I'm all for using a full bench but he made several errors. The biggest one that comes to mind is not playing Robbie Scremp enough. Apparently he had some problems with Scrempie's attitude and wanted to teach him a lesson; I don't think he picked the right time. If he had a problem with Schremp, he should not have picked Schremp, period.

And not selecting Robbie Earl was definitely a bad error. The guy has been playing very well in Wisconsin, and they haven't had a player like that on the Badgers since Dany Heatley left.

As shaky as team USA was, they were still decent, and besides the obvious problems something else that disappointed me the most was the fact that we had 8 returnees from last year's team and I was waiting for someone to step up and take charge, and no one did.

bruins4777, I hear ya on Montoya. After watching his play in this tournament, quite a few people were wondering if the Rangers made a mistake drafting him 6th overall, and I say no. Goalies who have had success at the WJC have a hard time repeating their performance the following year, especially because of being drafted. Montoya is not the only one. Marc-Andre Fleury and Kari Lehtonen followed a good show at the WJC with similar problems the next year. A good showing at the WJC raises their stock and helps them get drafted high, as in the case of each of the aforementioned goalies. A recent article on ESPN.com suggests that a shaky peformance could be the result of nerves, but most importantly because of a goalie's mental frame. Being drafted implies to several players that they have to move on to the next level; they've achieved something and made a mark at one level and it's time to move on to the next, i.e. work at earning a spot on an NHL team that drafted them or win a college championship or what have you. Marc-Andre Fleury is still a terrific young goalie with great potential, as are Kari Lehtonen and Alvaro Montoya.

Anyway. Just hope the guys show up and play well in the bronze medal game today.

[SueNJ97]

I noticed nobody mentioned the interview they did with Lou during the USA-Russia game. It wasn't very long (interviews with Lou never are) but he was more effusive than he usually is when he talks about players in describing Parise's development. When he was talking about Zach, something close to a SMILE came over his face.

No, he didn't talk about the CBA.

[Don]

Marc-Andre Fluery had a GOOD showing at the World Juniors? The vast majority of the populace of this country would like to see his head on a plate...

Seriously, I think his faux-pas at the World Juniors was his unravelling and thus he has had poor showings since....

[FunkyBlueFish203]

Marc-Andre Fluery had a GOOD showing at the World Juniors? The vast majority of the populace of this country would like to see his head on a plate... 

Seriously, I think his faux-pas at the World Juniors was his unravelling and thus he has had poor showings since....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you read what I wrote you'll see I'm referring to the good performance in 2003 games and saying he followed it up with a poor show in 2004. Same goes for Lehtonen and Montoya who followed up good performances at the WJC with a poor showing the next year. You don't think Fleury did well in 2003 ?!? Read it careeeeeeeeeeeeefully

[Don]

If you read what I wrote you'll see I'm referring to the good performance in 2003 games and saying he followed it up with a poor show in 2004. Same goes for Lehtonen and Montoya who followed up good performances at the WJC with a poor showing the next year. You don't think Fleury did well in 2003 ?!? Read it careeeeeeeeeeeeefully

Oops.... I'm at work and chose to read my acquisition form carefully and just browse the board. Another reason to only read the board at home.

[bruins4777]

bruins4777, I hear ya on Montoya. After watching his play in this tournament, quite a few people were wondering if the Rangers made a mistake drafting him 6th overall, and I say no. Goalies who have had success at the WJC have a hard time repeating their performance the following year, especially because of being drafted. Montoya is not the only one. Marc-Andre Fleury and Kari Lehtonen followed a good show at the WJC with similar problems the next year. A good showing at the WJC raises their stock and helps them get drafted high, as in the case of each of the aforementioned goalies. A recent article on ESPN.com suggests that a shaky peformance could be the result of nerves, but most importantly because of a goalie's mental frame. Being drafted implies to several players that they have to move on to the next level; they've achieved something and made a mark at one level and it's time to move on to the next, i.e. work at earning a spot on an NHL team that drafted them or win a college championship or what have you. Marc-Andre Fleury is still a terrific young goalie with great potential, as are Kari Lehtonen and Alvaro Montoya.

Anyway. Just hope the guys show up and play well in the bronze medal game today.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I hear ya on schremp. I have no idea what this attitude crap is about. I think its just BS. Schremp is great and never made a mistake on ice and was fantastic offensively, what a poor coch to pick.

As for montoya and the poor repeat? The only two goalies i can think of who did that were fleury and montoya. I honestly don't remeber lehts ever repeating poorly....

[Don]

Bronze Medal update:

1-1 after 1. (start of 2nd)

Olesz took an unsportsmanlike for skating towards the opposition goalie at the start of a period. They were all warned that they were going to call it and Olesz did it anyway. But, the Americans didn't think it well deserved and wasted the powerplay away with only a sole shot on net.

[Don]

Correction. 2-1 Czechs.