HF Habs: 4 Nations Face-Off: Canada beats Finland 5-3; advances to Finals vs USA

[Boss Man Hughes]

Why cah We ever pick the best teams. Cirelli, Jarvis, Marchand and on and on.. why do we always outsmart ourselves. The US has a better roster imo, but we didn’t help ourselves. Goaltending, once a Canadian strength now looks like w liability

Jarvis was a solid pick. Cirelli and Marchand were not

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

This team could use Hyman playing with McDavid. He scored 70 goals last season (which included 16 in the playoffs). I think he’d be more effective than Reinhart or Marner playing with McDavid.

Big time. He scores greasy goals which is exactly what we need.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

There were a lot of cross ice passes in the offensive zone. Sometimes it's good to try that to catch the opposition off guard. But it became predictable. Gotta get pucks to the net. Bennett, Stone, even Hagel can be hard net front presences. Put one on each of the top 3 lines.

Some players we may want to bring to the olympics:

- Tom Wilson - net front presence and toughness. Is he still fast?

- Suzuki - he's a wizard with the puck. He'll create.

- Scheifele- good all around

replace: Konecny, Jarvis, and Reinhart.

It was working better early on but once the US got the lead they played the trap and clogged everything. Once that happens you have to go North South. East West won’t work because passes can’t get through.

Take shots, use the US players to screen their own goalie and go for rebounds. That’s the way you’re going to have to do it.

 

[Rapala]

If Celebrini continues to win the most puck battles in the NHL how can you possibly keep him off the Team next year. Canada is going to have to go back and start from scratch starting with the selection committee.
I'm not convinced we have the best minds at the helm. These Olympics will end up being as disappointing as Turino was for our Men's hockey program if they don't look at making some serious changes.

 

[canucklover123]

As others have said, Marchand looked a lot like gally last night.
After a night to digest where I ripped everyone lol, I don’t think we’re as bad up front as I belted. Definitely need to replace two guys tops, but I think our issue is our lines suck. All our “grittier guys” are in the bottom six. Our top 6 has no forechecking presence .

For the Olympics , our goal should be to find players that can play with mcdavid and Mack. Don’t even have to be the best just need to be able to complement those two guys. (Hyman)…

 

[Team_Spirit]

For a prepared attack they kinda all lost their fights

HockeyFights is on some bs today.

 

[Kimota]

As others have said, Marchand looked a lot like gally last night.
After a night to digest where I ripped everyone lol, I don’t think we’re as bad up front as I belted. Definitely need to replace two guys tops, but I think our issue is our lines suck. All our “grittier guys” are in the bottom six. Our top 6 has no forechecking presence .

For the Olympics , our goal should be to find players that can play with mcdavid and Mack. Don’t even have to be the best just need to be able to complement those two guys. (Hyman)…

Marchand is done basically. Has been for a while. He has dropped a lot. I don't understand why they did not realise that during the selection. Should have taken Sheifle.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

As others have said, Marchand looked a lot like gally last night.
After a night to digest where I ripped everyone lol, I don’t think we’re as bad up front as I belted. Definitely need to replace two guys tops, but I think our issue is our lines suck. All our “grittier guys” are in the bottom six. Our top 6 has no forechecking presence .

For the Olympics , our goal should be to find players that can play with mcdavid and Mack. Don’t even have to be the best just need to be able to complement those two guys. (Hyman)…

The issue is the team is filled with too many non-skaters. You can get away with one Marchand level skater but when every line has a Stone, a Bennett, a Marner, etc. you’re in trouble when playing against elite skating teams.

You could see the panic in Cooper’s coaching approach when they came to the awful realization that Team Canada had been caught slow.

Anyone with a modicum of hockey knowledge could see that the team selected would struggle to win a best on best tournament against the speed and talent that the U.S. would throw against Canada.

The only chance that Canada had to win was if the 3 M’s (McDavid, McKinnon and Makar) were the best players in the Tournament. McDavid has been McDavid, McKinnon’s play has been spotty and Makar has been ill and missing. Throw in less than steady goaltending and you understand why Canada is going to need luck to make the finals.

We got caught slow.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

US is not that talented. They are faster and and the player choices were better.

 

[le_sean]

For a prepared attack they kinda all lost their fights

HockeyFights is on some bs today.

First one was a draw. Brady killed Bennett. Parayko killed Miller

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

US is not that talented. They are faster and and the player choices were better.

Canada's roster is the one that doesn't look very talented.....on D after Makar it's just sad...

 

[McGuires Corndog]

US is not that talented. They are faster and and the player choices were better.

Canada never ices the best team possible.

 

[26Mats]

Canada's roster is the one that doesn't look very talented.....on D after Makar it's just sad...

Tough to lose Makar, Theodore, and Pietrangelo.

I thought Morrissey looked very slick and mobile. Toews has a good mix of mobility and toughness.

With the need for both speed and toughness, Guhle could get a spot in his prime - if the injuries don't start to take their toll.

 

[le_sean]

Canada's roster is the one that doesn't look very talented.....on D after Makar it's just sad...

Plus the US has 3 goalies that would be the clear cut starter for Canada.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Canada's roster is the one that doesn't look very talented.....on D after Makar it's just sad...

Due to injuries and the stupidity of adding old man Doughty. D is still not bad but not as good as the US.

Plus the US has 3 goalies that would be the clear cut starter for Canada.

That is the big difference,

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

First one was a draw. Brady killed Bennett. Parayko killed Miller

I'd give Hagel the decision in the first. We won two of three.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Due to injuries and the stupidity of adding old man Doughty. D is still not bad but not as good as the US.


That is the big difference,

Montreal is not the only team that is learning what life is like without Carey Price.

Price was Canada's best player in 2014. Believe it or not it was life or death with Latvia as we couldn't score. Then he had to be perfect against the US... Finished elimination round by giving up one goal in three games.

Nobody expects that from Binnington but the soft goals have to stop. We won't get anywhere with that. He's made some nice saves but it doesn't matter if you're giving up softies.

 

[Le Tricolore]

Is it me or our country in general cannot produce skilled guys with strength and physicality anymore?

I get the impression guys from the US program are beasts both in size and strength.

Is their nutrition and strength training regimen different?

The US has 10x our population. It was only a matter of time (and money) that they'd catch up and surpass us. They're putting a lot of money into development, and Hockey Canada has been a huge mess for years. I saw an article recently that said that there are 70% less goalies in Canadian youth hockey now than there were 20 years ago.

I don't know what Hockey Canada can do to become the #1 hockey nation again, but it won't be easy.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

The US has 10x our population. It was only a matter of time (and money) that they'd catch up and surpass us. They're putting a lot of money into development, and Hockey Canada has been a huge mess for years. I saw an article recently that said that there are 70% less goalies in Canadian youth hockey now than there were 20 years ago.

I don't know what Hockey Canada can do to become the #1 hockey nation again, but it won't be easy.

Free goalies pads for EVERYONE!!!

We still produce the best players in the world. We're still the best at least in terms of non-goalies. But yeah, it's not easy with them having so many people. And you can't just ignore us not producing goalies...

But that's another reason I would've brought Connor Bedard to this tournament. No he's not as good as some others right now because he's only 19 but I'd have brought him for his shot and so he could gain experience. Canada's going to need him in the coming years.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Canada never ices the best team possible.

That's poor decisions. That's Canada as always. Except for small business or exceptions, everything that becomes big in Canada gets corrupted or weak at the decision management. Then they ask for gvrment money when/if they have the party's connections.

 

[Le Tricolore]

Free goalies pads for EVERYONE!!!

We still produce the best players in the world. We're still the best at least in terms of non-goalies. But yeah, it's not easy with them having so many people. And you can't just ignore us not producing goalies...

But that's another reason I would've brought Connor Bedard to this tournament. No he's not as good as some others right now because he's only 19 but I'd have brought him for his shot and so he could gain experience. Canada's going to need him in the coming years.

Bedard and Celebrini definitely should've been on the team.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Bedard and Celebrini definitely should've been on the team.

Yeah, the thing about Canada I find is that in these kinds of tournaments when we lose it's often because we bring too many grinders and not enough scorers. Clear we need to go to the net and I think that's Hyman's specialty. He is the biggest omission in my opinion. He really could've used him in the third period. Bedard's shot is second to none. That's another guy I wish we had. Celebrini is a solid two way guy who would've been just fine on this roster and it would've been nice to groom him for future tournaments as well.

 

[Leto]

If Celebrini continues to win the most puck battles in the NHL how can you possibly keep him off the Team next year. Canada is going to have to go back and start from scratch starting with the selection committee.
I'm not convinced we have the best minds at the helm. These Olympics will end up being as disappointing as Turino was for our Men's hockey program if they don't look at making some serious changes.

The Old Boys Club going with their nepo picks will be the doom of TC. You have to hope Macklin breaks out next season, because we will need him.

 

[Habs]

The Old Boys Club going with their nepo picks will be the doom of TC. You have to hope Macklin breaks out next season, because we will need him.

Hutson should be a lock very soon as well. Canada will get more talented, but not harder to play against. The US have so many studs coming up as well it won't matter much. Team Canada has always been an 'old boys' club, will never change

 

[Guy Larose]

Tkachuks, if you're going to start fights, at least learn to fight. Hagel is not a fighter and even if it looked like a draw, is embarrassing. Bennett likes the rough stuff but is also not really a fighter and Brady barely won.