IIHF World Championships

[Jimjamesak]

Re: IIHF World Championships

6-1 Russia over the US after 2. The kids are not alright.

[St. Clown]

Re: IIHF World Championships

SSDD? What's that one mean?

[Jimjamesak]

To be fair, Russia's less than full strength squad still has a lot more Olympic players than the USA's.

And a rare 3 on 0 gives Russian an easy goal to make it 6-1 near the end of the 2nd.

This game (and this tournament) is these kids first chance to show how good they are, their first real test in a challenging situation.

And they are failing hard.

[Jimjamesak]

SSDD? What's that one mean?

Same *, Different Day.

[joecct]

SSDD? What's that one mean?

Back when dinosaurs ruled the Earth it meant Single Sided Double Density.

[Jimjamesak]

Re: IIHF World Championships

I know I'm being harsh. These kids were walking into a minefield. Playing Russia basically at home, a team that got embarrassed last two times out against the US (at the Olympics and last year at the WC), and against motivated, talented players. It was destined to be a disaster.

But even then, they did not play well. It'll be interesting to see how they do against Finland (who are in relegation danger along with the Swiss).

[Jimjamesak]

Re: IIHF World Championships

Losing to Latvia. Good job kids.

[goldy_331]

Losing to Latvia. Good job kids.

Not enough guys from Minnesota and Boston.

[Jimjamesak]

Not enough guys from Minnesota and Boston.

Yeah, that'll work!

Apparently they woke up, because it's 3-3.

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: IIHF World Championships

If Russia doesn't win the whole thing it will be an upset. They have dominated every single aspect. +17 goal differential, the next closest in either pool is +5. They'll probably find a way to choke anyway.

[Jimjamesak]

If Russia doesn't win the whole thing it will be an upset. They have dominated every single aspect. +17 goal differential, the next closest in either pool is +5. They'll probably find a way to choke anyway.

It's because everybody else in this tournament sucks. Case in point, US losing 4-3 right now, Finland in relegation danger, and Canada basically sleepwalking.

[Jimjamesak]

Re: IIHF World Championships

Aaaaaaaaaand we lost to Latvia. At least we won't get relegated. And Tim Thomas still sucks.

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: IIHF World Championships

It's because everybody else in this tournament sucks. Case in point, US losing 4-3 right now, Finland in relegation danger, and Canada basically sleepwalking.

It's definitely that. Russia is the only power country with a semblance of an actual national team. Part of the reason it'll never be incredibly popular, because it isn't the best possible competition. I probably wouldn't be interested in it if I wasn't a sucker for essentially any type of international competition.

We have Tim Thomas as a first stringer. We were doomed from the start.

[Jimjamesak]

It's definitely that. Russia is the only power country with a semblance of an actual national team. Part of the reason it'll never be incredibly popular, because it isn't the best possible competition. I probably wouldn't be interested in it if I wasn't a sucker for essentially any type of international competition.

We have Tim Thomas as a first stringer. We were doomed from the start.

Problem is is that the Europeans love it. The TV money IIHF gets is why this happens every year. And USA Hockey and Hockey Canada don't have the balls to try to force a change.

Also, beyond the rosters, the officiating is horrible.

As for the US, they're not bad. It's just Tim Thomas giving up 11 goals in two games is bad. And only Leggio and Hellebuyck to back him up.

[Spartanforlife4]

Re: IIHF World Championships

We get Kazakhstan today. Easily the most likely candidate for relegation as they've only picked up a point through shoot out loss against Germany. However, they did only lose by one to Latvia, and scored more against Russia than we did (though they also gave up 7 instead of 6).

As it stands right now, the only thing keeping us from getting kicked out of the playoffs is goal differential, as we're tied with Finland and Belarus at 6 points with three games to go.