Good eye. They didn't. Neither did Ekblad or Rielly.
It would have been hard to find them a DZ start in a game like this.
PGT: 9/18/16 North America vs Finland - North America 4 Finland 1 F
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Good eye. They didn't. Neither did Ekblad or Rielly.
It would have been hard to find them a DZ start in a game like this.
Sidney the Kidney
One last time
- Jun 29, 2009
- 56,935
- 49,658
Why did you think his Cup run was a fluke? He played the majority of the Cup run exactly like he's played so far in the tournament. He's calm, poised, and composed. Even after a bad goal or a bad game, it doesn't phase him.
*This* is the Matt Murray us Pens fans are high on. He's not going to be perfect every night. But he's been absolutely amazing at not letting anything phase him when he's off. That, IMO, is the key to being a good goalie. The ability to shake off a bad goal/game and just go out and shut the door the next shift.
WeDislikeEich
Registered User
- Jun 22, 2015
- 6,092
- 4,564
Wow, team NA has so many stand out players, it's crazy! To anyone complaining about this whole team NA "farce", how in the world can you Not enjoy watching this team?! This might be one of the most exciting hockey teams I've watched in years... So much talent. So fun to watch. Who cares if it's some gimmick or not. If you like watching hockey, you shouldn't be complaining about getting to watch this team. There's not a team in this tournament that I've enjoyed watching more.
As far as this game, the entire team NA played well. I'm not going to single out individual guys, because I think the whole team stood out. I can't think of a guy who had a bad game...
Team Finland just couldn't get much going tonight though.
As far as this game, the entire team NA played well. I'm not going to single out individual guys, because I think the whole team stood out. I can't think of a guy who had a bad game...
Team Finland just couldn't get much going tonight though.
snipes
How cold? I’m ice cold.
- Dec 28, 2015
- 56,205
- 65,502
Murray was awesome, I agree with you. He looked calm and confident all night.
He's the starter of Team NA no question, this is his team in net.
How did only one D man get a d-zone start? Is that what that says? Murray wouldn't start there without Jones, I don't think.
Is this some new-fangled stat that counts on-the-fly changes? Like if Ghost darts out of his zone on a partial clear and changes, and then Murray has to rush back in, does that count as a D-zone start? I just have no idea how one D would get credited like that. Normally D-zone starts are only counted at D-zone faceoffs.
542365
2018-19 Cup Champs!
- Mar 22, 2012
- 22,660
- 9,204
I gotta say, the NHL got this one right. This North America under 23 team is definitely a gimmick, but I'll be damned if it's not the most entertaining gimmick in recent memory. You just don't get an opportunity to watch McDavid, Eichel, Gaudreau, Matthews, Ghost, Ekblad, Parayko, Mackinnon etc. etc. etc. on the same team ever. They're so young that they haven't had all of the creativity coached out of them yet either. Super crazy fun to watch.
gwh
Registered User
- Mar 4, 2013
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behemolari
öh¨ns-ä
- Dec 1, 2011
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FlareKnight
Registered User
This really is a rare beast. Getting all these young NA stars on the same team makes for some fun hockey.
Almost throughout the lineup they have so many skilled guys who can make crazy plays and move quickly while doing it. Hard to deal with.
Who knows how the next games will go, but played some good hockey.
Almost throughout the lineup they have so many skilled guys who can make crazy plays and move quickly while doing it. Hard to deal with.
Who knows how the next games will go, but played some good hockey.
Yes, only faceoff shifts get classified by zone in this system. I don't know the answer, but you'll notice Jones has one more on-the-fly shift than Murray. I'm assuming Murray came on the ice for the faceoff and Jones came on a bit later.
Edit: sorry wrong thread. ignore.
The team itself was always supposed to be crazy fun. Lots of people who oppose the idea of the kids team said so.
The problem is it takes away from the point of the tournament, as well as taking away the talent from two of the other clubs. So not only do we no longer have a national team tournament, but Canada and US have never been so boring as they are now. Of course McDavid might be the only one to make team Canada, I'm not sure, but that alone ups the interest level. And the American team would take loads of those guys (or should).
I'm trying to think of a way for this sort of team to come together for something in the future, and not subtract from the tournament as a whole.
The team itself was always supposed to be crazy fun. Lots of people who oppose the idea of the kids team said so.
The problem is it takes away from the point of the tournament, as well as taking away the talent from two of the other clubs. So not only do we no longer have a national team tournament, but Canada and US have never been so boring as they are now. Of course McDavid might be the only one to make team Canada, I'm not sure, but that alone ups the interest level. And the American team would take loads of those guys (or should).
I'm trying to think of a way for this sort of team to come together for something in the future, and not subtract from the tournament as a whole.
zeke
The Dube Abides
- Mar 14, 2005
- 66,937
- 36,957
I don't like the idea of fake national teams, but it would go a long way to legitimizing it if Team USA and Team Canada got first pick. Of course apparently they already considered Team Canada B but then realized they couldn't market a Reject Canada team, so had to think of some other idea.
- Feb 23, 2014
- 27,916
- 87,527
This actually is quite bad for (international) hockey. If games are gonna be like this there isn't much point for the larger audience to tune up to watch their NT get wrecked by collection of "best-of from pool X".
This one I can write off one-off as "it takes the combined forces of USA ans CAN to beat up the Lions!" but few individual countries can match up a team/lines hand-picked from among NHL superstars.
It's an aspect of the international game that a team has a known deficit like "we got good D but no goalie" or "there's superb goalie but no finishing skill whatsoever", which an all-star team can navigate past.
There being no apparent exploitable weakness in Team NA is good for those rooting for the team, but in the long run the supposed opponent fodder just won't bother to show up.
Which is no excuse for Finland today, they were just bad. I especially apprecited the continuous "one man assaulting only to look around to see that absolutely no support was coming along with him" approach.
I always assumed that if they did two Canadian teams, they would handle it like a draft. Canada 1 picks a player the Canada 2 picks a player and so on.
- Feb 23, 2014
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That would indeed solve that issue. I'd like to think that they wouldn't touch the sanctity of having an actual team canada but it appears all options are on the table at this point.
Kratti
Registered User
- Mar 16, 2006
- 354
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Indeed. We saw tonight that Finland simply can't compete at this level. I honestly can't agree with the multitude of people claiming this was an entertaining match. How could it be, when the loser can't even put up a fight? Finland lost virtually all board battles, 1vs1:s at which point the whole tactical aspect of hockey becomes immaterial.
That said, the NA team is indeed good, but for better (more competitive) future tournaments the NHL should just scrap the concept of national teams altogether and just field various all-star lineups. U23, division this, division that, some canadian province or whatnot. As a Finn I just don't want to see us reduced back to 1970s ie. valiant battles but simply outmatched and losing 8-2 and so on with only the occasional win per tournament.
snipes
How cold? I’m ice cold.
- Dec 28, 2015
- 56,205
- 65,502
Do you really think that little of Canadians?
I know this tournament is new and change will always be scolded upon by older generations. Canadians are not corrupt people. We value honesty and fairness above all, we are probably the least corrupt country in the world.
Canadians are good, honest people. We hate corruption, maybe Europeans are different?
Let's see how they do against real competition in Russia. Finland just doesn't have a good team.
It's not really corruption. It's just that the NHL has shown that they'll do whatever they want if they think it'll make more money. They seriously considered a second Canada team but realized that some guys wouldn't like the idea of being on a Canada B team and that they would struggle to market it.
I think Canadian hockey fans have shown they'll buy whatever the NHL puts out there and the NHL has shown they don't really have any sanctity for international norms.
Let's not pretend this is Qatar World Cup level awful though.
