The world Cup of Hockey
The world cup of hockey is coming up in the end of August. Canada's first game is August 31st against the Americans! I'm pretty excited about this, since it gives Canada a chance to flex its hockey muscle :D hopefully Canada can win.
What is the world cup of hockey? It is a hockey tournament that features the best eight hockey playing nations in the world. The teams are divided into 2 divisions and each team plays each team in their division, then everybody moves on to the playoff round.
Canada is in a tournament with some really good competition. There are a lot of good teams... the Swedes stick out as a good possibility. The Czechs, Fins, and Slovaks seem to have good teams as well, but like sweden. But really any team could take the tournament except the Germans. The Germans are an emerging hockey nation but don't have the talent to seriously compete with the other seven teams. Overall Canada has great goaltending and Defense... but they overlooked some good forwards in order to keep the team similar to the one that won the olympic gold medal in 2002.
Canada usually has slow starts to international tournaments and has trouble with easy teams. (like the narrow 3-2 win over Germany in 2002)It took a while for Canada to find their their legs in 2002... hopefully this won't re-occur this August.
August 25
Canada lost to the USA in their first exhibition game. Not all is lost though. After all it is only exhibition, and on top of that Canada's (arguably) #1 line didn't dress for the game. Lemieux, Richards, and Lecavalier didn't play, but will play in Canada's next exhibition game tonight. For anybody that watches sports, it seems rare that a team win both of a two game mini-series.
Germany tied Russia. Once agian this in only exhibition, but this does show promise for the German side. Once a joke the Germans are slowly becoming better at hockey. Hardly a darkhorse to win, the Germans could prove to thwart someones chances at gold. The tie against Russia shows some improvement and will hopefully flow over to the round robin play.
A team that is a darkhorse to win is Finland. Finland's roster doesn't seem to boast the talent levels of Sweden or Canada. But they do have a damn good goaltender. It seems that as long as you have a good goaltender you can win the tournament. Canada played that way for the past 7-10 years. They get outshot and/or outplayed and still win because of good goaltending. Why this rant about goaltending? Because Finalnd only lost 2-1 to Sweden in an exhibition game tonight despite being badly outshot. Shots don't mean quality playing, but when you're outshot 32-22, shots must count for something.
August 26
It's 4 months from my birthday :p Anyhow, the Canadians extracted revenge on the USA. Canada beat the Americans last night 3-1 in their second meeting of the exhibition schedule. The line of Lemieux, Richards, and Lecavalier played their first game and accounted for two of Canada's goals. This shows good promise for the upcoming tournament. Canada's last exhibition game is against Slovakia on saturday the 28th. It should be good since Slovakia is the 3rd ranked country in world Hockey.
August 27
The Germans suffered two losses in their two remaining exhibition games, as most would say would be expected. But the Czech Republic beat Sweden. This wasn't an upset necessarily, but the Swedes have an awesome line-up. This goes to show how close the competition is. Despite the fact that this is exhibition the Swedes are a power house, and they were beat by the Czechs. Given also that Germany tied Russia, and that Canada and the USA split their two games, this should be a close tournament with some good hockey and nailbiters.
August 28
Canada played tonight in their last exhibition game. They played Slovakia, and got off to a rough start. They left the first period down 2-0. But Canada picked up their game and tied it at 2 in the third. Overtime had a good pace to it and Canada had quite a few chances and almost scored a few times. The Slovaks goalie was on his game and equal to the task of stopping the canucks in their tracks. Hopefully Canada will come out blazing on tuesday.
August 30
Finland took the czechs out to the slaughter today. Finland beat Czechs 4-0. This score is a fair margin of victory, but doesn't tell the story. Finland was all over the Czechs, so much that the Czechs couldn't get anything going. The Czechsnever showed up to play. A quote before the game stated that there are two two types of Czech teams. One's that show up and win, and one's that come and bomb out. It looks like version 2 showed up. Much like the 96 world cup, and 2002 olympics. But give the Finns credit. They were fast, speedy and worked like dogs in their win over the Czech Republic. Some may even question if the Czechs even had a chance. But even if the Czechs didn't have a chance they should have put up more a fight than what they did.
August 31
The game this afternoon was another one sided game. The Swedes beat Germany 5-2, and badly outshot Germany. This game was just as one-sided as the game between Finland and the Czechs last night. However, the Germans seemed to play with more heart than the Czechs did, and the Germans worked hard despite being behind most of the game. The only weak point for Sweden was the goaltending by Tommy Salo. He didn't have a busy night but still allowed two goals in.
I thought the Canada game was going to be over before it started. The Canadians came out on fire. They took it right to the Americans outshooting them 19-6 after the first period. The USA was lucky to be down only 1-0 after the first, thanks in part to their goaltender Robert Eche. After the first period it looked like that this game was going to be like the previous two, one sided throughout. But it wasn't. The Americans put up a struggle in the second and the third, but, they didn't actually ever put a lot of pressure on the Canadians. The Canadians in the second and third period were allowed to almost sit back on their heels and allowed to pace the game as they dictated. What I mean is that the Canadians kept the pace slow and the Americans did nothing to change this. Overall, a fast paced first period but disapointingly slow paced game thereafter.
September 1
What a game this afternoon. The Czechs came out in the second period flat and plauged by penalties, even a penalty for too many men on the ice. The Swedes took advantage and began to roll over the Czechs taking a 4-0 nothing lead into the third period. But the third period of this game was the best third period of teh tournament so far. Yes it was a bit lopsided, but it was fast paced and put the Swedish win into Jeopardy. In the third the Czechs scored a goal. This goal awoke a sleeping giant! The Czechs stormed back and completely dominated the third period. The game was close and came down to the final few seconds, but in the end Sweden hanged on for a 4-3 victory.
Canada put on a clinic of hockey domination tonight. There was no way the Slovaks could catch them. The Candians looked fast, strong, and efficient. Once again a great start by Canada paved the road to victory. The Slovaks had their chances and even scored in the third of a team Canada turnover. Hopefully Canada can Continue this strong play. With this victory Canada clinches home ice throughout the tournament.
September 2
At this point it is clear that Sweden or Finland will finish first in their pool and therefore won't play each other in the quater-finals. Likewise the Czechs and germans won't be playing each other in the quaters, but will play either Finland or Sweden. The USA are also in danger of losing all three games unless they can beat Slovakia tomorrow. In order to beat Slovakia the Americans will have to improve their play a lot.
The Finns took out the Germans 3-0. The repercussions of this are mentioned above. The Finns have not let in a goal to this point. They owe this to their goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. He has stopped every shot that has come his way. Many in the hockey world slated the Finns as darkhorses that would win only if Kiprusoff won the tournament for them. And Kipprusoff has lead the Finns to 2 wins thus far and a shot at finishing first in their pool. But don't get too overjoyed quite yet. Yes Kiprusoff has stopped all the shots so far and let his team to 2 wins, but, he was hardly tested in either game. The Czechs didn't really play against the Finns in the first place, and the second shutout came against the Germans. The Germans played with a lot of heart (and had the best fans so far) but they were completely outclassed by Finland. Besides the German are only really cannon fodder when playing against the best 7 teams in the world.
The cold war resumed tonight as well! Russia played the USA in Minnesota. This was another game the Americans will wish they could forget. From the second the puck was dropped the game was all Russia. Russia dominated the first period, most of the second, and the third. The Americans have yet to play overly convincing good hockey. They lose by really close scores, but they have their goalie to thank for that. Robert Esche stopped 46 of 49 shots against the Russians and made a number of game saving stops. Esche seems to be the only player on the USA team that seems capable of playing great hockey. Russia came out storming. Russia hasn't won a major title (besides world Jr.) since the fall of the Soviet Union. This tournament gives them that chance, to shine on center stage once again.
On a side note for those that didn't watch the game... With a minute to go and USA trailing 3-1 Tkachuk of the USA elbowed a Russian player. This lead to a few players dropping the gloves on both sides. Thirty seconds later a Russian player punched an American player in the face while sill wearing his hockey golves. The American spectators decided to take matters into their own hands at this point. American fans behind the Russian bench poured their beers over the Russians! They promptly got kicked out.
September 6
I haven't been updating lately, I've been busy playing golf out of town and getting ready to go back to school.
Anyhow the playoff rounds have began. There is now a playoff bracket under the standings link on this page. Canada has a tough road ahead of them, but I know they will prevail!
What a quater-final game that was between Finland and Germany! Finland won 2-1, but it was very close. Finland had a 1-0 lead going into the third period. However, germany scored with about 5:30 left in the period and put the Finnish victory into jeopardy. Finland won in the end scoring with a few minutes left in the game. Germany scored some good control and had quite a few shots. Unfortunately Germany's shots were of poor quality. Finland pulled through and moves to the semi-finals in North America. Unless Finland picks up their play you won't be seeing them in the finals.
September 7
This afternoons game was a slaughter in a sense. The Swedes lost 6-1 to the Czech Republic. Everyone knew that the Czechs had a potent offense and were on their game coming into the game, but, where was the Swedish talent? Sweden had a stocked line-up! They had what I personally thought was the most dangerous team on the international ice and the only team that scared me from a Canadian point of view. But those views have changed. The Czechs are now the most feared team after thier demolition of team Sweden. Suppose that Sweden had an off day, that doesn't change things because the Czechs didn't just win but dominated the game. If Canada wins against Slovakia tomorrow they will have to play the Czechs, which doesn't look overly promising.
September 9
Canada did it! They beat slovakia, and quite did quite a good job doing it. After a scoreless first period the Canadians lowered the boom. They started lighting up the scoreboard like crazy and were up 4-0 halfway through the second period. The Slovaks pulled their goalie in an attempt to salvage their chance at a victory. Unfortunately for the Slovaks being down 4-0 to Canada halfway through the game is a death sentence with little to no hope for survival. The Canucks added a fifth goal in the third while the Canadian goalie stpped everything that was shot his way for a shut-out. Canada now advances to the semi-finals where they will meet the overpowering Czech Republic.
September 10
This is the first hockey update in a while, because there hasn't been too much going on. The Finns won! This is big. I picked them as my darkhorse team, but they played a good game, pulling it off 2-1 over the Americans. This kicks ass. I like Americans but the thought of playing them in the finals sends chills though my spines. Hopefully the canadians can beat the Czechs and make it through to the finals against the Finns. I predict that whomever wins the Czech/Canada game will win the tournament.
September 11
Canada is pretty lucky to be in the finals. It could very easily have had been the Czechs that would be playing the Finns on tuesday. The Czechs heavily outplayed, outshot, and outmuscled the Canadians along the boards. The Canadian goalie stood firm making all the stops necessary for the win. He let in a couple of weak goals, but made it possible for the Canadians to win. Personally i don't think the Finns are good enough to beat team Canada. The finns have a few weapons but all of their hopes rest in the performance of their goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. If Kipper has a good game the Finns can win. The Finns did play well against the USA, but I don't think they can play as well as Canada. I sense a 4-1 candian victory.
September 14
Canada did it!. This game was all Canada from the getgo. The final score was 3-2 Canada, but the game wasn't overly close. This was particularly evident in the third period. In the last 6 minutes of the game when the Finns should be applying all kinds of pressure, it was the Canadians who were taking it to the Finns. The Finns pulled their goalie and only hope of winning and Canada still contolled the puck for the last minute of the game, despite the fact that the Finns had more forwards on the ice than the Canadians. Yay Team Canada!
Below are the divisions that the teams will play in:
(International rankings as deemed by the IIHF in Brackets)
North American Division
Canada (1)
Slovakia (3)
USA (6)
Russia (7)
European Division
Sweden (2)
Czech republic (4)
Finland (5)
Germany (8)
A Team Canada Song!
This is a song I found using Kazaa. It's by Paul brant and the lyrics are describing the recent gold medals Canada's men and women won at the 2002 winter Olympics. If you want this song just msg me on messenger if I'm on your list. Here are the lyrics:
Team Canada
At your service from the land of the chill
If we can't thrill you baby nobody will
Make way, hear comes
Team Canada
Strong and Free
Lead by our fearless hero, Gretzky
He should be the Prime Minister if you ask me
Thank you
Team Canada
Well it's hush hush
3 man rush rush
Iginla, Sakic, and Lemieux
He shoot's he scores
And all of Canada roars
From the warmth of our igloos
Sorry Eh,
We put hurt on you team USA
And showed the world that it's still our game
Three Cheers for Team Canada
We'll slide and glide
Skate Over any line
red or white or blue
What makes it nice
Is that we did it twice
Cause our women beat you too
Gold at last
50 years sure took a long time to pass
so tip your hat or raise your glass
for the heroes of Team Canada
What a great game Team Canada
You did us proud Team Canada
Here is the link to the official World cup of hockey website:
World cup of Hockey 2004
And a link to the full rankings of all 45 ice hockey playing nations:
World cup of Hockey 2004