world juniors

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 30 Dec 2004 22:13

i'm surprised no one has made a topic about this yet. especially with no nhl this year, i'd expect every hockey fan to be watching.

now i was really expecting the usa to have a good team, especially after winning last year, but they aren't looking so hot this tournament. they did beat russia, and russia usually has a very strong team, but they lost to belarus and the czechs. yikes. that's not going to put them in a good position for the play offs. i think that puts them 3rd in their pool: 1.russia, 2. czechs, 3. usa, 4. swiss, 5. belarus.

russia looks like it's back with a vengance after playing poorly last year, and if you tally up the points is sitting first in their pool and second overall. they didn't look 100% against the u.s., their only loss, and it was still a close game at 5-4.

i have to say i'm impressed with sweden. they have a pretty good team this year. better than past years. having beat the germans 6-0 and the slovacs 3-0. they also played a close game against the finns, 5-4, and have taken 2nd place in their pool.

canada is looking like they won't come second this year, if they stay on track they will win, no question. they beat finland 8-1. FINLAND! finland is another great hockey team, and they looked like little kids playing against grown men. the finish coach said after the game that they are by far the best team in the tournament. they have really been play a very good game, and it shows: 9-0, 8-1, 8-1, 7-3. they have only 5 goals against them, and the next closest team, russia, has 9 goals against them. canada has scored 31 goals and the next closest team, again russia, has only scored 21.

canada has to play either the czechs or the slovacs in the semi final. i'm putting my money on the czechs to take the slovacs, and then canada will take the czechs to go to the final. russia will have to play the winner of the usa vs. sweden game. i think the usa should take them, but with the way they have been playing, who knows... i think russia, even having already lost to the usa once, will beat them in the semi final, because the usa have been playing with less confidance after their 2 losses. as to the final, i'm predicting canada will lose to russia. canada has a recent history of silver medals and fucking up the gold and i expect that to continue. kinda like the red socks, they get close, but can't do it. maybe it will be like a return to the 90's when canada dominated every game, like they have here, but i think they have to slip up, and what better time to do it than the final.

my prediction, russia over canada 6-5 in the final.

max · Post by **max** » 31 Dec 2004 02:23

what's this about no NHL this year?

Colin · Post by **Colin** » 31 Dec 2004 04:39

There's a labour dispute. Lockout. It's completely ridiculas, and it's killing the game. I doubt that professional hockey will even exist in 20 years.

ville · Post by **ville** » 31 Dec 2004 05:35

Actually it's Finland against the Czechs in the next round. Our team has been in the top 3 for 4 years in a row, we'll see if we can make that 5

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 31 Dec 2004 10:31

wait - I have no idea what sport we are talking about.

"World Juniors" could be anything? I am guessing from Max's post that we are talking "ice hockey" but who can say?

Not me anyway

ashleyd · Post by **ashleyd** » 31 Dec 2004 11:40

GO TAMPA BAY!!!

anyways...,
im pissed about the lock out, but what can you do? o well.

Iain · Post by **Iain** » 31 Dec 2004 12:35

^Thats my step bro^

in case u can't read it...it says "will work 4 collective bargaining agreement"

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 01 Jan 2005 12:58

ville wrote:Actually it's Finland against the Czechs in the next round. Our team has been in the top 3 for 4 years in a row, we'll see if we can make that 5

humm, i don't know which way that game will go. finalnd is coming off a crushing victory from the canadians, and the czechs just beat the americans, so i'd say that they surely have more confidance in their game. just so long as they don't get cockey! i think the czechs will take finland.

p.s. in canada there is only ONE World Juniors, nothing else counts.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 01 Jan 2005 21:13

well the czechs beat finland 3-0 and the usa beat sweden 8-2, so the match ups are as follows.
tomorrow:
Canada vs Czech
Russia vs USA

for the final i'm still predicting a Canada-Russia game, but i guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 02 Jan 2005 19:57

Wooo ..

Canada moves on to the final with a 3-1 victory over the Czechs.

Take that Vasek!

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 02 Jan 2005 21:00

Posi-Cole wrote:take that Vasek

haha, yeah, we may not be able to beat them at shred, but we sure can out skate them! their goal tender was incredible! he was really on! the only reason the score wasn't 7-1 was because of him. the canadian offence just crushed the czech d. they had them skating in circles. 40-something shots on net and he only let in 3. glass had only like 12 shots on him in the whole game.

i couldn't find the usa russia game on any channel i had, but the result was 7-2. russia scored 2 goals in the first 5 minutes. the us caught up and the first ended at 3-2 russia. nothing in the second, then russia got up on the usa 4-2. the usa pulled their goalie twice and each time the russians scored, and scored again in the last second of the match. i'm excited to see what happens in the final tomorrow. i still think canada will lose it to the russians, today against the czechs they missed alot of opportunities and didn't seem to be in shape, so we'll see what happens.

Posi-Cole · Post by **Posi-Cole** » 02 Jan 2005 22:14

hacksterbator wrote:
Posi-Cole wrote:take that Vasek
haha, yeah, we may not be able to beat them at shred, but we sure can out skate them! their goal tender was incredible! he was really on! the only reason the score wasn't 7-1 was because of him. the canadian offence just crushed the czech d. they had them skating in circles. 40-something shots on net and he only let in 3. glass had only like 12 shots on him in the whole game.

i couldn't find the usa russia game on any channel i had, but the result was 7-2. russia scored 2 goals in the first 5 minutes. the us caught up and the first ended at 3-2 russia. nothing in the second, then russia got up on the usa 4-2. the usa pulled their goalie twice and each time the russians scored, and scored again in the last second of the match. i'm excited to see what happens in the final tomorrow. i still think canada will lose it to the russians, today against the czechs they missed alot of opportunities and didn't seem to be in shape, so we'll see what happens.

I still just don't have faith that Glass can perform. He really hasn't proven himself yet, mainly because he hasn't had a chance to. Really though, if Russia mounts a decent offensive attack and gets 20-30 shots, I think we could be in trouble, especially if they get a couple lucky/early goals. It would be interesting to see how the Canadians respond to being down. At any rate, hope that won't happen ....

The final game is on Tuesday.

hacksterbator · Post by **hacksterbator** » 04 Jan 2005 23:58

Canada 6 Russia 1.

wow. totally didn't see that coming. i also though glass would crumble under a strong offence, and he still might have, if they had been given a chance. canada rolled over them like steam roller over a kitten with broken legs. sure the kitten took a few swipes at it, but in the end, it didn't seem to maake a REAL difference. they punished the russians repeatedly and their best forward, forgotten his name, was just repeatedly boarded, knocked down and punished, repeatedly. you could just see how pissed off he was. the best goal was the first goal in the game, scored like 1 minute and 50 into the game. a drop pass and one timed right to the back of the net. so good! there were 2 that the russian goalie gave up, and probably wouldn't have been let in by a better goalie. either way, it was a super good looking game and was heaps of fun to watch.

BainbridgeShred · Post by **BainbridgeShred** » 05 Jan 2005 00:03

Congrats Canada!