Ice Hockey World Cup

[Serb]

Originally posted by Pekka
I don't think we played dirty. The Bergenheim hit, I said it was intentionally late, but I said I don't think it was meant knee on knee.

Your coach smiled when Bergenheim hit Markov.

That hardly decided the game anyway.

First we lost our top forward Morozov, then our top defender Markov, then our captain Schatlivy, then you hit Malkin and Nepriyaev, so yeah, the Markov's injury alone didn't decided the outcome.
Without Morozov our best five has been disrupted, and injuries of Markov and Schastlivy during the match made situation even worse.

[Pekka]

Yeah, but we had nothing to do with Morozov being out. We also had our #1 defense line out, since Nummelin was injured in the overtime against the US. We had lost a defense man before that as well, so we had only 5 of them left, had to bring one more in directly to this game to make it 6.

Markov can be accounted for, but Schatlivy had some weird freak accident. What happened, did he hurt his leg or something? He barely bumped with Kallio, it was very light contact, and somehow he had problem with his leg? Maybe he twisted his ankle?

Malkin? Oh come on This is getting to a fantasy ballet soon, he wasn't injured per se against us. He held his hand for a while, that's it.

I still give only one dirty move and that was the hit on Markov. But look at your team. You can't seriously say that you lost because these two players were out (Markov and captain). Russia should have finished the game in the 3rd period when they got strong hold and played well. But it didn't happen, so OT was lost because the goalie made a mistake.

Of course it's an upset, but I can see lots of positive things. Russia played well throughout the tournament, they have a new coach, Bykov, who seems to be a good coach. His systems seems good, so this is good for the future. Players wants to play with Bykov. Then there's the home game curse, no one has won their home games in 21 years. Next games are held in Canada, so I'd expect a lot of Russian NHL players to be there since there's no travel problems and things like that when you're tired and thinking if you want to join the team or not so.. it's looking good for the team in the long term with the new coach and these young stars wanting to play for the country.

[Serb]

Originally posted by Pekka
Yeah, but we had nothing to do with Morozov being out.

I know.

We also had our #1 defense line out, since Nummelin was injured in the overtime against the US. We had lost a defense man before that as well, so we had only 5 of them left, had to bring one more in directly to this game to make it 6.

I know.

Markov can be accounted for, but Schatlivy had some weird freak accident. What happened, did he hurt his leg or something? He barely bumped with Kallio, it was very light contact, and somehow he had problem with his leg? Maybe he twisted his ankle?

I don't know. There was nothing horrible in that accident, but he quit the field at the middle of the 1st period. Probably an old injury, I don't know.

Malkin? Oh come on This is getting to a fantasy ballet soon, he wasn't injured per se against us. He held his hand for a while, that's it.

True, but still I think that when somebody hit your hand with a hockey stick - it could be painful and it doesn't help you to play better.

I still give only one dirty move and that was the hit on Markov. But look at your team. You can't seriously say that you lost because these two players were out (Markov and captain). Russia should have finished the game in the 3rd period when they got strong hold and played well. But it didn't happen, so OT was lost because the goalie made a mistake.

Ok, ok, let me say it otherwise - injuries had a serious impact on the outcome, but we lost not only because of three of our key players have been knocked out.

Of course it's an upset, but I can see lots of positive things. Russia played well throughout the tournament, they have a new coach, Bykov, who seems to be a good coach. His systems seems good, so this is good for the future. Players wants to play with Bykov. Then there's the home game curse, no one has won their home games in 21 years.

Yep, since we won gold in Moscow in 1986.
But the last time we won gold was in 1993, almost 15 years ago! There were a lot of expectations here. But our hopes to win the championship at home grounds failed.
It's a great upset.

Next games are held in Canada, so I'd expect a lot of Russian NHL players to be there since there's no travel problems and things like that when you're tired and thinking if you want to join the team or not so.. it's looking good for the team in the long term with the new coach and these young stars wanting to play for the country.

I bet the best of Canadians will be there too
Too bad we didn't play vs. each other at this tournament.

Btw, Pekka, I will support your team tonight. I hope your team will teach KrazyHorse a lesson.

[Pekka]

Yeah well, sure your team would have been stronger with Morozov line. Like I said, I think we were lucky that line up was not there, it was the best PP line up. We got served 3 times on PP by them in the last game, we could never stop them. So it helped us for sure that it wasn't there last night.

I still think your team is the best (since they still have a game left) on paper and they looked good on ice as well. It's what it is, your players fully admited that OT and penalty shots, it's just luck and thanks to our goalie we made through the 3rd period.

I think they might have been a bit tired as well, since Malkin played like the whole game. He was always on ice. So that must have had an effect as well. But the bottom line is, it's not so bad. After all the players seem to respect Bykov and there has been problems with players and coaches in the past so if that's gone, you can come up with strong teams every year.

But I think the biggest thing was that Morozov was missing. If you had one more line up that played like Malkin and their guys, it would have been problematic because it would have been 2 or 3 line ups dominating, plus we took lots of penaltie so like you said, of course missing players do have an effect on the outcome, I just think it wasn't so much Markov as it was Morozov. Also, wasn't Nabokov supposed to come? What happened to him? That might have been the missing link as well.

We need a lot of luck against Canada, our team isn't very good. We don't have any snipers, we don't have any good scorers on our team and our defense is pretty bad. We got the goalie going for us and the team is playing above their potential though. We'll see. I think Canada will win, we just don't have a very elite team.

[Serb]

Originally posted by Pekka
Also, wasn't Nabokov supposed to come?

Yes.

What happened to him? That might have been the missing link as well.

I think it was a Bykov's decision (and imho, he was right). Eremenko plyed well in the last two games (3:0 vs Italians and 4:0 vs. Czechs). He still has the best statistics among goalies on this tournament:

http://live82.ihwc.net/english/statistics/?report=IHM113Z16_85A_2_0.html

We need a lot of luck against Canada

Good luck then

[Pekka]

Thanks

Yeah, it would have been a tricky situation. Eremenko did play well, but it's difficult, since Russia was able to walk over most of the opponents so.. it's difficult to see how the goalie is really doing.

Also I think what was bad for Russia was Czechs.. it was too easy to win them, I think it would have been better to even lose one game or something, so they'd be able to make some corrections along the way. This is also the problem of Canada, I think it's our chance, that Canada has had it easy so far, so they haven't had the opportunity to play a really tough game first. I think you need tough games before any important game.

But look at it positively, you still have the chance to win the last game. If you lose the finals, it's just bitter. We've lost finals.. every single one since 95. Including what.. 3 world championships, the last world cup and the olympics last year. So we're on a streak here Silver doesn't matter so much, it's a lost silver. So with bronze, it's disappointing to play for it but at least you can always win it, win the last game. End the thing with a win and a medal. Plus, it's against Sweden, so it'll be a good game. It starts in half an hour!

[Pekka]

Actually, here's an interesting fact of our history in the finals.

World championships:

92 Silver against Sweden
94 Silver against Canada
95 Gold against Sweden
98 Silver against Sweden
99 Silver against Czechs
01 Silver against Czechs

World Cup
04 Second place against Canada

Olympics
06 Silver against Sweden

So we've lost lots of finals against Sweden and Canada. It's worth noting that ALL these games were tight. I think all of them ended with one goal marginal except for one. OT losses, penalty shot losses... etc Odds suggest we will continue this amazing list of losses in the final game against Canada (once again).

[Serb]

We are leading 2:0 after the first period.

Ovechkin breaking through the Swedish defence

[Serb]

Originally posted by Pekka
Thanks

Yeah, it would have been a tricky situation. Eremenko did play well, but it's difficult, since Russia was able to walk over most of the opponents so.. it's difficult to see how the goalie is really doing.

Well, he did a great job to keep zero on the scoreboard and was elected the player of the match in team Russia. I think Bykov just decided that there is no need to fix something that is not broken. If Nabokov was availible a bit earlier, he would defend our net, no doubt.

[Pekka]

Yeah, it's a tough decision. It's difficult to say, but at that point a decision was made and maybe it was the right one.

The game seems over to me. 3-0 already.

[MightyTiny]

Originally posted by Serb


I was drunk and upset.




But I still think that you played dirty

Yeah drunk + upset = a good excuse.


Congrats on winning the bronze.

We've still got our hurdle tonight. I don't want to be drunk and upset! Slightly tipsy and happy is much better.

[Pekka]

Canada is the favourite..

BUT!!!

I think we have a better goalie plus...

we have the best agitator!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5ZO_M06WxE&NR=1

.. and he can also throw down.

Ruutu brothers all the way!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J24kgBgetI8&mode=related&search=

That's the better of them two, Tuomo, who just might pull a trick or two from his bag of.. tricks. He also has the #1 hit of the tournament in his name so..

Too bad Ruutu bros are the only ones really hitting, so I think we'll be in the recieving end. BUT with the better goalie and the best agitator, I think... maybe we can score few PP goals?

DOWN WITH CANADA! BOOO!!!

[MightyTiny]

The positive thing that can be said of the Finnish team that although they started the tournament off poorly (defence sucked, problems converting controll of the puck to goals, even the usually great goalies fumbling a bit), they've really grown as a team with every game.

In the USA game offence was working smoothly, and making goals, but defence was still....

Strangely, in the Russia game, when we'd lost defenders (most notably Nummelin), that somehow shook awake the defence, and suddenly it wasn't at all bad.

With every game, they seem to work better and better together as a team. They look hungry, and I think the underdog position suits Finland well.

Of course Canada has more tallent on paper, and is a formidably powerful team, but if the Finns continue on their upward trajectory, there's no telling what they can do in the final. In any case, methinks it's going to be another thriller, whichever way it goes.

Oh, and Pekka - on YouTube, to the right of the playing video, you can see a box with a title "embed" that contains html code.... if you copy-paste that code onto your message, instead of a text link you get something like this:

[Serb]

Originally posted by MightyTiny


Yeah drunk + upset = a good excuse.

Sure

Congrats on winning the bronze.

Thanks.

We've still got our hurdle tonight. I don't want to be drunk and upset! Slightly tipsy and happy is much better.

Asher should be drunk and upset tonight.

[Asher]

Why would I? I don't even plan to watch the game. I've little to no interest in the IIHF crap.