38 replies to this topic

[LatentC]

Is everyone else as excited as I am that the tournament is finally starting?!

Looks like two preliminary matches were held today, USA X Sweden and Canada X Finland:

Canada 2, Finland 3

Sounds like Canada took a couple stupid penalties that led to 5-on-3s. Granlund, Aaltonen and Jarvelainen scored for Finland while Griffin Reinhart (!) and Mark Scheifele scored for Canada.


USA 3, Sweden 2 (no link yet)

This game went into overtime, with Molin and Rackell scoring for Sweden while (Connor) Murphy and Hartman scored for team USA. Flyers third-round pick this past Draft, Shayne Gostisbehere (defenseman) scored the game-winner in overtime. "Ghost" (as some call him) has had a great camp this year and is showing tons of improvement. To be honest, I wasn't sold on him at the Draft, mainly due to his small frame, but Ghost has been utilizing his speed and skill to his advantage, scoring 13 points in 13 games thus far this season on his college (NCAA) team. Apparently (according to this front-page article on Flyers.com, Ghost was rated as the #4 overall NCAA prospect. It'll be exciting to see how he fares in the coming WJC tournament games (the ones that count).

First round starts this Saturday (22nd) with USA X Finland and Canada X Sweden. Entire schedule can be found here.

[Flyerfan52]

@ least I know I won't be the only 1 paying attention.

The games will be in the middle of the night but that's what time shifting is for. I'll just ignore sports sites until I've watched the games I've taped.
I'll be watching all those featuring either Canada or the US.

My hopeful prediction:
Gold - Canada
Silver - USA
Bronze - Finland
______________________________________________
Repeat that order in the same city @ the 2014 Olympics (for both men & women). Lets get the Russians accustomed to losing in their own barn!

[The_Mighty_Tim]

Team GB narrowly avoided getting demoted to Division II the other week. Slightly disappointing, as only a few years back, we almost got promoted to play alongside you guys.

[Legion-of-Gloom]

Do you guys know if there are any Flyers picks playing in this tournament??

[tymed]

Do you guys know if there are any Flyers picks playing in this tournament??

Shayne Gostisbehere for team USA. I caught half of their pre tournament game last night against Sweden and they were confidently using him in all of their offensive situations. He looks pretty confident with the puck and ended up scoring the OT game winner with a boomer from the point off the draw. Beauty shot.

Other than him I'm really not sure if we have others, haven't looked into it. At least it's something, and a 3rd rounder to boot.

[szilhockey25]

USA Best player on offense Gaudreau is from south jersey

[LatentC]

I'd like to make it clear that I switch my pick from Canada to team USA. Pretty disgusted by Canada's defense of that dumb goon Jenner after he sent that Swedish kid out of the tournament with a fractured wrist and dislocated shoulder. Glad Jenner got suspended for 3 games, although I personally believe that he should have to miss the same amount of games that the injured kid will miss: in other words, the rest of the tourney.

That and I'm mainly cheering for our guy GHOST! (Gostisbehere) Light up the lamp!

Though I won't deny that it's great to see RNH, Strome, Scheifele, Mackinnon, Drouin and many other top prospects/"young guns" lining Canada's bench. Should be quite an interesting tournament if they perform up to (already lofty) expectations.

Edited by LatentC, 25 December 2012 - 09:32 PM.

[Flyerfan52]

I'd like to make it clear that I switch my pick from Canada to team USA. Pretty disgusted by Canada's defense of that dumb goon Jenner after he sent that Swedish kid out of the tournament with a fractured wrist and dislocated shoulder. Glad Jenner got suspended for 3 games, although I personally believe that he should have to miss the same amount of games that the injured kid will miss: in other words, the rest of the tourney.

Dumb Canadian goons were largely responsible for the SCs in 1973-74 & 1974-75.

[pat-1]

Dumb Canadian goons were largely responsible for the SCs in 1973-74 & 1974-75.

QFT

[PenaltyKiller]

Go USA and Canada!

Just remember who hyped up Gostisbehere first.

[LeLindros]

i picked Finland cause i want the Flyers to draft Ristolainen.

[Flyersrule25]

Still shocked to see a guy like RNH playing. He is going to dominate. 5 points today. Not sure how this is good/challenging for him.

[Flyerfan52]

US vs Germany tomorrow. 8 am where I am but I'll be watching.

[Legion-of-Gloom]

Dumb Canadian goons were largely responsible for the SCs in 1973-74 & 1974-75.

Right On

[PenaltyKiller]

We need Seth Jones.

[PenaltyKiller]

Gostisbehere scores

[Flyerfan52]

We need Seth Jones.

I totally agree. Who can we trade for that 1/1 pick though?

Jones playing 1st pairing while MacKinnon plays 4th line should push Jones to 1st as the play in the WJC sticks in scouts & GMs mind.

[LatentC]

I totally agree. Who can we trade for that 1/1 pick though?

Jones playing 1st pairing while MacKinnon plays 4th line should push Jones to 1st as the play in the WJC sticks in scouts & GMs mind.

LOL, won't happen. You've gotta draft the best player available, and D-men typically take longer to develop. Everyone will be chewing at the bit to draft Mackinnon, the elite scoring forward, despite Spott's asinine idea to keep the poor kid on the 4th line. He should have been paired with Drouin and Huberdeau like he was in an earlier tournament, they had excellent chemistry. Spott is trying to force chemistry which is just plain stupid.

So how in the world did Spott even become coach of the Kitchener Rangers in the first place if he does stupid **** like this?

Also, Ghost is really kicking ***, eh? The more I see of the kid, the more excited I get to see him in the orange & black (if we ever see another NHL game, that is...)

Also, Malcolm Subban is rather overrated. Pretty disappointed with his play thus far, but there's still plenty of big games left in this tourney for him to prove himself.

[The_Mighty_Tim]

Eeeee hockey talk! I'm so excited!!

[LatentC]

Eeeee hockey talk! I'm so excited!!

Iknorite? Good times!

Now that USA has dropped games to both Russia and Canada, it's looking much more likely that Canada could take this tournament. If only Team USA had a decent goaltender...even Subban is better than what we've got.

If only Makarov would defect to the US...we'd be unstoppable. That man was a beast last year (sadly his team's offense fell short), and is doing much of the same this year with his 40+ saves in matches.

Not to imply that Vasilevski isn't amazing as well, though. Russia sure has some excellent 'tenders. If only Yakupov would stop talking **** and put up the numbers he's supposed to, Russia would give Canada a run for their money. My bets are on Canada for the upcoming RussiaXCanada match-up.

Edited by LatentC, 30 December 2012 - 07:06 PM.