The 2009 WJC once again has provided hockey fans around the world with some very dramatic moments. Depending on what part of the world you reside, the emotions can range from being downright ecstatic (Canada and Sweden) to unbelievable disbelief (U.S and Russia).
The U.S hockey program has taken another step back after a very talented team fell short once again by finishing fifth in the tournament. Team U.S.A was as talented as any team at this tournament and was considered by many hockey pundits as a favorite to win the gold medal.
The roster was deep, highly skilled and appeared to have few weaknesses with many first and second round NHL selections. Only two undrafted players (2009 draft eligible Jordan Schroeder and Spokane Chiefs free agent Tyler Johnson) were on the U.S roster.
Like Team U.S, Russia was another team which was considered to be another strong contender to finish in the medals. The one difference between the Russian and U.S rosters was that the Russian team had some unknown quality in eleven free agent players. There were some pre-tournament concerns regarding their goaltending which was solid throughout most of the tournament while the defensive corp had some question marks in the #5-#7 spots.
Russia still has a chance to win a bronze medal against the surprise team of the tournament, Slovakia in this afternoon’s game. You’d have to think the Slovaks will treat this game like their “gold” medal match while the Russians could treat this game like a child being forced to eat spinach……unappetizing and force fed something they didn’t want to eat in the first place!!!
Canada needs to be a lot better
Needless to say, Team Canada will have to bring their game to another level if they intend to beat out the Swedes for the gold medal in tonight’s game.
Pat Quinn has pushed the right buttons with this talent team throughout the tournament (I can’t believe I complimented a former Leafs bench boss!!) and hopefully will be able to find another button to push his players against arguable this year’s strongest team in the Swedes.
Two players Quinn hopes to get better performances from if Canada wants to capture gold are Dustin Tokarski and Thomas Hickey.
Both players have struggled the last two games and really need to upgrade their games against the Swedes.
Tokarski has allowed nine goals in the last two games with at least four weak goals among them. His glove has been suspect at times while his “five” hole has been very…….well, holey.
To his credit, Tokarski has been able to fight through these deficiencies and we can only hope he has his best game of the tournament against the Swedes.
Tokarski isn’t the only player who has struggled to find his “A” game. Thomas Hickey has also been less than his usual stellar self throughout most of the WJC. Hickey and his defense partner, Colten Teubert were suppose to be Canada’s shutdown tandem but have made some bad defensive zone turnovers as well as struggled along the boards.
The play of the other two defensive pairings (plus the impressive young Mr.Ellis) have outplayed the Hickey/Teubert duo, epecially against the U.S and Russia.
With a Swedish team capable of producing offense from all four lines, the Canadian defense will have to step up their game with no pairing afforded any major mistakes during the game.
It was obvious Pat Quinn and his coaching staff made adjustments towards the end of the Russia game when he gave more ice time to P.K. Subban, Tyler Myers, Keith Aulie and Alex Pietrangelo during even strength situations. He also wasn’t shy about letting his more offensive defensemen like Subban, Ellis and Pietrangelo free range during the 10 minute overtime session.
Speaking of the Subbanator, he was especially dominate during the 4 on 4 overtime when he was flying around the ice on one of his end to end rushes. The kid has a knack for taking the pace of the game to another level and pushing the issue!! I can hardly wait to see what he can do in a Bulldogs’ uniform next season and eventually in a Habs uniform.
A player to watch in tonight’s tilt will be 6’3″ 200lbs speedster Magnus Svensson Paajarvi who should be a top 10 selection in the 2009 NHL entry draft. The kid can fly and has some serious skills.
Swedish goaltender Jacob Markstr0m will be the biggest obstacle for Canada winning the gold medal as he has been the tournament’s best/most consistent netminder. At 6’3″ 190lb, Markstrom will make it hard for Canadian shooters to find gapping holes but he does have deficiencies in his game as noted by Hockey’s Future:
Markström is a tall goaltender that has a lot advantage of being big and making himself look even bigger in net. He is a skilled goaltender with great mental strength as one of his major characteristics. He is cool, despite having a strong winner’s instinct. Plays the butterfly style with a good glove and has fine positioning and agility in net. What has been noticeable, however, is that he sometimes goes down too early and has problems getting up on his feet fast enough after a saves. He could also work some with his rebound control, but overall Markström has plenty of raw qualities and if his development continues, he might live up to the hype of becoming a future NHL starter.
Here’s hoping our boys will rip a few behind the Florida Panthers’ 2008 second rounder and proudly sing the Canada anthem for the fifth straight year…….”O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command”.…….just warming up my lungs for tonight, folks!!! (you should be glad it’s not in person!!!).
Canada 5 Sweden 4