Olympic PGT - CAN 3 - SUI 2 SO

[Locke]

I've said before and I stand by it, the defence selections were a huge mistake.

Niedermayer is playing like a guy who retired once already, and hes the Captain? His play was poor.

Doughty looked completely lost.

Seabrook was the worst of the bunch.

Pronger had an off night.

Look what happened. What happens when they play a really good team?

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by Locke

I've said before and I stand by it, the defence selections were a huge mistake.

Niedermayer is playing like a guy who retired once already, and hes the Captain? His play was poor.

Doughty looked completely lost.

Seabrook was the worst of the bunch.

Pronger had an off night.

Look what happened. What happens when they play a really good team?

Well it's a good thing they left off the unproductive Bouwmeester in place of Seabrook.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by I_H8_Crawford

Well it's a good thing they left off the unproductive Bouwmeester in place of Seabrook.

Make no mistake, this team's defence is: Pronger, Keith and Boyle.

I dont know how much they were expecting out of Niedermayer, but those 3 guys are your top 4, it would be rounded out by a revolving door of Weber and Seabrook.

Now, last night Seabrook was flat out bad and Weber was invisible but steady, but one of the top 3 (Pronger) had a bad night as did Nieds and Doughty. There is little hope of success should that happen against a contending team such as Finland, Sweden or even the US, if they had played that game against the Russians I have full confidence they'd have been torn to shreds.

[Igottago]

One thing that really irritated me last night was TSN's commentary on the game. They acted like it was one of the most monumental wins in Canadian hockey history, and Crosby's shootout goal should be put on a stamp or something. I remember the line about the young Crosby and the veteran Brodeur taking Canada to victory. Everything was so ridiculously over the top, especially considering we barely squeezed out a win against a vastly inferior opponent, Crosby needed 2 tries to score. I'm not anti Crosby or anything but the way they tried to project the win at the end of the broadcast was laughable. One of the most homer broadcasts I've seen. It was kind of embarrassing.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Igottago

One thing that really irritated me last night was TSN's commentary on the game. They acted like it was one of the most monumental wins in Canadian hockey history, and Crosby's shootout goal should be put on a stamp or something. I remember the line about the young Crosby and the veteran Brodeur taking Canada to victory. Everything was so ridiculously over the top, especially considering we barely squeezed out a win against a vastly inferior opponent, Crosby needed 2 tries to score. I'm not anti Crosby or anything but the way they tried to project the win at the end of the broadcast was laughable. One of the most homer broadcasts I've seen. It was kind of embarrassing.

Oddly enough the NBC broadcast was pretty similar in that regard.

[united]

Mike Tyson:
"If you have a problem, turn off your station"

No broadcaster will ever do even an average job in the eyes of CP posters.

[CGY12]

Originally Posted by valo403

Oddly enough the NBC broadcast was pretty similar in that regard.

Well one doesn't have a clue about hockey and the other is a giant homer based production. It took Brodeur 3 stops to even give Crosby a chance to make up for his first miss against a Swiss team that isn't even in the same ball park as the Canadians and all we hear after is how monumental Crosby's performance was LMAO.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by CGY12

It took Brodeur 3 stops to even give Crosby a chance to make up for his first miss against a Swiss team that isn't even in the same ball park as the Canadians and all we hear after is how monumental Crosby's performance was LMAO.

He was the only one to score in the shootout, I guess that's simply not good enough for you. And did you even watch the game? Canada was stymied time and again, take a look at the shot totals.

[CGY12]

Originally Posted by zamler

He was the only one to score in the shootout, I guess that's simply not good enough for you. And did you even watch the game? Canada was stymied time and again, take a look at the shot totals.

Sorry I'm going to hail Crosby as the saviour like the media in a game that he didn't play great in. He scored on his 2nd attempt and thats great but if it weren't for Brodeur he wouldn't have had that chance. Luckily for him the IIHF allows repeat shooters after the original 3. Canada was "stymied" against a weak Swiss opponent, do you not see a problem in that? I can think of a handful of teams in this tournament that are 1000 times better than the Swiss. I know how the media really likes to hype up certain players and certain situations but lets call a spade a spade, last night was not a very good performance.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by CGY12

Sorry I'm going to hail Crosby as the saviour like the media in a game that he didn't play great in.

I don't give a rats a$$ what the media says about Crosby. Your problem is you refuse to acknowledge that Crosby is, at worst, the 2nd best player in the world. And that player won Canada the game. But again, that's not good enough for you, you need to make excuses. So it took Crosby 2 chances to score in the shootout, you're saying he should have scored on his first attempt right? So who else scored on their first attempt. That's right, no one. I don't see you jumping all over the other shooters for failing to score.

Agree with you and others that Babcock's coaching was terrible, and Canada did not play a great game. But this continued minimizing of Crosby is ridiculous.

[Meers]

Originally Posted by BACKCHECK!!!

I'm sure the Russians are shaking in their boots.

Actually . . . they are.

Having lost a shootout of their own against Slovakia - courtesy of that perennial Hart trophy runner up, Pavol Demitra - the Russian team clearly has issues of their own to iron out, especially in terms of team defence and their power play.

So, step away from the ledge, set the safety back on the gun and put down the bottle of Draino.

Yes, Team Canada looked a tad disorganized yesterday and only had one line (the Sharks line) really clicking. But, that's what happens the fourth time your team has ever taken to the ice together.

We can all take some comfort from the fact that other strong teams in this tournament are experiencing similar teething pains. Do you think the Tre Kronor gained much confidence from their game against Germany? Do you actually believe Team USA looked like world beaters against Norway?

The round robin portion of this tournament is just practice, folks. It takes time for a team to gel and work out the bugs. Remember the early 5-2 rout of our boys by Sweden in Salt Lake? That loss exposed far more problems with that incarnation of Team Canada than last night's game.

Hopefully the team will take some lessons from yesterday's scare and the various benchings that Babcock handed out - the most important of which is that from here on these games can't be played casually and no shifts can be taken off.

Team Canada is made up of hyper-talented professionals. I am fully confident that the message will be received and that the Canadian team will look more cohesive against the US. That game is the real start of this tournament.

[CGY12]

Well then you completely missed the point of my original post. It wasn't me slamming Crosby, it was more so against the mentality of the Canadian media. I'm not trying minimize Crosby at all, he is a great player and definitely Canada's best and I don't think you know me personally so I'm pretty sure you don't know who my top 2 or even 5 players are in the world.

[Azure]

The defense on this team is Weber.

He's the only one who doesn't look completely lost.

Even Keith was having issues last night.

Which brings up the question again, why the heck is Seabrook on this team? Come on, someone please tell me.

[Ren]

Originally Posted by Azure

The defense on this team is Weber.

He's the only one who doesn't look completely lost.

Even Keith was having issues last night.

Which brings up the question again, why the heck is Seabrook on this team? Come on, someone please tell me.

This one puzzles me as well. If you're not going to play Keith and Seabrook together then WTF is the point of having Seabrook on the team at all? Might as well have gone with Bouwmeester.

[Patrick]

Team Canada's issue was they brought in groups of players (for chemsitry) instead of the best player for that position.

IE:

Seabrook and Keith.

Perry and Getzlaf

SJ top line

You cant break up the lines as than it probably makes the team even worse off. Fact is, the 4th line should have been high impact energy/htting players who can play 7 minutes a night and make an impact versus scoring players getting the same ice time.

[Ark2]

Originally Posted by CGY12

Ya shame on Heatley and Marleau for being the only ones to score and the one line that consistently put pressure on the other team. Your credibility means so much, some people on here are so clueless.

Again, they were given the most ice time and the most PP time. Saying that the Sharks line was better than Crosby's line isn't really fair when they aren't getting the same ice time and the combos keep getting juggled.

You don't need to be a brilliant coach for a team like Canada to win against the Swiss. Put you're lines together, keep them together, and just roll them, because regardless of which line is on the ice, Canada's talent is unmatched in last night's game. Trying to turn this into a match of coaching wits is just stupid. I mean, putting Bergeron on the top line just to win faceoffs? WTF? Does Babcock not know that Crosby is one of the best faceoff winners this season? He is trying too hard to come up with a home run move when all he has to do is let the players play.

I have no doubt that he is a very good coach in the NHL, but this is not the NHL and it is becoming obvious.

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by zamler

He was the only one to score in the shootout, I guess that's simply not good enough for you. And did you even watch the game? Canada was stymied time and again, take a look at the shot totals.

Its one thing to have shots, its another to have quality chances.

I am getting sick and tired of every time we play someone we make their goalie look like he is the second coming.

Its not that these goalies are world beaters, its that we are unable to capitalize on chances.

Also Crosby didnt "win" us the game. The fact that we played the Swiss won us the game.

[Tyler]

People seem to forget that we lost our first game, and narrowly beat Germany, back in '02.

This is a fast tournament and it'll take these guys 2 or 3 games to start gelling. Just be happy that we've won both of them and have some momentum to build off of.

[Treach]

Originally Posted by CGY12

Sorry I'm going to hail Crosby as the saviour like the media in a game that he didn't play great in.

Whaaat... you have got to be kidding me. Crosby played great. He created a ton of chances. The guy took a chop to the face and while bleeding from the nose and mouth got up, and single handedly created a great scoring chance. He scored the game winning shoot out goal on a possessed goalie. Wtf does the guy have to do to get any respect?

[HPLovecraft]

Originally Posted by Treach

Whaaat... you have got to be kidding me. Crosby played great. He created a ton of chances. The guy took a chop to the face and while bleeding from the nose and mouth got up, and single handedly created a great scoring chance. He scored the game winning shoot out goal on a possessed goalie. Wtf does the guy have to do to get any respect?

Win the Stanley Cup!

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