GDT: 2016 World Junior Championship

[Novacane]

I really don't understand why Fleury struggles so much on the big ice with how good of a skater he is. I guess he just isn't meant for it

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

So I watched the Can-Finn game in entirety and some observations. Only 1 game, so don't read too much into it:

1) Fluery did not look good. I'm not talking about the play where he and Hickey turned over the puck for the first goal, just in general. He was way too conservative, didn't push the play at all and was pretty passive on defense. Maybe they were asking him to play a conservative game, but he was "meh" at best. He looked like he was afraid to make a mistake and looked slow.

2) McKeown actually looked pretty good. Solid defensively, engaged, aggressive and overall, a solid game. Outside of probably Dermott, he was their best overall defenseman.

3) Aho. This guy looks to be the real deal and was impressive. Fast, skilled and oh so smart. He anticipates plays so well and knows when to go to the net, when to cover on the boards, when to drop back, etc.. His play on the half wall on the PP is what the Canes have been lacking. Yeah, this is playing against kids vs. playing in the NHL so we won't know if it transfers, but still, impressive.

From a team Canada standpoint, I'd say the first 2 periods, Virtanen, Strome and Konecky stood out. The third period, add Marner, but he took and idiotic penalty later. Marner tends to hold onto the puck way too long and "looked" to be a bit of selfish player at times, but was great on the PP in the 3rd, which also transitioned to ES as well. He has gobs of skill and was impressive in the 3rd. Virtanen played well at first, but 3 idiotic penalties really, really hurt. Just brain dead penalties.

Laine is a beast. I know the goalies are not NHL caliber, but he is big, fast, skilled and has a fantastic shot. Outside of Aho, Laine, and Puljuvarvi, that defenseman they have was fantastic. Other than him though, the Finn's defense was brutal.

Agreed with what you said about Fleury, he looked much like most of Team Canada playing in pure passenger mode, and if you're going to play like that all that people will notice are your mistakes. I feel like throughout the whole tournament I rarely saw any of Canada's defence carry the puck up the ice.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Does anyone have a good stylistic comparable for Aho? I keep thinking of Jussi Jokinen, but he’s probably coming to mind because of nationality and positional versatility.

 

[DaveG]

Some Finnish posted on the WJC board (can't think of who) compared him to Saku due to his two-way game and just overall cerebral play and style.

 

[Coedae]

Mix of Zuccarello and Barkov. Really wise player. Maybe Valtteri Filppula is solid comparison also. A bit more skilled and faster than Filppula, but not as good defensively. Aho was a steal from 2nd round. He would easily be #15-30 range.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Mix of Zuccarello and Barkov. Really wise player. Maybe Valtteri Filppula is solid comparison also. A bit more skilled and faster than Filppula, but not as good defensively. Aho was a steal from 2nd round. He would easily be #15-30 range.

He was drafted 35th so saying he easily could have been 30th isn't much of a stretch or a steal.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

He was drafted 35th so saying he easily could have been 30th isn't much of a stretch or a steal.

Between him, Rask and Faulk, we have had some pretty bad ass 2nd round picks the past five seasons. Me likey

 

[urho]

Some Finnish posted on the WJC board (can't think of who) compared him to Saku due to his two-way game and just overall cerebral play and style.

He's been compared to Ville Peltonen and I think it's a very good comparison. Unfortunately Ville didn't have that big of a NHL career but he was a really good player.

Edit. And if he had been more physically mature last year, no way he drops to the 2nd round. He's got top 15 talent, that's for sure.

 

[DaleCooper]

Aho's line held off the scoresheet today but the Fins advance to the final with a 2-1 win over Sweden.

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

https://streamable.com/0z96

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

solid first period but i am #nervous

someone hold me pls

 

[Joe McGrath]

Aho's line held off the scoresheet today but the Fins advance to the final with a 2-1 win over Sweden.

The Swedes really bottled them up. Aho made a great block turned into a 2 on 1 and Puuj LaRosed it.

 

[Joe McGrath]

The US D looks awful.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Need a big 3rd period here boys

 

[RodTheBawd]

Ughh... stream dropped 5 minutes ago. Might save me from an email from IT at least.

 

[Joe McGrath]

US best players weren't very good. Tough to win that way.

 

[Lucky Lindy]

Ned selected as one of USA's three best players in the tournament.

 

[w e l o s t b o y s]

Ned selected as one of USA's three best players in the tournament.

who were the others?

 

[Lucky Lindy]

who were the others?

Werenski and Matthews.

 

[Novacane]

Nedeljkovic did all he could do today. He'll fit right in here.

 

[Sens1Canes2]

Amazing that Russia was 45 seconds from losing to Denmark (Denmark!) and then they go ahead and beat the US and are playing for gold. Good for them.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Ned deserved better than this

Especially the first goal. Should have been an easy clear.

Oh well, I will tip my cap to the Russians and move on to cheering for Finland

Let's go Aho, plus whichever of the other two we get in the draft

 

[Sens1Canes2]

I saw a gif on Twitter of back-to-back Ned saves. Kind of Hasek-like.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Jeff Blair going full ****** on Rogers atm. It is kind of entertaining.

 

[Oogie Boogie]

Jeff Blair going full ****** on Rogers atm. It is kind of entertaining.

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