IIHF World ChampionshipDiscuss International Tournaments like the WJC, Olympics, and World Cup, as they take place, or discuss past tournaments. performances.
I don't know why fans make a big deal out of such games... it happens to all the big dogs from time to time. On a personal note I remember my final year of high school hockey, playing a game against the worst team in out city and for 4 years we consistently beat the snot out of, when finally in the 4th year, 2nd last game of the season, they finally gave us a game and boy in the 2nd intermission we were stunned...sometimes the mental side of game really gets a hold of you... I was expecting a more decisive win by the Russians, but I don't think it means anything that it wasn't... and BTW I was cheering for the Slovaks BIG TIME.
Exactly, as someone who plays/played hockey you understand just how big an effect the mindset/mentality can have on the result of the game, especially for amateur hockey players (professionals can often overcome it). I was trying to say the same thing: Nerves, home crowd, high expectations, underestimating Slovakia, and in return Slovakia preparing for the end all be all battle is why this game was so close.
It's easy to say Russia should definately win, but when you're the player on the ice to "just jump on and score more goals" isn't easy at all, no matter the skill level. Especially when you run into a hot goaltender like Nagy today.
Very understandable from a player point of view, yet it does not really represent the difference between two countries accurately.
The bad news for you and other Canadian fans is that they didn't play as bad as you would like, and you could clearly see the firepower and talent on the team. So you trying to overblow things to the extreme of just how BAD this Russian team is, is a waste of time.
What is amusing, is watching all these Canadian Vultures gloating that Russian did not dominate like "they expected".. whatever that means, since they don't really know this team well anyway
Im a fan of Russian hockey and my two WJC pools include Vasilevsky, Yarullin, Grigs, Kucherov, Sigarev, and Slepyshev. Im also an Oiler fan so am keenly interested in Yakupov, so no, I dont "hope" Russia does poorly.
There is something to be said for humility and grace, something that seems lost on many of the fans.
Your expectations are set very high. I think it was a solid effort taking a point away from the host nation, let us focus on the game versus Germany.
My expectations aren't set high. Definitely not. but I cannot consider 1-point-loss as a success. It's even worse than 0-point-loss, since it just shows how close we were to winning this game. This one point really does not mean anything. And I'm afraid it just persuade ourselves how good we are despite it's not true.
After those first two shifts by Russia I thought this would be a blowout. Wow...they came out flying. The Slovaks recovered though and played one of the best games I've seen them play at the U20 level in years. I was really impressed with their team commitment to a great agressive containment and counter attack game. Also, Nagy was fantastic. You can't deny that Russia is talented. A few too many individual plays this game where more passing was warranted. I thought before the tournament that Grigerenko and Kucherov would be far more vital to Russuan success than Yakupov and today it showed. They are a better tandem than whoever Yakupov will play with through the tournament. Russia has a history of sputtering a little out of the gate at U20. They are still a co-favorite and will only get better. Anybody taking them lightly or writing them off is a very big fool.
It's too bad Slovakia is in a group with Canada, Russia and USA, since their chance to advance is low, but I hope they keep it up. No junior hockey program has taken as much of a hit in the past decade as Slovakia and it was very encouraging seeing them play like this. Slovaks should be very proud of their team after that effort.
Why are you surprised? I know Ray Ferraro set himself up a story line by implying that the Russians were going to disembowel the Slovaks before the opening whistle, but what does Ferraro know about the Slovaks? The Slovaks have typically been tough and competitive in the WJC, and this year is no exception. The US and Canada better be careful with them.
Guess he also missed Slovakia beating the Czechs 4-1 a couple days before the tournament
Kinda hard to stick up for the Russians on this one... I mean opening game your on home ice against a lesser opponent. You'd think you would come out flying and just absolutely run over them. Maybe Russia just isnt capable of that. The defense looked awful!!! No Naumenkov or Zadorov is going to kill this team. I don't care if they have 5 defense who play 3 minutes a night in the KHL they couldn't win battles against the Slovaks. Poor Russia another terrible tournament ahead on home ice.
Kinda hard to stick up for the Russians on this one... I mean opening game your on home ice against a lesser opponent. You'd think you would come out flying and just absolutely run over them. Maybe Russia just isnt capable of that. The defense looked awful!!! No Naumenkov or Zadorov is going to kill this team. I don't care if they have 5 defense who play 3 minutes a night in the KHL they couldn't win battles against the Slovaks. Poor Russia another terrible tournament ahead on home ice.
It's the first game. Chill out, Russia is perfectly capable of running the table.
I wake up and indeed see that Slovakia took a point off Russians. I fricking felt that when I said in the middle of the second period that I can see why Swiss gave them a game. This Russian team has enermous potential, but it hasn't quite clicked yet for them, hopefully they'll pick it up.
Russia will come around with time, but congratulations to slovakia for playing as well as they did. Russia missing those two big guys is a loss, it will take some time to get used to not having them there playing. Canada also often has rough starts especially because of chemistry issues. Team chemistry is the most important part of hockey, not talent and it takes time to build it.
Does Slovakia really have only about 100 U-18 players in the country?
No, there are 400 players that played some games in the TRANSPETROL extraleague U18 and around 300 in the 1st League U18.
These numbers are really low compared to the other nations at this tourney though.
It's the first game. Chill out, Russia is perfectly capable of running the table.
They were outshot 34-27 by Slovaka who is suppose to have the weakest team in the tournament. Last year Russia was outshot by every team and some games it was pretty bad. Their offense was opportunistic and Vasilevsky/Makarov were unbelievable and it almost worked... I don't think the hockey gods will shine on them this time around. Can, Swe, Fin > Usa > rest of tournament
They were outshot 34-27 by Slovaka who is suppose to have the weakest team in the tournament. Last year Russia was outshot by every team and some games it was pretty bad. Their offense was opportunistic and Vasilevsky/Makarov were unbelievable and it almost worked... I don't think the hockey gods will shine on them this time around. Can, Swe, Fin > Usa > rest of tournament
Out shooting your opponent is far less an indicator of team effectiveness than puck possession and scoring chances. Slovakia counter attacked and were shooting from all angles. The actual scoring chances favored Russia.
Who said Slovakia is supposed to be the weakest team in the tournament? That's silly. I don't think anyone has Germany or Latvia ahead of them in their rankings.
Out shooting your opponent is far less an indicator of team effectiveness than puck possession and scoring chances. Slovakia counter attacked and were shooting from all angles. The actual scoring chances favored Russia.
Who said Slovakia is supposed to be the weakest team in the tournament? That's silly. I don't think anyone has Germany or Latvia ahead of them in their rankings.
x2 most people in this thread have spoken sense, a few however did not watch the game, do not know how Russia normally starts tournaments etc. Russia created a lot more scoring chances in fact if Nagy did not stand on his head in that second period Russia would have run away with it. I have nothing but respect for Slovak hockey so it has always annoyed me when people call them rubbish/crap etc I expected a close match, they did beat the Czechs 4-1 a few days ago which shows they are not weak. The only measuring stick for Russia should be after group play, only then will we see where the team is at. On paper this team has a lot more depth than the previous two years but Hockey is not played on paper.
I have nothing but respect for Slovak hockey so it has always annoyed me when people call them rubbish/crap etc I expected a close match.
I didn’t expect a blowout game but I was thinking about 3-4 goals difference. Yesterday I was quite impressed with the Slovaks. They played as a team with really good understanding between all players which is (as a rule) difficult to achieve for people coming from different teams. So I checked their roster. And guess what. 16 players from the Slovakian roster play in one club - HK Orange 20 Bratislava. No wonder they have such a good chemistry.
