GDT: Gold Medal game - Swiss vs Česko

[Mestaruus]

Don't you think the Swiss team looked weak in the latter part of the game but before the overtime ?

Canada took over completely in the third period.

Is that a sign that the depth is not really as strong as the Czechs might have ?

For me , judging by the last game Czehcs is a strong favourite .

The danger might be if the Czechs get nervous or something or get a bad start, but I think with that crazy atmosphere the chance of that is small ...

80% Czechs
20% chance for a Swiss army knife upset

SUI relies on PP opportunities. If they don't get those, it means trouble. SUI are more tired of yesterday as well. SUI needs to get the first goal and control the lead.

 

[SwissFan12]

SUI relies on PP opportunities. If they don't get those, it means trouble. SUI are more tired of yesterday as well. SUI needs to get the first goal and control the lead.

We are very hard to score on 5 on 5, only allowing 1 goal in the last seven games

At the other ends, we could be tired yes but trying to beat the home team to get our first gold ever is a great motivation, let's see what happens, hope we don't get spanked like the Swedes yesterday lol

 

[SantosHalper]

I don't know which one to cheer for, i want to see the fine people of Czechia to go nuts but i would like to see a brand new world champion as well. That would do so good for hockey, so i probably gonna take the soccer mom approach and.....

 

[Jugitsu]

I'm definitely on Czech bandwagon! They deserve to win it in front of home crowd.

 

[dryz]

On one hand Swiss are definitely better match for us but on the other hand there would probably be less pressure against Canada. I think now almost everyone subconsciously expect us winning this one. Our D will have to continue punching above its weight which is going to be difficult especially with Rutta suspended. But I do believe we have better forwards. Stay out of the box, don't let Swiss score first, and we will be good.

 

[BruinLVGA]

We are very hard to score on 5 on 5, only allowing 1 goal in the last seven games

At the other ends, we could be tired yes but trying to beat the home team to get our first gold ever is a great motivation, let's see what happens, hope we don't get spanked like the Swedes yesterday lol

Yeah, worst case scenario for me would be a blow out. Already that 5-1 in the 2013 finals was hard to swallow.
As I said, I am a-ok with the Czech winning, I like the team and the fans + Pasta and Zacha play for my Bruins, I just don‘t want a 7-1 or something. That‘d hurt quite a bit.

EDIT: I went to check what was the most lopsided victory in a world championship finals and found this:
„1981 – The Soviet Union beats Sweden 13-1 in the most lopsided World Championship decider and goes on to defeat Team Canada 8-1 in the one-game Canada Cup final in Montreal, arguably the most crushing defeat in Canada’s international hockey history.“ However it wasn‘t a proper final like this one is.

 

[Urbanskog]

This is the best US team I’ve seen at this tournament in my lifetime.

You can’t look at their result as anything less than a disappointment.

The US has consistently underperformed considering their player material. To me, the US not being in the final is about just as expected as Great Britain not being there.

 

[matsqq]

Sweden got crushed by turnovers, very fast skaters in Czechoslovakia !

I think Switzerland must learn from the swedish teams mistakes .

It will be interesting to see if Czechs get on a roll like against Sweden or if this more becomes a nervous game where both teams try not to make mistakes .

If Czechs play like against Sweden I think they deserve to win.

 

[Jakk123]

The US has consistently underperformed considering their player material. To me, the US not being in the final is about just as expected as Great Britain not being there.

Come on, that's a bit too much. US have been in the semis 6 times in the last 10 tournaments. Yeah, they are underperforming considering their playerbase, but single game elimination tournaments are tricky and mainly in the past they were sending really weak rosters.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

This is the best US team I’ve seen at this tournament in my lifetime.

You can’t look at their result as anything less than a disappointment.

No gold medal since 1996 is honestly bizarre. Czechs have won many times since then even if it's been 14 years since last time.

 

[NyQuil]

No gold medal since 1996 is honestly bizarre. Czechs have won many times since then even if it's been 14 years since last time.

The real question is whether USA Hockey manages to put together another talented team next year, or whether it was a "one-off" just for players to get exposure prior to the NHL's four team thing.

 

[Old Man Jags]

No gold medal since 1996 is honestly bizarre. Czechs have won many times since then even if it's been 14 years since last time.

No gold medal fir the US since 1996? No. The Czechs won it in 1996. And 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2010. The US last won in 1960. The Czechs won it six times since Czechoslovak split from 1 January 1993. (Prior to that, Czechoslovakia also had six golds - first one I think 1947, last one 1985 in Prague.)

 

[Fatass]

Not much of a WC fan until that fabulous Check win over Sweden yesterday. The the Swiss beat Canada. Two fun games to watch.
Checks have Pasta. Best player over there. He will make the difference.

 

[Urbanskog]

No gold medal fir the US since 1996? No. The Czechs won it in 1996. And 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2010. The US last won in 1960. The Czechs won it six times since Czechoslovak split from 1 January 1993. (Prior to that, Czechoslovakia also had six golds - first one I think 1947, last one 1985 in Prague.)

And the 1960 was actually the Olympics, it's just that back then the Olympic tournament was simultaneously counted as the World Championship. The one time they have really won the World Championship was in 1933.

 

[Urbanskog]

Come on, that's a bit too much. US have been in the semis 6 times in the last 10 tournaments. Yeah, they are underperforming considering their playerbase, but single game elimination tournaments are tricky and mainly in the past they were sending really weak rosters.

Even then they have always had some of the strongest teams based on the criteria commonly used on this site. Their poor World Championship performance is neither an isolated or recent trend, it's a trend spanning 91 years.

 

[Czechboy]

That has nothing to do with success, it's a personal thing.

Fischer was already before this year our most successfull coach ever.
He's a native, he's a great motivator and finally brought structure and stability into this team.
Yeah, let's hate that and constantly hope he get's fired so we can have some retired Canadians behind the bench and change them every two years.

Some of our people just love to be grumpy, and hating our national coach is the main competition. Same for football. Whoever is in charge does everything wrong and should be replaced.

They will be back pretty soon on this board. Thank god in real life, the 'fans' are way more positive than on here.
Fischer got the support out there.

But let's not focus on negativity, it's gold medal day and I'm already too excited! Expecting another nervous game, hope they could find some rest.
I mean it's not the same if you were recovering since 16:30 or finish a shootout at 21:00. Doubt they could just sleep 2 hours later with the adrenaline still floating.

Good luck today. I'll be sad if we lose but I will be happy for the Swiss with their first ever Gold.

 

[Old Man Jags]

Devastated that I cannot watch this live. But it starts at 3:20am Tokyo time, which hasn’t stopped me over the past few weeks, but I have a very early Monday morning meeting in the office and can’t look like I’ve been drinking all night or something. So going to sleep before the final starts and then I will go online when I wake up with a huge amount of fear that Switzerland has been crowned world champion.

As for the chances, I think it’s pretty even. You can’t argue that either of the teams is an undeserved finalist. Canada, Sweden or the US also could’ve made it based on what they have shown at this tournament, but it’s certainly not crazy that Switzerland and the Czech Republic came through.

As for why the somewhat unfancied Czechs made it this far, I think the main recipes for success overall have been the Czech coach and the support of the home crowd.

The players all have said that the crowd has lifted them and given them that extra bit of confidence and motivation, without being a distraction or making them nervous or feeling more under pressure to perform.

The style this year under Rulik compared to Jalonen previously is so wonderfully different. We played a disgusting, defensive and plain depressing to watch ultra-defensive style under Jalonen, and my God I am grateful that is over. All Czech fans on this board were over the moon when he was fired after the last championships and we all wanted the current coach, Rulik, to be hired instead.

Then we thought that some of the players Rulik chose to leave at home this year indicated that the style would not change that much from the horror of the Jalonen style of play. I have rarely been that happy to have been wrong.

 

[Old Man Jags]

And the 1960 was actually the Olympics, it's just that back then the Olympic tournament was simultaneously counted as the World Championship. The one time they have really won the World Championship was in 1933.

Ah yes, that’s why, thank you for mentioning this!! I thought that it was 1933, was pretty sure that that is what I had read before, but checked the list of winners online anyway to make sure I do not post wrong information here, and that list issue that the US won in 1960. So I was surprised but noted it down. Now it all makes sense!

 

[Czechboy]

Yeah, worst case scenario for me would be a blow out. Already that 5-1 in the 2013 finals was hard to swallow.
As I said, I am a-ok with the Czech winning, I like the team and the fans + Pasta and Zacha play for my Bruins, I just don‘t want a 7-1 or something. That‘d hurt quite a bit.

EDIT: I went to check what was the most lopsided victory in a world championship finals and found this:
„1981 – The Soviet Union beats Sweden 13-1 in the most lopsided World Championship decider and goes on to defeat Team Canada 8-1 in the one-game Canada Cup final in Montreal, arguably the most crushing defeat in Canada’s international hockey history.“ However it wasn‘t a proper final like this one is.

With all due respect.. have you seen your Swiss team this tourney?

There is no chance of a lopsided score today. This is going OT.. it's going to be excruciating for both of us and probably 2-1 or 3-2. No idea for who but this will be a very close and low scoring game. If we can get 3 past the Swiss I'd be surprised.

 

[Czechboy]

The real question is whether USA Hockey manages to put together another talented team next year, or whether it was a "one-off" just for players to get exposure prior to the NHL's four team thing.

With their unbelievable depth, they should send a gold contender every single year. Second largest pool of NHLers and most of them are damn good!

Canada hasn't sent a best on best roster in several years and have been in how many finals? 6 out of 7 or something amazing like that. No reason US couldn't start doing that. It's confusing.

 

[Czechboy]

No gold medal fir the US since 1996? No. The Czechs won it in 1996. And 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2010. The US last won in 1960. The Czechs won it six times since Czechoslovak split from 1 January 1993. (Prior to that, Czechoslovakia also had six golds - first one I think 1947, last one 1985 in Prague.)

The 1996 is a reference to the World Cup... and US sent a HOF laden roster and won it.

Also, always put an asterisk beside 2005 becuase that was a best on best. NHL lockout and everyone was available. It's very important to me that asterisk.lol

 

[Czechboy]

Some updates for the Czech team.

Krejcik wants to play but it isn't guaranteed. He took a Dahlin shot right to the face and broke his nose. Played in 3rd with a cage. Then went to hospital to get some 'procedures' done.

Now you may be wondering, who the hell is Krejcik?lol Most posters were not happy he was on the roster (me included). Well, he's been our Top D for minutes. He'll never make the NHL, he's not a household name but he's over 20 a game and plays all situations. So that is one of our Top 4 guys.

Another Top 4 guy, Rutta is suspended. Now Rutta you may know. He's an NHL Dman that has won a Cup and can support a top guy. He's had a great and quiet tourney. No mistakes. Then he lost his mind yesterday.

So we may be down 2 of our Top 4 D.

Jakub Flek was sick (which is a shame but I would've wanted Stransky in lineup regardless, his best match was against the Swiss as he plays there and seems to have some hop in his step against them) and he has been officially replaced by Jan Scotka.

You may wonder who the hell Jan Scotka is.lol He's another Dman no poster wanted on the roster. A very straight forward, 1980's style type player. He's been with the team training solo for the tourney.

So we will definitely have 6 Dmen and maybe even 7. So that is good. Losing Rutta is big for us. Potentially losing Krejcik is also big for us. That would mean Scotka gets a regular shift after last playing in Brno. And Spacek would get a regular shift and I'm not sure he's ready for that.

So there is 'drama' on our side.

 

[Czechboy]

On the other hand.. Pasta has no points in 3 games. Is it possible he goes 4 games without a single point here? I consider it good news that we eliminated US and defeated Sweden with a struggling Pasta. Necas has more than stepped up and has been our best forward IMO for the playoffs.

 

[Old Man Jags]

The Czech nation has gone mad for tonight’s final. Starting at 8:20pm local time, some Czech shops including huge chains like Penny will close early at 7pm so that their employees can go home to watch the hockey.

TV Nova, the biggest TV channel of the country (but apparently not with hockey broadcasting rights) has changed their programming tonight, they’ll do some re-run of something instead of what was originally scheduled, because they think nobody will watch it anyway.

Czech TV published data that on Saturday, 76% of switched-on TVs followed ice hockey.

This is from an article on isport.cz

 

[FinPanda]

The Czech nation has gone mad for tonight’s final. Starting at 8:20pm local time, some Czech shops including huge chains like Penny will close early at 7pm so that their employees can go home to watch the hockey.

TV Nova, the biggest TV channel of the country (but apparently not with hockey broadcasting rights) has changed their programming tonight, they’ll do some re-run of something instead of what was originally scheduled, because they think nobody will watch it anyway.

Czech TV published data that on Saturday, 76% of switched-on TVs followed ice hockey.

This is from an article on isport.cz

I love to see it. I felt like everyone was watching team Finland play in the final when we made it and yeah it was like 50% of the population but this is just crazy.