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USA vs Russia World Jr. Championship

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jimotis4heisman

jimotis4heisman

Banned
The world jrs are on christmas day on espn2 8:30pm

a few ohio/ ohio state connections:
Dan Fritshce #9 is from Parma, a Blue Jacket (well kind of), his younger brother Tom plays for Ohio State Hockey team and leads them

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?id=1952465
GROUP A
United States
Style Points:The defending champs have a good mix of skill and toughness. Rookie international coach Scott Sandelin has the option of going with three up-tempo lines, although he will need a healthy Dan Fritsche to do so. A shoulder injury has kept the Columbus Blue Jacket prospect out of action for most of the season. One of the deepest teams down the middle in the tournament, Fritsche, Patrick O'Sullivan, T.J. Hensick and Robbie Schremp are all capable of playing the pivot. The defense, anchored by three-time World Junior Championship member Ryan Suter, should be solid, as will goaltending led by Al Montoya.




Success Hinges On: Can Montoya, the sixth pick in last summer's amateur draft and the most recognizable of the American players, repeat his heroics of last year in Finland? "I believe he's the type of player that will tell the boys, 'Hey, get on my back, let's go,' " said Lew Mongelluzzo, Ottawa Senators scout and USA Hockey Director of Player Personnel. The other major issue is whether a youthful team that won't have the chemistry of last year's squad can find cohesion in what many predict will be the most fiercely contested junior tournaments ever. Leadership from Suter, O'Sullivan and hometown boy Drew Stafford will be crucial.



Names To Know: Schremp, an Edmonton Oiler draft pick, has put aside questions about attitude and defensive abilities to become one of the top scorers in the Ontario Hockey League playing with the London Knights, the top team in the junior circuit. Brian Lee, 17, was a surprise pick for the team ahead of others like A.J. Thelen and Jack Johnson, but Sandelin calls the 6-foot-3 player from Moorehead High School in Minnesota one of the top young players in the country. "Brian's a pretty exciting player to say the least," said Jack Barzee, a USA Hockey player evaluator and amateur scout.



It's A Small World: Suter's father, Bob, was a member of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" gold-medal winning team, and his uncle, Gary, played 17 NHL seasons, while first-time national junior team member Chris Bourque is the son of NHL Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque.



Projected Finish: Second in Pool A, Loser in the bronze-medal game against Finland.
Click to expand...

for those who care on Russia watch #8 Ovechkin (#1 overall pick last yearin the nhl draft) and #17 Malkin (#2 overall pick last year), those two are AMAZING offensive forwards
 
good post, jim

Our kids looked pretty good at both ends. Except for the goaltending. I guess that’s what you get with a Meatbag in net. Maybe it was that butt-ugly weasel mask.

Montoya’s’ first two periods were atrocious and almost cost the U S the win. But overall the team played a solid game against their main competition in the group.

Yeah Jim, those Rooskie's can sure as hell skate. But so can we. And I like the USA's grittiness. Great start.
 
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Montoya

Unfortunately, Montoya has started out this way all season long. It's as if his mind is already in New York after being drafted. He's given up a lot of very early goals. He did have a very good final period though to preserve the win.

I think the defense in general looked rather suspect for much of the night. Russia was getting chance after chance. It seemed to out number the US chances pretty badly in the time I saw (3rd period).
 
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http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1953260

Saturday, December 25, 2004


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Short-handed goal lifts U.S. over Russia<\/span>"; document.write(SOB.render()); } //--></SCRIPT>Associated Press
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Dan Fritsche scored twice -- including a tiebreaking short-handed goal -- to lead the defending champion United States team to a 5-4 victory over Russia on Saturday night in the opening round of the World Junior Hockey Championship.
Fritsche's second goal, scored midway through the second period, was the winner. The Americans took leads of 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 against Russia, the tournament champion in 2002 and 2003.



Robbie Schremp, Chris Bourque and Drew Stafford had the other goals for the United States, which got 30 saves from Al Montoya of Michigan -- a first-round draft pick of the New York Rangers.



Montoya made 12 saves in the third period.



"For us, it was a great start to the hockey tournament and a very exciting game to watch," U.S. coach Scott Sandelin said. "It was a good game for us because it kept us on our toes."



Fritsche snapped a 4-4 tie when he scored on a 2-on-1 break while the United States was short-handed in the second period. Kevin Porter led the rush down the left side before sliding the puck to Fritsche, who stretched out to tip it past goalie Anton Khudobin.



"I thought it might be a 9-8 game the way that first period was going," Sandelin said.



Dmitri Pestunov, Alexander Ovechkin, Sergei Shirokov and Yakov Rylov scored for Russia. Ovechkin was taken No. 1 overall in this year's NHL draft by the Washington Capitals.



The Americans will have a tough time repeating as champion because Canada has emerged as the tournament favorite.



Patrice Bergeron and Sidney Crosby combined for seven points to help Canada beat Slovakia 7-3 in its opening game.



Canada jumped out to a 4-0 lead behind two goals each by Bergeron and Crosby -- and outshot Slovakia 36-23. The Canadiens then had to hold on to win.



"All in all it was the kind of game that was in and out for us," Canada coach Brent Sutter said. "I think you're going to have bumps in the road along the way … but in the end, it's a win."



Clarke MacArthur also scored two goals -- including one on a penalty shot -- for Canada, which has finished second in the tournament in each of the last three years.



"I thought we played a pretty solid game for the first game of the tournament," MacArthur said. "We still have some things to work on."



In other opening-round games, Petr Vrana scored three goals to lift the Czech Republic to a 7-2 victory over Belarus, and Finland got three points from Antti Nokelainen and two from Jussi Makkonen to beat Germany 4-1.



Bergeron, who played in the 2004 World Championship, scored the first goal on a breakaway at 3:55 of the first period after taking a long pass from Crosby. Canada scored three more unanswered goals, the last by Crosby at 9:52 of the second period.



Crosby will likely be the first player selected in the next NHL draft.



Peter Olvecky's goal pulled Slovakia within 5-3 early in the third period, but the team failed to capitalize on three power plays down the stretch.



Slovakia had a two-man advantage for 1:18 with less than five minutes remaining. Canada killed off both penalties and added two late goals by MacArthur, the last on a penalty shot with seven seconds remaining.



Vrana scored in a variety ways for the Czech Republic to notch the tournament's first hat trick. He had an even-strength goal in the first period, then added short-handed and power-play tallies in the third period.



Michael Frolik, Michal Kvapil, Petr Petruzalek and Rostislav Olesz added goals for the Czechs.



The United States is in a pool with Russia, the Czech Republic, Belarus and Switzerland. Canada is the other pool with Sweden, Finland, Germany and Slovakia for the tournament that runs through Jan. 4.
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goaltender montoya is a helluva talent but like all the young ones the mental aspect seems a little hit or miss. bret it very well could be a case of the #6 pick seeing $$$ or arrogance.

high scoring is typical in interantional play due to the great offense. netminders usually take a longer time to develop than sktaers also.

i would say this is a big upset. russia was picked by nearly everyone to play in the gold medal game, and lose to canada (who have all nhl drafted players except one who is a lock to be the #1 overall pick this year) even thought the usa won it last year hockey experts claimed teams were flat and didnt get up for the usa. grittieness and teamwork are the trademark of the american teams. we do not have anywhere near the individual talent teh canadians or ruskies have.

on the 3rd period play that is typical in hockey to sit on the lead and not make a mistake. add in the two best players in the tourney are russian its a huge win for america.
 
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Some good pics over at USAhockey.com

Weasel

al%20montoya%2005%20wjc%20rus%20800.gif

matt%20hunwick%2004%20wjc%20russia%20800.gif


casey%20borer%2005%20wjc%20rus%20800.gif


Os ot just me, or do the fans visible in the 3rd pic make anyone else worry about N. Dakota? Cause seriously... at least feign intelligence (guy on left) or interest (guy on right)...
 
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I do agree about Montoya

I think the $$$ that is ahead in his future has his game off a little bit right now. He needs to realize though that if he doesn't pick up his game that $$$ will drop dramatically.

I was excited to see how much ice time Kevin Porter was getting for Team USA. He's a freshman for my Wolverines and has played alright but wasn't initiating too many scoring opportunities.

The next Team USA game is on Monday night for anybody else interested in watching.
 
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VprHis said:
Some good pics over at USAhockey.com

Weasel


Os ot just me, or do the fans visible in the 3rd pic make anyone else worry about N. Dakota? Cause seriously... at least feign intelligence (guy on left) or interest (guy on right)...
Click to expand...


They guy and woman on the left are clearly Ruskies. The guy on the right is thinking about his buddy that he threw in the wood chipper.
 
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Sad showing

A very sad showing for USA hockey in the end. No medals after winning the gold the previous year...

I don't know what Montoya's doing but he better pull his head out of his ass and start to protect the net. He gave up 8 goals in the entire tournament last year and gave up 8 in the first three games this year. Then this past weekend he gave up 9 in two games to Western Michigan. If he doesn't play better in Columbus in two weekends you'll probably beat us.
 
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I watched the semi-final game vs. Russia. Anyone else have trouble with the fact that the US was wearing blue, and Russia red, white and blue?

I miss the old days where you could glance at the screen and recognize the "Red Menace". This just doesn't look like the Russian team to me.

ryan
 
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