6-1 or whatever it is now, should still be a shutout for Canada but someone *Druce* obviously didn't take any groundball practice when he was a kid
The Russian goalie looks awful, I know this isn't the A squad and this series is a measurement of nothing, but man... this guy looks like he's been playing Bantam hockey all year, by far the biggest standout (not of the good variety) on their team.
Yeah, Barulin looked bad. What's surprising is I thought he was going to be probably the standout of the Russian team - I keep hearing he's going to be the starter at the WJCs...oh well, we'll see how it goes...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shappa
Can't wait until the Q gets this team on Thursday.
And Foppa if you think this was Canada's "A" team you are sorely mistaken, you do realize this was just the OHL all stars and that their are two other Canadian junior leagues, that are the equivalent of the OHL......not to mention a few NHL players who are eligible for the WJC.
I'm a diehard junior hockey fan, but I definitely had a tough time watching that.......have to wonder if they will cancel the rest of the games.
And Foppa if you think this was Canada's "A" team you are sorely mistaken, you do realize this was just the OHL all stars and that their are two other Canadian junior leagues, that are the equivalent of the OHL......not to mention a few NHL players who are eligible for the WJC.
Yep. Generally speaking, this team would probably be considered one of Canada's three "D" teams (the other "D" teams being the WHL team and the QMJHL team). Canada's three "C" teams could be considered a combination of the best players from two of the three league's teams (either WHL+OHL, WHL+QMJHL, or OHL+QMJHL). The "B" team could be considered the best players of the 3 leagues. And the "A" team would obviously be the best players with of the 3 teams with any or all of the eligible NHL players.
Great game by the OHL boys. I met a few of the Russians in downtown London on Sunday (one of them bought a Ja Rule CD :mad: ), even though they're English was pretty bad, they were nice guys.
"Hopefully Canada lets up a little with the hitting or these Russsians could get hurt....all of them."
Great game!!!!
I was kind of joking......normally I would say keep pounding them too, but the game was over after the first period and Russia looked helpless, some of those players don't belong on the same ice as guys like Stewart and Eager.....they were tiny and probably never played on a NA sized rink.
This Russian team is probably no better than teams like Kazakhstan, Norway, etc.. Actually those teams would probably beat this Russian team in a series.
When you're up 5-1 and you see your opponent doesn't stand a chance... especially when it's a friendly tournament, you kind of have to lay off a little.
I think the OHL did that, this game could have easily gone in the double digits.
Wow is all I can say. It's unfortunate that the quality of the Russian team is not up to par. That being said, I don't see a future for this series after this year, because I don't foresee the Russians ever sending a quality team. Obviously 1 reason is that they don't want to show the Canadians their "hand". Secondly the RSL is never going to release their best prospects to play in a meaningless tour. I guess it's back to the drawing board for the CHL trying to come up with a successful format to evaluate their prospects eligible for the World Juniors.
Would be cool if the NCAA and WHL and other Canadian/American leagues could get together.
I know I would enjoy watching a Canada vrs USA mini series battle every year prior to the WJC, it gives both teams the ability to evaluate the players, each nation could send out 2 teams, equally divided.
With have two-four games played every year.
Canada Team A vrs USA Team B, Team A
Canada Team B vrs USA Team B, Team A
I don't even know why Russia agreed to participate to this tour, if they knew the kind of team they would send. It's juste embarassing!!
It's not an A team, nor a B or a C team. It's juste the worst players they could find.....While the 2 top picks at next draft should be Ovechkin and Malkin, they sent players who even wont get drafted.
As a big fan of the Russian hockey that's been played in the past twenty years, the goalie from Youngblood puts it best: "I feel shame."
This is the single worst collection of Russian players, en masse, that I've ever seen assembled. If this is Fetisov's collection, he's got to be pummelled. It's brutal and it shows.
Evseev was seen as a project when drafted (hit or miss), Krutov's got nice bloodlines, Barulin might be something in ten years but not really too much now. If this is any indication of the effort of choosing the U-20 team, I might actually have to root for Canada... and that hurts more than you know.
Yep. Generally speaking, this team would probably be considered one of Canada's three "D" teams (the other "D" teams being the WHL team and the QMJHL team). Canada's three "C" teams could be considered a combination of the best players from two of the three league's teams (either WHL+OHL, WHL+QMJHL, or OHL+QMJHL). The "B" team could be considered the best players of the 3 leagues. And the "A" team would obviously be the best players with of the 3 teams with any or all of the eligible NHL players.
None of the Canadian players are below a "C" level because there are only 3 teams. There aren't enough players to form a "D" team.
The "C" team would be a collection of the worst players that make up each respective team (WHL, OHL, QMJHL).
The "B" team would consist of the next best players, and the "A" team would be the cream of the crop (plus the handful of NHLers).
Canada's "D" team would be a collection of the best remaining CHL talent not chosen to participate in this event.
Each squad (WHL, OHL, Q) has a collection of A, B, and C level players (some more than others) so they each average out to be around "B" level. Maybe slighty below "B" level figuring in the NHLers not playing.
When you're up 5-1 and you see your opponent doesn't stand a chance... especially when it's a friendly tournament, you kind of have to lay off a little.
I think the OHL did that, this game could have easily gone in the double digits.
Russian team has a lot of very young players (half of defence 17 years old players (1986 born) and one of them has even never been selected for the 1986 national team!).
More than half of the team are 18 years old players and younger, and they are not the best of their generation. Most of 1984 born players belong to "D" team (with few exceptions).
Small ice rink I think was one of the reasons of such poor game from the Russian team, the time difference could be another reason: game has started at 7:00 PM so in Moscow it was night already but still they wouldn't have a chance to win with this roster.
