My hockey week is shit! Pardon the expression, but it is. Why must Russia and Switzerland add to my hockey sorrow? Oh well, Russia is still in the running, but the Swiss are pretty much out of the race.
[Czech Republic-Russia] 3-2. I managed to catch bits and pieces of this game. Was at my parents' place for Mother's Day, so could not sneak away for too long to watch hockey ;) ... but what I saw was gritty, aggresive, intense, almost emotional mixed up with moments of the complete opposite. Weird game. And it is never right when one guy stands out for aggresive behaviour. Quoting Jaromir Jagr on Yevgeni Artyukhin: "He’s just a huge guy. It’s tough to stop him when he wants to hit somebody, because he’s like a huge monster coming after you. One [hit] was pretty bad because our guy didn’t have the puck." I admit this guy is rough lol ... but would not mind him on my Flyers, with a bit of polish ;)
[Sweden-Switzerland] 2-0. *sighs* I like the way the Swiss play, so why do they forget how to be offensive when it really matters? Sweden have qualified for the Quarter Finals and the Swiss have a tiny sliver of hope, but lets face it, it is not going to happen for them. Again. I tried to figure out what scenario they would need, but the standings and schedules have been set up so awkwardly on the IIHF site that I let this endeavour go. If someone has it figured out, please leave me a note lol {edit: Sven figured it out, thanks ... the Swiss would have to beat the USA, and Norway would have to lose to France ... sounds impossible!}
[Slovenia-Belarus] 1-7. Poor Slovenia. That was some ass-kicking they suffered and with a score like this it is not hard to tell who dominated ;) This was one of the two Relegation Round finals. Basically it was who wins stays, who loses drops to Division I. And lets just say Belarus safeguarded their spot in the Top Division with some fury ;) ... as for Slovenia, well not even sure if Anze Kopitar could have saved them, but I am sure his presence would have helped the Slovenians along. Back to Division I for them, but it was a good run.
[Latvia-Austria] 4-1. Another pretty conclusive score in the second Relegation Round final. Could not find a stream for this one, nor for the other game, so just summing up a few things I have read: Latvia was the more accomplished team, creating chances, whereas Austria had very little scoring chances. Which is much in keeping with the rest of their tournament.
Tomorrow a busy sked. Six games and it is as if everyone is playing lol ... will be scorewatching at work, it is crazy to have very early games on a Monday! So finally I get to watch a tournament with some normal European times and they still manage to make it impossible for me to watch ;)
Showing posts with label latvia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label latvia. Show all posts
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Thursday, 5 May 2011
IIHF World Championship | Day 7 | May 5th, 2011
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!
[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!
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
IIHF World Championship | Day 6 | May 4th, 2011
Almost bedtime here, but I had another fun hockey night. Here a write up of today's World Cup action.
[Denmark-Latvia] 3-2. That settled it. The Danes are on to the Qualification Round and the Latvians are headed for the Relegation Round. That is the third time since they joined the Top Division in 1997 and each time they survived. Back to the game. It seemed to be an even game and the end result could have gone either way. Nothing like a shoot-out to test your luck. Although the Danes were a bit more confident as they had won a few exhibition games that went to SO, maybe that really did help.
[Austria-Norway] 0-5. WHOP! That was a whopping result for the Norwegians aka Polar Bears. Cute nickname that. Although they may not appreciate the fact I called them cute. Anyways, I did not know about the 'Polar Bears' till today, but it sure explains why a buddy of mine wears a white bear costume to games lolol ... I assumed it had something to do with the cold and ice and snow, so I never asked. But yeah, things make sense now. Said buddy probably was at that game today. Lets just assume he will partying all evening. Anyways, the Norwegian are safe in the Qualification Round and the Austrians will have to fight for survival in the Relegation Round.
[Finland-Czech Republic] 1-2. I am learning new things about international hockey everyday. Apparently these two countries have a bit of an international rivalry going on and often the games are close with only little scoring. I have not seen this game so I will trust the report is correct and that this was a very physical and tough game with both sides taking lots of penalties. Fun bit: Pavelec was very close to a shut-out, but the Finns scored with just 20 seconds left on the clock (6 on 5). Hahah, so close!
[Sweden-USA] 6-2. Watched this game tonight and it was awesome. The first period was interesting enough with the Swedes building pressure and firing a lot of shots at Al Montoya, who bless him, was great. And a bit unexpectedly Team USA equalised on a PP with a bit over a minute to go. The Swedes were great to watch, great skating, great skills. Then the second period started and Montoya went on to disprove my comment about him being great. Basically he mucked up. He was skating behind the goal, trying to keep the puck in the game, but instead of getting rid of it properly, some Swedish guy called Kruger stole the puck and scored, pretty much an empty-netter ;) ... and for the rest of the period the Swedes were on a roll as Mattias Sjogren and Patrik Berglund scored to make it 4-1. The third period did not start very sparkly at all. I was expecting the USA to crank up the speed and start pressuring for a goal, but it was all a bit lacklustre and even the PP the USA had halfway through was played without any real energy. After the PP the Swedes actually upped the pressure a bit with a few good shots at the goal. And just as I was least expecting it, Team USA struck and Wheeler netted one for the USA. With the game against Norway still fresh in mind where they came back from a 2-0 deficit I thought we might be in for some last period fireworks. And we were! But it was the Swedes who made it happen. Where USA failed to pick up speed, Sweden did bring it and they scored two more goals to make it a huge 6-2 win. Ouch Team USA, splendid job by Sweden. Oh, it was also the most physical game I have personally seen at this World Cup, lots of skermishes and fistycuffs and at one point even one of the refs joined in and totally ninja'd a Swedish player. Hopefully someone will eventually upload a vid so I can add it. It amused me!
And I must share this. Some reporter on the IIHF.com site wrote: "The bigger Swedes played a physical, aggressive game that bothered the Americans much of the night." Right. In what universe do some hard as steel NHL/AHL players have issues with a physical and aggresive opponent? *shakes head*
[Denmark-Latvia] 3-2. That settled it. The Danes are on to the Qualification Round and the Latvians are headed for the Relegation Round. That is the third time since they joined the Top Division in 1997 and each time they survived. Back to the game. It seemed to be an even game and the end result could have gone either way. Nothing like a shoot-out to test your luck. Although the Danes were a bit more confident as they had won a few exhibition games that went to SO, maybe that really did help.
[Austria-Norway] 0-5. WHOP! That was a whopping result for the Norwegians aka Polar Bears. Cute nickname that. Although they may not appreciate the fact I called them cute. Anyways, I did not know about the 'Polar Bears' till today, but it sure explains why a buddy of mine wears a white bear costume to games lolol ... I assumed it had something to do with the cold and ice and snow, so I never asked. But yeah, things make sense now. Said buddy probably was at that game today. Lets just assume he will partying all evening. Anyways, the Norwegian are safe in the Qualification Round and the Austrians will have to fight for survival in the Relegation Round.
[Finland-Czech Republic] 1-2. I am learning new things about international hockey everyday. Apparently these two countries have a bit of an international rivalry going on and often the games are close with only little scoring. I have not seen this game so I will trust the report is correct and that this was a very physical and tough game with both sides taking lots of penalties. Fun bit: Pavelec was very close to a shut-out, but the Finns scored with just 20 seconds left on the clock (6 on 5). Hahah, so close!
[Sweden-USA] 6-2. Watched this game tonight and it was awesome. The first period was interesting enough with the Swedes building pressure and firing a lot of shots at Al Montoya, who bless him, was great. And a bit unexpectedly Team USA equalised on a PP with a bit over a minute to go. The Swedes were great to watch, great skating, great skills. Then the second period started and Montoya went on to disprove my comment about him being great. Basically he mucked up. He was skating behind the goal, trying to keep the puck in the game, but instead of getting rid of it properly, some Swedish guy called Kruger stole the puck and scored, pretty much an empty-netter ;) ... and for the rest of the period the Swedes were on a roll as Mattias Sjogren and Patrik Berglund scored to make it 4-1. The third period did not start very sparkly at all. I was expecting the USA to crank up the speed and start pressuring for a goal, but it was all a bit lacklustre and even the PP the USA had halfway through was played without any real energy. After the PP the Swedes actually upped the pressure a bit with a few good shots at the goal. And just as I was least expecting it, Team USA struck and Wheeler netted one for the USA. With the game against Norway still fresh in mind where they came back from a 2-0 deficit I thought we might be in for some last period fireworks. And we were! But it was the Swedes who made it happen. Where USA failed to pick up speed, Sweden did bring it and they scored two more goals to make it a huge 6-2 win. Ouch Team USA, splendid job by Sweden. Oh, it was also the most physical game I have personally seen at this World Cup, lots of skermishes and fistycuffs and at one point even one of the refs joined in and totally ninja'd a Swedish player. Hopefully someone will eventually upload a vid so I can add it. It amused me!
And I must share this. Some reporter on the IIHF.com site wrote: "The bigger Swedes played a physical, aggressive game that bothered the Americans much of the night." Right. In what universe do some hard as steel NHL/AHL players have issues with a physical and aggresive opponent? *shakes head*
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)