A Monumental Eff-Up

I don't want to say much about last night's game.  It didn't feel as bad to lose last night as it did a year ago.  Thanks to the Oilers I am more than well-versed in ways to deal with losses, and I felt bad last night for a total of maybe an hour.

Of course that could have something to do with the consumption of a certain mind-altering beverage, but either way my night was not ruined by the loss (although it was definitely tarnished).

On the bright side though, I found my new favourite hockey watching venue.  The Canadian Brewhouse on Ellerslie is beyond awesome.  More television screens than you could hope for, they play the audio of the game, and they have their own air-horn for goals scored by the home team.  My girlfriends and I had an awesome time last night.

Also, congratulations to the Russians on their win last night.  Let this be a warning to future Canadian teams: don't take your opponent lightly.  Just because they didn't have the best first couple periods doesn't mean they won't come out flying in the third.  Every team has to potential to come back at any point in the game.  Never let your pedal off the gas, and always give your opponent the respect they deserve.

Russia deserved that win more than we did last night.

Congratulations Russia, we'll see you next year.

My Favourite Time of Year

This post is a bit late, but I've been incredibly busy for a long time.

Lately, though, I've just been lazy.

In any event, I haven't even posted to commemorate my favourite time of the year yet: World Junior season.

Every year around Christmas the World Junior tournament gets started.  This year Canada was in the group some called the 'Group of Death'.  Unlike most years Canada, Russia, Sweden, and the USA - what I would consider the 'power nations' in hockey - were not distributed evenly between the two groups.  Canada, Russia and Sweden were in the same group this year with the Czech Republic and Norway, while the USA was in a group with Finland, Germany, Switzerland and Slovakia.  This meant that for Canada, Sweden and Russia there was little room for error.

On top of this, Canada was icing a team that was different than the teams from the 5 or 6 years previous: light on skill; heavy on grit, determination and size.  Of course, when I say 'light' on skill I don't mean 'low' on skill; however, most were expecting a low scoring Team Canada with, in all likelihood, high penalty minutes due to the hard-hitting style that they would likely play.

So, here we are.  Eight days into the tournament, and there are a few things to discuss:

First, Team Canada has absolutely no trouble scoring.  Moreover, the scoring is balanced among the lines in a way that previous teams couldn't have dreamed of.

Second, the Kassian suspension.  I don't want to say too much on this, so I'll leave it at the following: I humbly disagree with the suspension, and the fact that it was extended over the mandatory 1-game was a joke.

Third, the goaltending.  Last year goaltending was a weak spot.  One could argue that it lost us the tournament (if you consider silver losing).  This tournament it seems that our goaltending is, once again, the weak point of the team.  Everyone thought that goal scoring would be the weakness, but tending has been the issue thus far.

Today Team Canada beat Switzerland.  It was a close game early, due, in part (a large part), to their phenomenal goaltending, but Canada came out with the 4-1 win.  Visentin played this game, and I thought he looked shaky in the net.  He wasn't tested past the first period, and many of the shots that he did face were never far from being behind him.  He wasn't strong in his start against Norway either.  Roy was very shaky in the game against Sweden, the SO loss that ended in Canada having to play a Quarterfinal game against the Swiss, and hasn't had a strong game since his debut in the pre-tournament games.  I don't know which goaltender is the 'right' choice.  I don't know if there is one.  Tomorrow we play the United States: a team that has yet to be tested by one of the 'power nations'.  This makes them a wildcard.  The USA won the tournament last year, and they will be looking to repeat this year.  They have several returning members, their goaltending is stronger than ours, and they have several high-level offensive players.

Tomorrow, Team Canada will be in deep against an American squad that just might be better than ours.  There is a reason that they were labeled as the favourites this year.

A win tomorrow and we play for gold.

A loss, and we play for bronze.

Go Canada Go.