Which country will win World Cup?

[wilka91*]

There's not many Russians / Czechs here ...

 

[Jamie]

Just for fun;

LEFT WING-CENTER-RIGHT WING
Kariya-Lemieux-Bertuzzi
Stillman-Thornton-Iginla
Smyth-Peca-Recchi
Shanahan-Richards-Walker

DEFENSE
Niedermayer-Pronger
Brewer-Jovonovski
Redden-Bowmeister

GOAL
Brodeur
Theodore
Joseph

SPARES:
Morrison, Ribeiro, Staios, Morris

LEFT WING-CENTER-RIGHT WING
Yzerman-Sakic-Murray
Tanguay-Lecavalier-Briere
Maltby-Madden-Hunter
Nash-Spezza-Doan

DEFENSE
Blake-Aucoin
McCabe-Hannan
Smith-Boyle

GOAL
Luongo
Belfour
Turco

SPARES:
Arnot, Mccauley, Rathje, Boynton

I may have missed a player or two, and may not have made the best line combo's possible, but that looks pretty intimidating to me. If both team's played, I would not be surprised to see gold and silver for Canada. At the same time though, I also wouldn't be overly surprised if both just missed winning medals.

 

[nomorekids]

This years Canadian World Championship team could almost be called a "b" team. We did not have Iginla, Sakic, Pronger, Brodeur, Lemieux, Blake, and many other of our top players. I think the Czech Republic, Sweden and Russia will all have many more players from the World Championship team playing in the World Cup.

So could a Canadian "B" team beat the "A" team of the other coutries? Who knows, It is all speculation, although I think it would be closer then some people might believe.....

what's your point? all countries had to select from players available. do you think Brett Hauer, Mike Grier or Erik Westrum would make the US's Cup team? Do you think players like Tkachuk, Roenick, Modano, Guerin...and even Amonte, Rolston, York...just listing forwards will be left off? I don't think the Canadians are going to dominate this tournement the way they think they will. Yes, they're going to ice a strong roster...but so will the USA, Finland, Slovakia...and I think the Czech Republic's roster looks almost as dangerous, especially if Jagr and Rucinsky play with the fire they did at the WCH. Add Lang to that line...wow.

 

[DownFromNJ]

What would be really interesting would be if you split up French-Canada and Canada.

Course, there would be a significant slant in the goaltending factor

 

[GermanDevil]

Canada !!!

 

[Slick Nick]

There's sevral posts about how Canada has the best goalies in this tournament. Well Khabibulin-Nabokov-?Bryzgalov? isin't bad if you sak me. Finns will have a great goalie, like they always did, Czechs also...

Actually there will be no weak goalies there, you can argue about Slovakia and Sweeden, but they're still very good goaltenders.

Teams you really don't want to face in the 1/4s; Finland, USA and Slovakia.. Perhaps Belarus :lol

My predication:

1-Canada
2-Sweeden
3-Russia
4-Czechs
5-Finland
6-USA
7-Slovakia

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

There's sevral posts about how Canada has the best goalies in this tournament. Well Khabibulin-Nabokov-?Bryzgalov? isin't bad if you sak me. Finns will have a great goalie, like they always did, Czechs also...

Actually there will be no weak goalies there, you can argue about Slovakia and Sweeden, but they're still very good goaltenders.

Teams you really don't want to face in the 1/4s; Finland, USA and Slovakia.. Perhaps Belarus :lol

My predication:

1-Canada
2-Sweeden
3-Russia
4-Czechs
5-Finland
6-USA
7-Slovakia

Like they always did? When has Finland had a great goalie before in a major tournament?

Salt Lake: Hurme - Nurminen
Nagano: Myllys - Sulander
Before that: Myllys-Tammi-Ketterer etc..

Hurme was Florida's backup, and Nurminen had yet to seize the Atlanta starters position. None of Sulander,Myllys, Tammi or Ketterer made any waves in the NHL.

Now, for the first time, Finland will have top-notch goaltending. But at the same time we've lost top-notch offence (Selänne isn't what he was in 1998). Still, in a tournament of one-off games, I'd rather have the great goaltender.

Kiprusoff, Nurminen, Lehtonen,Toskala, Hurme (IR), Markkanen, Noronen, Niittymäki (AHL), Ahonen (AHL), Norrena (SEL), Lassila (SML), Bäckström (SML) Lehto (SML) are probably Finland's top 12 goalies now. That's the sort of depth in goal that we've never had. Obviously, whatever decisions were made ages ago because of our poor goaltending vs major countries to recrify the situation have been very very good ones.

Now, we don't need 12 that good, could we make a trade with say, the US or Slovakia or someone for a scoring forward?
Or for a faceoff winning centre ?

 

[Slick Nick]

Like they always did? When has Finland had a great goalie before in a major tournament?

Salt Lake: Hurme - Nurminen
Nagano: Myllys - Sulander
Before that: Myllys-Tammi-Ketterer etc..

Hurme was Florida's backup, and Nurminen had yet to seize the Atlanta starters position. None of Sulander,Myllys, Tammi or Ketterer made any waves in the NHL.

Now, for the first time, Finland will have top-notch goaltending. But at the same time we've lost top-notch offence (Selänne isn't what he was in 1998). Still, in a tournament of one-off games, I'd rather have the great goaltender.

Kiprusoff, Nurminen, Lehtonen,Toskala, Hurme (IR), Markkanen, Noronen, Niittymäki (AHL), Ahonen (AHL), Norrena (SEL), Lassila (SML), Bäckström (SML) Lehto (SML) are probably Finland's top 12 goalies now. That's the sort of depth in goal that we've never had. Obviously, whatever decisions were made ages ago because of our poor goaltending vs major countries to recrify the situation have been very very good ones.

Now, we don't need 12 that good, could we make a trade with say, the US or Slovakia or someone for a scoring forward?
Or for a faceoff winning centre ?

I'm not old enough to know those goalies, but almost everybody (older) that I know told me that Finns always had a great goaltending school. Maybe it's because you showed more heart and beat us, so our elders put it on your Goalies, but really tho, I've always been told that Finns had very good goaltending. For a «small country» like Finland, you have quite a lot of goalies in the NHL... And the young ones have enormous potential.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

I'm not old enough to know those goalies, but almost everybody (older) that I know told me that Finns always had a great goaltending school. Maybe it's because you showed more heart and beat us, so our elders put it on your Goalies, but really tho, I've always been told that Finns had very good goaltending. For a «small country» like Finland, you have quite a lot of goalies in the NHL... And the young ones have enormous potential.

Let's put it this way, I named 12, and forgot all about Hannu Toivonen!

The future is good, but the past was, at best, adequate..

 

[psycho_dad*]

I'm not old enough to know those goalies, but almost everybody (older) that I know told me that Finns always had a great goaltending school. Maybe it's because you showed more heart and beat us, so our elders put it on your Goalies, but really tho, I've always been told that Finns had very good goaltending. For a «small country» like Finland, you have quite a lot of goalies in the NHL... And the young ones have enormous potential.

Guys like Sulander and Myllys have been succesfull in certain games, even certain tournaments. But they were a bit streaky and sometimes Finland was losing mostly on the goaltending. These guys were amazing in european leagues, but there is yet another step to become a top NHL goalie. Sulander and Myllys in their better days were probably better than some of our young goalies are now (Noronen, Markkanen etc), but Finland has never had anything even close to Kiprusoff before. Future is looking very bright though.

 

[Predatore]

I remember Jarmo Myllys not being only a top SEL goalie but pretty much the best goalie in the World Championships for 3-5 years (at the time Koivu, Lehtinen, Peltonen etc came through in the national team).

94: Olympic Games - GP: 5, GAA: 0.60 SVS%: 966
94 World Champs - GP: 7, GAA: 1.35 SVS%: .942
95 World Champs - GP: 7, GAA: 1.71 SVS%: .917
96 World Champs - GP: 4, GAA: 3.03 SVS%: .900
97 World Champs - GP: 6, GAA: 1.68 SVS%: .938

The main talk back then when Sweden faced Finland was how to get the puck past Mylllys.

 

[eh]

This years Canadian World Championship team could almost be called a "b" team. We did not have Iginla, Sakic, Pronger, Brodeur, Lemieux, Blake, and many other of our top players. I think the Czech Republic, Sweden and Russia will all have many more players from the World Championship team playing in the World Cup.

Every country (except for Slovakia who only missed a couple of key players) had their "B team" in the World Championships. Canada and USA probably had 4-5 guys who'll play in the World Cup, all the other top countries had 10 or so. No other country has the kind of depth Canada does, but they couldn't beat the others' A teams with their B.

About Finnish goaltending: I think it safe to say that Finland has "always" had good goaltenders, even if they haven't been good enough to really break out in the NHL. Now, however, the situation is better than ever: there's a clean cut #1 goalie (Kirpusoff) who's still young and it's getting better all the time with all the top goaltending prospects climbing up the ranks.

 

[psycho_dad*]

I remember Jarmo Myllys not being only a top SEL goalie but pretty much the best goalie in the World Championships for 3-5 years (at the time Koivu, Lehtinen, Peltonen etc came through in the national team).

94: Olympic Games - GP: 5, GAA: 0.60 SVS%: 966
94 World Champs - GP: 7, GAA: 1.35 SVS%: .942
95 World Champs - GP: 7, GAA: 1.71 SVS%: .917
96 World Champs - GP: 4, GAA: 3.03 SVS%: .900
97 World Champs - GP: 6, GAA: 1.68 SVS%: .938

The main talk back then when Sweden faced Finland was how to get the puck past Mylllys.

Finnish team was amazing in -94 olympics. Myllys did not have to do much. Finland only lost ONE period in that whole tournament and that was mainly because of Koivu-Lehtinen-Peltonen. Finland was also dominant in -95 mainly because of these guys. Myllys was very good at times.

 

[wilka91*]

Here's my prediction :

1.Russia
2.Sweden
3.Canada
4.Czech Republic
5.USA
6.Finland
7.Slovakia
8.Germany

 

[rbeeler]

Not that I am saying they will win it, but remember Germany did crush a strong Czech Republic team at the '96 World Cup by a score of 7-1. Goes to show that any team has a chance of winning, especially the ones that catch fire at the right time (like Canada seems to be doing of late).

 

[Safir*]

My prediction:

1. Canada
2. Finland (I assume that Lehtonen is in goal.)
3. Sweden
4. Czech Rpublic
5. USA
6. Russia
7. Slovakia
8. Germany

 

[wilka91*]

Not that I am saying they will win it, but remember Germany did crush a strong Czech Republic team at the '96 World Cup by a score of 7-1. Goes to show that any team has a chance of winning, especially the ones that catch fire at the right time (like Canada seems to be doing of late).

When you say something like that you don't know what happened to the Czechs that time, do you?

They had more problems that time than the Russian team now. Their players were playing for themselves, they hated each other, and they were just trying to prove that one was better than the other. They were so arrogant ...

There was no Czech team at all.

 

[Kronblom]

When you say something like that you don't know what happened to the Czechs that time, do you?

They had more problems that time than the Russian team now. Their players were playing for themselves, they hated each other, and they were just trying to prove that one was better than the other. They were so arrogant ...

There was no Czech team at all.

Jagr and Nedved took the limo when the czech team was travelling from the hotel to the arena in Prag. The rest of the team took the bus...

The head coach Ludak Bukac wanted to get rid of them but was unsuccessful by doing so. Bukac then protested by being absent from the practice sessions. He handed over the job to the assistant coaches who couldn´t deal with the so called stars either when they practiced. What a team...


Their result at the World Cup 1996:
FIN - CZE 7-3
SWE- CZE 3-0
GER - CZE 7-1

 

[Nic]

Jagr and Nedved took the limo when the czech team was travelling from the hotel to the arena in Prag. The rest of the team took the bus...

The head coach Ludak Bukac wanted to get rid of them but was unsuccessful by doing so. Bukac then protested by being absent from the practice sessions. He handed over the job to the assistant coaches who couldn´t deal with the so called stars either when they practiced. What a team...


Their result at the World Cup 1996:
FIN - CZE 7-3
SWE- CZE 3-0
GER - CZE 7-1

Haha..... Kind of sounds like the New York Rangers, no?

 

[Nic]

Every country (except for Slovakia who only missed a couple of key players) had their "B team" in the World Championships. Canada and USA probably had 4-5 guys who'll play in the World Cup, all the other top countries had 10 or so. No other country has the kind of depth Canada does, but they couldn't beat the others' A teams with their B.

About Finnish goaltending: I think it safe to say that Finland has "always" had good goaltenders, even if they haven't been good enough to really break out in the NHL. Now, however, the situation is better than ever: there's a clean cut #1 goalie (Kirpusoff) who's still young and it's getting better all the time with all the top goaltending prospects climbing up the ranks.

I never said Canada's B team could beat another countries "a" team. I said it would be closer then some people think, which is speculation. You say they couldn't beat the other teams A team, but that is ALSO speculation, since that event has never happened, nor will it. Neither of us can prove our statements, so lets leave it at that.

My point was that Canada has more depth then all the other countries in the World Cup. However, the tournament only features the 24 best players from the best countries, which means all that matters is those players, not their replacements in the pressbox.

As for people who keep on bringing up countries records in the past, they have very little bearing on this tournament. Things change, and many of the teams competing in the World Cup this year will be VERY different from the teams that were at the olympics at SLC and Nagano (in terms of players in the line ups). The events at those olympics will have next to no bearing on the world cup. There is many new players here, and even the returning ones have changed alot in those two years. Veteran players have gotten slower, younger players have gotten better and so on and so forth......

 

[wilka91*]

Haha..... Kind of sounds like the New York Rangers, no?

And 2 years later ... Czech Rep 1, Russia 0 in the finals at Nagano

I don't think the Rangers can accomplish that

 

[Nic]

And 2 years later ... Czech Rep 1, Russia 0 in the finals at Nagano

I don't think the Rangers can accomplish that

That was a long time ago. The Czech team I am talking about lost in the quarterfinals to the U.S........

 

[chris_dub]

CANADA

Our roster will just be sick.

 

[Slick Nick]

Thanks Raimo and Psycho_dad, It was really intersting and instructive to see your point of view. No bais, clear and objective. Cool...It seems only you guys can do so, we are all way too much patriotic

Best of luck, don't get Koivu injured! (Habs Fan)

Finns and Sweeds rock!

 

[Habs Icing]

Does it really matter who wins? Hockey has become an international sport with six maybe seven countries capable of winning a tournament. I hope to see the day when there will be 15 to 20 countries with elite teams. The only thing I would want to see now is at least one major tournament decided by a series - best of five or best of three. In a series the best team always wins.