PGT: Game 10: United States 8 - Kazakhstan 2

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The Kazakh goalies deserve a shoutout. They're not crazy or something but mid-major countries rarely have such consistent guys.
 
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anyone else remember Benjamin Conz from the Swiss??? that dude stood on his head at the Olympics and never made it over here...always wondered why he never had success at the NHL even for a smaller goalie..
 
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You guys need to appreciate the dynamic. Canadian crowds loathe USA hockey teams because they know who is the most serious threat to Canadian hockey dominance.

Take it as a compliment, and savor the feeling whenever we take their arrogance down a peg or two.

Agreed. Beating them on Canadian ice is always tremendous. Especially in the Final.
 
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Respect for the Kazakhs not folding. They played hard all the way through.

Really wish there were 10 serious hockey nations to make this tournament even better.
 
Respect for the Kazakhs not folding. They played hard all the way through.

Really wish there were 10 serious hockey nations to make this tournament even better.

Not sure how you figure. They gave up 66 shots and probably didn't have more than 15. What would not playing hard look like for them?
 
Respect for the Kazakhs not folding. They played hard all the way through.

Really wish there were 10 serious hockey nations to make this tournament even better.
There's no way to arrange this fairly but there should be some way for the last team in elite division to play like a best of 3 against the best team of D1A for the final spot. Having a team like Denmark is unavoidable at times but losing Belarus by default and bringing up a much weaker team in Kazakhstan does make results less interesting.
 
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Not sure how you figure. They gave up 66 shots and probably didn't have more than 15. What would not playing hard look like for them?
The difference in skill and talent is stark. It's easy to just give up in that situation.

Kazakhs didn't do that. They skated as hard, as hard as they could anyway, all game. They were looking for a big hit to the very end. I respect that.
 
The difference in skill and talent is stark. It's easy to just give up in that situation.

Kazakhs didn't do that. They skated as hard, as hard as they could anyway, all game. They were looking for a big hit to the very end. I respect that.

I mean, I thought they were a little better in the 3rd. I'm just not sure how you could tell either way in that type of game.
 
There's no way to arrange this fairly but there should be some way for the last team in elite division to play like a best of 3 against the best team of D1A for the final spot. Having a team like Denmark is unavoidable at times but losing Belarus by default and bringing up a much weaker team in Kazakhstan does make results less interesting.
No easy answers. Until 2 of Denmark, Germany, Belarus, Austria, Kazakhstan, Norway, Ukraine, etc. are consistently good, we'll get blowouts like this.
 
No easy answers. Until 2 of Denmark, Germany, Belarus, Austria, Kazakhstan, Norway, Ukraine, etc. are consistently good, we'll get blowouts like this.
I think a few of the ones you named are getting good enough to make an interesting game at the senior level. Not interesting as in you will question the outcome, but competitive enough such that players won't develop bad habits. Junior level is wayyy harder because you're only compiling talent from maybe 2, maybe 3 classes.
 
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The crowd has had a hate ***** for the U.S. the entire game. They'd probably give a standing ovation if they hurt one of the Americans. Classy crowd.
No, we just like the underdogs. Kazakhstan had the crowd support last night too against the Finns. They've pretty much been adopted by the home crowd - there were quite a few brand new looking Kazakhstan scarves and hats in the stands tonight. Slovakia has also had a lot of support so far, against both the US and Sweden.

Sweden is getting similar treatment to the US; the crowd has been pretty vocal in favor of their opposition in their first two games. I'm guessing they'll get the crowd support against the US though, as the US are bigger rivals to Canada.
 
The crowd has had a hate ***** for the U.S. the entire game. They'd probably give a standing ovation if they hurt one of the Americans. Classy crowd.

I was at the game and can safely say this wasn't a classy Canadian crowd. More than a few c***suckers right around us.
 
Lol, love when canada fans cheer when the opposing teams score against USA.
In fairness, every underdog gets Canadian support.

This was pretty much the vibe there (been to all the Victoria games) as we were cheering for Kazakstan against the Finns as well.

Everyone there knows Kazakstan doesn’t stand a chance against the contending teams but it felt good to give them some encouragment for their efforts to keep battling even though they were clearly outclassed.
We even gave their goalie two standing ovations in the Finland game when he was robbing them time and again when the Kazaks were under siege for pretty much the entire third period.
 
Sorry but you should know the third national sport of Canada after hockey and lacrosse is Anti-Americanism.

This is true. The original English speaking Canadians didn't immigrate from the British Isles (as they would like you to believe), but they were tarred, feathered, and expelled from the southern colonies during the American Revolution for their treachery. This is why anti-Americanism so ingrained in their national psyche and has defined pretty much what it means to be a Canadian.
 
Lol, love when canada fans cheer when the opposing teams score against USA.
Yeah, we cheered for the Kazakhs against Finland yesterday too, and will probably cheer for them against Slovakia and Sweden too. The vibe in the building has been one of sympathy. Take it personally if you want, but they are a very sympathetic underdog.

I mean, they are very bad. Really, very bad. A few good skaters but not many with decent puck-handling skills and I’ve been kind of surprised at how poor their conditioning has been. Some of the players have been noticeably gassed in the last 10 minutes of both games. They’re young and small to boot. Despite all that, they have not quit at all. We gave the Kazakh goalie a couple of standing Os yesterday because he kind of epitomized that no-quit attitude.
 
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anyone else remember Benjamin Conz from the Swiss??? that dude stood on his head at the Olympics and never made it over here...always wondered why he never had success at the NHL even for a smaller goalie..

Almost every year there is one goalie from a smaller market that impresses at the tournament, it's the nature of the beast for a position that gets bombarded because of a lack of skill up front, but it is rarely parlayed into a draft selection. Conz is a good example, more recently Godla is another one. Godla dragged the Slovaks to a bronze and was named the tournament MVP, and goalie of the tournament, and still never got drafted. Both Kazak goalies are good but they are very raw, technically they are not very sound but they do have solid skills, Yeremeyev's probably a little better especially in terms of his reflexes, but they need a lot of work. Typically teams aren't willing to gamble on a player so raw. I'd be surprised if either did get picked up, but I hope they do that would be great.

I think the more likely draft picks from this team are Orekhov, Gatiyatov, and the Daniyar's. And even then I am not sure if they will. I feel like Orekhov is AT LEAST a late 3rd but who knows.
 

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