World Championships 2012

[Tomas]

If you go with "former", then Petr Nedved, Ondrej Nemec, Konstantin Koltsov, Tomas Surovy, Janne Pesonen, Alex Goligoski,

[penny lane]

I thought Tomas Surovy would be a perfect wing for Sidney. so wrong.

[Streaks House]

Brutal hit on Roman Starchenko of Kazakhstan by Sasha Treille of France

[Chefpatrick871]

Surprised nobody commented on that hit. Brutal elbow, awful hit.

[MRandall25]

See how easy it is when you kick people out for hits like that?

I'm curious to see how liong the IIHF suspends him.

[Tomas]

See how easy it is when you kick people out for hits like that?

I'm curious to see how liong the IIHF suspends him.

4 games (i.e. the rest of the tournament, unless France makes it to the quarterfinals - which is extremely unlikely)

[MRandall25]

See how easy it is when you kick people out for hits like that?

I'm curious to see how liong the IIHF suspends him.

4 games (i.e. the rest of the tournament, unless France makes it to the quarterfinals - which is extremely unlikely)

4 games for a "first time offender"

Take notes, NHL

[Tomas]

Paging Barry Trotz:

http://www.cbssports.com/general/blog/e ... in-finland

[penny lane]

Getzlaf was alleged to have waved his fist at the Finns and said that “you do not want this” of his fist.

Another report said proclaimed himself as “the captain of the Anaheim Ducks” and that he “threatened to knock everyone out in three minutes.”

and with 1 arm tied behind his back.

[llipgh2]

Paging Barry Trotz:

http://www.cbssports.com/general/blog/e ... in-finland

Mirtle tweeted this the next day:

When asked if the team had a curfew, Getzlaf replied "No. We're grown men."

Then act like it, Ryan.

[Tomas]

This is a picture of a Czech WC Team rookie, who just scored his very first WC goal (on Thursday against Latvia):



And yes, he is 40-years old, and this is his first-ever WC.

[mikey287]

Kazakhstan/USA spoiler

Spoiler:

Well, that was embarrassing. Taken to overtime by the Kazakhs? Biggest obstacle in these tournaments is the lack of coaching adjustments to big ice and motivation...and it showed here. Kazakhs just tried to hang with them, USA allowed it. Sweet dish by MaxPac at the end and the finish by Faulk (not at all coincidentally, our two best players in the tournament probably). I'm not doing the math with the amount of games left, but I'm guessing we were gonna need that point...

[mikey287]

This is a picture of a Czech WC Team rookie, who just scored his very first WC goal (on Thursday against Latvia):



And yes, he is 40-years old, and this is his first-ever WC.

I thought Nedved represented Canada early in his career? How is he playing for the Czechs now?

[penny lane]

why isn't the great patrick kane working his magic in sweden. I'm sure he could clear a bar in 2 mins.

[Rylan]

why isn't the great patrick kane working his magic in sweden. I'm sure he could clear a bar in 2 mins.

I would love to be in a bar with Swedish Women.

[Tomas]

This is a picture of a Czech WC Team rookie, who just scored his very first WC goal (on Thursday against Latvia):

And yes, he is 40-years old, and this is his first-ever WC.

I thought Nedved represented Canada early in his career? How is he playing for the Czechs now?

I believe the requirements for switching countries within IIHF sanctioned tournaments (if the player already played for a different country) are:
- a passport (Nedved never lost the Czech citizenship)
- playing in the league of the "new" country for X (2?,3?) consecutive(?) years. Nedved just completed his 4th consecutive season in the Czech Extraleague.

For non-IIHF sanctioned tournaments, none of this matters, so Nedved - just 2 years after playing for Canada at the OG - skated in the Czech jersey at 1996 World (Canadian?) Cup.

[Tomas]

Kazakhstan/USA spoiler

Spoiler:

Well, that was embarrassing. Taken to overtime by the Kazakhs? Biggest obstacle in these tournaments is the lack of coaching adjustments to big ice and motivation...and it showed here. Kazakhs just tried to hang with them, USA allowed it. Sweet dish by MaxPac at the end and the finish by Faulk (not at all coincidentally, our two best players in the tournament probably). I'm not doing the math with the amount of games left, but I'm guessing we were gonna need that point...

Every point in Helsinki group is huge, because there are basically 3 teams (USA, Slovakia, Switzerland) fighting for the 2 QF spots (assuming that Finland and Canada beat their "gimmies" and advance). If USA beats Finland on Sunday, they are in no matter what (Switzerland won't be able to catch them thanks to the extra point earned today). If not, then it's going to be a huge fight until the last game, and USA will very likely have to beat Swiss to advance.

The official user-unfriendly stats and standings are here:
http://www.iihf.com/competition/272/statistics.html

If you are OK with just country flags, then pretty user friendly standings (updated immediately):
http://isport.blesk.cz/mshokej
(you can toggle between "Moje tabulky" - count the in-progress games vs. "Oficialni tabulky" - count only finished games)

[mikey287]

This is a picture of a Czech WC Team rookie, who just scored his very first WC goal (on Thursday against Latvia):

And yes, he is 40-years old, and this is his first-ever WC.

I thought Nedved represented Canada early in his career? How is he playing for the Czechs now?

I believe the requirements for switching countries within IIHF sanctioned tournaments (if the player already played for a different country) are:
- a passport (Nedved never lost the Czech citizenship)
- playing in the league of the "new" country for X (2?,3?) consecutive(?) years. Nedved just completed his 4th consecutive season in the Czech Extraleague.

For non-IIHF sanctioned tournaments, none of this matters, so Nedved - just 2 years after playing for Canada at the OG - skated in the Czech jersey at 1996 World (Canadian?) Cup.

Now that you mention it, Tomas, I believe it's four consecutive years. Which is why I had half a thought that the USA would employ Anze Kopitar at this coming Olympics as their ace in the hole. That's right he did play in the World Cup in 1996 with the Czechs...I forgot about that. But as you note, it was a non-IIHF event.

I thought, in most circumstances, that once you represent a country in the IIHF, it was very difficult to switch. I seem to recall Evgeni Nabokov being rejected by the IIHF the first time he tried to switch from Kazakhstan to Russia - but I could be just muddling two different circumstances together. So, I take it that he rejected Canada's invitations for the WC's in recent years? That is, years from 1996-2006 or thereabouts. Or was he just not considered good enough?

Thanks for the links in the second post! The IIHF website is quite difficult to navigate!

[Gaucho]

Germany 0 Norway 6. After half an hour. Oy...

[canaan]

Shame on salmela for that hit on goligoski--he should be suspended for the duration of the tournament

[Tomas]

Ovechkin+Semin to join Team Russia for the QF game.

[Tomas]

Norway is the next hockey superpower??

[Streaks House]

Shame on salmela for that hit on goligoski--he should be suspended for the duration of the tournament

It's being reviewed, so this could be a possibility.

Whatever happened to Anssi Salmela? Is he playing in Europe? Last thing I remember about Salmella:

Spoiler:

Listen to the audio, they use the term "it's shoulder to shoulder...he does get some head...sometimes nothing you can do". This hit happens today, I'd hope the attitude would be different, but it all depends on the commentators

[Puffymuffin]

Salmela got 3 games.

[Penspal]

Suspensions and bad hits in international hockey? What's up with that? Fighting has never been a staple in international hockey, so the arguement that "on ice policing" is not valid in this case. What does that say about the respect level that "pro - calibre" players have for each other?