How the knockout rounds will look like.

[Pushkin*]

Why has nobody predicted this potential 1/4 final : Canada-Russia ?It could very well happen and it would be terrible for the tournament that this match happens this early.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Why has nobody predicted this potential 1/4 final : Canada-Russia ?It could very well happen and it would be terrible for the tournament that this match happens this early.

*nod*
The way I'm expecting the quarters to be is fin vs usa, slovakia vs czech, canada vs russia and typical Swedish luck to get the Swiss..

 

[Jyssy]

If Sweden gets Switzerland in the quarterfinals, i`m gonna be really pissed, they don`t deserve it! No offence to swiss

 

[sabresrat]

If Sweden gets Switzerland in the quarterfinals, i`m gonna be really pissed, they don`t deserve it! No offence to swiss

They don't deserve to draw the team with the hottest goaltender?

 

[ChuckNorris]

That 9th goal by Team Russia against Latvia, total team effort like it was a training. I hope we'll see much more young goals by Ovie and Malkin vs Canada in quarters, rivalry is back! This is the time when youngsters (RUS) will teach matured Canada.

Being real, the quarters will be like this IMO:

Slovakia - Canada (I don't see Canada losing 3 in a straight vs Czechs) Slovakia - narrow win
Russia - Czech (Czechs are spite to win but Russia is on their way, playing well in F and D aswell so far) Russia wins by 2-3 goals.
Switzerland - Sweden (I don't predict an easy win for Swedes, everyone should dispose to Swiss now) Sweden - Switzerland 3:1
Finland - USA (tough game at start), 4:1 for Finland.

Semis:

Slovakia, Russia, Sweden, Finland....

no prediction...

anyway, i do not underestimate Canada or Czech, but right now - they have no "heart", speed and skill to play in medal round.. sad but true. Maybe its acclimatization or something, i can't see nothing from both of the teams that could bear them a medals. Sorry.

 

[Jyssy]

They don't deserve to draw the team with the hottest goaltender?

Lets be realistic here, Switzerland is going to lose their quarterfinal game. It doesnt matter is it Slovakia, Russia or Sweden. Those three teams havent shown their best yet. And Aebischer cant stop Gaborik, Hossa, Kovalchuk when they start to play.

 

[Czech Your Math]

I love blueberries

But scoring a bunch of goals in the round robin has little bearing on the medal round.

Notice someone calling attention to the 9th goal by Russia against Latvia as evidence of the team's greatness, and then saying the Czechs have no heart. If by heart you mean running up the score on much weaker teams or trying to injure opposing players, then I guess not.

We'll see what happens in the medal round, but I doubt Russia would win by 2-3 goals over the Czechs, given that each team has scored one goal total in the last two Olympic medal round meetings.

By the way, the scores I gave were hopes, not predictions. We don't even know the QF matchups yet.

 

[teme]

If Sweden gets Switzerland in the quarterfinals, i`m gonna be really pissed, they don`t deserve it! No offence to swiss

Think Belarus. Now if they played against say Canada, they would probably win.

 

[Silvercup Returns]

I love it.

1st post.

No "prediction", no "my opinion", nothing.

Just matter of fact, "listen up jholes, this is how it goes down".

Damn straight!

 

[Eagle Eye Cherry]

believe me on my bracket. and you can take that to the bank!

 

[Slitty]

Correction: Russia outshot and outplayed the Czech Republic in the 1998 final but was faced with a great goaltending performance by Hasek much like the Czechs had to deal with Khabibulin in the 2002 QF.

 

[Czech Your Math]

Correction: Russia outshot and outplayed the Czech Republic in the 1998 final but was faced with a great goaltending performance by Hasek much like the Czechs had to deal with Khabibulin in the 2002 QF.

Actually, the Czechs outshot them 21-20 in 1998. Hasek played well when needed, but so did Shtalenkov (with help from the posts). Hasek was most brilliant in other games during the tournament.

"The Czechs had several good chances on goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov, but it was Svoboda who finally broke through on a slap shot from the left point 8 minutes 8 seconds into the third period."
............................................
"The Russians (5-1) had trouble getting through Svoboda and the rest of the Czech defence to put much pressure on Hasek. He faced only 20 shots and had to make only a few difficult saves.

Mikhail Shtalenkov, who helped the Russian-dominated Unified Team of Soviet republics win the 1992 gold medal, matched Hasek save-for-save until the 8:08 mark of the third period."
....................................
'Czech goaltender Dominik Hasek, who has been credited with carrying the Czech team almost single-handedly into the final, stopped 20 shots, but was largely unchallenged in the last two periods as the defense kept the Russians in disarray.

''We were able to limit the Russians to only 20 shots. Our goal going into the game was to slow down their fast skaters in the neutral zone and interrupt their rhythm and I think we did that,'' said Slavomir Lener, coach of the Czech Republic.'
......................................
"The first period started furiously with the Czech Republic swarming over the neutral ice looking for a breakthrough. The Russians tried long slap shots but did not trouble Czech goal-tender Dominik Hasek.

The second period started more calmly with the Russians putting together long series of accurate passes, making the Czechs work hard to keep up. Most of the pressure came from Russia but the Czechs always looked dangerous on the break."