[GDT] NA u23 vs Russia (6PM MDT)

[Fighting Banana Slug]

With the chips in the jerseys and the new technology being showcased, is there any public data on length of shifts? It seemed to me that the McDavid/Matthews shifts were way longer than most. They will get crushed by Sweden/Canada, if they go for extended skates.

[Robo]

Anyone see the front page of Edmonton sun today a picture of mcdavid with a caption mcdavid magnificent but north America still falls to Russia

[wired]

Oilers fans still think that the team is 2-3 years from making the playoffs. At least the ones I have talked to.
Some seem to think McDavid is a little over rated.

[Benched]

Trochek benching surprised me...thought he looked good before that.
Not Larkins best game.
Didn't really notice Druin much early, besides some dumb perimeter shots that had no chance of going in....
MacKinnon looked stellar. Again.
RNH looked excellent.
Thought Trouba also looked really good.

Sucks about Ekblad.
Sucks about the hype train.
Sucks about the ice time.

Love JH being pissed about losing. Love this kid.

[taxbuster]

Loved the game, thought the bench management was klutzy or stupid. Why TM didn't pull Murray when he was clearly having problems after the 3rd goal is a good question.

What I did notice about Johnny was his fantastic puck retrieval on the PP every time the puck was passed to the right side and shot from there. Most of the shots missed, but JG got behind the net to recover them. Wasn't his best game to be sure, but I thought he was a whole lot better once he got away from Eichel. I think JG "just" got out on the 5-on-3 right at the end -- but I can't really remember.

Nuge was excellent (I do hate to say that) as was McKinnon. Thought Matthews should have had a LOT less time - he wasn't overly effective even if he is fast. He really needs to learn the NHL game first. McSaviourOfTheOilers is another story. Overplayed and overhyped - just bugs me.

Oh well - the Russians played well and took advantage, aided by some real dumb coaching decisions of only Oileresque proportions. Keep it up TM - we really want to see the Oilers in the dumpster this year!!