Back to the drawing board for USA Hockey?

[DaveG]

Add Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy to last night’s lineup and is this even a thread?

Nope, not to mention a healthy MT.

only change that might need to be made is swapping out some of the NY players in the bottom 6. Fox was disappointing and Nelson was just bad. Not sure Tro will be having the same level season next year either.

 

[BB79]

My man, you've been all over this since the game ended. Enjoy the win for your team, but maybe relax a bit. This is the appetizer to the main course of the Olympics next year.

We beat them in the round robin, finished round robin in first with 6 points to their 5, and then lost the championship game in OT and that clown makes it sound like we're the 92-93 Ottawa Senators. It's a take, that's for sure.

The Olympics should be more interesting but I'm expecting more of the same. We're the Bruins of international play. Can ice a good team and "make the playoffs" but fall flat on our faces every single time when it matters most.

 

[barkovcanfinnish]

every game was very close and both teams traded wins. how is this indicative of the US needing a massive revamp in order to compete with canada?

 

[Nut Upstrom]

They will be good enough to compete and be medal favorites for the foreseeable future. Maybe shift away from the meathead stuff, meaning a GM who is not Bill Guerin and have a couple vets in the locker room who can focus the Tkachuk boys on playing hockey rather than ringleading fights and generating media hype.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

What is with these doom and gloom threads people have posted for both nations the last two weeks?

Did anything eventful happen that was unexpected?

The two best teams in the world (that most people believed to be very evenly matched) split a two game series. That seems relatively expected.

And in the case of the USA, they outshot Canada for the two games and had more goals. I don't really know what you would've asked them to do much better other than convert on one of the scoring chances that Binnington stopped late in the game. They weren't going to beat Canada like 4-0 in either games.

 

[ijuka]

Dunno, they were missing Quinn Hughes.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

This is an insanely well constructed roster. More balanced and well planned than Canada. But they dont have a mcdavid, crosby, makar, mackinnon. Superstars who also possess the clutch gene. They have clutch players but not clutch superstars. They have superstars who arent clutch.

 

[ToDavid]

Ya but you can make a million OT's but if you lose every single time what's it worth?

I mean, I don’t think the US has really been considered to be on par with Canada until this generation. The 2010 team played above its head and the 2014 team was an older, worse version of that. The vast majority of their current team wasn’t even drafted in 2014 and even their grizzled vets who many would say were to old for this team were barely rookies/sophomores in 2014.

This generation has had exactly one best-on-best tournament, with a single elimination game, which easily could have gone their way in OT if Binnington didn’t stand on his head.

 

[NVious]

Honestly if it weren't for Binnington America could've won that game in regulation and obviously in OT. There were points where they were pouring it on.

Just keep developing and hope for the best, they are right there with Canada. I think the teams are as close to 50/50 as can be, results show that as it's literally tied for them in this series; 5-5 and 1-1 in 2 games

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Dumb thread

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

If Canada wins the next 10 BOB's in overtime, it still won't be time to go back to the board. Disappointing as hell, but a tangible fix for something like that doesn't exist.

 

[Mattilaus]

I think USA just needs to stop pretending they are underdogs and trying to get crafty building a roster to counter the Canadians. Just bring your talent and let them play. Trochek, Kreider, and Nelson are fine NHL players, but putting them in this game over some of the others is insane. Just bring the best you got. You have the talent to compete.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

...we are the two best hockey nations in the World and probably will remain so for the forseeable future...no need to Poke the Bea...sorry, Eagle...

 

[Zirakzigil]

I imagine there will be minor tweaks in personal and significant tweaks in playstyle. IIHF rules drop the hammer on post whistle shenanigans and you will get kicked out for fighting.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Hockey is one of the fastest growing sports in the US. Not back to the drawing board, they're on the right track.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

I imagine there will be minor tweaks in personal and significant tweaks in playstyle. IIHF rules drop the hammer on post whistle shenanigans and you will get kicked out for fighting.

...you can get kicked out for a clean check where no one was hurt...f**kin' IIHF...

 

[Dust]

I think the Olympics will be really interesting. This tournament was pretty much NHL playoff hockey, and you saw some of the smaller less physical guys go into witness protection. IIHF is different, and I think is where someone like Quinn Hughes would excel, and guys like the Tkachuk's would be less effective taking some stupid penalties.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Ya but you can make a million OT's but if you lose every single time what's it worth?

Are we seriously going to overthink this? They had their chances in the OT they didn't score. Ot is a toss up let's not pretend like they were a million miles away here. They lost a coin toss.

 

[daver]

Are we seriously going to overthink this? They had their chances in the OT they didn't score. Ot is a toss up let's not pretend like they were a million miles away here. They lost a coin toss.

A tossup that seems to go their way every time historically whether its the Soviets or the US.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

The United States beat Canada prior to Thursday. Did last Saturday not happen or something?

Last Saturday was a round robin game that meant nothing.

When it mattered team USA lost.

Just like they always do When it matters

 

[bringbacktheskate604]

In my opinion one issue is that our best star players are not as good as the Canadian star players.

Eichel, Matthews, Fox/Werenski are great players. All stars.

They're just not as good as McJesus, MacKinnon, Makar.

Funny how you an Avs fan left out Quinn.

 

[NotTheRocketman]

Good lord no.

They had Canada dead to rights several times over in that Overtime. If not for Binnington standing on his head, that game was over.

I'd make some roster changes for 2026, but I would run the majority of that team back. They were outstanding.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

they lost a 50/50 game, no reason to make major changes

What they should be doing is adjusting the bottom 6, it was ineffective all night. Outside of the Matthews line no other US line was a big threat

Larkin played well and had at least one HDSC Thursday.

 

[centipede2233]

Canadian here. It’s not doom and gloom for USA hockey. Their management made some roster decision errors. Mike sullivan made a coaching error. In OT, with a shortened bench, he should never had Hughes and fox on the ice together. That mcdavid goal doesn’t happen if you had one of Faber or slavin on the ice. Also, tkachuks need to learn from their mistakes. Especially m.tkachuk. But these lessons can be learned. It’s up to USA hockey to fix said mistakes. If they do, they are the favourites in Italy.

 

[Icarian]

They lost one game on overtime against amazing team. A game they dominated in the overtime until that point. They're fine. If it had been best of 7, USA would've won 4-2 I think.