World Cup 2016

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Per
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World Cup 2016

Post by Per »

So what do you guys think of the concept they've come up with?
The six usual suspects (Canada, US, Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland) plus a Team Europe, consisting of the best European players from other countries than the four that are in the tournament, plus a youth team, consisting of North American players up to 23 years of age.

Great news for Anze Kopitar, who finally gets to play international hockey on a team where he is not necessarily at least twice as good as the second best player. Bad news for Swiss and Slovak players who are frustrated they don't get to represent their country. I also always thought if they want another North American country, they could just let Quebec have their own team. Canada has more depth than any other hockey nation, so I think a separate French Canadian team could prove itself quite competitive, while not seriously undermining Canada's chances.

Thoughts?
Last edited by Per on Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by BingoTough »

Per wrote:So what do you guys think of the concept they've come up with?
The six usual suspects (Canada, US, Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland) plus a Team Europe, consisting of the best European players from other countries than the four that are in the tournament, plus a youth team, consisting of North American players up to 23 years of age.

Great news for Anze Kopitar, who finally gets to play international hockey on a tram where he is not necessarily at least twice as good as the second best player. Bad news for Swiss and Slovak players who are frustrated they don't get to represent their country. I also always thought if they want another North American country, they could just let Quebec have their own team. Canada has more depth than any other hockey nation, so I think a separate French Canadian team could prove itself quite competitive, while not seriously undermining Canada's chances.

Thoughts?
Rubbish. I want to see Slovakia, Germany, Switzerland and anybody else who wants to field a team.

Young guns? No way.

I'm filled with apathy to be honest. I would rather Hockey Canada host an invitational hockey summit against a different country every two years (e.g. year 1 - Russia, year 3 - Sweden, year 4 - United States, etc). You could even do it as an organised event where others get in on it. A series would make things more exciting.

The NHL proposal is barely better than the olympics, but the olympics feel like they mean something more.
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by BladesofSteel »

Meh.

I'm okay with the NHL no longer representing the Olympics. I get it, its all about money. But Hockey is such a big draw in the Winter games, they can't lose the sport.

I say cancel the WJC in 2018, and have the Juniors represent their country at the Olympics.

As for the World Cup… I just don't care. This fan only has eyes for a Stanley Cup after a decade+ long Gold Medal domination.
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by BingoTough »

BladesofSteel wrote:Meh.

I'm okay with the NHL no longer representing the Olympics. I get it, its all about money. But Hockey is such a big draw in the Winter games, they can't lose the sport.

I say cancel the WJC in 2018, and have the Juniors represent their country at the Olympics.

As for the World Cup… I just don't care. This fan only has eyes for a Stanley Cup after a decade+ long Gold Medal domination.
I'm fine with no WJC in favor of them playing in the olympics. Some of those guys will never get a crack at the NHL so would be especially meaningful.

I'm also with you on the Meh front. Who cares. It was good when it was the canada cup but they sucked the life out of it.
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Per »

A tad early, I suppose, but as Rummy's parting Words in the WJC thread have been bouncing around in my head:
Rumsfeld wrote:I guess we'll have to wait until the World Cup to cross swords again (no homo). Hopefully the prancing band of queers you assemble this summer can put up a better effort.
A better effort than beating Canada 5-2? We should be so lucky! 8-)

Anyway, I've done some thinking, and here is a very preliminary prancing band of queers:

Forwards:
LW - C - RW
Alexander Steen - Nicklas Bäckström - Jakob Silfverberg
Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Loui Eriksson
Henrik Zetterberg - Victor Rask - Gustav Nyquist
Gabriel Landeskog - Carl Söderberg - Patric Hörnqvist

Some reasoning behind the formations:
I would consider Bäckström Sweden’s first line centre. Having Silfverberg on the first line might be controversial, but this is a guy who was outstanding his last season in Sweden, setting a new playoff goal scoring record, and I’m somewhat puzzled that he hasn’t really succeeded in the NHL yet. He had a fantastic playoff last season, but has been rather invisible this season. Hopefully whatever is holding him back will have passed by next fall. He is an intelligent player and with the right line mates he should be able to produce. I also thought I’d place players with people they know, and since Silfverberg and Bäckström both are Brynäs alumni, they tend to practice together in the off season. Since this tournament is held before the regular season, they will have been skating together all summer up till the puck drops. Steen needs no introduction.

The twins get to be our second line, and as their RW I added Loui Eriksson. They’ve played with him before and have shown great chemistry together. I had hopes earlier that the Canucks would trade for Eriksson… 

The third line is made up of the Detroit (Red) wingers Zetterberg and Nyqvist being centered by Carolina’s Victor Rask.

The fourth line would be Colorado’s Landeskog and Söderberg, joined by Penguin Patric Hörnqvist.
The basic concept being that at least two players per line should know eachother, but whatever.

Alternatives to the players I picked could be Filip Forsberg or Marcus Johansson(LW), Mika Zibanejad (C) and Jesper Fast (RW) and if you want to add youth there is also the option of William Nylander (C/LW), leading the AHL in scoring, and Anton Rödin (RW), leading the SHL in scoring.

Defence:
D (shoots right) - D (shoots left)
Erik Karlsson - Oliver Ekman-Larsson
John Klingberg - Johnny Oduya
Anton Strålman - Victor Hedman

7th D-man could be Alexander Edler, Niklas Kronwall or his brother Staffan Kronwall.

A first pairing of Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson should be hard to match.
Then I’ve gone with my “good if they know eachother” theory and added a Dallas and a Tampa pairing.
Very happy with my top six, where each pairing has one guy who shoots left and one who shoots right. 8-)

A couple of years ago Edler and Kronwall would have been in the line up. I still think one of them might get the nod for seventh D-man, what with their extensive international experience and all. Another option would be Staffan Kronwall, Niklas’s brother, who never quite made it in the NHL, but who has carved out a nice career for himself in the KHL and who tends to captain the Swedish team whenever the NHL players aren’t available.

Other alternatives include Hjalmarsson (CHI), Enström (WPG), Larson (NJD), Ericsson (DET), Gustafsson (CHI), and Brodin (MIN) et al. Not really worried about our blue line.

And then Goalies:
Henrik Lundqvist
Jacob Markström
Jonas Enroth

Of course Lundqvist gets to be the starter. He’s one of the best goalies in the world right now, and it would be foolish to go with someone else.

I then picked Markström and Enroth as backups.

Linus Ullmark, Anders Nilsson and Jonas Gustavsson may start more games and have more ice time, but Markström and Enroth have good saves and GAA stats, and they both have extensive international experience. Apart from his WJC performances, Markström has played in two world championships. First as backup on a bronze winning team in 2010, playing three games, posting a GAA of 1.33 and a .944 save stats, and then as starter on the gold winning team in 2013, playing five games and posting a GAA of 1.58 and a .934 save stats.

All in all a pretty decent team imho. :?
Let the games commence! :drink:
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Rumsfeld »

Jesus that was a gay post. Even by your standards, Freddy Mercury.

Anyway you have an awesome goalie and a great top D pairing. Your forwards fucking suck and your centres are soft poo.

Get ready for another ass reaming, it will go swimmingly with the David Bowie marathon you're no doubt into.

I'll post Team Canada's lineup tomorrow and you will have to sit down and piss yourself.

Fucking dreamers man :lol:
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Strangelove »

Weird, I was just reading this fresh article by Bob McKenzie...
http://www.tsn.ca/talent/the-sedins-jus ... l-1.422353

It was at the 1999 World Junior Championship in Winnipeg, a tourney I'll always remember for a) the loudest fans I've ever heard; b) Roberto Luongo's coming-out party as an elite goaltender; and c) the Sedin twins being threatened with death and dismemberment.

Quite literally.

Canada was playing Sweden in the old Winnipeg Arena. It was rocking. The game ended up being no contest, a frenzied 6-1 home-team walkover. The beating wasn't limited to the scoreboard.

A Swedish player — if I remember correctly it was a linemate of Daniel and Henrik — was crushed into the boards (Brad Ference's name rings a bell as the perpetrator) and had to be taken from the ice on a stretcher. I was stationed at ice level, right between the two benches, no better vantage point to see and hear everything happening.

Oh, my goodness. I still have nightmares.

As the motionless Swedish player was being wheeled off, the Canadian players targeted the twins for a cacophony of verbal abuse like you wouldn't believe but can only imagine.

Death threats. Decapitation. Dismemberment. It was all liberally spiced with the saltiest language and slurs of all varieties. Nothing was off limits.

The general theme of it was, "You're next."
Welcome to Canada, prepare to die! :)
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Rumsfeld »

Strangelove wrote:Weird, I was just reading this fresh article by Bob McKenzie...
http://www.tsn.ca/talent/the-sedins-jus ... l-1.422353

It was at the 1999 World Junior Championship in Winnipeg, a tourney I'll always remember for a) the loudest fans I've ever heard; b) Roberto Luongo's coming-out party as an elite goaltender; and c) the Sedin twins being threatened with death and dismemberment.

Quite literally.

Canada was playing Sweden in the old Winnipeg Arena. It was rocking. The game ended up being no contest, a frenzied 6-1 home-team walkover. The beating wasn't limited to the scoreboard.

A Swedish player — if I remember correctly it was a linemate of Daniel and Henrik — was crushed into the boards (Brad Ference's name rings a bell as the perpetrator) and had to be taken from the ice on a stretcher. I was stationed at ice level, right between the two benches, no better vantage point to see and hear everything happening.

Oh, my goodness. I still have nightmares.

As the motionless Swedish player was being wheeled off, the Canadian players targeted the twins for a cacophony of verbal abuse like you wouldn't believe but can only imagine.

Death threats. Decapitation. Dismemberment. It was all liberally spiced with the saltiest language and slurs of all varieties. Nothing was off limits.

The general theme of it was, "You're next."
Welcome to Canada, prepare to die! :)
I read that last night and went straight to half-mast, my wife thought I was watching German scat porn again. Fucking terrific stuff.
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Rayxor »

Per wrote:so I think a separate French Canadian team could prove itself quite competitive, while not seriously undermining Canada's chances.

Thoughts?
The first thing that comes to mind is a children's book:

Image
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Puck »

The Canada Cups were held to satisfy the Canadian desire to see our best against the world when Olympic hockey didn't include the NHLers. Now that the pros are in the Olympics and as long as they continue to compete with passion, what's the need for this World Cup thing? Another bunch of games to dump on already fatigued players making the long season even longer. I'm not in favour.

Isn't anyone curious to see how this Young Guns team does, though?
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Per »

Rumsfeld wrote: I'll post Team Canada's lineup tomorrow ...
Is it tomorrow yet? :|
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Rumsfeld »

Per wrote:
Rumsfeld wrote: I'll post Team Canada's lineup tomorrow ...
Is it tomorrow yet? :|
I'm getting there bro.
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Rumsfeld »

Tavares Crosby Stamkos
Perry Getzlaf Nash
Benn Seguin Giroux
Toews Bergeron Hall ---- Mackinnon Couture Duchene

Doughty Weber
Subban Pietrangelo
Kieth Seabrook ---- Giordano

Price
Holtby

How terrifying is that Pear?

Gotta load that top line this time, stop putting Crosby with scrubs. The second line is a little iffy, but last summer it would've been a lock. It's always hard to assemble a forward lineup for the mighty Red and White, so many great players don't make the cut. Mackinnon might be on the young guns team instead.

That blue line in front of the best goalie on Earth... good luck. That depth up front... holy fuck is Sweden going to get smashed.

I don't know why everybody's shitting on this tournament. Best-on-best hockey in the fucking summertime? Canada adding to its ridiculous streak of international dominance?

I'm in. So it's not the Olympics, get over it bitches.
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Rumsfeld »

Puck wrote:The Canada Cups were held to satisfy the Canadian desire to see our best against the world when Olympic hockey didn't include the NHLers. Now that the pros are in the Olympics and as long as they continue to compete with passion, what's the need for this World Cup thing? Another bunch of games to dump on already fatigued players making the long season even longer. I'm not in favour.
You're not in favour of watching an elite international hockey tournament when there's nothing good on TV? :lol: WTF?

That's kinda weird.

I'm sure the players will be grateful that you're so concerned about their fatigue levels.

The Olympics aren't a sure thing for 2018 BTW.

As for the format of the tourney, it's kind of odd but I'm cool with it. Gives some guys a chance that would otherwise never play, and the Young Guns team will be fun.
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Re: World Cup 2016

Post by Strangelove »

Rumsfeld wrote:Tavares Crosby Stamkos
Perry Getzlaf Nash
Benn Seguin Giroux
Toews Bergeron Hall ---- Mackinnon Couture Duchene

Doughty Weber
Subban Pietrangelo
Kieth Seabrook ---- Giordano

Price
Holtby
I like the way you're going with this, I might tweak it thusly:

Tavares - Crosby - Stamkos
Benn - Seguin - Giroux
Toews - Mackinnon - Duchene
Perry - Getzlaf - Bergeron

Keith – Weber
Pietrangelo - Subban
Giordano - Doughty
Letang

Luongo
Price

We could probably build 6 or 7 teams that would all smash Sweden.

And just kidding about Luongo there good buddy...
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