Canada came into the 2014 World Juniors carrying the big question of how it was going to go. They didn't have the greatest pre-tournament games, their roster wasn't quite as stellar as it could have been, and then there's the last three years - in 2013, Canada didn't medal even with the leading scorer of the tournament on their team, way back in 2012 they finished with Bronze, and in 2011 they finished with a silver. You can see a pattern here, right? So there were some genuine concerns for Canadians.Now, the round-robin portion of the tournament is over and Canada is looking a little bit better than most of us expected they would be.
So let's talk about some key - or interesting - moments from the games and then some other key things to note about Team Canada.
Starting with some key and interesting moments from the four round-robing games:
 |
| I blatantly took this from @Jeffler 's twitter, it was too good to ignore |
- Germany 2 - Canada 7
Truthfully, I didn't see this game when it was on because I chose to sleep to try and recover from my cold. Because I didn't see it live, I knew the outcome of it, so when it came time for the replay to be shown, I wasn't watching it with all my heart. That being said, I still had my concerns after watching that game. It was a pretty safe bet to assume that Canada would pull off the win in this game, and that is not a knock on Germany by any means, they have some great players there, they just don't have the same amount of players to choose from that other countries do. Watching that game, there were some holes in Canada's game that were concerning for me - there was the PK, the PP, the goaltending and mostly the attitude that I was picking up on through their play and comments. Now, obviously some of that was off to some degree, but those were the things I saw then that scared the hell out of me. - Czech Republic 5 - Canada 4 (SO)
Now this was a hell of a game to watch. And I did watch it when it was first airing. This game essentially became Paterson's last shot to be Canada's starting goalie, and he blew it. Canada was not playing well and it was terrifying to watch. In theory, and on paper, they should have been able to beat the Czechs with little struggle. Did not happen.
The highlight of this game, if you ask me, was at the end of the period, the whistle had blown for the end, but McDavid still shot the puck at Langhamer. Yeah, arrogant move, whatever, get over it. Michal Plutnar would not get over it. He ran at McDavid and a linesman standing by him. Plutnar took out the linesman. Absolutely hilarious, you should look it up if you haven't seen it. Hilarity aside, going after any official in a game, should get you kicked out of the game and suspended for the rest of the tournament. That is not quite how Plutnar's consequences played out. Plutnar took a two minute penalty for roughing, after the referee decided that he didn't intend to take out the linesman; that being said, after the game, it was all reviewed, and Plutnar did get suspended.... for one game.
Other than that, Canada is lucky that they got the one point even if it was a pity point.
- Slovakia 3 - Canada 5
This game was another hell of a game. The game started off with Drouin checking a guy in the head and leaving Canada shorthanded for 2 minutes, and him sitting in the box for the first ten minutes of the period. Not exactly the way that any team wants to start any game. This game was also the beginning of Zach Fucale becoming the starting goalie for Canada. Two players stood out in this game in my mind, albeit for two very different reasons. First, there was Curtis Lazar. Lazar clearly had a fire lit under his ass and he was absolutely flying, he had a wonderful game and you could tell that he was playing with his whole heart. In a total contrast to him, there was Connor McDavid. Even as I'm writing this, I cannot figure out why McDavid made the team this year, but I will further talk about that in a separate post, just for the sake of space. To touch on that though in terms of this game, McDavid was not playing to his full capabilities and he was more of a liability than anything. He took two penalties and in combination with some very sketchy plays, that left him sitting his ass on the bench for the third period, and still managed to choke in the shootout. Charles Hudon got injured in the very beginning of the third period, and it looked like a dislocated shoulder, but he came back as quick as he could, so good on him.
The last point on this game was the penalties. Wow, the officials in this game were whistle-happy. They were calling everything and then some. The Slovakian team were lapping it up by clearly taking full advantage of the whistle-happy officials. Some of their dives could have gotten them a perfect score. The best one though, was there was on Slovakian player who got slashed on the glove, he then promptly dropped to the ground. Sure, that makes total sense.... The officials were treating the Slovakian team like saints, and the Canadians like a bunch of criminals. It was brutal, but it still is not an excuse for the way that Canada played.
- USA 2 - Canada 3
The New Years Eve Rivalry, the game that most fans simultaneously look forward to and dread. This year's certainly did not disappoint. This game was also Griffin Reinhart's big return to Team Canada after being suspended for his actions in last year's WJC. He was absolutely stellar in this game, he proved that Canada certainly made the right decision by adding him to the roster even though he had to wait three games to play. This was also Fucale's second game of the round-robin that he started. Fucale absolutely stood on his head all game. The fans in Malmo, who were like 90% Canada apparently, were chanting "FU-CA-LE" after some of his more notable saves and of course when it came to Player of the Game, which he clearly deserved to win. Canada finally started to check the hell out of their opposition, which was a welcome change from their soft play in the three games before. And for Canada to be checking the hell out of the Americans said a whole lot, because the American team is big. This game was amazing. It was fast, it was back and forth, it was interesting, it was energetic, it was everything you want in a hockey game, and Canada won, so what more can we ask for?
On a more personal note, I do have some of my loyalties lying with the Ducks and their organization - and in turn their prospects - so watching Nic Kerdiles play for the USA was painful. He's been one of the Ducks' recent draftees that I have actually somewhat followed since they have been drafted, and I'm thrilled that the Ducks have him. Also, he's fun on twitter. During the game, I was less than thrilled with his play, because he was a pest for Canada. He was playing well, and he was playing up a couple penalties a bit. If he was on my team, I'd be fine with that, but because I bleed Canadian blood, that irritated me to all hell. Kerdiles took a penalty, and I promptly tweeted "Suck it, Kerdiles". A few hours after that game ended, I got the notification that he favorited it. Well, at least he's a good sport....
No comments:
Post a Comment