Canada should win against the Fins but didn't the Fins make them look bad in their pre-tourney game?
I was at the Russia- Switzerland game and the Swiss got two quick goals on the passionless but talented Russians who eventually caught fire and racked up a 7 to 4 win over the less talented Swiss side.
Watched the Russia - Canada game last night and again this morning I re-looked at the bizarre Michael Buffer imitation by Captain Maxime Comtois that caught even his own team mates off guard. Last night pre-game I found it hard to follow what was going on.
Comtois is a great player and clearly a more experienced senior leader in his team but unlike their HC Tim Hunter who liked the Buffer stuff and had nothing to say on the diving behaviour - I view this in a young hockey team as a distraction when you're about to begin a tough game and to be actually in a tough game.
Canada needs Comtois to be this player in the big games (he doesn't need to score all the goals or make all the assists though):
The Canadians had to learn the lesson that the easy wins and loss to the Fins in pre-tourney action should have taught them:For its part, Comtois had started the season in the National Hockey League with a staggering seven points in ten games. A knee injury, however, sent him to the infirmary for a few weeks.
The Russians clearly came out on fire for the start to the end of this game something they hadn't showed in other games entirely but they knew when to peak:“No,” said winger Owen Tippett, who had a one-timer opportunity bounce over his stick in the dying seconds. “Every team faces adversity in these tournaments. We’re just happy it came when it did — nor during the elimination round.”
“We’re not eliminated. It’s a free lesson,” stressed head coach Tim Hunter. “We learned the same lesson last year when we lost to the U.S. in a shootout at the outdoor game (at Buffalo). We should have won that game going away, but we stubbed our toe. But we learned a lesson from it. That’s what we’ll do tonight — and tomorrow.”
Mark Spector, Sportsnet on the game - above:“We played with emotion,” said Vitali Kravtsov, whose line with Grigori Denisenko and Klim Kostin was, for much of this game, too much for Canada to handle. “We knew with a win we would win the group. Finish the year with beauty, and start the next one with strength.
“We played for our country.”
It's tough to put a team of stars together for any coach for a short tournament as these aren't all personalities the coaches know that well.
But I'm with Jeff O'Neil even more - cut that diving stuff out. That's not the right kind of leadership.
It can also affect referees calls - although it'd be a stretch to suggest that diving led to Nick Suzuki's uncharacteristic two penalties - matching his entire season to now record in penalty minutes.
Canada struggled at the start of the New Year's Eve showdown against Russia and Cody Glass believes he knows why. ''It felt like we were yelling at the ref quite a bit, especially myself'', the top-line centre said. ''The game was getting in our head a little bit ... maybe we haven’t played in front of a crowd like that with that type of emotion.'' The Winnipeg native hopes the adversity will help his team be ready for Wednesday's quarterfinal.
Jeff O'Neill has something in common with Jarius?
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My colleague @odognine2 has had his computer bag go missing in downtown Vancouver. There’s one item in the bag — his gold medal from the 1995 WJC — that he would like to get back. If anyone should come across it in their travels, its return would greatly appreciated. Thx.