[Chaos]

One period to go! It's TUUKKATIME!
Hoping they are not fucking it up.
Semi-final against Sweden would be sweet.

[Frontenac]

Sweden vs Finland is always a good match. But Russia shitting the bed is crazy. You'd think playing in your country at the Olympics would be enough motivation to go out and kick some ass. It's kind of sad.

If that happened here in Canada, there'd be anarchy in the streets.

[Akula]

(02-19-2014 09:06 AM)Chaos Wrote:  

One period to go! It's TUUKKATIME!
Hoping they are not fucking it up.
Semi-final against Sweden would be sweet.

lol - yeah Rask is playing pretty good - so is the whole Finnish team.

Does Russia ever shoot the puck? I've seen every one of their games and they seem to just play around with the puck always making one pass too many looking for the perfect opportunity to get juussst the right shot and it's killing their offense. I don't think they can score enough goals playing like this to win.....

Sweden - Finland would be a war!!

(02-19-2014 09:16 AM)Frontenac Wrote:  

Sweden vs Finland is always a good match. But Russia shitting the bed is crazy. You'd think playing in your country at the Olympics would be enough motivation to go out and kick some ass. It's kind of sad.

If that happened here in Canada, there'd be anarchy in the streets.

They won't like it and there will be hell to pay but most Russians I know still think football (soccer) is the #1 sport and it's not quite like hockey-crazed Canada. The Russians just have been more successful in hockey. Don't get me wrong it's big but for me its not quite like it is in Canada. I too thought it was all hockey when I came to Russia but then they had football on all the time and so my personal view is also that football is bigger (probably had a lot to do with Chelsea and all the oligarchs buying teams and promoting the domestic league too).

Actually I think hockey might be bigger here in the Czech Republic than in Russia - they seem to have NHL games on all the time and there were tons of guys wearing jerseys and scarves yesterday getting ready for the game - kinda cool really.

[Chaos]

Looking forward to the semifinal with our beloved neighbours. It's always legendary.
Now, let's look how Canada and USA manage.
I think there will be no room for surprises.

[rastignac]

Today has been a bad day. Putin, Medvedev at the hockey match.

[Akula]

(02-19-2014 09:57 AM)Chaos Wrote:  

Looking forward to the semifinal with our beloved neighbours. It's always legendary.
Now, let's look how Canada and USA manage.
I think there will be no room for surprises.

gg Finland. They deserved to win and outplayed Russia. People are pretty bummed in Russia from what I'm hearing but their team didn't have any sort of rhythm or flow to the offense and the defense was sporadic. They probably should have started Bobrovsky in goal today too.

US-Czech game will be good I think.

[KorbenDallas]

I put a nice chunk of paper on the USA to win in regulation. So, lets go Merica, get er done.

[Vicious]

I would have preferred to see Swe-Fin in the final like in Turin 8 years ago. Can't complain though.

As expected Swe made short work of Slovenia but that was never in question.

[Akula]

US was in control of their 5-2 win today but the Czechs played tough and had a fair bit of scoring chances.

Canada sure struggled against Latvia from the highlights I saw. US - Canada and Sweden - Finland should be epic games really looking forward to them.

[Frontenac]

Unreal. Almost 60 shots against Latvia and 2 goals. Can't say we aren't trying.

Going to be tight against the States. I know what I'm doing Friday at noon.

[Akula]

(02-19-2014 04:17 PM)Frontenac Wrote:  

Unreal. Almost 60 shots against Latvia and 2 goals. Can't say we aren't trying.

Going to be tight against the States. I know what I'm doing Friday at noon.

lol 60 shots! From the highlights I saw on Czech TV it looked like a close game

The next few games will be unbelievably tough for all teams I think there are no more patsies and it's going to go down to the wire in all games I think. I am predicting a US - Finland final...

[Frontenac]

Canada has got to score some goals. They may do that against the States beause they aren't going to be defending with 5 guys behind the puck.

I think this is the best possible semi-final situation. Sweden v. Finland and Canada v. USA. You couldn't ask for two matches where the teams are actually rivals. Except of course Russia and Canada, but Selanne and co. made sure of that.

[mikeymike]

I liked this showing by Canada today, it cut it close but that was a much better showing, if they got some puck luck they could've lit the lamp more than a few times but between the tender and bounces it just wasn't that day. I think we'll see the goals come vs the us when we see a more north american brand of hockey and some freer ice. This 5 men falling back system is just near impossible to score on consistently when a goalies on his game. Americans don't want to play that brand of hockey so if we're talking trading chances the overall Canadian talent should prove to be too much . Love the way Getzlaf and Perry dominated out there today. Toews line has been steady all along so 2 solid lines and finally Crosby looked to have it going on a little bit so starting to click when it matters. US has been on point all tourny tho, this will be the winner of the gold imo, these are the 2 premier teams by a large margin, I still like Canada but it's gonna be a battle.

Russians surprised me, they got into all star team mode and wanted to make pretty plays instead of gritty plays and hammering pucks and digging for rebounds. This team had a cakewalk into the finals if they had played real team hockey and not wanting to show off for the hometown faithful, nobody to blame but themselves.

Swedes and Fins, 2 pretenders, both under talented, couldn't see how either hangs with the winner of the other semi and not great viewing as far as hockey goes. This finnish offense sucks, they can barely generate shots but they are so tight defensively and keep everything outside that if Rask continues his fine play this could get scary for the swedes. This wont be an epic upset or anything but I could easily see the upset here.

[FrenchCanadian]

I would say that it wasn't really a close game. The Latvian goalie was spinning on his head making saves, the refs missed a few calls (including a easy penalty shot call) 2 posts, 60 shots directed at the goalie, ect... Canada won in every statistic.

However, they need to capitalize more on chances... because I have a feeling the US are gonna give us a tough time.
The Pavelski/Kessel/JVR line is fire.

[Akula]

(02-19-2014 05:20 PM)mikeymike Wrote:  

I liked this showing by Canada today, it cut it close but that was a much better showing, if they got some puck luck they could've lit the lamp more than a few times but between the tender and bounces it just wasn't that day. I think we'll see the goals come vs the us when we see a more north american brand of hockey and some freer ice. This 5 men falling back system is just near impossible to score on consistently when a goalies on his game. Americans don't want to play that brand of hockey so if we're talking trading chances the overall Canadian talent should prove to be too much . Love the way Getzlaf and Perry dominated out there today. Toews line has been steady all along so 2 solid lines and finally Crosby looked to have it going on a little bit so starting to click when it matters. US has been on point all tourny tho, this will be the winner of the gold imo, these are the 2 premier teams by a large margin, I still like Canada but it's gonna be a battle.

Russians surprised me, they got into all star team mode and wanted to make pretty plays instead of gritty plays and hammering pucks and digging for rebounds. This team had a cakewalk into the finals if they had played real team hockey and not wanting to show off for the hometown faithful, nobody to blame but themselves.

Swedes and Fins, 2 pretenders, both under talented, couldn't see how either hangs with the winner of the other semi and not great viewing as far as hockey goes. This finnish offense sucks, they can barely generate shots but they are so tight defensively and keep everything outside that if Rask continues his fine play this could get scary for the swedes. This wont be an epic upset or anything but I could easily see the upset here.

Tend to disagree. Finland gave Canada all they could handle and only lost by a goal in OT despite missing some key centers. I called Finland beating the Russians and it came true - Russia's defense was subpar, they should have started Bobrovsky in goal and they played around with the puck too much in the offensive zone (as you said and has been true the entire tournament). The Swedes are without one of the Sedin twins and Zetterberg (the latter is more important I'm well aware of the Sedin's underperformance this year) but still manhandled the Slovenes who had given Russia some problems and beat Slovakia 3-1.

IMO the Scandanavian teams have a better team mentality and are more familiar playing on the larger Olympic ice which will help them out in the final (whoever wins). And they have ZERO fear against Russia, the US or Canada for that matter.

I don't understand this comment of yours either:

"This finnish offense sucks, they can barely generate shots"

Huh? They scored 8 on the Austrians, 6 against Norway, then only 1 goal in a 2-1 defensive battle versus Canada and 3 on Russia (where they went defensive after going 3-1 up in the 2nd period). I think they are one of the leading scoring teams of the tournament. And they are missing some key offensive players as I said earlier too, however, the 40-something Selanne has been on fire offensively as well!

US wins on Friday they could give a shit about team Canada's all stars and will stop at nothing to win that game I can assure you. The pressure's all on Canada to win. Finland - Sweden is a toss up but the winner takes the gold!!))

[Menace]

Worried about Canada.

[mikeymike]

(02-19-2014 06:32 PM)Akula Wrote:  

(02-19-2014 05:20 PM)mikeymike Wrote:  

I liked this showing by Canada today, it cut it close but that was a much better showing, if they got some puck luck they could've lit the lamp more than a few times but between the tender and bounces it just wasn't that day. I think we'll see the goals come vs the us when we see a more north american brand of hockey and some freer ice. This 5 men falling back system is just near impossible to score on consistently when a goalies on his game. Americans don't want to play that brand of hockey so if we're talking trading chances the overall Canadian talent should prove to be too much . Love the way Getzlaf and Perry dominated out there today. Toews line has been steady all along so 2 solid lines and finally Crosby looked to have it going on a little bit so starting to click when it matters. US has been on point all tourny tho, this will be the winner of the gold imo, these are the 2 premier teams by a large margin, I still like Canada but it's gonna be a battle.

Russians surprised me, they got into all star team mode and wanted to make pretty plays instead of gritty plays and hammering pucks and digging for rebounds. This team had a cakewalk into the finals if they had played real team hockey and not wanting to show off for the hometown faithful, nobody to blame but themselves.

Swedes and Fins, 2 pretenders, both under talented, couldn't see how either hangs with the winner of the other semi and not great viewing as far as hockey goes. This finnish offense sucks, they can barely generate shots but they are so tight defensively and keep everything outside that if Rask continues his fine play this could get scary for the swedes. This wont be an epic upset or anything but I could easily see the upset here.

Tend to disagree. Finland gave Canada all they could handle and only lost by a goal in OT despite missing some key centers. I called Finland beating the Russians and it came true - Russia's defense was subpar, they should have started Bobrovsky in goal and they played around with the puck too much in the offensive zone (as you said). The Swedes are without one of the Sedin twins and Zetterberg (the latter is more important I'm well aware of the Sedin's underperformance this year) but still manhandled the Slovenes who had given Russia some problems and beat Slovakia 3-1.

IMO the Scandanavian teams have a better team mentality and are more familiar playing on the larger Olympic ice which will help them out in the final (whoever wins). And they have ZERO fear against Russia, the US or Canada for that matter.

I don't understand this comment of yours either:

"This finnish offense sucks, they can barely generate shots"

Huh? They scored 8 on the Austrians, 6 against Norway, then only 1 goal in a 2-1 defensive battle versus Canada and 3 on Russia (where they went defensive after going 3-1 up in the 2nd period). I think they are one of the leading scoring teams of the tournament. And they are missing some key offensive players as I said earlier too and 40-something Selanne has been on fire offensively as well!

US wins on Friday they could give a shit about team Canada's all stars and will stop at nothing to win that game I can assure you. The pressure's all on Canada to win. Finland - Sweden is a toss up but the winner takes the gold!!))

We saw those games vastly differently. That Fin Canada game never felt in doubt, the score was close due to the style played but it was about one team collapsing and one team providing all the offense, it just felt like a matter of when Canada scored, more than it ever felt like the fins could take it. Anything can happen with one lucky bounce deciding close games but the fins generated next to nothing, the scoring chances for had to be under 5 and they just happen to put one in the net. That is underwhelming for a team that could compete for a gold medal potentially.

The Russians have been subpar all tourny but Bobrovsky had been great, can't believe they didn't start him either. I'm not shocked at all that the Finns won that game as the Russians would always give up chances with that defense, so if the offense wasn't clicking it was going to be a tough match up, sure enough their offense did what it's been doing all tourny and they're out but it was to me a lack of efficiency from the Russians and poor coaching decisions more than it was a dominating performance from the Finns. It's not that the finns don't do what they do well but what they do well isn't scoring.

The Swedes are a pretender this year for precisely the reasons you mentioned, lack of offensive depth. Most of their top end talent has adjusted to nhl ice so their big ice edge is nearly non existent to years past. They've had a dream draw to the semis and they could ride Lundqvist to the gold medal game but I don't believe for a second any of the teams fear the swedes this year, this the weakest squad they've lined up in ages.

You want me to recognize Finns offensive efficiency based on games with Austria and Norway? Everybody pads their stats vs the bottom feeders. And before you get all excited and say that canada only put up 3 on norway do you think anybody gets up for a game vs the finns besides sweden? Everybody brings their A game vs Canada, when you're the best you get everybodys best. If you want to see what the finns are just watch them when they play a good team and they retreat into a defensive shell, if they were an offensive threat they'd play like it. There is a reason Russia tried to play like all stars, they had the talent to do it, theres a reason canada is piling up shots and time of possession they have the talent to, there is a reason the us is scoring and attacking, these are offensively gifted teams, the finns are a team that is scrappy and under talented or they'd be playing like teams that had offensive talent and would be going at teams. I respect what the finns have done all tourny but that Finnish offense does suck. You couldn't watch that game vs Canada and see them barely cross center ice and not pick up on that.

We'll have to disagree about the US Canada game, it'll be an epic battle but and I'm not saying the us cares about how many all stars canada has but im saying it matters to me that they have depth and guys who have won all the nhl hardware, this Canadian squad is loaded with winners.

and we'll really disagree about the finns or swedes having a shot vs Canada or the us.

[Chaos]

I totally agree with Akula here. Mikeymike seem to have some unreal hating going on against Scandinavian teams.
However I believe that the Gold this Olympics goes to to winner of SWE-FIN.

[mikeymike]

(02-19-2014 07:31 PM)Chaos Wrote:  

I totally agree with Akula here. Mikeymike seem to have some unreal hating going on against Scandinavian teams.
However I believe that the Gold this Olympics goes to to winner of SWE-FIN.

your finn flag indicates no bias on your side?

but please do let me know where I went wrong, are the finns offensively gifted without Barkov and Koivu?

are the swedes as deep as years past, have they played real competition yet? what did I say that was so off base?

[Stun]

^ I'm with Mike, I don't believe the Swedes or Fins are a match the the US or Canada *in this tournament*.

I have no preferential bias against those teams, my opinion (as is his I suspect) is based purely on observation of how the teams have played this far.

That said, I've said all along that a good goalie could steal a game where the opposing team plays better. That includes Quick, Tuukka, Hank, and to an extent Luongo.

[Stun]

In this tournament the Russians did nothing but bolster their reputation as a lazy, do-nothing superstar team IMO. (They were awful in Vancouver 2010 too.) They gave the US a good game, but they looked like shit against Finland. No doubt the Fins are an elite team, but the Russians should have been more willing to fight for loose pucks, get rebounds, deflections, get to the front of the net. No matter what your skill level is you at not going to snipe your way past Tuukka, he is too good a goalie.

[rudebwoy]

Canada is going to lose to US, I can feel it. The media will go nuts because that is ALL they talk about getting to the gold medal game. Like it is a formality, christ we beat Latvia 2-1. WTF

[mikeymike]

(02-19-2014 07:59 PM)Sugar Wrote:  

^ I'm with Mike, I don't believe the Swedes or Fins are a match the the US or Canada *in this tournament*.

I have no preferential bias against those teams, my opinion (as is his I suspect) is based purely on observation of how the teams have played this far.

That said, I've said all along that a good goalie could steal a game where the opposing team plays better. That includes Quick, Tuukka, Hank, and to an extent Luongo.

thank you Sugar, I thought I tried to stay objective and stuck to the on ice product, I mean I'm a Canuck fan, we're team Sweden Canadian Chapter lol so there is no hate here. Both the Finns and Swedes have tenders that can flat out steal games and they're both very dangerous because of it but I was just trying to point out the obvious flaws in their games, without both Henriks the Swedish offense is going to be put to the test, they've had an easy road to now and haven't had to sweat not having those guys but the Finns will be a real test as this will be the first time they'll need to generate offense and have offensive push as the Finns won't give them anything. As for the Finns I thought it was obvious the finns weren't an offensive juggernaut, they just don't have the top end talent to go head to head in that way so they play the style they have to play and it's effective but I question in the end if they can do it perfect enough for another 2 games while finding some offensive thrust to go with it to get thru the stiff competition that all these squads are. Any of the 4 can win it, thats the fun of these tourneys but right now based on their on ice performance the US is the cream of the crop and the Canadians are behind them so this is the match up as a Canadian I see as the real gold medal game, I think whoever survives this has to like their chances in the final and the other team rightly would have to see themselves as underdogs.

[FrenchCanadian]

I feel Canada could of used some PK Subban versus Lativa, as all our offence is cming from our D-men anyways

[Avarence]

Having a "you-know-you're-an-RVFer-when" moment.
USA vs Canada women's gold medal game currently on...

My initial reaction is I want the US to win. But then I realized I'd be cheering for American women.

Hmmm...