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There's no IIHF prefix. I guess that sort of makes sense.
Is everyone else as excited as I am? Canada Finland exhibition game just starting. Can't wait for the tournament to actually start next week.
Just bought my Team Canada jersey yesterday. You better believe I'm wearing it right now.

The biggest problem with the WJHC is that they play it in the middle of the season for most of the hockey world.

That said: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

I dunno, the interference with the NHL schedule has never really been an issue here. The World Juniors are seen as way too important. They are definitely seen as more important than the IIHF World Championships, but not as big a deal as the Olympics.
And;

'05 Gold
'06 Gold
'07 Gold
'08 Gold
'09 Gold
'10 Silver
'11 Silver

We're due for another gold.

I was a director for the World Jr A Hockey Challenge when it came to BC back in 2007. Damned if it wasn't the most bloody amazing tournament I'd ever been to. Canada West actually lost to Russia in the 5th game of the round robin, and Canada East won in OT against the US in an frigging standing-room only crowd.

The greatest game of the entire tournament however was the Bronze medal game, Russia vs US which was goal after goal after goal, 9-6 USA at the end. Insanity The crowd was freakin' singing the American national anthem - which for a Canadian is a pretty big deal.

Meeting some of the players during the tournament was pretty awesome. Oh, and Ron Hextall hit on my wife; and not knowing who he was, she totally burnt him.

I wasn't even aware of that tournament. I thought for a second you meant the Under 17 Tournament put on by Hockey Canada. This is another Hockey Canada tournament you speak of though. I was just unaware of it.
As for the IIHF, getting excited

Don't forget the Spengler Cup starts next week!

So... Canada defeats Finland 8-1, USA takes Denmark 11-3.
I'm looking forward to the Canada USA game on Saturday, although I may not get to see it, being New Years Eve and all.

Crazy thing about the Juniors, aside from most championships and consecutive championships, Canada has almost none of the official records.

Bit of an upset win with Finland beating USA tonight.
Meanwhile, Canada Shuts out the Czech Republic 5-0. Some really awesome work by Wedgewood in net. That pass? Beauty. But too many ill-advised penalties. Luckily Canada's penalty kill proved solid, or solid enough at any rate. Doubtless USA, Russia and Sweden's Penalty Kill will connect more than the Czech Republic's did though. Some of them you could argue with too (Taking a swat at a loose rebound but hitting the goalie's pads when it bounces is slashing now?). But many were just plain ol' stupid plays. At least the Czechs had the same problem. Too many penalties for them too, and some of them were kinda soft, some were inarguable. Same deal.

Tonights game vs Denmark is just awful. Even strength play feels like a pp for Canada.

After two periods it's
Canada 7
Denmark 0

final score 10-2. I'm still not impressed with Visentin, and not happy our players are committing so many infractions. Luckily our penalty kill is awesome (Two short handed goals tonight), but still.
Curious to see how the USA Czech Republic game goes tomorrow, though I'll likely miss the better part of it cause I have to stay late at work and then run some errands (liquor store for New Years preperation)

Also Canada got eliminated from the Spengler Cup.

If they don't want teams "running up the score", don't make goal differential a tiebreaker.

The Men's Under 17 World Championships got under way yesterday

Canada/Quebec 3
Canada/Atlantic 2

Canada/Ontario 5
Germany 0

USA 5
Czech Republic 1

Canada/Pacific 5
Canada/West2

And now the Czech's have beaten the Americans at the World Juniors guaranteeing Canada gets a bye to the semi-final irregardless of how tomorrow vs USA ends.

HCGLNS said:

And now the Czech's have beaten the Americans at the World Juniors guaranteeing Canada gets a bye to the semi-final irregardless of how tomorrow vs USA ends.

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Nnnngh *clutches heart*

HCGLNS said:

And now the Czech's have beaten the Americans at the World Juniors guaranteeing Canada gets a bye buy to the semi-final irregardless of how tomorrow vs USA ends.

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Seriously though, I was shocked. I was checking tsn's site from work and getting text updates from my friend. That loss also means that unless USA beats Canada tomorrow AND Denmark beats Finland IN REGULATION, the USA is out of Medal contention, leaving Canada, Sweden, and Russia as the big contenders. I think that ought to light a fire under the Americans, and the game tomorrow will have even more energy.
Too bad I have to miss it. Kind of disappointed too. For all the smack talk Canadians give the US teams, and all the booing they endure from the Canadian audiences, they are, reliably, a very solid team, and its a shame to see them having the trouble they're having in this tournament.
But I still want Canada to win tomorrow, of course.
Added at: 02:25

jwhouk said:

If they don't want teams "running up the score", don't make goal differential a tiebreaker.

Click to expand...

I thought the same thing. I read complaints about the supposedly unsportsmanlike behaviour of the Canadian coaching staff for their win against Denmark yesterday, but what else are they to do?

They were talking about that on SiriusXM NHL Home Ice this AM. Personally, I don't think it would be that horrid to have a "tie-breaker" game between round-robin and the championship rounds.

It would make more sense, for sure.
Out of curiousity, were they specifically talking about the 10-2 Canada vs Denmark game, or just the issue of running up the scores generally speaking? Because the Canadian news didn't say anything when the USA beat Denmark 11-3, but suddenly its a story now.

Whats the record for running up the score? 20 - 1 for the Swiss over Japan? With Denmark its a little different, all the great players that got them into the tournament are now too old for the tournament. But what are the more talented teams to do? Pass the puck back and forth for 20 minutes?

Now what is up with you silly billies and your curmudgeoning my perfectly cromulent vernacular?

HCGLNS said:

Whats the record for running up the score? 20 - 1 for the Swiss over Japan? With Denmark its a little different, all the great players that got them into the tournament are now too old for the tournament. But what are the more talented teams to do? Pass the puck back and forth for 20 minutes?

Now what is up with you silly billies and your curmudgeoning my perfectly crumulent vernacular?

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I think that's right. They mentioned it during the commentary on the Canada Denmark game, and all I remember was that it was Japan and a European team, so I think thats it. For this tournament, anyway. Other tournaments have more ridiculous lopsided scores. I remember reading about a game with a score in the 90s.
And its cromulent, not crumulent.

There was the infamous Kazhakstan/Thailand game in the Asian Games back in '07: Kazhaks won, 52-1.

Found it.
Asian Oceanic Junior Championships, South Korea 92, Thailand 0.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IIHF_Asian_Oceanic_U18_Championships

I thought the Finland Denmark game was tomorrow, but apparently it was today. Finland beat Denmark 10-1, USA is out of medal contention.

Shaping up to be a fantastic day for Pool A though,

Russia vs Sweden for 1st & 2nd place and the much coveted bye!
Switzerland vs Slovakia for 3rd place and a spot in the playoffs!

Watching highlights of the Czech/USA game, that is one happy goaltender.

Some one needs to tell him that the Lambeau Leap isn't going to work out well for him.

Missed the Canada/ USA game last night cause I was at a New Years party, where nobody but me even knew there was a hockey tournament going on (Most of my friends from college aren't in to sports at all). But I was getting texts from my friend on the status of the game. Sounds like the USA completely dominated in the third period, and I think thats a good thing. Canada needed to play a game where the opponent was applying some serious pressure.

Well the first period was all Canada, the US didn't even show up. More of the same during the second until the US killed off a big 2 man advantage for Canada and escaped the second not allowing any goals. This encouraged them and they put on a great show in the third. Turned out a nice game overall.

Except for the officials, both teams were sent to the box for calls that made no sense. So it was awful, but fair I guess. Both teams were disciplined enough to just take the penalties and not argue though, which was nice.

So, Switzerland edged out Denmark. Surprised at the score though, looks like Denmark held their own. I was hoping they'd squeak out a win. Maybe next year?
And Finland beat out Slovakia, who were a pleasant surprise this tournament.
Russia/ Czech game soon should be good. My money's on Russia, but Mzarek is a HELL of a goalie. Not sure who to route for here cause I'd love to see the Czech Republic get a medal, but a World Juniors without a Canada/ Russia game is an atrocity.

Yeah, this game is pretty awesome. A lot of back and forth, good chances for both. The Russians are controlling the play a little more, but Mrazek is keeping the score 0-0 for them. The crowd loves this guy too. I remember even in the Czech/ Canada game he got some big cheers.

This is probably the fastest playing I've seen so far this tournament.

Oh my. Czechs take the lead. Russians getting frustrated.
EDIT: HOLY HELL. I was going to go to bed after the second period, but I just can't bring myself to turn this game off. Amazing goaltending, fast paced, lots of great chances. Oh man.

Russia in over time. Wow. What an incredible game.

So this is the Canadian Little League World Series? I kid. No one in America cares this much about the Little League World Series.

Somebody call your mother! Canada down 2-0 after 1, 5-1 after 2, 6-1 in the third has fought back to 5-6 with 5 min to go!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Well, too bad Canada couldn't play like they did in the last 10 minutes all throughout. I was watching at the bar and therefore couldn't hear the announcers so I do don't know what the shots on goal were, but it definitely felt like the Canadians were outshooting the Russians, but those Russian goaltenders just shut us down. NEARLY made that comeback though.
On to the Bronze medal game, I suppose. Go Sweden.

(My friend made a $20 bet with some German guy at the bar who was rooting for Russia. Guess who had to pay up? It was not my friend, and it certainly wasn't the German guy. He and his friends turned out to be pretty cool though. Going to meet up and try to catch a Leafs game soon.)
Added at: 07:52

Covar said:

So this is the Canadian Little League World Series? I kid. No one in America cares this much about the Little League World Series.

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Its true Canada puts a lot of arguably undue attention on this internation tournament over others. I could go into it, but I won't cause I'm kinda tipsy, tired and I work tomorrow.

On the last Russian goal, the Canadian that got called for the penalty is going to have a hard time dealing with his mistake.

I like the Little League World Series analogy. That'd make the Memorial Cup the hockey equivalent of the College World Series.

Well, Bronze for Canada highlighted by a shut out for Visentin with a save that would make a sailor blush with shame.

I'm going to rant a bit. I keep hearing people completely shit on getting the bronze medal, and even questioning the state of Canadian hockey like there's a friggin' epidemic cause Canada hasn't gold the last 3 years. Seriously, you know Silver and Bronze are still achievements, right? Yeah, no gold for 3 years, but this is the first time since 2001 they didn't play in the Gold Medal game, and the last year Canada went without a medal was 1998. Thats a good damn record of play.
So what its not first place? Its still third. We are quick to berate a parent who tells their kid B+ isn't good enough, but we're going to jump on these 17-20 year olds for a bronze friggin' medal in an international competition?
Don't get me wrong, I am bummed Canada didn't go to the gold medal game, it sucks they lost to the Russians. But, there's a reason that Russia is our biggest hockey rival. They are good. You know? Its not like Canada lost to a team that barely qualified, or like they lost to even a good team like Finland or Switzerland, they lost to a POWERHOUSE team that is one of few that can consistently claim to be Canada's equal. And it was by one goal, in a high scoring game. That is nothing to be ashamed in, and a bronze is nothing to scoff at, even if it isn't gold.
My point is, even though I'd be upset to not get a chance to play for gold, if I were to take the bronze medal home from an international competition, I'd be damned proud.

No score after 60 minutes in the gold medal game by the way.

Yeah, the Russians will play their third overtime game of the tournament, and the Swedes their second.

HCGLNS said:

Well, Bronze for Canada highlighted by a shut out for Visentin with a save that would make a sailor blush with shame.

Click to expand...

I had to miss the game cause y'know, work. What was this save you speak of?

From behind the net, off the back of his head, off the crossbar, down his back then grabbed out of the air just before it crossed the line with a blind spinning backfist mitt save.

Sweden won. AWesome.

Uh, wow. I just saw that save - #1 on SC's top plays.

Wow.

That game was worth it for the shot of the dancing Russian guy.

Good tournament and congratulations to sweden for their first gold since 1981.

Just saw the Visentin save. Holy crap.
Not sure what it has to do with the navy though.