GDT: Playoff round - February 20 - USA vs Slovakia

[Solmors]

Nice shot by Donato, looked like Marleau circa ~2010

 

[adsfan]

God I cannot listen to Milbury anymore

I think that just about every time he does a game that I am watching.

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

Bruins and Bruins fans gotta be happy with Donato right now

 

[AmericanDream]

millbury is commentating?? glad i turned the sound down when i turned the game on.

yes, yes he is lol

 

[AmericanDream]

great game boys, at least this looked like a team of professionals!!

 

[caslava]

Bad idea. It was only creating bad blood and nationalistic tensions, with Slovaks frequently being under-represented on national teams.

The Czecho-Slovak hockey league should never have been disbanded, and it may be debatable whether the country of Czechoslovakia should have been preserved, but the national teams in sports should have been split immediately after the fall of Communism in 1989. They were not, and that was a mistake. Believe it or not, splitting the national teams early might have saved the country from breaking up, with nationalistic passions being channeled away from politics into sports.

Nice intermission analysis by Slovak TV, showing how a bungled long change by Slovakia – precisely what I was talking about in the first intermission – created a whirlwind of chances for the US in the opening couple of minutes and eventually the first goal against. Only later on came the needless penalties.

5-1 now. You would rather lose like this continuously than win with a combined team? USA team actually looks like they are having fun. Our guys look like they really don’t want to be here. Do any of our guys know how to stick handle? Combined team would be mostly Czech, football team would be mostly Slovak. It’s worth it. Well at least we beat the f***ing Russians

 

[Intermission]

Slovakia held to 3 shots that period

Bottle that

 

[AmericanDream]

good game Slovakia...nice battle...good luck in the future guys!

 

[c9777666]

To think we're a few years removed from Slovakia nearly spoiling the Canadian hockey gold quest in Vancouver 2010.

 

[adsfan]

great game boys, at least this looked like a team of professionals!!

Five goals! Every other US game was 2 or less. They may need that fire power against the Czechs.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Bronx cheer....

 

[Faterson]

The combined league would be dead just as Slovak league is. So what Slovaks would be underrepresented in hockey. We would level it out be being over represented in football where we are better than Czechs now. And we have players on this team who are not even Slovak. Nagy is not, he’s less slovak than American Paul stastny. And that event leading to penalties is bs, it’s just like our WC qualifying. Our team has no drive already. If we added Czechs it would give us some hope of winning

Nonsense on so many levels. It would end up just like it did towards the end of Czechoslovakia: almost no Slovaks on national teams, regardless of performance. Thanks but no thanks, been there done that. You'd also get the added "bonus" of stoking hate between Czechs and Slovaks just because of sports, instead of a very nice sporting rivalry as in the last 25 years.

The Czecho-Slovak hockey league would not be dead in the least, having decades of tradition to proudly look back on. The rivalries between the Czech and Slovak teams in the league were fantastic. Short-sighted Slovak nationalism must be blamed for destroying that league (and other leagues, too, notably football), and we've been reaping the bitter rewards ever since, including tonight.

 

[Sportpsych90]

To think we're a few years removed from Slovakia nearly spoiling the Canadian hockey gold quest in Vancouver 2010.

Our first line there of Hossa Gaborik and Demitra with Chara on D all in there prime could compete with anyone. Just the depth is never there

 

[caslava]

Congrats to USA, played much better than us.
Another failure for us slovaks, only positive is that we are ahead of the Hungarians.

 

[JiggsNY]

It's so dumb there arent more college players. They're the best guys on this team, there should have been at least a handful more college players from around the nation

 

[BaileyMacTavish]

I think what team USA can take from this is that we should add more NCAA players to our roster next time.

3 Assists from Terry
2 Goals from Donato
Greenway being a massive pain in the ass and being a monster down low

A mix of NCAA and Pro players for leadership can go a long way.

Lots of positives. Vets looked good tonight too

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

 

[AmericanDream]

I think what team USA can take from this is that we should add more NCAA players to our roster next year.

3 Assists from Terry
2 Goals from Donato
Greenway being a massive pain in the ass and being a monster down low

A mix of NCAA and Pro players for leadership can go a long way.

Lots of positives. Vets looked good tonight too

indefensible they left off Dan Brickley, Adam Gaudette, and Kieffer Bellows....all should be here hands down.

 

[Faterson]

good game Slovakia...nice battle...

Not sure if sarcastic. The first period was so-so, and the rest was a disaster.

And to caslava: of course I prefer a pure-Slovak disaster over a team of so-called Czecho"slovakia" with 2 Slovak players on a 23-men roster, as I think happened at the last World Championships in 1992. I was at the games, and it felt like cheering on a foreign team.

One of the finest things born in the last 25 years have been these wonderful rivalries between Slovak and Czech national teams in many sports, notably hockey and football, and it would be utterly dumb to destroy all of that just to start arguing about composing a joint team all over again. Thank heavens that's in the dead past.

Coach Ramsay's first sentence in the post-game interview: "I'm very pleased." WTF is he talking about? If he's serious, he should resign immediately. A new Hanlon? No thanks!

 

[caslava]

Nonsense on so many levels. It would end up just like it did towards the end of Czechoslovakia: almost no Slovaks on national teams, regardless of performance. Thanks but no thanks, been there done that. You'd also get the added "bonus" of stoking hate between Czechs and Slovaks just because of sports, instead of a very nice sporting rivalry as in the last 25 years.

The Czecho-Slovak hockey league would not be dead in the least, having decades of tradition to proudly look back on. The rivalries between the Czech and Slovak teams in the league were fantastic. Short-sighted Slovak nationalism must be blamed for destroying that league (and other leagues, too, notably football), and we've been reaping the bitter rewards ever since, including tonight.

So you’d rather lose horribly and finish at the bottom all the time.

Nonsense on so many levels. It would end up just like it did towards the end of Czechoslovakia: almost no Slovaks on national teams, regardless of performance. Thanks but no thanks, been there done that. You'd also get the added "bonus" of stoking hate between Czechs and Slovaks just because of sports, instead of a very nice sporting rivalry as in the last 25 years.

The Czecho-Slovak hockey league would not be dead in the least, having decades of tradition to proudly look back on. The rivalries between the Czech and Slovak teams in the league were fantastic. Short-sighted Slovak nationalism must be blamed for destroying that league (and other leagues, too, notably football), and we've been reaping the bitter rewards ever since, including tonight.

so you’d rather lose all the time and stay at the bottom. Slovak ice hockey on an independent level is dead. The czecho-Slovak league would do nothing to help Slovak hockey sorry look at results around hockey especially junior. Slovaks- no chance to win. Czechs no chance to win. Combined, decent chance. And the rivalry would be stoked by Slovaks who care nothing for winning. If we combined we would make up for losses in Slovak hockey with football. Plus than we wouldn’t need for some reason to have Hungarians on Slovak national team. Nagy, meszaros, etc are not Slovak so why are they on the team than?

And as for football, Slovak league is better than it has ever been imo. Finally producing players who can compete. Look at ruzemberok who played so good against Everton. Plus number of Slovak prospects playing for big clubs.

And sporting rivalry between Czechs and Slovaks, why do want this? Much rather against historical enemies, hungary, who have screwed us for many years.

Tonight’s game is a classic example of players who have no drive or skill to compete. Why do other teams players get mad and angry when they lose when Slovaks slouch and look content? Slovak fans have more drive than players on ice.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I feel old watching Ted Donato’s grown kid.

 

[BMOK33]

So dumb they schedule games tomorrow as back to backs for two teams

 

[willy702]

I think what team USA can take from this is that we should add more NCAA players to our roster next time.

3 Assists from Terry
2 Goals from Donato
Greenway being a massive pain in the ass and being a monster down low

A mix of NCAA and Pro players for leadership can go a long way.

Lots of positives. Vets looked good tonight too

Most NCAA players leave when they are ready for the pro game so what's left is not ready to beat teams of pros no matter where they come from. Terry was a rare case, he certainly could have left but stayed one more year to try to win another title along with his coach and most of his key teammates. Note one of those teammates, Borgstrom, who is probably a better player at this point wasn't deemed good enough to play for Finland so that should give an idea of where NCAA players are in the pecking order of talent.

 

[Northerner]

So dumb they schedule games tomorrow as back to backs for two teams

Yeah i don't like that. But what are you gonna do. We got the one team out of the 4 I think we can beat. Oar, Sweden or Canada would all have been tougher draw. Well see what happens tomorrow...

 

[nickp91]

Another great night for Ryan Donato