Series Talk: Four Nations Face-Off Tournament

[The Abusement Park]

Feel like people are over exaggerating how bad Canada's been. Helly was incredible last night I thought.

Also I agree that Cirelli and Bennett probably shouldn't be on the roster, especially with Scheifele not being here and Konecny being on the bench. But I don't get the Hagel hate. Don't think he's even been that bad this tourney, but the dudes an elite even strength scorer; 24th in ESP over the last 5 seasons and 2nd over the last 2 seasons. He's also someone who is kind of like Lehky in the sense that his play style(which is different to Lehky) is very compatible with elite players.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

How was advanced stat God Toews when he isn't attached at the hip to Makar.

I assume terrible? Not to diss Toews but on his own merits he wouldn't be a lock for this team.

 

[missionAvs]

Sweden needs CAN-FIN to go to OT to have a chance. They lose tiebreakers to both of them.

Is it the same tiebreakers as NHL standings, obviously beyond the discrepancy in how points are awarded?

 

[LOFIN]

Is it the same tiebreakers as NHL standings, obviously beyond the discrepancy in how points are awarded?

No. Head-on results are the first tie-breaker.

 

[The Pwnerer]

Must say I had little interest in this tourney early in the year. Another gimmick. But once you see how much pride and care the players actually have. Well NHL you have my attention!

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Hill should have been the starter to begin with.

Binner has let in 3 if not 4 soft goals.

Morons like Kelly hrudey who suggest that Binner 'made up for it by making great saves in OT' are too stupid to understand that it wouldn't have gotten to OT if he had made the routine save.

He's been crap and other teams like Finland and Sweden didn't hesitate to make switches when they felt their goalies weren't at the top of their game.

Putting Hill in VS Finland is a no-brainer. Can't have your goalie giving up freebies every game in a tournament like this.

100% agree with this. Hill should get the FIN game to see how he does. It certainly looks a lot better that Blackwood should get the net at the Olympics if he keeps going this way with the Avs so that makes me feel better at least.

TrashBin is so overrated in the NHL world.

 

[AvBuff]

Must say I had little interest in this tourney early in the year. Another gimmick. But once you see how much pride and care the players actually have. Well NHL you have my attention!

I was getting texts from my friends who are die-hard college and pro football fans who only "watch" hockey passively as background noise if a game is on at a sports bar. They were blown away by the intensity and physicality.

This was not NBA All Star game weekend. Even I'm surprised how much the players are putting into this. I've gone from "who cares" to really invested. I think the NHL stumbled into something pretty great with this.

But I do cringe every time MacKinnon or Makar takes a hit. Make it stop. Soon.

 

[niwotsblessing]

How was advanced stat God Toews when he isn't attached at the hip to Makar.

I assume terrible? Not to diss Toews but on his own merits he wouldn't be a lock for this team.

Terrible? Not at all. He looked more like Sam Malinski having to cover for a much less talented defensive partner. The intelligence is evident, skill, playmaking ability and so forth were still there.

The fact is that Canada had no answers for the US yesterday, and the play of the entire team was sub-optimal. Good thing they have such a stout goalie. Oh, wait...

 

[S E P H]

Let's be honest, Canada threw Marchand and Doughty a bone. No way they ever come close to touching the actual Olympic team. Likewise, with the Tampa Bay Lightning line, this is a country that lost to Latvia in the WJC U20 with stupid decisions, so maybe they will bring nepotism back in Italy next February.

 

[dahrougem2]

Feel like people are over exaggerating how bad Canada's been. Helly was incredible last night I thought.

Also I agree that Cirelli and Bennett probably shouldn't be on the roster, especially with Scheifele not being here and Konecny being on the bench. But I don't get the Hagel hate. Don't think he's even been that bad this tourney, but the dudes an elite even strength scorer; 24th in ESP over the last 5 seasons and 2nd over the last 2 seasons. He's also someone who is kind of like Lehky in the sense that his play style(which is different to Lehky) is very compatible with elite players.

Compatible with elite players yet isn't playing with elite players, he's been with Cirelli/Konecny/Point through two games.

Point looks like a guy who misses Kucherov badly. If you know that guy thrives with an elite vision/IQ player, why isn't he with McDavid or Marner? Ditto Hagel.

 

[dahrougem2]

Let's be honest, Canada threw Marchand and Doughty a bone. No way they ever come close to touching the actual Olympic team. Likewise, with the Tampa Bay Lightning line, this is a country that lost to Latvia in the WJC U20 with stupid decisions, so maybe they will bring nepotism back in Italy next February.

Yeah, Canada went for "winners" the same way USA tried to in 2014 and 2016. Look where it got them.

I honestly thought Canada should be worried after needing OT against a clearly 4th best roster Sweden in which they got outplayed in periods 2 and 3.

This tourney is USA's to lose.

 

[Ceremony]

Best part about this tournament has been reacquainting myself with TheDizee. A truly fascinating mind.

 

[Metallo]

Terrible? Not at all. He looked more like Sam Malinski having to cover for a much less talented defensive partner. The intelligence is evident, skill, playmaking ability and so forth were still there.

The fact is that Canada had no answers for the US yesterday, and the play of the entire team was sub-optimal. Good thing they have such a stout goalie. Oh, wait...

 

[Balthazar]

View attachment 978207

 

[niwotsblessing]

View attachment 978207

Friend, that's a cute picture.

Watching the game told another story.

As did the final score.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Friend, that's a cute picture.

Watching the game told another story.

As did the final score.

Canada created more danger, but USA skated in the zone and took two wrist shots that beat the terrible Binnington. Game over.

Goalies are part of the team, so the USA were better as Helly was worlds better than Binnington.

End of story.

 

[Balthazar]

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I was there last night. The pre game/first 5 minutes are the craziest thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life by a hefty margin. The entire arena was standing from the moment GSP walked out, right until that first PP wrapped up. And not just standing. Jumping up and down, arms flailing and every single person screaming at the top of their lungs. Absolute insanity.

And no I didn’t boo the anthem. Some idiots certainly were but the worst part about it was the god damn camera crew put the camera on Matthews lol. All warm up long anytime they showed Matthews the arena erupted with boos. Their biggest rival in terms of nhl and nationally is Matthews. Then in the middle of the American anthem they switch to him and keep it on him and the place just went berserk. I stayed out of it and I hate what’s happening politicallly between our two countries. We need to be allies everywhere aside from inside those hockey boards.

Props to USA. That’s a hockey team. Drastically outcoached Canada too.

 

[Tralfamadore]

Best part about this tournament has been reacquainting myself with TheDizee. A truly fascinating mind.

Love that dude

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

Compatible with elite players yet isn't playing with elite players, he's been with Cirelli/Konecny/Point through two games.

Point looks like a guy who misses Kucherov badly. If you know that guy thrives with an elite vision/IQ player, why isn't he with McDavid or Marner? Ditto Hagel.

Marner Point would be a duo that can play well two way. Marner is probably the most skilled Canadian winger with the puck.

Terrible? Not at all. He looked more like Sam Malinski having to cover for a much less talented defensive partner. The intelligence is evident, skill, playmaking ability and so forth were still there.

The fact is that Canada had no answers for the US yesterday, and the play of the entire team was sub-optimal. Good thing they have such a stout goalie. Oh, wait...

Toews looked like Malinski sure. But he's not covering for less talented players. They're covering for him.

 

[niwotsblessing]

Toews looked like Malinski sure. But he's not covering for less talented players. They're covering for him.

Um, no, you obviously read my post from right-to-left.

 

[wayninja]

Holy hell the takes on this site are f***ing awful. Unbelievable what occurs when tournaments like this happen and it becomes clear no one actually consistently watches hockey games.

Bro, I've watched over 50 FULL games and seen highlights of at least a dozen more. I even have Hejduk Jersey. I think I know what I'm talking about.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Terrible? Not at all. He looked more like Sam Malinski having to cover for a much less talented defensive partner. The intelligence is evident, skill, playmaking ability and so forth were still there.

The fact is that Canada had no answers for the US yesterday, and the play of the entire team was sub-optimal. Good thing they have such a stout goalie. Oh, wait...

Canada did have an answer to the US yesterday but they decided to leave him on the bench for the entire game.

 

[Balthazar]

Makar said his decision not to play last night was the most difficult of his career. He must be real sick.