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NHL 2016 - The Kids Are Alright


Jabronius Maximus

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Team Europe with another win today.  This time against Czech Republic whom now has no chance of advancing. Here I was thinking they were the weakest team in the tourney.  I thought they were too old and had a lack of star players, but apparently play well together.  USA needs to win against Canada tomorrow and then Czech, then have Canada beat Europe.  Ugh that gives me a headache.  I don't see that happening for USA.  Looks like it'll be Europe and Canada advancing on one side of the bracket, and I'm going Sweden and North America on the other side.  I like the young guns on NA.  They'll have an interesting match up against Russia here shortly.

I'm going Sweden v Canada for 1st place and siding with the Swedes to win it all.  I absolutely love their D. 

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North America is pretty impressive so far: they're noticeably faster and it's been enough to win. Sweden got really lucky with the refereeing against Russia yesterday: on the second Swedish goal, they had 6 players (plus the keeper) on the field, but the referees ignored it. Then, at the very end, Ovechkin did actually hit the puck with his stick when scoring the tying goal, but it was very hard to see (you have to look from a specific angle on the replays) so the goal was disallowed.

I like what they've done with the transnational teams. Sure, there was always a chance that Germany or Slovakia or whatever might amount to more than a punching bag, but realistically, it's just not very likely. On the other hand, Europe and North America are quite competitive.

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Well, Slovakia had been able to produce quite respectable teams in the past. So for them there might have been a chance to produce a team with some bite. For Germany not so much. I think without the Slovakian core team Europe would look way less competitive.

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2 minutes ago, Nictarion said:

I don't want to root against my country, but seeing John Tortorella fall flat on his face is a nice consolation price. 

I wasn't expecting much of this team with Torts in charge, but they don't even look like they want to be playing. Hull and Chelios were ripping them apart during the second intermission. I'd say it's a safe bet it's because of the coach.

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50 minutes ago, Joe Pesci said:

Yeah, Tortorella was a great choice to coach the U.S. team...

Heh, I'd say that sentiment holds true for every team he's coached since TB.

Phew!!! Three posts in the third. I'm loving the sound of rubber on iron right now.

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On September 21, 2016 at 7:10 AM, Mark Antony said:

Kessels tweet was gold

https://mobile.twitter.com/PKessel81/status/778426548651163648

torts definitely botched it. Worst most unlikable US team I can remember. 

Yeah I thought the tweet was hilarious.  And USA just had the brooms brought out on them. Couldn't beat Europe and Czech.  Their group was set up to send USA and Canada forward and USA couldn't take advantage of that. Absolutely embarrassing. Torts certainly wouldn't be my pick for head coach.  I'm biased here but like Sullivan.  The guy came to the pens and completely change the atmosphere here.  We probably don't even make the playoffs without him.  Also, how the living fuck does Dubinksy make it on the team and Kessel doesn't? I hear Torts wanted a gritty team?? You see gritty players on any of the other teams, or skill?  I'd go with the latter.  

Byufiglian or however the hell you spell his name tried to pick a fight as the last buzzer rings.  Linda Cohn says Buff has too much pride and you just knew it was gonna happen... What a stupid comment.  Buff has so much pride he's gotta hulk out on some little czech that has his back turned to him. There's no pride in that; just a goon raging out.  If you're gonna send that message do it at the beginning of the game.

As for the semis, I'm going with the obvious Canada over Russia and Sweden over Europe.  Hoping for Sweden over Canada for the cup or whatever they get for winning. Medals? Trophies?  

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Well, the first two periods were probably the most interesting in the tournament, but it turns out Canada had an extra gear whereas Russia did not. It would have been interesting to see these two in the final -- I doubt either Sweden or Europe will be able to mount an effective opposition to the Canadians whereas Russia might have grabbed one game out of the three.

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I don't know about that.  I think Sweden stands a good chance at beating Canada.  They're stout at D, whereas Russia is not.  I'd give the edge to Russia's forwards, but Sweden has plenty of goal scorers as well.  Just depends if they can find a way to get past Canada's D and Price.

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I'm not sure that Sweden is that good at defense. They lost to North America and they only beat Russia because of not one, but two score-affecting referee mistakes. Except for those first two periods against Russia, Canada has played on a different level against every team it has faced so far.

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Interestingly enough, the Swedes couldn't even make it past Europe. The latter has played Canada and it was not close. They have two games to find some way to win; I'm not optimistic.

For next time, as long as we're making international teams, how about this: simply recreate Czechoslovakia (for hockey purposes only). The players that make Europe competitive are mostly from Slovakia. The Czechs qualified as a separate team, but they were not a very good one (the meaningless victory over the US notwithstanding). If you put them together, you'd have something better than Europe.

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