IIHF 2012 World Championship

[toastmasterbone]

IIHF Site

Today, 04May2012, on the first day of action...

Team USA gets Faulk and Dwyer; USA beats France 7-2 today, Faulk with 3 assists. Jack Johnson is Team USA's captain, which means the USA should soon go down in flames with that stinkin' bad apple (Go Kings! ha ha ha). Dwyer was scoreless in 7 and a half minutes of ice time. France has a guy with the very American first name, Kevin, and the very unpronounceable surname (no matter how much high school French you took), "Hecquefeuille." I bring that up for no reason whatsoever.

Team Canada, with Ward in net, gets by the Slovaks 3-2. Skinner put in just shy of 20 minutes of ice time and came up bumpkis. He had 3 shots, and was -2 (whoops-a-daisy).

Of interest, the USA and Canada play each other tomorrow. I don't believe Cinco de Mayo celebrations will play a factor.

Jokinen is the only other Canes player in the IIHF, being the only "local" Finn who opted to play for the homeland. Finland plays Belarus in Helsinki later today.

[SoCalcaniac]

Glad we've got a thread going, thanks Toast!

We TiVo'd the US game, and I rewound to watch most of this. Faulk looks fantastic. Like he's not even missed a beat.

Canada won vs Slovakia .... Did anyone stream that game or get to see any of it?

Neat to see Hartwall Areena again really wishing I was there again; NBC showed a few exterior shots around Helsinki, I think I recognized a couple places.

I find it interesting that Finland selected only 4 NHL players for the team.

[SouthernHockeyChick]

I'm usually completely pro-USA in international hockey. But I am seriously having a hard time cheering for Cam to get scored on!!

It was OK when it was just Eric Staal's team getting scored on....but CAM?!? That hurts.

[DJHARLEY]

Plus it being a Canes/Cams team mate that scores the game tying goal!! (Dwyer) Then Cam got beat high to the glove side for the game winner? Kinda makes you wonder if that was brought up in the USA locker room before the game?

[SoCalcaniac]

I personally didn't "wonder" ..... since that was games ago in the tourney and Cam hasn't lost since, I doubt it matters.

[SouthernHockeyChick]

Unbelievable.

[dakuwan]

Justin Faulk scored the second goal in the game against Kazakhstan. Tied and in overtime now but they said that he now has 5 points and leads defensemen.

Update: And he just scored the game winner with 22.2 seconds left.

[IceSun]

Yep, think that unmarked red sweater in my closet will be saying Faulk next year...

[IceSun]

And the US slaughters the Fins 5-0 in the bounce back win after the Kazakh scare. Goal #3 was another Faulker.

There is hope that the Russian domination in the tournament will cease if Alexjinx Ovenchicken accepts the invitation to play for them.

[IceSun]

And the US wraps up the prelims with a win over Switzerland 5-2 and second place in their division. Rematch with the Finns on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

[c-girl]

And Canada is out, losing 4-3 to Slovakia.

[SoCalcaniac]

Was trying to get back in the house from the gym, get ready for the day and start working while all of this was on. So my focus was a bit scattered; Just a tad early in the AM for a hockey game, lol. From just my quick observations in all that, Canada looked flat at first, better later, then complacent.

The Skinner go-ahead goal was a beaut.

The breakdown to tie it up, not so great.

The Getzlaf kneeing penalty with minutes left --- UGH. Slovokia scores and Canada is done. The shot of Coach Kirk on the bench at the end said it all pretty much.

Nice that NBCSN is showing all of these games today up thru the Czech game at 2:30. USA/FIN on at 11am. Go Faulk & Dwyer

[IceSun]

Good of the US to score 21 seconds after Finland to keep the tie. Come on boys!

[toastmasterbone]

Still haven't figured out why Finland gets to wrap their arms around someone and throw them down to clear the crease, and why these cross checks when a dude is down on the ice is acceptable. I must say that I was glad, for a fleeting moment, that JJohnson is playing for the US and is jacking people up off their skates.

Good game so far. No stuck penalty-box doors. 1-1 after 2 periods.

[toastmasterbone]

Faulk gets the primary assist on Bobby Ryan's goal to break the tie.

[caveman]

Wow! Finland scores with 8.8 seconds left!

[StormChaserBH]

We need to hear exactly what the heck happened between Dwyer and Johnson with that broken stick on the tying goal.

[nccanes]

Wow - I finally sat down to watch this.....bummer.

And isn't if Finland that's using like hardly any NHLers?

[caveman]

Originally Posted by StormChaserBH

We need to hear exactly what the heck happened between Dwyer and Johnson with that broken stick on the tying goal.

Bobby Ryan talked a bit about it in a postgame interview, but I didnt catch it all live.

[SoCalcaniac]

Originally Posted by nccanes

And isn't if Finland that's using like hardly any NHLers?

4 if I recall the release correctly.

THAT. Was brutal. Someone needs to help me understand why Scott Gordon had Petry/Butler on the ice with 30 seconds to go.

The Johnson/Dwyer cluster**** I still need help understanding.

This is probably their best WC outing in awhile, but real tough to see them lose in that way. I thought Faulk was amazing all tourney long.

[Convert]

I read something on the IIHF site. Johnson basically said his stick broke and someone (Dwyer) gave him theirs, but it was a righty v. him being a lefty (or vice versa).....and he gave it back because he felt he could not really use it.

Dumb move either way by one of them...I'll choose to blame Johnson

Regardless of it being the "wrong hand", he still could have lifted Koivu's stick if he had kept it.

You can also question Gordon playing the bottom pair d-men at the end. Petry should never have left the guy alone in front to confront the guy behind the net.

Tough way to lose, but, if they had to lose to someone, I'm glad its the Finns--they have a lot on their shoulders.

[IceSun]

Well. I guess Juice is left to root for. Bummer.

[IceSun]

Originally Posted by Convert

Dumb move either way by one of them...I'll choose to blame Johnson

I'd have to agree with you after reading this quote

Jack Johnson has lost his stick a moment earlier, and couldn't defend like he wanted.

"My stick broke in half at the beginning of the shift, and I couldn't get off, couldn't get a stick. One guy tried to give me a stick but it was right-handed, so I gave it back. I played the whole shift without a stick," Johnson said.

[SouthernHockeyChick]

Originally Posted by Convert

I read something on the IIHF site. Johnson basically said his stick broke and someone (Dwyer) gave him theirs, but it was a righty v. him being a lefty (or vice versa).....and he gave it back because he felt he could not really use it.

Dumb move either way by one of them...I'll choose to blame Johnson

He should check with Bobby Ryan about whether one can play effectively with a wrong-handed stick or not. He scored a goal with the wrong one earlier this season.