Russia 2, Canada 0 FINAL

[ARS]

never mind

 

[Baron Von Shark]

I can't find much info on Krikunov on the net. From what I gather, he went from Belarus head coach, to assistant coach at the World's, to Dynamo head coach (championship) right? Anyone have any other information on him? Where's he from, did he have a big career as a player himself?

It's also good to hear for Bure. I've always been a fan of his...the guy was just exciting to watch, so I'm glad his transition is going well so far.

 

[God Bless Canada]

Hats off to the Russians on winning this one. Russia deserved to win this game, Canada did not. I said yesterday that Canada needed to play their game for a full 60 minutes to win. They did not, and this is the end result. Don't like it, but it's reality. Accept it, move on and get back to work. If the recent events in the Philippines and Egypt have taught us anything, it really is just a game.

Lots of blame to go around. Did Gretzky pick the right team? No. But barring a complete overhaul of this team, they don't win gold. There wasn't that cohesiveness, that team concept, at all during this tournament. Subbing Staal for x or Spezza for y doesn't work. I think the three guys that this team could have really used are Morrow, Kariya and Shanahan. Even a guy like Yzerman for the taxi squad, his leadership would have been invaluable. Morrow and Shanahan would have really helped Canada establish a better forecheck. Kariya would have been a perfect fit for the second line LW with his international experience.

A lot of blame for the players. I'd say there were very few bright spots. Goaltenders were great. You can't blame them for this.

The defence really missed Jovanovski and Niedermayer. There wasn't anyone with past Olympic experience who could move the puck with speed and consistency. Bouwmeester will be at that level for 2010, but he's not there yet. Pronger was really hampered by the foot injury. This was the international swan song for Blake and Foote. Defence just couldn't move the puck effectively, and they were beat too many times.

Very few bright spots up front. Sakic, St. Louis, Smyth and Doan. That's about it among those who consistently brought it. Unless they show me something in the next four years, I would not bring back Thornton, Lecavalier, Richards, Heatley, Gagne or Nash, even though they will be in/entering the prime of their careers. This is Heatley's third straight disappointing tournament for Canada. Thornton was a non-factor after dominating the World Cup and the 2005 Worlds. Would have liked to have seen what would likely be Sakic's final appearance in a best-on-best end under more felicitous circumstances.

If you're going to blame Gretzky, blame him for not overhauling the coaches. Coaches, to me, deserve a lot of heat. If this team didn't have the talent, I can understand that. But this was the most offensively gifted collection of forwards Canada has sent to an international tournament since the 1991 Canada Cup, maybe the 1987 Canada Cup. But they couldn't mesh as a team, and I don't care how much talent you have, if you don't mesh as a team, you aren't going to win. They didn't have the right lines. They couldn't design a potent power play. This is going to be a case study for bad coaching for years to come. There will have to be four new coaches in Vancouver in 2010, and I think one of them has to be a Canadian coaching overseas. (Dave King, anybody?)

Even if we win today, barring a complete change in 48 hours, there was no way we were going to beat the Finns, not with the way they execute their system and their commitment to the team game. That team can beat you any number of ways.

There are dozens of things that teams need to do to succeed. In the end, Canada did not do nearly enough of them. Great goaltending is about the only thing they had in their favour. That is why they won't be in the Olympic semi-final this year for the first time in 18 years.

 

[Rover*]

Now I know how sweden felt 4 years ago.

 

[TheDamned]

Kovalev is a true Captain.

And he's playing for the Montreal Canadiens

 

[swiftwin]

I know alot of people were saying that this year was a transition year for the USA, but I think you can say the same thing about Canada. This team was actually pretty different from the 2002 team.

 

[roccol]

I would also like to pay homage to Pasha's absolutely oustanding defensive play in this tournament. I knew he had it in him

 

[Baron Von Shark]

You guys played good and definitely outplayed team Canada by a lot, this olympics proves, atleast for Canada, that experience doesn't mean as much as the GM's and coaches tout it to be.

Why, because Canada lost? That's bs--it was huge for Canada when they won gold in 02, but now that they got booted out in the QF, the Olympic "experience doesn't mean as much..."? The Olympics are huge...period.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

Congrats Russia!

Damn, we will get crushed so badly.

 

[Freudian]

Canada did a pretty good job defensively but ultimately had to sacrifice too much offense to win. But as always when there are two goalies playing great, the game could have ended either way.

 

[swiftwin]

Now I know how sweden felt 4 years ago.

No we dont...

We got beat by a good team.

 

[Predatore]

Well, some mod decided to delete my thread congratulating the Russians but whatever, I'll post it again

It was merged with this one, which you would have noticed had you cared to quickly go through the previous posts

 

[Yes Im Peter Ing]

Congrats to Russia. Any *****ing about quick whistles and poor calls is just sour grapes. They won and they deserved it.

Having said that, I am still proud to be part of the greatest Hockey nation. This game doesn't change that.

 

[Bill McNeal]

I'm torn up here. This really hurts...

Congrats to the Russians, they deserved to win. But damn it. I can't believe it. Feel awful here. I need to drown my sorrows in something.

 

[CSKA]

Now I know how sweden felt 4 years ago.

Come on we are not Belarus But hey i know it hurts. I still remember that U-20 final game .......

 

[Rotting Corpse*]

These Olympics have proven to me how much "VETERAN EXPERIENCE" is overrated sometimes. Maybe if Canada had given some of their great youngsters a chance instead of making sure the VETERANS from last time were there, we might have had a chance. Oh well.

Congrats to the Russians for a great win.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Now I know how sweden felt 4 years ago.

No you dont, not even close.

 

[Bill McNeal]

These Olympics have proven to me how much "VETERAN EXPERIENCE" is overrated sometimes. Maybe if Canada had given some of their great youngsters a chance instead of making sure the VETERANS from last time were there, we might have had a chance. Oh well.

Congrats to the Russians for a great win.

I actually would have liked to have seen more veterans... Namely Kariya and Shanahan.

 

[ARS]

It was merged with this one, which you would have noticed had you cared to quickly go through the previous posts

Oh crap, well sorry I blamed ya

 

[PecaFan]

Folks, lose with some class, will ya?

We were a crappy team all tournament long, this team was stocked with a bunch of guys by reputation, many of which had good years several years ago, but not this year. The ones currently playing well, we left behind.

Russia was the better team by far. It wasn't the refs, we didn't get ripped off, it wasn't tainted.

Congrats to Russia. Totally deserving.

 

[Caz]

Russia deserved to win but I thought the reactions to Canadas non-goal would be a lot bigger, the replay was shown here in Sweden and Lecavalier scored before the ref blew his whistle. The commentators here in Sweden said it was sure goal.

Again, Russia won fair and square but I just imagined the reactions to be bigger.

Here too. Eurosport showed the replay, and the puck was clearly behind Nabokov's bu*tt. I expectred an outcry from the CAN fans, but I didn't read any coments about it.

Anyways, entertaining game. Over to SVK-CZE now.

 

[Dig Out Your Soul]

Congrats to Russia. Any *****ing about quick whistles and poor calls is just sour grapes. They won and they deserved it.

Why do people always say this? If the ref makes the right call, it's a tie game.

 

[Chimpradamus]

No we dont...

We got beat by a good team.

Exactly. If you multiply the empty, sore feeling in your stomach x5, you have the feeling Swedes felt after Belarus. Add the fact that we probably care more about our national team than you do (we have no NHL) by x2 more and you get perhaps even closer.

The game made Tommy Salo into a shadow of his former self because he was considered the scape goat (very unfair) and Sweden went into a 2 week nationwide depression.

It sucks to lose.

 

[rec28]

Congrats, Russia! You deserved it!

 

[Yes Im Peter Ing]

Why do people always say this? If the ref makes the right call, it's a tie game.

The ref was calling 'em down quick all game. It'd be one thing if the "non-goal" was the exception, but it wasn't. The ref was consistent and that's all you can ask for.