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World Cup

Team Europe pretty pumped after that win. Seems like they're all hungry to finally have a chance at winning an international tourney.
 
Aberdeen said:
Unable to watch. How did Zaitsev looked? Obviously none of the Russian D were too special.
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It's interesting, because in a game where Canada scored 5 goals, Zaitsev played 18 min and was not on the ice for any of Canada's goals. He was, in fact, a +1 with 1A.

Emelin and Andrei Markov were burnt REALLY bad in this game, they were -3 each. They both played only ~ 15-16 min, the lowest of RUS's 3 units (the other 2 units both played ~ 18 min) but played the toughest minutes vs. CAN's top line.

I don't know if there's some kind of coaching / line matching issue or not. I think the Russian coach tried to use the Zaitsev line, which was his best defensive line, vs. Canada's top line as much as he could but failed in line matching and Crosby's line kept getting and scoring against the Markov / Emelin unit.

It is also true that Canada has a very deep lineup and it was tough for RUS to matchup. It was a tied game after 2 though, and I think coaching and matchup was part of the reason RUS collapsed in the 3rd.

In any case, it's good to see Zaitsev doing relatively good in a game where Russia collapsed and lost.
 
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zeke said:
Team Europe pretty pumped after that win. Seems like they're all hungry to finally have a chance at winning an international tourney.
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heh.

I think Team Europe going to the Finals was kinda the worst case scenario for the NHL ... at least team NA, the other gimmick team, was more 'relevant' with more North-American players fans could relate to. A CAN vs SWE finals would be SO MUCH better than CAN vs EU ... just the anthem in the finals would be embarrassing.
 
It's not exactly the worst case scenario. At least the presence of Canada in the finals means the seats should be filled, and the final should have OK TV ratings.

Judging by the crowd of 9,000 that attended the Sweden/Europe semi-final, if the final had ended up being Russia/Europe, that could have ended up being pretty embarrassing for the NHL.

How about Ralph Krueger, though? Looks like this tournament has put him on the short-list the next time an NHL coaching vacancy comes up, so long as he's willing to leave his Premier League football team.
 
Would you leave though? There's no way I'd leave a quality Premier League club like Southampton for an NHL position.

Krueger is awesome though.

It's hilarious that the Oilers got rid of the best coach they've had in the past twelve years pretty much right away, despite all the improvements their young talents had under him.
 
JaysCyYoung said:
Would you leave though? There's no way I'd leave a quality Premier League club like Southampton for an NHL position.

Krueger is awesome though.

It's hilarious that the Oilers got rid of the best coach they've had in the past twelve years pretty much right away, despite all the improvements their young talents had under him.
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Plenty of reasons. Maybe his first and best love when it comes to sports is still hockey. Maybe he prefers the front-lines of coaching to a front-office job (see: Quinn, Pat).

No doubt that his current job gives him the opportunity to be very choosey, though.
 
Yeah, no doubt. I'm just saying anther as far as prestige in the sports world goes, NHL jobs are very far down the list of attractive options. A Premier League team is pretty much the top of the mountain.
 
number17 said:
heh.

I think Team Europe going to the Finals was kinda the worst case scenario for the NHL ... at least team NA, the other gimmick team, was more 'relevant' with more North-American players fans could relate to. A CAN vs SWE finals would be SO MUCH better than CAN vs EU ... just the anthem in the finals would be embarrassing.
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I can only speak for myself - but honestly Europe or NA are likely the only reasons I'd even watch the finals, as they might actually have a chance to beat Canada, which noone else does. This result is almost better because all these old slovaks and others are getting a chance to do something they've never had a chance for before.

As for the anthem, they really,really, really should have used The Final Countdown, by Europe.
 
I don't really see any chance for Europe to beat Canada. The Canadian team actually got rather fortunate as Sweden was the only other team in this tournament that had a really legitimate shot at winning it IMO.
 
Canada's obviously way better, but those old europeans I think are the most motivated team in the tourney, and halak's on form.

I don't really think Sweden had much of a chance either.
 
zeke said:
Canada's obviously way better, but those old europeans I think are the most motivated team in the tourney, and halak's on form.

I don't really think Sweden had much of a chance either.
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Halak is the type of goalie whose peaks are so damn good that he might be enough to steal a game out of the best of three from Canada, but I can't envision him sustaining it for two or three games in the final.

He's Europe's best chance. That or Kopitar goes super saiyan on the normally stoic and unflappable Canadian defensive unit.
 
I mean, I still think Canada wins the first 2 games but Europe has enough skill that if they are as pumped as I think they are they could steal it.
 
After all is said and done, it's going to be the easiest championship Canada has won in quite some time. The team is a power housel, has now played together and this style for a few tournaments, they are the home team, and it's NHL size ice.

As for the final itself, I'd be surprised if any of the games are even close.
 
Agreed.

It sure helped the US self-destructed, and RUS has struggled in all international tourneys in the past few years ...
 
Ever since Canada figured out not to take any 3rd liners, they've been unstoppable.

US should never have been able to take them to OT in vancouver. Canada was the far better team.

It's pretty much like US Basketball at the moment. Not even close.
 
number17 said:
Agreed.

It sure helped the US self-destructed, and RUS has struggled in all international tourneys in the past few years ...
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Russia hasn't won a best-on-best international tournament since they competed as the Soviet Union in the 1981 Canada Cup. 35 years.

That's crazy given the amount of elite talent that they've produced since then: Makarov, Larionov, Konstantinov, Fedorov, Mogilny, Bure, Zubov, Gonchar, Khabibulin, Datsyuk, Ovechkin, Malkin, Varlamov, Bobrovsky, Kuznetsov, Tarasenko, etc.
 
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