GDT: May 8 • Slovenia vs. Norway

[KenGuru]

Bastiansen puts Norway back in front, 2-1

Good for us, but I felt Kopitar was tripped there and we should have had a penalty. But I am not complaining. Normally refs is the other way

 

[QnebO]

Lol that was farce. He barely was in the paint and he was cross checked in it. This dont go in goalie area thing in this tournament is horrible.

 

[TheSanny]

The reffing has been horrible all tournament. Both ways.

 

[QnebO]

Lol.. This is embarassing

Oh, penalty for diving at least.

 

[TheSanny]

Kopitar is so freaking good.

 

[TheSanny]

That was scary. Hope Sørvik is okay.

 

[TheSanny]

3-1 Norway

 

[TheSanny]

Awesome. We're safe from relegation, and with two more wins we'll go to the QF.

 

[QnebO]

Congratulations Norway!

 

[Like Wall]

Congratz!

 

[ThrashersfanSVK]

We defeated Sweden at the U18 almost solely thanks to Huska.

I hope you saw that game which would mean you were right in Luzern. Sweden was better, but no way it was game between Húska and Swedish forwards.

I've noticed you're quite pessimistic regarding Slovak ice hockey, which is quite logical, but you are overreacting, I think. I really don't think we played tragically in previous four games. I mean, it definitely wasn't worse than it was from 2008 till 2014 (with an exception in 2012, but also in 2012 we struggled against Kazakhstan, France, we were worse in game against Switzerland etc.). Even in 2007 with Demitra, Gáborík and Hossa we were playing quite bad against Belarus. In fact, I don't recall when we had outplayed the opponent like Denmark or Belarus for the last time, like we did in 3rd period of both games this year.

Seems to be a good strategy because (unlike, say, the Czechs) we haven't been relegated so far.

In fact we were relegated at U18 level in 2011. If you're talking about U20 level, keep in mind that Czechs have never been relegated from U20 Top Division yet. They were relegated from U18 Top Division in 2007 with Martin Pešout (yes, that current expert of Slovak television in Prague studio, albeit I usually agree with what he says there) behind the bench.

 

[Jakk123]

I hope you saw that game which would mean you were right in Luzern. Sweden was better, but no way it was game between Húska and Swedish forwards.

I've noticed you're quite pessimistic regarding Slovak ice hockey, which is quite logical, but you are overreacting, I think. I really don't think we played tragically in previous four games. I mean, it definitely wasn't worse than it was from 2008 till 2014 (with an exception in 2012, but also in 2012 we struggled against Kazakhstan, France, we were worse in game against Switzerland etc.). Even in 2007 with Demitra, Gáborík and Hossa we were playing quite bad against Belarus. In fact, I don't recall when we had outplayed the opponent like Denmark or Belarus for the last time, like we did in 3rd period of both games this year.

In fact we were relegated at U18 level in 2011. If you're talking about U20 level, keep in mind that Czechs have never been relegated from U20 Top Division yet. They were relegated from U18 Top Division in 2007 with Martin Pešout (yes, that current expert of Slovak television in Prague studio, albeit I usually agree with what he says there) behind the bench.

No, I didn't see the game, but I saw the highlights and the number of shots. The term I used was a bit too strong, but ask yourself, how would the game end, if it wasn't for Huska.

In 2014, althought we lost to France, we played much much better imo. In 2012 we struggled against some opponents, but no way was the performance as bad as this year. And most importatnly, we won. I never said this year's performance was worse than years 2008-2011. I think those performances were equally tragical. 2013 was a shaky year, Latvia and Austria matches really were bad, but other than that, I found our showing better than this year.

This year, 3rd period against Denmark has been the only one I have been statisfied with so far. All of this is just my opinion, but for me that is not hockey, what we are trying to play. I am no way trying to say that we have to win everything, but we were genuinely outplayed by Slovenia. I think we are lucky to have no relegation issues right now.

Actually, you are not the first one to call me pessimistic. But I really don't know how exactly am I pessimistic. I am not giving up on my team, going to be a fan no matter what. I just refuse to be quiet when I find our performance horrible. Seeing the reactions of our players, maybe a little self-criticism would help them.

Oh, and Faterson, lucky bounces, you say? Funny, how that always seems to be the reason why we lose

 

[ThrashersfanSVK]

...ask yourself, how would the game end, if it wasn't for Huska.

That's hypothetical. I know what you mean, but I cand ask counter-question – how would have the game against Russia ended, if Russian hadn't have Samsonov (plus Húska hadn't made two mistakes in net). No-one knows.

In 2014, althought we lost to France, we played much much better imo. In 2012 we struggled against some opponents, but no way was the performance as bad as this year. And most importatnly, we won. I never said this year's performance was worse than years 2008-2011. I think those performances were equally tragical. 2013 was a shaky year, Latvia and Austria matches really were bad, but other than that, I found our showing better than this year.

This year, 3rd period against Denmark has been the only one I have been statisfied with so far. All of this is just my opinion, but for me that is not hockey, what we are trying to play. I am no way trying to say that we have to win everything, but we were genuinely outplayed by Slovenia. I think we are lucky to have no relegation issues right now.

As for 2013 – game against Germany wasn't good either, don't forget. We were struggling there all the time as well and we weren't the better team. We did play better against tougher opponent (Finland, Russia, US and again Finland QF), but at the moment you cannot compare those two championships since we haven't faced Top 6 opponent in Ostrava, yet. You never know how it will look like in up-coming three games and it still can turn into really good championship. I still think we do play slightly better than we did in 2013. At least against weaker opponents (and we put up seven points out of four games versus lower seeds exactly like in 2013, which just proves that we probably didn't play worse this year)

 

[Jakk123]

That's hypothetical. I know what you mean, but I cand ask counter-question – how would have the game against Russia ended, if Russian hadn't have Samsonov (plus Húska hadn't made two mistakes in net). No-one knows.

As for 2013 – game against Germany wasn't good either, don't forget. We were struggling there all the time as well and we weren't the better team. We did play better against tougher opponent (Finland, Russia, US and again Finland QF), but at the moment you cannot compare those two championships since we haven't faced Top 6 opponent in Ostrava, yet. You never know how it will look like in up-coming three games and it still can turn into really good championship. I still think we do play slightly better than we did in 2013. At least against weaker opponents (and we put up seven points out of four games versus lower seeds exactly like in 2013, which just proves that we probably didn't play worse this year)

Fair enough, you are right with Huska, but the thing I was originally trying to say to Faterson was that I didn't see us having a rest as the reason for us losing 10:0 to the USA.

Yeah, the Germany game was a pain to watch. But still, I don't know, I just miss the "hockey-ness" in our game this year, if you know what I mean. Hope we can step it up against tougher opponents, but as we will probably need 2 wins, I don't like our chances.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

I hope you saw that game which would mean you were right in Luzern. Sweden was better, but no way it was game between Húska and Swedish forwards.

I've noticed you're quite pessimistic regarding Slovak ice hockey, which is quite logical, but you are overreacting, I think. I really don't think we played tragically in previous four games. I mean, it definitely wasn't worse than it was from 2008 till 2014 (with an exception in 2012, but also in 2012 we struggled against Kazakhstan, France, we were worse in game against Switzerland etc.). Even in 2007 with Demitra, Gáborík and Hossa we were playing quite bad against Belarus. In fact, I don't recall when we had outplayed the opponent like Denmark or Belarus for the last time, like we did in 3rd period of both games this year.

In fact we were relegated at U18 level in 2011. If you're talking about U20 level, keep in mind that Czechs have never been relegated from U20 Top Division yet. They were relegated from U18 Top Division in 2007 with Martin Pešout (yes, that current expert of Slovak television in Prague studio, albeit I usually agree with what he says there) behind the bench.

Latvia at the 2010 Olympics and 5-10 minutes against Belarus back in 2012, however we actually managed to make some use of the dominance in those few minutes pretty early in the game and get such a lead that Belarus just couldn't come back to the game.

I don't expect us to steam role the bottom group opponents, but a team made up of 10+ NHL/KHLers getting outskated and outplayed by them for all but 1 or 2 periods is kinda mind boggling IMO.

You know, sometimes I think that the reason we started to suck is that I started watching the team closely, as the 2008 WC is when I became a hockey fan and we played in the relegation round and it§s been mostly going from bad to worse since then. However, then I remember that the first warning sign came already back in 2006, when we lost to Belarus and only got to the QF thanks to beating Sweden. And I think that chances are that the tourney could have gone differently had Marián Hossa not been there.

 

[Jakk123]

Latvia at the 2010 Olympics and 5-10 minutes against Belarus back in 2012, however we actually managed to make some use of the dominance in those few minutes pretty early in the game and get such a lead that Belarus just couldn't come back to the game.

I don't expect us to steam role the bottom group opponents, but a team made up of 10+ NHL/KHLers getting outskated and outplayed by them for all but 1 or 2 periods is kinda mind boggling IMO.

You know, sometimes I think that the reason we started to suck is that I started watching the team closely, as the 2008 WC is when I became a hockey fan and we played in the relegation round and it§s been mostly going from bad to worse since then. However, then I remember that the first warning sign came already back in 2006, when we lost to Belarus and only got to the QF thanks to beating Sweden. And I think that chances are that the tourney could have gone differently had Marián Hossa not been there.

That is a sure thing, I would say

 

[slovakiasnextone]

That is a sure thing, I would say

Yeah, however in 2006 we still had enough players to field a team that could compete with the best, but since it was Olympics year and despite the QF loss to the Czechs it wasn't like the tourney was a disaster like 2002, so not much extra motivation for the players to come to the WC.

It did however show how much we were relying just on which NHL players would show up by that point. I'd like to day that something has changed in that approah in 2015 but really all that had changed is that now we're waiting for NHLers and KHLers to see whether they will be good to go for the Worlds and if they're not like last year, we build teams "out of desparation".

 

[Jakk123]

Yeah, however in 2006 we still had enough players to field a team that could compete with the best, but since it was Olympics year and despite the QF loss to the Czechs it wasn't like the tourney was a disaster like 2002, so not much extra motivation for the players to come to the WC.

It did however show how much we were relying just on which NHL players would show up by that point. I'd like to day that something has changed in that approah in 2015 but really all that had changed is that now we're waiting for NHLers and KHLers to see whether they will be good to go for the Worlds and if they're not like last year, we build teams "out of desparation".

Funny thing is that the last year's team out of desperation was much more fun to watch, I would say And if it wasn't for the 10 minutes with France, I think we could have labeled the tourney as pretty successful.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Funny thing is that the last year's team out of desperation was much more fun to watch, I would say And if it wasn't for the 10 minutes with France, I think we could have labeled the tourney as pretty successful.

Yes, probably because some of us were waiting to see a team like that for years.

Also, perhaps we could have even lost that one preiod against France if those last 3 minutes vs. Jágr had gone differently. Funny thing is that we actually had as many points as in 13' when we made the QF.

Btw, perhaps this discussion should be moved to the Slovakia thread as it doesn't have much to do with the Slovenia-Norway game.

 

[Hagstrom]

I like how this game thread for a game between Slovenia and Norway has turned into a discussion on Slovakia's World Championship history.