World Juniors 2013

[Per]

Better video (or the same, but more):


I think he'll be suspended, but probably not for the entire tournament. Probably two or three games.
Still. Fucking idiot, imho. This was a freaking friendly!

[Per]

Other than late, I didn't see much dirty about the hit. I agree though, he should be gone. Not getting a suspension for the Maata hit last year but one game for the spear against the Russian will not work in his favour.

Canada will miss him as he was their most effective forward in the initial two pre tourney games.

As a whole, the Canadians have looked pretty stinky so far. They appear to believe they are a bunch of lockout hold overs who don't need to work for it.

I see that Nugent-Hopkins is playing, but Ottawa wouldn't let us have Zibanejad.

[Topper]

So Subban stinks in the trial, stinks in his pre tournament game and yet is named the starter.

Binnington plays very well vs Sweden and is named backup.

Huh?

I can only think they figure the Germans (don't mention the war) are considered an push over and Subban is on a very very short leash.

[Per]

No surprises so far; Finland beat Latvia 5-1 and Canada beat Germany 9-3.
Sweden is ahead 3-0 against the Czechs with one period to go.

Nugent-Hopkins leading the scoring with 1 goal, 4 assists...
Five point game, eh? Not bad.

[Per]

Final score 4-1. Sweden looking good. Two PP goals, one EQ, one SH.
Unfortunately the Czechs got a goal with just six seconds remaining.
Would have been nice for our backup to start the tournameent with a SO.

The bad? Too many penalties, but they played a good box play and the Czechs could never capitalise on it.
Still though, when we face the North American teams, we know it will get ugly, and I guess the kids need to play with an edge to prepare for those games, which are the ones that matter. We should beat the other Europeans regardless.

[Topper]

For a 9-3 win it was not a very dominant showing by the Canadians. A mistake filled game, the Germans ran out of gas about mid way through the 2nd period and the third period looked like a fun practice scrimmage for Canada.

Subban was less than ordinary. The two saves Ferraro raved about where shot into Malcolm. There was no cross ice stretch to cover the back side, the puck hit Subban's pads centre of the net. Starting the black guy against the Germans is so 1936.

[Uncle dans leg]

(don't mention the war)

Well they started it...they invaded Poland...



Edit: Basil Fawlty anyone? No?

[Uncle dans leg]

I'd like to see Binnington against Slovakia I think. They played the Russians very well and the way Canada likes to let teams rack up the premium scoring chances on their net, they're going to need a better game out of their goaltender.

That kid Drouin is going to be a very good player me thinks.

Russia looks like Canada playing at home. Feeling the pressure to dominate and it might bite them in the back side.

[Topper]

Canada's defence is to much Hollywood and not enough Frankie.

[Per]

The US beat Germany 8-0!
Should Canada be concerned?

[ukcanuck]

The US beat Germany 8-0!
Should Canada be concerned?

Must be a shell shocked German dressing room...

[Per]

Slovakia, that had managed to take the Russians to overtime, had a good start against Canada as well, but eventually Canada managed to shift to a higher gear and could cruise to victory. Nice to see Slovakia having a decent team again though. They've had a couple of weak years imho.

Sweden having problems with Switzerland; after two periods we're behind 2-1, despite having outshot them 30-15. Seems the Swiss have managed to produce yet another good goalie. Hopefully we'll find the holes in the Swiss cheese in the third period.

[Per]

Are you all getting a load of the WJC?

Have a hard time guessing who may win. 
Canada has some shifty goaltending and problems learning that there's no hits to the head in international hockey - three players suspended for next game, which happens to be the USA... Ouch!

Sweden needed a penalty shootout to beat Switzerland, and you can tell we miss our three best D-men. The ones we have are OK, but they are all relatively small, which can become a problem when the going gets tough.

Russia is good enough to beat the Yanks but struggled against Slovakia.

The Czechs lost 4-1 to Sweden.
The Finns lost 3-1 to the Czechs.
The US lost 2-1 to Russia.

Slovakia and Switzerland are better than I expected, but not good enough to win this thing.

The Germans and Latvians look really bad.

At this point Canada and Sweden lead their respective groups, but both teams have shown glaring weaknesses.

http://www.worldjunior2013.com/

[Uncle dans leg]

^this^

It is definitely a difficult tournament to predict, although I haven't seen any of the B pool games other than highlights.

I think this past game for Canada was a turning point for the team in that as the game wore on, they started to play proper team defense in their own zone as well as dump/chase/forecheck hockey in the Slovaks zone. As Topper has alluded they hadn't looked good at all until the second half of this past game which is a huge relief to us Canadian fans. Defense and a good forecheck still wins championships and as much as the offense was on display the little things they did in their own end went a long way in reassuring me that this team could win it.

Team USA has some interesting pieces and hung in against the ruskies but seem to lack efficient puck control and simple passing plays that become important at this level. They can play at this level but I feel they will fall short.

Team Russia is a very talented team that looks slightly out of sync and seems to be trying too hard...if that's actually possible. Yakapov does look like Bure...thank god its Valeri not Pavel. They have a draft eligible player (forget his name...ends in OV maybe?) who's 6'4" and looks like Malkin out there. Incredible talent.

Our pool will likely come down to the battle on Monday morning at 5:30 AM our time. I will definitely be watching that one live.

What can you tell us about the other Pool that we wouldn't have heard? I'm shocked Finland lost. I was really impressed with Granlund, Armia and Maata from the pre-tourney games and was thinking they might be the team to come out of that pool. Haven't heard anything about the Czechs but obviously they are a good team.

[Topper]

Midway through the Slovak game, after their penalty problems, the Canadians started sending two forecheckers deep. It pressured the Slovaks to bring wingers back to help out and really helped the very poor playing Canadian defence.

Have any of you seen a more selfish player than Mark Scheifele?