WJC Group A: Dec 31 GDT - Canada vs. USA

[monster_bertuzzi]

most exciting game ive seen since Vancouver played Ottawa. Team USA played awesome. Team Canada played awesome. This game really lived up to its hype. Reminded me of a Calgary vs Vancouver game, as Canada plays like Calgary Flames and USA plays like Vancouver with more depth. Awesome game. Canada had more scoring chances. Team USA got the post more then Canada. 5 on 5, Canada played better of the 2. On the Power play, team usa, was waaaaaay better then CAnadas pp. I say its an pretty even game. Phil Kessel I thought is a Power play god. This guy can play anywhere on the power play he plays the point, he wins face offs, his inside outside move did not work, not once against the mighty Canadian defence. Luc Bourdon is Canadas best defencemen. Jack Johnson was USA's best Defencemen. And whats this crap about Eric Johnson being better then Barker? geeze..... not a chance. Anyways, awesome game. Phil Kessel will take the number 1 spot this year. Schneider had to make more big saves then Pogge. good game.

btw, after this game, its Bourdon over Brian Lee easily. Brian Lee was benched after the 1st. Not as big, not as fast, not as physical.

Dont forget Barker is 2 years old than E.Johnson.

 

[Chelios]

People like to ride Cam Barker, but he's a damn good player.

It still boggles my mind how little credit this guy gets, I don`t understand this attitude towards him. I wasn`t going to bother mentioning this, because I didn`t want to interrupt the big Bourdon lovefest, but to me Barker has been Canada`s best defenseman, if not the best in the tournement. Everyone keeps saying "Barker hasn`t impressed me", well then you can`t be looking very hard. Barker isn`t one of those players like Bourdon and Phaneuf that are going to jump out and impress you, but if you really watch his game, he is exceptional. I really like Bourdon, but if you watch the game closely he makes quite a few mistakes, often as a result of trying to do too much, this isn`t the case with Barker. Defensively Barker reads the play almost on another level, his defense is excellent even though he doesn`t hit too often (which I really hope he starts since he has the size and strength), his positioning is also very good and his break out passes are perfect. He rarely gets caught up the ice, almost never overcommits himself, and controls the gap well. Offensively, again, his vision sets him apart from almost any other defenseman in this tournement, his wrist shot from the point is one of the best I have ever seen , he controls the puck better than any defenseman in the tournement, and his passes are deadly accurate.

To all of you who have not been impressed with Barker, I challenge you to watch him closely next game and I guarentee you will be impressed.

 

[insider]

OK I've read about 20 pages of this. Can't take it anymore. This will pb be deleted but...

1. USA sucks: c'mon they're not talking about the country, just the hockey team. Ontario-BC had the same thing. They booed a guy from Toronto during the intermission, c'mon he shook his head and laughed. Canadians do not hate Americans. We may disagree with some things American, it's been proved, but Americans disagree with some Canadian philosophies also. BIG DEAL

Also, please stop referring to completely rediculous comebacks insulting players from their teams. Ex: The habs fan who said Parent hasn't been that spectacular. Who needs to bring in Price and Latendresse? What's the use? It's like if I, a Oilers fan, said the Ron Hainsey (just an example) pick was bombed by the habs. Someone, there always is someone, who would bring up Jason Bonsignore or Steve Kelly. C'mon, we're civilised arn't we!

BTW, for the record, I don't think Downie did anything wrong, nor do I think JJ's an "@%?$?#?", just JJ's judgement lacked for a brief moment, costing him a senseless move. That' it.

My 2 cents.

 

[Liquidrage*]

Americans played a great game and should be proud. If it were a tie, a great game you played but your coach chose to go for the extra man and thus lost the game. To me, neither team won and it should have rightly been a tie. I wish the Canadians played a more offensive game but they took the puck to the net but Schneider robbed them.

Great game? The Americans weren't willing to pay the price in a game they could have won. The Canadians hit the Americans late and often in this one. How many times did an American pass the puck away and get hit very late and often up high? 20x? I should go through the dvr and count it. And they got punished in the conrners and they got punished along the boards.

After not too long the American kids avoided the corners as much as possible. They were conceeding what should have been 50/50 pucks. Making lgiht half hearted attempts to swipe at a puck with their stick as they went by instead of controlling the puck but also taking a possible hit.

The American team needs to look to see if it's really willing to do what it's going to take to beat this Canadian team. Cause last night they weren't willing.

 

[Bruwinz37]

Do you really need to see another angle to see the intent? Whether he got the full blow in or not isn't the question. I don't think he landed it squarely either, thank heavens, but then again you don't need to to cause serious damage. He so obviously intended to land that elbow square in Downie's face. It's that intent I think that will get him into trouble when they review it.

Well certainly the intention might have been there, but I think it is clear now that Steve Downie took a major league dive in order to get Johnson a suspension. I think that is just as bad as what Johnson seemingly *attempted* to do.

 

[espo*]

my two cents: Great game,about as good a game as we'll see in awhile and kudos to the SWEDISH ref for allowing it to happen,he did a great job last night.

As expected,both teams brought out the best in each other and Canada was a little bit better.They have no problem skating with the American team and for as hard as the American team tried and will try,they do not play the physical game as good as this Canadian squad.Last night you saw the states team at it's best IMO and they were still otuplayed.They also paid a very high physical price at the hands of the Canadian team,you could tell they are going to be hurting after last night while the Canadian players looked like they were ready to go 3 more periods.Canada pin-pointed their hits last night and made almost all of them pay while the States team missed on so many of theirs,kinda like a boxing match where one guy is just landing most of his shots while the other guy is throwing them but failing to land a lot of them.

Kessel needs to think up new moves ,his outside inny is old and everyone is on to it,he also looks a bit "gimpy" at times handling the puck and moving it around on the pp to me,he does'nt seem flluid at all IMO .He's still dangerous because of his speed and shot but far too predictable a hockey player,canuck defenders just tossed the kid around last night.i'm starting to wonder if E Johnson is not the crown jewel in this years draft.

Canada just wanted this game more tonight and outplayed the U.S. but it was close.Still,you saw both teams at their best last night and it sure was a dandy.

I do like Canada to beat them again should they meet once more.They are a better TEAM overall IMO.

 

[Roughneck]

btw, after this game, its Bourdon over Brian Lee easily. Brian Lee was benched after the 1st. Not as big, not as fast, not as physical.

I'd have to agree, Staal over Lee as well.

 

[syc]

Sorry to those Americans who got mad about the booing and crap. It's just another black eye for Canada. If this was in Ontario that wouldn't happen. BC is probably the second most anti-American province in Canada next to Quebec so don't take it personal.

 

[greatwhite101*]

What was all the hype about this USA team?
It will be again Canada vs Russia close game as it should be.
I have a feeling Russians will win it all. Canada had a really good group last year and destroyed Russians but I do not think it will hapen this year.

 

[nomorekids]

What was all the hype about this USA team?
It will be again Canada vs Russia close game as it should be.
I have a feeling Russians will win it all. Canada had a really good group last year and destroyed Russians but I do not think it will hapen this year.

Again...it was, for all intents and purposes..a 2-2 tie. I'm glad I saw the game, because otherwise I would have assumed Canada won 11-0.

 

[Macman]

Again...it was, for all intents and purposes..a 2-2 tie. I'm glad I saw the game, because otherwise I would have assumed Canada won 11-0.

Yup. It was about as evenly played as you can get.

 

[ZombieMatt]

I'm NOT saying Barker is a bad prospect. In fact, he had quite a good game, and a solid, although unspectacular tournament thus far.

But Cam Barker made some horrific reads in the offensive zone. There were a number of times yesterdy where instead of making VERY EASY pinches to keep the puck in the zone, he backed way off and let the US take possession. One of them was bad enough that there were a few boos because of it.

He seems to be playing a little bit scared and is over concerned about his own zone. Obviously it's better to back off than make a risky pinch, but these were situations where he could have skated in backwards and still gotten to the puck far earlier than the American player.

 

[Canuck21t]

Again...it was, for all intents and purposes..a 2-2 tie. I'm glad I saw the game, because otherwise I would have assumed Canada won 11-0.

You have to put into consideration that the US was hyped as the hands down favorites and being a very, very good team. Canada on the hand was labeled as simply a good but young and inexperienced team. Add everything together and you'd have thought the US would win 5-2 or something in that range. Instead, the US was quite beatable with hard work. I am not at all impressed with this Team Canada yet it was able to win against the so called favorite. I think that this year belongs to Russia.

 

[Chelios]

I'm NOT saying Barker is a bad prospect. In fact, he had quite a good game, and a solid, although unspectacular tournament thus far.

But Cam Barker made some horrific reads in the offensive zone. There were a number of times yesterdy where instead of making VERY EASY pinches to keep the puck in the zone, he backed way off and let the US take possession. One of them was bad enough that there were a few boos because of it.

He seems to be playing a little bit scared and is over concerned about his own zone. Obviously it's better to back off than make a risky pinch, but these were situations where he could have skated in backwards and still gotten to the puck far earlier than the American player.

If your biggest gripe is he didn`t hold the line a couple times, I think it is fair to say he had a pretty good game

I don`t recall the plays you are talking about, but I`m sure in a tight game where all Canada needs to do is tie, Brent Sutter told his defensemen not to pinch unless they were absolutely certain they would get the puck. As you said, Barker was simply being conservative, and in a game like that, that is the way the d should be playing.

 

[Lobstertainment]

I've noticed Pogge likes to use that stick on players that bug him...

Looks like handling the puck wasn't the only thing Belfour taught him at the Leafs training camp this summer.

 

[Red]

Sorry to those Americans who got mad about the booing and crap. It's just another black eye for Canada. If this was in Ontario that wouldn't happen. BC is probably the second most anti-American province in Canada next to Quebec so don't take it personal.

Wasn't Ontario the place where people threw rocks at the bus of some US midget team? Get over yourself, this would happen in every place in Canada. Probably would have happened in Grand Forks too if enough US fans had shown up to watch the games.

What a ridiculous and ignorant statement.

 

[Wranglers110]

I think a little too much has been made about "booing".

Fans cheer for teams. Big deal. Everyone has a right to pick sides. Fine. That's life.

The only things I can't stand for is booing during national anthems and excessive harrassment of traveling fans.