PGT: 9/19 - Russia vs North America - Russia 4 North America 3 F

[leaflover]

I thought it was a great game. The kids faced some adversity and reacted well to it.
Can't win em all.

 

[BernieParent]

You people are funny. "Get Gaudreau out there!" "No, Nuge!". "No, McKinnon!" "No, Drouin!"

There are only 60 minutes in a game, you know.

That must be why Team NA took the too many men penalty late in the game. "All you guys, get out there!!!"

 

[Yakushev72]

I thought these were "joke" teams?

They are joke teams in the sense that they expose the sham of international competition as focused on the NHL. It was a way for the NHL to stage the tournament with the contrived premise that hockey is a "World" sport, and that World competition is thriving under the umbrella of the NHL. Who needs Olympic competition when you have the World Cup, right?

But instead of fielding 6 or 8 national teams, they had to balance out the sheer boredom of a competition that would have Slovakia going against the Czech Republic, two teams that would have no chance to reasonably compete against the others, so they substituted 2 even further contrived hybrids that at least had some potential to attract fan interest away from what is otherwise a completely meaningless summer beach exhibition tournament. Team North America is designed to appeal to North American fans exclusively, while Team Europe represents a feeble attempt to engender some buy-in from the rest of Europe. I really doubt that Europeans have even noticed this tournament.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

He got more then enough ice time last game. If anything, he should have had less. MacKinnon/McDavid/Matthews/Nuge were outstanding. Gaudreau has been the best forward this tourney, but last game he was just off. Turnovers, holding onto the puck for too long, etc. You get Drouin/Larkin getting benched for that stuff, but all players should be held to that standard.

Assist on the 2nd goal
Drew penalty that led to PP for 3rd goal (which he set up)

He's by far the most capable PP player on the team, and has been the most productive player on the team despite playing in a reduced role.

He should have been out there for the 5-3.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

McDavid really needs to learn a new breakaway move, as soon as he was on that clear cut breakaway I was like here comes the exact same move he always tries. Goalies know it now Bob read him the whole way.

Hopefully he switches it up a bit.

 

[Juppy61]

They are joke teams in the sense that they expose the sham of international competition as focused on the NHL. It was a way for the NHL to stage the tournament with the contrived premise that hockey is a "World" sport, and that World competition is thriving under the umbrella of the NHL. Who needs Olympic competition when you have the World Cup, right?

But instead of fielding 6 or 8 national teams, they had to balance out the sheer boredom of a competition that would have Slovakia going against the Czech Republic, two teams that would have no chance to reasonably compete against the others, so they substituted 2 even further contrived hybrids that at least had some potential to attract fan interest away from what is otherwise a completely meaningless summer beach exhibition tournament. Team North America is designed to appeal to North American fans exclusively, while Team Europe represents a feeble attempt to engender some buy-in from the rest of Europe. I really doubt that Europeans have even noticed this tournament.

Hmm....something like the IIHF World Championship is designed to appeal to the Europeans I guess. Most North Americans don't even notice the IIHF World Championships exists. I do because I love international hockey but I am hard pressed to find anyone else here to have a discussion with about it.

 

[leafsfuture]

They are joke teams in the sense that they expose the sham of international competition as focused on the NHL. It was a way for the NHL to stage the tournament with the contrived premise that hockey is a "World" sport, and that World competition is thriving under the umbrella of the NHL. Who needs Olympic competition when you have the World Cup, right?

But instead of fielding 6 or 8 national teams, they had to balance out the sheer boredom of a competition that would have Slovakia going against the Czech Republic, two teams that would have no chance to reasonably compete against the others, so they substituted 2 even further contrived hybrids that at least had some potential to attract fan interest away from what is otherwise a completely meaningless summer beach exhibition tournament. Team North America is designed to appeal to North American fans exclusively, while Team Europe represents a feeble attempt to engender some buy-in from the rest of Europe. I really doubt that Europeans have even noticed this tournament.

While I dont disagree with any of your points.... the WCH is run by the NHL. By definition the interests of North America should be coming first.

If the European leagues or the Champions League want to run their own World Cup they are more than able to. My point simply is that the NHL should not be reasonably expected to do much different than they have already done

 

[CrazyJoeDavola]

Can someone post a link to corsi stats for the game, please? Much appreciated.

 

[Yakushev72]

While I dont disagree with any of your points.... the WCH is run by the NHL. By definition the interests of North America should be coming first.

If the European leagues or the Champions League want to run their own World Cup they are more than able to. My point simply is that the NHL should not be reasonably expected to do much different than they have already done

I don't disagree with your point that North American hockey fans are entitled to as much entertainment as possible. Probably, the 2 contrived teams will end up being the most entertaining and fun. Hockey fans in the European countries that are participating will no doubt watch their countrymen on TV.

My point is, don't confuse it with the kind of World Cup that you have in football. There are too few countries where the game is played, and there is no competitive balance in those countries. Before the tournament began, everyone knew who the winner would be. The NHL brass hoped that the USA could be brought along to a Canada-USA final, but it looks like the US will not cooperate. If there would ever be valid suspicion about a game being fixed, it would be if Canada lost to the USA tonight. There could be no other explanation. A World Cup of hockey would only be fun if you didn't know the winner long in advance of the tournament.

 

[Sky04]

Assist on the 2nd goal
Drew penalty that led to PP for 3rd goal (which he set up)

He's by far the most capable PP player on the team, and has been the most productive player on the team despite playing in a reduced role.

He should have been out there for the 5-3.

I don't think Gaudreau had a good game either despite that assist, points listed above by Crabby, but he definitely should've been out on the 5 on 3 or at least seen some of it. Ghost and Eichel had some pretty bad decision making on that PP.

As far as capable on the PP goes, Drouin is a strong PP distributer as well, why him and Gaudreau are on the same unit makes no sense to me, they play the same role, and the 1st unit although speedy doesn't have that one guy to slow things down and distribute.

 

[Juppy61]

I don't disagree with your point that North American hockey fans are entitled to as much entertainment as possible. Probably, the 2 contrived teams will end up being the most entertaining and fun. Hockey fans in the European countries that are participating will no doubt watch their countrymen on TV.

My point is, don't confuse it with the kind of World Cup that you have in football. There are too few countries where the game is played, and there is no competitive balance in those countries. Before the tournament began, everyone knew who the winner would be. The NHL brass hoped that the USA could be brought along to a Canada-USA final, but it looks like the US will not cooperate. If there would ever be valid suspicion about a game being fixed, it would be if Canada lost to the USA tonight. There could be no other explanation. A World Cup of hockey would only be fun if you didn't know the winner long in advance of the tournament.

Nothing will come close to the World Cup of Soccer. Too many countries play it. It's a global sport. Heck, it's even played in Canada, mind you our men's team sucks badly

I don't think anyone sees a world cup of hockey will in any way come close to the Soccer World Cup and if they do they are delusional.

 

[Ducks Nation*]

Man really was hoping NA could pull it off, what a game.

 

[Juppy61]

Nothing will come close to the World Cup of Soccer. Too many countries play it. It's a global sport. Heck, it's even played in Canada, mind you our men's team sucks badly

I don't think anyone sees a world cup of hockey will in any way come close to the Soccer World Cup and if they do they are delusional.

Whoops, did I call it soccer!!!! Sorry, in the rest of the world it's football. I don't know why us NA's call it soccer but you know what I mean...

 

[TimeZone]

Would've been nice to see Gaudreau on the 5 on 3 instead of Eichel, that's for sure.

 

[robbie111]

Would've been nice to see Gaudreau on the 5 on 3 instead of Eichel, that's for sure.

This.

 

[amitkedia]

Miracle on Ice – Almost.

It was reminiscent of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice†game – a group of plucky young (North) Americans up against a solid veteran Russian team. There was high-drama, lots of goals, big hits and an exciting finish. Pucks were clanging off goal posts and there were a lot of close calls. But this time, the game ended without an upset. The high-speed, high-octane Team North America could not overcome a 4-goal second period when the Russians got the all the bounces and all the breaks. And Bobrovsky stood on this head while Murray had to hide his after looking like Swiss cheese in the second frame before he got pulled. But remember that these kids are 22 and under - half the NA team are made up of Canadians while the other half are Americans. They were resilient enough to bounce back in the third only to fall short of tying the game several times in the dying seconds. In fact, both teams put on a great show. This was perhaps the most exciting game in the #WCH2016 tournament so far.

 

[Yakushev72]

It was reminiscent of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice†game – a group of plucky young (North) Americans up against a solid veteran Russian team. There was high-drama, lots of goals, big hits and an exciting finish. Pucks were clanging off goal posts and there were a lot of close calls. But this time, the game ended without an upset. The high-speed, high-octane Team North America could not overcome a 4-goal second period when the Russians got the all the bounces and all the breaks. And Bobrovsky stood on this head while Murray had to hide his after looking like Swiss cheese in the second frame before he got pulled. But remember that these kids are 22 and under - half the NA team are made up of Canadians while the other half are Americans. They were resilient enough to bounce back in the third only to fall short of tying the game several times in the dying seconds. In fact, both teams put on a great show. This was perhaps the most exciting game in the #WCH2016 tournament so far.

Not even close to the Miracle On Ice, in my opinion. The Soviet team was far superior to this Russian team, and Team North America is far superior to the 1980 version of Team USA. Team North America is comprised of experienced NHL superstars who happen to be 23 years old or less. Team NA has more team speed than any other team in the tournament, and it would be no surprise at all if they were to win the World Cup. They beat Finland decisively and narrowly lost to Russia. This is no Miracle On Ice!

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

It was reminiscent of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice†game

ahhh no

 

[Draw Me a McElephant]

I believe it is Woodcroft who runs the PP, every Oiler fan will tell you he is awful. Gaudreau is the perfect player to have out there on a 5 on 3.

 

[CanadianPantherFan]

McDavid really needs to learn a new breakaway move, as soon as he was on that clear cut breakaway I was like here comes the exact same move he always tries. Goalies know it now Bob read him the whole way.

Hopefully he switches it up a bit.

He can ask Huberdeau about it. He scores on it quite often but some goalies do their homework.