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2022 World Junior rescheduled championship

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rocketman588 said:
Anyone hate the Czech republic rebrand to Czechia as much as I do?

That and the lion replacing their dope coat of arms jersey
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The lion is pretty ordinary. I definitely prefer the coat of arms.

The 'ia' ending makes the name too similar to lost of other eastern European countries, so I'm not crazy about it, but 'their country, their choice'.

Funny part is the sweaters still say 'Czech Republic".
 
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Jamason said:
The lion is pretty ordinary. I definitely prefer the coat of arms.

The 'ia' ending makes the name too similar to lost of other eastern European countries, so I'm not crazy about it, but 'their country, their choice'.

Funny part is the sweaters still say 'Czech Republic".
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I think I heard that they had new ones that hadn't arrived or something

Not like they hadn't had 6 months to figure it out
 
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Jimmy Firecracker said:
Yep. There was a lot of stupidity from Leaman, such as continuing to play Hughes and never switching the lines. From a pure Leafs standpoint, using Knies as if he was a basic checker when he's shown so much more offensive prowess was dumb, especially when Knies was the only large forward with any skill on this USA roster.
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He didn't even use Knies on the PP.

You have a 6'3" forward with great hands and thrives in tight areas and you don't even use him on the PP? They used guys with far less offensive talent there, and while USA did have a 42% PP, that is not that impressive when you consider Canada, Finland, and Sweden all had well above 50% and they did not play 3/5 of their games against Germany, Switzerland, and Austria (arguably the 3 weakest teams in the tournament this year).
 
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SeaOfBlue said:
He didn't even use Knies on the PP.

You have a 6'3" forward with great hands and thrives in tight areas and you don't even use him on the PP? They used guys with far less offensive talent there, and while USA did have a 42% PP, that is not that impressive when you consider Canada, Finland, and Sweden all had well above 50% and they did not play 3/5 of their games against Germany, Switzerland, and Austria (arguably the 3 weakest teams in the tournament this year).
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So another Leafs' hater?

They exist everywhere.

At least the Finnish coach seems to like his Leafs.
 
SeaOfBlue said:
He didn't even use Knies on the PP.

You have a 6'3" forward with great hands and thrives in tight areas and you don't even use him on the PP? They used guys with far less offensive talent there, and while USA did have a 42% PP, that is not that impressive when you consider Canada, Finland, and Sweden all had well above 50% and they did not play 3/5 of their games against Germany, Switzerland, and Austria (arguably the 3 weakest teams in the tournament this year).
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What do you mean he didn't use him on the PP?
 
Knies iT said:
What do you mean he didn't use him on the PP?
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I meant it more in the figurative sense than the literal sense.

He was barely given puck touches. Although I guess in that sense, they didn't really use him at ES either.
 
SeaOfBlue said:
You have a 6'3" forward with great hands and thrives in tight areas and you don't even use him on the PP?
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SeaOfBlue said:
I meant it more in the figurative sense than the literal sense.

He was barely given puck touches. Although I guess in that sense, they didn't really use him at ES either.
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He was net front on the Cooley unit. His PP deployment was exactly how he should be used there. That's less of a coaching issue than it is his line mates involving him. He was also an extra attacker in the Czech game and played plenty on the 5 minute major.

His 5on5 utilization was the primary problem.
 

Niemela admits his start was slow, but is finding his game now which is what we see as well.
Think he played over 24 mins last game. That might raise even more today.
 
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stickty111 said:

Niemela admits his start was slow, but is finding his game now which is what we see as well.
Think he played over 24 mins last game. That might raise even more today.
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The Finns have both looked pretty solid in the tournament

It's sad the quality of the tournament has fallen off and I think part of that is the access to hockey in some of these countries.

The Czechs being pretty trash for a decade is sad. Used to be one of the best games

It'll happen to Canada eventually if we're not careful about making hockey more accessable. It's an insane cost these days
 
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Knies iT said:
He was net front on the Cooley unit. His PP deployment was exactly how he should be used there. That's less of a coaching issue than it is his line mates involving him. He was also an extra attacker in the Czech game and played plenty on the 5 minute major.

His 5on5 utilization was the primary problem.
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I mean if his teammates are not using him, shouldn't the coaching tell the players to use him? Or bench the guys who are going against the system... especially when they didn't score a single PP goal with Knies on the ice (I double checked)... and his unit didn't have much success in line general. The Mazur unit was far more successful, and they used their net front guy a lot more (or at least leveraged him as a screen/tip option much more often).

It is the same thing that happened with Tavares too. In fact, I feel like this tournament is indicative of what Tavares was last year. Quietly effective just because he is that good and can figure out ways to contribute regardless, but also woefully misused by his coach or his line mates... whether by design or because they had no other choice (for Keefe it was probably more of the latter).
 
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You have to appreciate Finland's battle level and the fact they seem to always just find ways to win big games.

They seem to quite often beat teams that are better on paper (not in this matchup tho) but Finland always have strong team work and commitment.
 
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BertCorbeau said:
They have an excellent program in churning out solid NHL talent
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Yep they have really become a dominant force in hockey.

Basically every international tournament now they're competing for Gold or a real threat to win.
 
Textbook defensive effort by Finland. They never fail to show up in big games. Can they do it against more firepower in Canada? I don't think so but can't count out a team like Finland. Sweden's terrible knockout history continues
 
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