EHM The Blue Line

Tasku wrote:

Círyatan wrote:Only you used the word love. It didn't seem to fit here.

I love hockey. These guys are what hockey is all about.

Also... I've had a "few" beers so I love everything. The asphalt I fall on... I love it!

Ah. In that case you are explained. Too bad I can't have a drink today, gotta get up in... what... three hours.

Well it sure was worth staying up.

Tasku wrote:Also... I've had a "few" beers so I love everything. The asphalt I fall on... I love it! :-D

Not that you're going to fall on asphalt, since there is like 3 meters of snow on it.

What a game between Canada and USA. I really hope Finland is not going to face Ryan Miller in this tournament. The guy is literally in flames at the moment.

That was an exciting game!
I am impressed by the Americans. Great work ethic. Miller was solid, Rafalski had a huge game and the forwards(Kesler,Drury,Callahan) were tenacious
Canada on the other hand does not impress. Pronger flat out sucks, Brodeur was not very good and Crosby can do much better. Nash was good,though

...Crosby...

Oh right, forgot to mention Rafalski. A performance that you can only expect from former HIFK players ;>

Rick Nash have a good tournament so far, he really gives is 110% at each game. Like the guy, too bad he didn't have somebody who could fill him with great pass at CLB.

philou21 wrote:I know it would be different, but i'm not interest. I don't like team Canada this year.

Gloryhunter!

nice game by sweden

loui eriksson is realy good now. dallas is lucky.

Tasku wrote:If Finland can't make it, I'll be rooting for Russia: Ovechkin, Semin, Kovalchuk, Malkin... how can you not love the Russian team!

How? Simply , they won against us, that's why.

Anyway: Russia-Canada in quaterfinals... WOW! One of these favourite teams will go home (to KHL or stay home ).
To be honest, I think that Russians play better, but I like Canadians a little more. But just a little. I hope Sweden will make the finals in that part of playoff.

Russia - Czech Republic was a game to watch! Russia played much better than against us, and yet Czechs stayed with them until the EN goal, good effort by both teams, but I still think that Russia can do MUCH better. I mean...Kovalchuk, Ovechkin, Malkin... this team should win by a 5 goal margin every god darn night.

Next game is against winner of the Latvia-Czech -game. Hopefully Latvia surprises and wins Czech Rep.

We lost to Sweden, but maybe it's good to lost now and not in finals

One thing i can't stand in Fin-Swe game: why Pitkänen gets 5+20 cause of hitting Hörnqvist to head, but that Swedish player (was it Murray?) hits his elbow to Hagman's head and didn't take penalty. Referee can't say he didn't saw that.

Joni Pitkänen will not play in next match (i think so, he gets game misconduct penalty), so we have only 6 defenders. Def. lines should be Salo-Timonen, Lydman-Niskala, Kukkonen-Lepistö.

i hope that was "the bad game" for finland, nothing worked! almost everything was bad. thanks to kipper final result wasn't worse.

A9L3E wrote:

philou21 wrote:I know it would be different, but i'm not interest. I don't like team Canada this year.

Gloryhunter!

Absolutely not, back in 2006 i was already showing my color for Sweden to win the gold and they just win it.

ReggieDunlop wrote:i hope that was "the bad game" for finland, nothing worked! almost everything was bad. thanks to kipper final result wasn't worse.

Without Kipper result would have been 5-0 or worse, so for him

Right. That was.... well

To stay up all night and to wait for Fin-Swe game to be the climax of the evening, and see Finland play like that... I feel like getting screwed.

Not saying that Sweden wasn't any good, because they were just impressive. No other word for it, they succeeded perfectly in making the game hard for Finland.

I mean, Finland played well... for the first two shifts and first 30 seconds of their powerplay. After that it was horrific. Can't really say anything about Lundqvist though. A shut out is always impressive, but to be honest, he wasn't really tested.

Kipper was great, couldn't really do anything about the goals, and he made some incredible saves. The ruutu brothers made a few nice hits, but that's it for the positive sides.

widdled off at the moment. The level of play needs to get a lot better when we meet the Czech Republic(probably).

I don't understand how Pitkänen just get suspended for one game for that hit on Hörnqvist.

Sure, Murray did a bad hit as well, but to me it seemed more like a shoulder to the head, the elbow was up but I never saw the elbow hit Hagman.

Great game by the Swedish team and Lundqvist played well and did some great saves on some shot, even though as eme said he wasn't too tested. But a shut out is a shut out and boosts confident. So now I hope Norway beats Slovakia and that we gets a Scandinavian quarter final!

Go Sweden!

Wow! Canada-USA. THat was an exciting game. If I can detach myself from the emotions of the night. , it was one heck of a hockey game. As was that Russian - Czech game. End to end excitement. I did not stay up for Swe-Fin and actually do not even know the result.

Anyway...thoughts:

I have stated all along that Canada would stick to balanced ice time, and to some extent to this point they have. This in my opinion was the way to go. Now...we are at elimination stage folks. Yep...canada lost and yep they have a tough road ahead now. But...the guys should at least be fresh. More on this at the end

Doughty, Keith (Since game 1) and Weber have been outstanding. Those three guys need to log the big minutes they are capable of, and used to playing. I just cannot get over how good Doughty has been and is. Thing is, it concerns me playing a 19 year old with 2 minutes left in a tight game. But this team has no option. Nieds is not good enough any more. Dan Boyle is too slow and makes his puck decisions way to slow. Pronger...well you know my thoughts and nothing has changed. Moron. Seabrook is just a guy out there.

The power play--HORRENDOUS. They will not say it about Canada on TV, but they sure do about the Russians. Comments about Canada PP...They need to move the puck quicker, they are just standing around and not moving their feet. Comments about Russia: They are being selfish, not moving feet all standing around looking to get the big shot and be the hero who scores the goal. INteresting isn't it.

I have seen that in the past, but NEVER to this extent. Canada has too many shooters who want the big goal on the PP. Yet the rest of the time...they over pass the darn puck. Must get it together.

Forwards: Thornton...Egads this guy is horrendous. so far behind the play. Will not get involved in a race for the puck. His passing has even been atrocious and he has thrown the puck away almost as much as Niedermayer. When he did get involved in behind the net...he went in soft, pulled away and got blown up by Brooks Orpik. Sorry Joe...I am seeing here why Boston got rid of you and why the sharks should too. Jonathon Toews Anyone else noticing that almost any time something positive happens for Canada this guy is in on the play? Dude has been outstanding. Sidney Crosby--KNow what? I actually think he was real good last night. Save for faceoffs. But he did not get enough time to shine. The guys he was playing with were not getting the job done for him. Rick Nash 1st period was HORRIBLE. Lost all kinds of puck battles. From then on...he was one of the best players on the ice, but for some reason could not finish his chances. Wonder what/who that reason was?Iginla, Morrow, Richards, Bergeron, MarleauNOT GOOD ENOUGH. Terrible in fact in the time they saw the ice. INVISIBLE most of the game. Being harsh on Marleau here. Offensively he was okay. In his own zone he was a fire drill. Horrid.

Martin Brodeur Meh. Just meh. It does not matter who plays net for Canada. The boys have to finish...and they did not last night. Yeah Brodeur was average at best, and actually at times shaky. But really would Luongo have been any better? Brodeur made two mistakes with the puck that cost us goals...how many would Luongo have made? That being said, I bet Roberto starts against Germany tomorrow.

Anyway...this team was beaten for three of four big reasons.

1. On the top of the list is the guy wearing Dominik Hasek's number---Ryan Miller. Wow. He was outstanding. But he also faced little if any traffic, and little drive to the net.

2. Ryan Kesler, Chris Drury, and all the other centres on USA--Schooled Canada in the faceoff circle. This is a monster reason, and the 2nd biggest reason behind Miller the USA won this game. They had the puck..and one virtually every draw in their own end.

3. Brooks Orpik-Brian Rafalski. Orpik did an outstanding job keeping Canada to the outside. Not fast, but boy was he smart. Rafalski....nough said. Look at the scoresheet. Guy was outstanding and in the right spot at the right time all night.

4. Getting to the net...I never saw Canada getting to the net until the last 4 shifts of the game. ALL NIGHT the AMericans in their limited chances had the desire and balls to go hard to the net. And they were rewarded. Caused Brodeur to make mistakes two times, and a nice deflection goal on the Rafalski shot. Crosby also put a beaut in the back of the net. Kesler...Wow! they said it on TSN..that may be the best empty net goal ever. He just wanted it more..and got it.

Kay..all of this being said. It does not mean Canada is out and done and the Usa will win gold. However...life just got interesting. Either Russia or Canada will not be on the podium. Who would have thought that? Wow.

Now...ICE TIME. It is time to up the anti. Said it early..that later in the tournament you have to go with the best. Well..I said that about the dmen anyway. Ice time was split up in the first 3 games. But now, the boys playing the best at the moment need to get more time. Toews was Canada's best forward. Keith was their best dman. Doughty was a close 2nd. Toews needs to be on the ice ALOT more. Also...Sid the kid. He needs to be out 23-25 minutes per game now. Thornton can ride the pine. Time to go with the boys who are going well. The Shark line is no more. Toews goes in for Thornton. And maybe Marleau off that unit too. Maybe Heatley with Nash and Crosby. I dunno. Just kill the SHark line and Boyle can ride the pine.

Why does NBC hate hockey? Every night in their prime time slots they have Olympics events that happened earlier in the day and are being re-shown at a time when they can reach the biggest audience. Every time I check out what's on there, it's something other than hockey. I think they're showing the hockey on one of their lower networks like MSNBC or something.

Why the hockey hate?

BEcause NBC is taking a bath on Olympic $. They could care less about virtually any of it. I did however see that the end of last night's Can-USA game ended up on NBC channel itself. Not that shocking to me. Nothing is with regards to how US television treats hockey. Most of it appears to be on MSNBC or CNBC.

Figure skating is super popular and with the number of medals you are winning in virtually every type of event...hockey which does not have medals presented until what seems like 100 years from now takes a back seat.

Canada-USA was a terrific game. Best one I've seen for quite a time. Yes, it was definitely worth staying up all night. That being said.

Brodeur wasn't anywhere near average, his average is way better than the way he played last night. I was afraid of Marty making a mistake anytime the puck got anywhere hear him. And yes, I actually think Luongo should start from now on, even though I agree with batdad that the biggest problem with Team Canada is scoring (lack of it, that is), and not goaltending.

Keith and Doughty have been impressive. Keith is really showing he's one of the best blueliners in the league, and when it comes to Doughty... sometimes I can't believe the kid is just nineteen, he was everywhere last night. And I agree, those two and Weber are the best defensemen on Team Canada right now.

I still don't know how on Earth did Perry let Kesler score that sick empty netter. He had all the time in the world to clear that puck, and still. Great job, Ryan, that has to be said.

bruins72 wrote:Why does NBC hate hockey? Every night in their prime time slots they have Olympics events that happened earlier in the day and are being re-shown at a time when they can reach the biggest audience. Every time I check out what's on there, it's something other than hockey. I think they're showing the hockey on one of their lower networks like MSNBC or something.

Why the hockey hate?

You want to attempt to get British television to broadcast it. Luckily, they realised the size of the USA-Canada game and did actually show it. The commentaters know Sweet FA about hockey though.

Few memorable quotes.

Ryan Millers style is a "Swan".
Team Canada are on the "power kill."
"Robert Ryan".
Erik Johnson scores a "First timer".
A hockey game is made up of 3 "sessions".

The amount of players names he says in a funny way is annoying too.

Getz... why don't the Brits just pay to use the game feed from the US or Canada? That's just embarrassing to have commentating like that.

Sorry..I did not mean average for Brodeur. Just average for a goalie. He should be better and is better than that. However...would you rather have Luongo playing the puck? I mean, honestly if we feel that Brodeur's biggest problem was playing the puck last night, and we are looking at moving him out because of it, you are NOT going to bring Luongo in for it. The only difference is Luongo may not TRY to play the puck quite so often. However, Brodeur is the better goalie. And...he ALWAYS responds with a big game after a so-so one. Brodeur goes.

batdad wrote:Sorry..I did not mean average for Brodeur. Just average for a goalie. He should be better and is better than that. However...would you rather have Luongo playing the puck? I mean, honestly if we feel that Brodeur's biggest problem was playing the puck last night, and we are looking at moving him out because of it, you are NOT going to bring Luongo in for it. The only difference is Luongo may not TRY to play the puck quite so often. However, Brodeur is the better goalie. And...he ALWAYS responds with a big game after a so-so one. Brodeur goes.

I think we could trade one of our goalies for couple good forwards