***Official World Cup of Hockey Thread***

Blitzwing · Post by **Blitzwing** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:14 pm

I think there was a thread earlier about Canada's team, but we might as well make one to discuss the tournament itself. The first game was played this morning and now we'll be getting hockey for the next 2 weeks.

Here's what I think of the teams.

North American Group:

Canada
They have a great offensive line up that will be lead by Sakic, Lecavalier, Heatly and Iginla. I think that and goaltending is going to be where they are strongest. Brodeur is Canada's go to guy ever since he won the gold medal at the olympics. The only soft point is defence, where there isn't much international experience other than Adam Foote, and maybe Ed Jovonovski. They should be able to get the job done, however, and with Canada having the easiest traveling scheduel, I think they're the favorites to win the tournament.

Slovakia
They should have been a major contender this year, but injuries to Michael Handzus, Ziggy Palfy and now Peter Bondra are really going to hurt them. They still have some killer offence with Marion Gaborik, Marion Hossa and Miroslav Satan, but their goaltending and defence is pretty questionable outside of Zdeno Chara. I think they'll need to gel very well as a team if they want to be succesful.

The United States
Most of their core members are way past their prime. Guys like Bret Hull and Mike Madano can still light it up, but outside of their core guys of about 8 players there really isn't any depth. Robert Esche will probably have to come up big time if the United States want to defend their championship.

Russia
Too many of their best players decided to skip the tournament. Also, they have looked very unorganized in the exhibition games as of yet. Young forwards like Ilya Kovalchuk and Alex Ovechkin are going to be exciting to watch, but the team doesn't have any depth on defence or offence as well as an unproven goaltender. They won't make it past the quarter finals.

European Division:

Sweden
Sweden looks like the next best team to Canada. Their offence is super stacked lead by Markus Naslund, Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin, Daniel Alfreddson and Henrick Zetterberg. Their defence is also probably the best in the tournament with guys like Nicklas Lidstrum and Mattias Ohlund. The goaltending for the team is maybe the only question mark, but Mikael Tellqvist is only going to need to play good enough for the rest of the team to take over a game.

Finland
I didn't think much of Finland before I saw their opening game this morning agains the Czechs. They play very well as a team, execute the trap to perfection and have some young players that can just fly down the ice. With Mikka Kipprusoff in their net, they might be the dark horses to win the tournament.

The Czech Repuplic
I thought the Czechs would be very dangerous, but in their opening game they looked flat. They were unorganized and looked like they didn't even care if they won or lost. Guys like Jaromir Jagr, Patrick Elias and Martin Havlat need to show up in top form if they want to have any success. Their defence is unimpressive, and Thomas Vokoun was their only saving grace in their opener agains Finland.

Germany
Olaf Kolzig is going to have to stand on his head if Germany is even going to have a chance to win a game. The Germans need a super strong team effort if they want to upset anyone. They might be able to scare a few teams, but I doubt they'll end up actually winning a game.

Post by **Hound** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 2:19 am

Is it wrong for me to want Canada to win this?

I just watched them stomp Slovakia.

I love that I'm getting to see a bunch of great hockey players that I've never actually gotten to see play and that I may possibly not see play again for a while.

Mario Lemieux was impressive and Brodeur was amazing. I loved watching this team.

I saw the last bit of the Czechs vs. Sweden game and the Czechs were pretty impressive looking even though they lost. It was a matter of them not playing at that level the first two periods apparently.

I'm looking forward to the US vs. Russia game tomorrow as I haven't seen the two teams play yet. Well, I saw a minuite or two of the US team yesterday against Canada and apparently it was a really tough win for Canada, which is cool I suppose.

One question, Kariya didn't make the team?

Post by **Warcry** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 4:47 am

Random thoughts...

Kariya didn't have a good year. Admittedly he was hurt for most of it, but he didn't look as good as some of the younger guys. It'd be nice to have him around, but not at the expense of, say, Vinny Lecavalier or Joe Thornton.

I was really impressed with Robert Esche last night. The guy doesn't have much experience as a starter, but you'd never know it. He was stirring up memories of Mike Richter, holding the US team in the game by sheer force of will.

The Czechs have enough talent that they should be able to smite the entire European Division without even breaking a sweat, but they just don't seem to care enough.

Mario's looking less than magnificent, but still a lot better than I would have expected after a ten-month vacation. Don't think I've ever seen him drop the gloves before last night, either...

Why the hell is Germany even there? Belarus deserved the eighth slot after the performance they turned in during the Olympics.

The refereeing has been erratic, to say the least. Reminds me more of the Stanley Cup playoffs than a usual international tourney.

Blitzwing · Post by **Blitzwing** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:48 pm

So the Quarterfinals are now under way.

Finland barely beat Germany with a 2-1 win. Finland has looked very impressive throughout the tournament, but they didn't look that great in today's game. They need to get back to their earlier form if they want to go any further than the semis. Kipprusoff is still looking great.

Czechs look like they've arrived finally. Their game with Sweden is going to be great, hopefully very high scoring too. I think it'll be close but Sweden should have what it takes to beat the Czechs. The only big problem I can see for Sweden is their shaky goaltending.

The Americans have looked much less than impressive this tournament. The Russians have been doing surprisingly well, and I think they should be able to dominate the game. Hopefully Ovechkin will get more ice time, because he's a lot of fun to watch. I think the American's only chance is if Rober Esche can pull out an even better performance than he had the last time they played Russia.

The Canadians haven't really shown any signs that they will lose at all this tournament. Slovakia has a good team, but they won't be able to beat Canada. I'm not saying it'll be a blow-out, but Canada should be able to win this one farely easily. Broedeur has been a wall, and Canada's offence has too many weapons.

Silly Cow · Post by **Silly Cow** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 8:31 pm

Originally posted by Blitzwing
Finland barely beat Germany with a 2-1 win. Finland has looked very impressive throughout the tournament, but they didn't look that great in today's game. They need to get back to their earlier form if they want to go any further than the semis. Kipprusoff is still looking great.

Janne Niinimaa left the team yesterday saying that he could not play under our current head coach. That might've affected the team somewhat. Still, if we're going to beat either Russia or USA they're going to have to play a lot better than against Germany.

Sociopathic Autobot · Post by **Sociopathic Autobot** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 5:47 pm

Originally posted by Warcry

Kariya didn't have a good year.

Speaking of Paul, anyone know if the rumors of him playing in Vancouver next year are true? Apparently JFJ approached him and he flat out said he intends to play for Vancouver.

Post by **Hound** » Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:45 pm

Man, Sweden sure choked today huh?

The Czechs play Canada next right? Assuming Canada beats Slovakia...

If the Czechs play like they did against Sweden it could be a good game.

Blitzwing · Post by **Blitzwing** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 3:10 am

The Swedes did not show up at all. The Czechs were all over them, and are looking good. The Russia/USA game was a good one. Keith Tkatchuk had one of the best games I've ever seen him play.

Silly Cow · Post by **Silly Cow** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 1:50 am

Oh, what a rush!

I haven't been this excited about a hockey match in about 9 years. And I have to say I did the right choice in staying up till 5 AM to see this live.

And the funny part is, before the tournament it seemed like the only one who believed Finland could do this, our own fans and press included, was The Hockey News

At a point I thought Finland could beat any team in tournament, Canada excluded, and I still think so. This is probably the biggest achievement in the Finnish hockey history but I don't believe they can beat Canada. But hey, I was sceptical about beating the USA too, so what do I know?

Osku · Post by **Osku** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 5:00 am

Bah. Lost 14 euros, because Finnish team played better than they should have. Tried watching few games, but it seems I'm not interested in Nhl-type ice hockey.

Post by **Hound** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:11 am

*cries*

I really wanted to see a USA vs. Canada final game

Oh well, as long as Canada wins I'll be happy.

Sociopathic Autobot · Post by **Sociopathic Autobot** » Sat Sep 11, 2004 7:40 am

No matter who goes to the final now it will be boring.

TRAP!

Post by **Hound** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 1:40 am

Man, Overtime!

I wish I could have watched this game instead of settling for score updates online!

I hope Canada/Finland is this good and Broduer better play!

Post by **Warcry** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 4:07 am

You missed one hell of a game, Hound. Very fast-paced, something I doubt Canada-Finland will be able to match.

Lecavalier's game-winner is going on the highlight reels, I think.

Osku · Post by **Osku** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 6:57 am

I woke up and swithced on the second showing of the game (still early morning here) and just saw the first goal. This was more like the game I like. Easily the best game I watched this tournament.

Too bad "wrong/worse" team went through from both semifinals. From what I saw the Tschechs were a stronger team and out played the Canada. Canada's goalkeeper Luongo (what happened to Brodeur?) saved his team in the third and extra period.

What irritated me was that the referees were a bit on the Canadian side. Canada could practically do anything without getting penalties (did they get one, and that was completely against the common practice in the game) and Canada's third goal started from such a situation.

Not too high hopes for a quality final.

Post by **Hound** » Sun Sep 12, 2004 7:22 am

Finland vs. Canada should be great at least for seeing Kiprusoff and Brodeur in action.

Probably the two best goaies in the world.

Not to mention Lemieux, Iginla, Lecavalier, Sakic, Selanne, Koivu, Timonen, Lehtinen...

This game will kick ass!

Sociopathic Autobot · Post by **Sociopathic Autobot** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 5:03 am

Originally posted by Hound
Finland vs. Canada should be great at least for seeing Kiprusoff and Brodeur in action.

Probably the two best goaies in the world.

Not to mention Lemieux, Iginla, Lecavalier, Sakic, Selanne, Koivu, Timonen, Lehtinen...

This game will kick ass!

This game will be a boring trap fest and boring as hell. It does have the two best goalies in the world though. Thing is Luongo and Broduer both play for Team Canada so we will only see one of them.

Blitzwing · Post by **Blitzwing** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:38 pm

Alright... I'm predicting a 3-2 Canadian victory. Kipprusoff vs. Broduer is going to be great to watch. I think the edge goes to Canada though, because they are much more dangerous on offence. I don't think the Finnish trap is going to work as well as it did against the States because Canada has a lot more depth up front. The thing about Finland is they start to wear down, since their top two lines take up so much ice time. Canada on the other hand is much more balanced and will be a much better team in the third period.

Silly Cow · Post by **Silly Cow** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 11:35 pm

2:31 AM - 10:30 1st

Well, this has certainly been a much faster game that I anticipated, Which doesn't bode well since I truly believe the trap game is the only way Finland can beat Canada. The talent level is so much higher in team Canada that I don't think Finland can win if this continues like this.

Although I was convinced that the game had been lost after Canada's first goal. I had no faith that the Lions could answer that one.

----

3:14 AM - 15:26 2nd

Damnit! Canada had trouble getting out from their own zone during the whole beginning of the period and then the goal. Damnit!

----

3:42 AM - 1:00 2nd

An equalizer while there's one minute left in the second period?! The old Finnish team would've never accomplished this. Wow!

----

4:04 AM - 19:20 3rd

F**king hell! Three periods, three beginnings, three goals! I'm beginning to lose faith, Canada is really dominating now. I guess they want the win more than Finland does.

----

4:42 AM - Final

3-2. Oh well. Sure, it was close. We could've won this thing but considering I never thought Finland would ever make it this far I can't be disappointed. We fought and there's nothing to be ashamed about. After all is said and done, this is the greatest achievement in Finnish hockey history.

Oh yeah:

Originally posted by Sosiopathic Autobot
This game will be a boring trap fest and boring as hell

Indeed. :rolleyes:

Post by **Hound** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 1:59 am

What a fantastic game.

Finland played too damn well, I was genuinely worried they'd steal this one from Canada.

I had no idea Finland could play that physical of a game!