Today I could not decide on an evening game to watch, so I ended up watching bits of both Russia vs Denmark and Switzerland vs Norway.
[Slovenia-Latvia] 5-2. Relegation Round. This is the first time Slovenia beat Latvia on a World Championship! And by no meager numbers either, while in previous meetings the Slovenians hardly got to score a goal. They were eager, while Latvia was playing a bit under par. Jeglic thought it may have to do with the fact that the Latvians had not anticipated to play in the Relegation Round in the first place. Whatever the case, the Slovenians took a right step in the direction of staying in the top division today.
[Belarus-Austria] 7-2. Relegation Round. In the Preliminary Round Belarus hardly managed to score at all, so it was a big relief to the guys to finally get going and net some pucks! My Leafie Grabovski also scored and all in all the guys played a relaxed, loose game. That is probably the ticket to wins as it is. The minute a team gets too nervous the flow sort of stagnates. So glad to see Belarus got their groove back.
[Russia-Denmark] 4-3. Although the Russians found themselves trailing 2-1 after the first period, in the end it was a smooth game for them. They recovered in the second period by adding two goals to the scoreboard and in the third period they made it 4-2. The Danes tried to get back into the game and after a bit of effort managed to score to make it 4-3. But honestly, the Russians did not even put in very much effort. They just seemed very much in control. And I am thinking that maybe at times they did not even take this game too seriously ;) ... cause I witnessed some fun and playful moves towards the end. Afinogenov went behind the goal, then chipped the puck over the goal to a teammate in front of the Danish goalie and said Russian tried to bat it in ... did not work out, but it was fun to see!
[Switzerland-Norway] 3-2. Qualification Round. I missed the first period, but tuned in for the second and I was disappointed for two reasons. First of all, I like Norway, but during the Spengler Cup I grew a liking to the Swiss teams attending. They played a fast, action-packed game. So I was hoping to see the Swiss do well, but instead they were trailing. And second of all, it was a boring game! The Swiss did not show the enthusiams I was expecting and the Norwegians seemed happy with how things were going and hardly did anything to make it a more exciting game. So I switched to Russia-Denmark instead. But there you have it, Norway kept the lead and is looking good in terms of points!
Interesting games tomorrow. Especially looking forward to Canada-USA! And I wonder how Germany will fare against the Finns. Exciting times I hope!
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