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U18: Gold and Bronze!

Czechboy

Czechboy

Náš f*cken barák!
Apr 15, 2018
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Gold medal game - US vs Sweden
Bronze medal game - Slovakia vs Canada

I'm taking Sweden in a minor upset.
I'm taking Slovakia in a bigger upset.

If I were betting money I'd say US and Canada though.lol
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From having seen both play vs Slovakia, I felt like Americans had much better goaltending. Even if Slovakia got something going in the o-zone, their goalie just shut everything down except for that one goal by Dvorsky which wasn't on him anyway. So I'm thinking America takes it.

For bronze, I say Slovakia. Canada's better at the gold medal game and their rest is a bit shorter.
 
USA will need to cut down on some of the fancy dan stuff that works against the Switzerland and Slovakias of the world, but a team like Sweden will make them pay on the counter if they try to skate and stickhandle around two defenders.
 
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Last 10 tourneys. This will be Sweden's 5th medal in a row! Back to back finals too. Their worst case scenario is 2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronzes in 5 years. Best case scenario is 3 golds and 2 bronzes. Nice work!
 
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Bronze does not seem impossible for Slovakia, but I guess Canada have to be better tomorrow.

Swedens chances is very dependent on if Nordh and Willander gets to play tomorrow. Both are very important pieces for Sweden. Willander is arguably their best D, as is an extremely important presence both ways for this team, especially since it helps balance the fact that ASP is a roller coaster through hell and heaven every time he's no the ice. Nordh has been a super important around the net(ironically) and is a big reason that swedish 3rd line has been such a f***ing menace to the opposite teams(it has been the 2nd best line for Sweden this tournament). It was very noticeable that it was not the same without him, and that will matter a lot if we are going to out a win vs the US, especially because our 4th line simply does not keep up the standard of the other ones at all.
I feel like we need a miracle or a goalie performance of the ages, because while we probably can punish the US at times, it seems inevitable that they will find great offensive opporturnities.

Worried about ASP for example, as much as everyone rates him because of his production, I still can't get over the fact that he has somehow gotten even more careless and loose with the puck than he was at the WJC or before even. It's to the point where it really hurts his potential upside. The amount of pucks he lost this game is unbelievable, especially since Sweden still were the better team.

First line has to keep producing like this as well, since they are the only consistent offensive force. Stenberg has been absolutely beasting this event, and both Edstrom and Sörum deserves flowers as well. Second line has been good I guess, but they really tend to get caved in if the opponent manages to get stuck for a second in their own zone. Don't think Forsfjäll drives play good enough to faciliate the winger combination. Dower Nilsson does make some nice offensive plays, but not good the other way, so hopefully they get together to have their best game tomorrow. Wahlberg is one of the players I don't think has lived up to what I hoped for this event(could also be a cause and effect of the line he's on). Very hopeful that he turns it up.
To be clear, they haven't been bad, but I think there certainly has been weaknesses on that line that the high-end players on the US could abuse.

Lindstein does what he does, he does not stand out a lot, but he is very solid in a multitude of ways. I think the "non-top3" D has been solid in general, so lets be hopeful for a continuation of that.

Going to be a tall task no matter what.
 
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So whats the deal with Edström? Is it Edstrom or Edström? Because the name obviously hail from Sweden originally. Terrific player!
 
Sweden will have a tough time shutting down USA's top scorers, and as Sliptip mentioned Willander needs to play to make it a close game.

Will Canada be able to shut down Dvorsky and Pekarcik? If someone aside from Celebrini has a good game offensively for Canada, they can finish this tournament with a bronze medal.
 
There's nothing he can do but it's still contact to the head which is normally called so it's odd to see them let it go.
 
Difference today might very well end up being goaltending and on that front i'd be a lot more comfortable with Urban then young Daigle.
 
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