Ice Hockey 2016 - 2017 Discussion Thread

[hckošice 14,822]

Friendly Matches

2nd April 2017

 

Mens

 

Latvia - Russia "B"  1-2

Russia U19 - Slovakia U19  3-0

Switzerland U18 - Austria U19  2-1 After OT

[hckošice 14,822]

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

2016/2017

 

  BELARUS

NEMAN GRODNO

6th Belarussian League Title

 

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Neman triumphs in Belarus

Grodno’s team goes unbeaten through playoffs

The trophy stays in Grodno: The Neman players celebrate on home ice after winning the Belarusian playoffs.

 

Neman Grodno powered to its sixth Belarusian championship after sweeping Yunost Minsk in the President’s Cup final.

Thursday’s 6-2 victory on home ice wrapped up a flawless post-season for Sergei Pushkov’s men as the team completed its playoff series against Lida, Gomel and Yunost without dropping a single game.

The final series should have been a hard-fought affair. The two most successful teams in Extraliga history went head-to-head; Yunost, regular season champion and defending President’s Cup holder, faced Neman, runner-up in the first stage of the season and still smarting from defeat in Minsk during last year’s playoffs. In reality, though, it was one-sided from the off. Neman’s 2-0 victory at Yunost in game one set the tone. The men from Grodno produced a high-tempo, pressing game that left Yunost unable to produce the kind of coherent hockey it had hoped for.

Pushkov steadily built up his roster over the course of the season. Mikhail Stefanovich, back after a two-year doping ban, joined the playing staff in November eager to prove his worth; he finished the season in style with a hat trick in game four. Goalie Vitali Trus displaced Maxim Samankov, and finished with four post-season shutouts and a save percentage of 96.4% as Neman dominated the playoffs. Gleb Klimenko, a KHL veteran, also arrived early in the season and added valuable experience; by contrast, Yunost’s high-profile KHL recruit, Dmitri Meleshko, did not feature in the playoffs at all.

“I was happy that it all came together from the start,” Pushkov said after winning the cup. “I was a bit worried about our game because we had lots of changes, but the guys got on with it and set out on the path that led us to this victory. I thank them for it.

“They had a great will to win, and this run of 12 [playoff] wins proves it.”

Neman forward Pavel Boyarchuk finished with 11 post-season goals and 16 points, topping the scoring charts. He picked out game three as the key point of the series, and added: “The momentum was in our favour after that, but if the last game looked easy from the outside, I can promise you it wasn’t.”

Demand was high for the final two games of the playoff series, and Neman responded to sell-out crowds in the arena by setting up a fan zone with a big screen outside. “It’s great that all of Grodno can celebrate this together,” Boyarchuk added.

Those fans in Grodno, a city of 360,000 people close to the Polish border, had an unusual way of celebrating their team’s triumph – a flashmob under the hashtag “we’re not tramps” encouraged supporters to come to the games and pose for photos wearing ties. The idea was inspired by tracksuit-clad Yunost head coach Mikhail Zakharov, who joked that his team could not even afford club ties for the coaching staff.

“It’s Neman that’s a wealthy club; we’re tramps,” he said after the second game of the series. In response, Neman’s supporters’ club urged everyone to attend the games on Wednesday and Thursday in a tie – regardless of whether it was accompanied by a traditional suit, or worn over a hockey jersey.

Zakharov spent much of the final series shooting from the lip as his team’s defence of its title faltered. Belarusian sports website pressball.by reported that after losing the opening game in Minsk 2-0, he criticized young players in Belarus for a lack of commitment to the game, likening them to “guys from a factory, not hockey players”. The following day, lamenting a 5-3 loss, he added: “Take another look at the fourth goal we allowed. If I’d been on the ice, I could have stopped that, even at my age!” After Thursday’s decisive defeat, he congratulated Neman. “Our opponent was stronger, everyone could see that,” he said. “On our team, we couldn’t find any leaders, nor any players with character. All I can add is that winning a championship is a great achievement, but retaining it demands extra skills, not just from the coach, not just from the team, but from everyone together, united not by a sense of responsibility but by a desire to win.”

Yunost remains Belarus’ most successful club, with seven championship victories in total. But Neman is now just one title behind. Of the other teams currently competing in the Belarusian Extraliga, only SKA-Khimik Novopolotsk has more than one title win, and its pair of successes date back to the late 1990s.

Neman goes forward to next season’s Champions Hockey League, returning to the tournament it contested in 2015/16 while Yunost Minsk as regular-season champion can look to repeat its Continental Cup victories in 2007 and 2011 when entering the European stage.

 

[intoronto 5,638]

No NHL in PC2018

Canada's women's team doesn't look good so 0 golds for Canada...

[hckošice 14,822]

Friendly Matches

3rd April 2017

 

Mens

 

Hungary - Sweden  0-4

Russia U19 - Finland U19  1-3

Slovakia U19 - Czech Republic U19  2-3

Switzerland U18 - Austria U19  5-2

[LDOG 2,418]

Is there any chance some players or federations pay fines or something to NHL to get players released?

[heywoodu 15,135]

14 hours ago, intoronto said:

No NHL in PC2018

Canada's women's team doesn't look good so 0 golds for Canada...

Ice hockey is probably lucky there aren't that many winter Olympic sports and not really a realistic team sport to replace it, because with this kind of bullcrap you're getting a same kind of Olympic tournament as the junior football or baseball without MLB players.. 

[dcro 10,210]

8 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Ice hockey is probably lucky there aren't that many winter Olympic sports and not really a realistic team sport to replace it, because with this kind of bullcrap you're getting a same kind of Olympic tournament as the junior football or baseball without MLB players.. 

 

Not just ice hockey, all winter sports.

 

They can get away with anything really (events like "big air", unfair qualification systems and so on)...

Edited April 4, 2017 by dcro

[hckošice 14,822]

9 hours ago, LDOG said:

Is there any chance some players or federations pay fines or something to NHL to get players released?

 

 

Well, good question...hard to say, we all know for a while thats just impossible to have any discussion with NHL. this is the problem. Gary Bettman and his team live in their own arrogant world, they still think that they are the gods and own the world, and it´s just extremely difficult to have any debate with them. If they say No to something, it will be No. you have no chance to change their minds. Untill NHL will be lead by some progressively thinking new faces the situation will be as it is.

 

Now back to your question... some players already announced their interest to go to PC2018 whatever the final decision of NHL will be, for example to mention the biggest known name from them Ovechkin, but it will be funny to see how they are supposed to do it.

 

Anyway there still a chance that NHL will keep the final decision in different clubs hands, that means each club will have the free choice to allow his player(s) to go. Maybe we can expect that probably some old stars big names will receive the permission from their boss. but surely we can speak about only a very small number of players if ever

 

[hckošice 14,822]

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

2016/2017

 

  NETHERLANDS

HEERENVEEN FLYERS

1st BeNe League Title

8th Dutch League Title

 

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Flying High

Flyers Heerenveen back on the Dutch hockey throne

One of three happy team photos for the Flyers Heerenveen, here with the trophy for the Belgian-Dutch BeNeLiga.

 

For the third time this season, they were able to celebrate. The Flyers Heerenveen completed their raid with a 3-1 final series win over HYS The Hague and with that captured the triple; Not only did the team win the 2016-17 BeNeLiga season, the top league of the Netherlands and Belgium. The team also claimed the Dutch national and Dutch Cup trophies on the way to the season finale.

A former powerhouse in the Netherlands, Heerenveen won seven straight league titles between 1977 and 1983. When the win streak was broken, it lasted over three decades before the team from the north of country could celebrate a championship again. With arch rivals Tilburg Trappers deciding to start playing in the German third-tier Oberliga, Heerenveen was crowned Dutch champions by virtue of being the highest-rank team in the Belgian/Dutch BeNeLiga despite the final series ending up won by Belgian team HYC Herentals last year.

No such thing this year. The troops of head coach and former player Mike Nason were a dominant force all season long winning most of their regular season games.

The success translated into the post-season as well as the team swept the Silverdome Panters and Liege Bulldogs on their way to the final.

Where most people anticipated a repeat of last year’s final, it was HYS The Hague that sent the reigning BeNeLiga champion HYC Herentals packing.

Game 1 saw Heerenveen taking an early 3-0 lead, but their opponents turned the deficit around with three power-play goals in the last 30 minutes of the game only to fall behind in the series in overtime; 4-3.

Another three-goal effort in game 2 leveled the series. This time, on home ice, HYS The Hague turned a 3-2 deficit into a solid 5-3 surprise victory.

Heerenveen took full advantage of playing on home ice winning game three of the series winning 4-3 before putting an end to the series in game 4.

Adam Bezak, son of former Heerenveen and Czechoslovak national team player Marian Bezak, opened the scoring with 1:04 left to play in the first period. The Hague had to swallow a bitter pill when Kevin Nijland doubled the lead scoring a power-play goal four seconds before the buzzer.

“Those two late first-period goals were of great value to us,” said coach Mike Nason. “The Hague certainly proved their worth and played tactically very strong and made it a genuine final series.”

When veteran Tony Demelinne scored the Flyers’ third goal, the series was seemingly concluded but HYS The Hague did not give up and got a goal themselves via defenceman Thomas Roosendaal. Any hopes of another three-goal comeback were quickly put to and end though as long time national team player Marco Postma replied 100 seconds later to restore Heerenveen’s three-goal lead.

In front of a packed Uithof arena with 3,300 spectators Captain Tony Demelinne could raise the team’s third trophy of the season. The Dutch Cup competition went to Heerenveen thanks to an 8-1 romping of the Eaters Limburg while the team also proved too strong for HYS The Hague in the Dutch Championships final; 5-3.

“This BeNeLiga title is the most beautiful of all three,” Demelinne commented afterwards. “Because it’s won here in The Hague where I grew up and my parents live next to the ice rink. This series was a hard fought one and showed great entertainment for hockey fans in the Netherlands.”

Meanwhile in Belgium, HYC Herentals rebounded from their semi-final BeNeLiga exit by winning the Belgian championship against the Liege Bulldogs.

In a two-game series the Bulldogs won their home game 8-4 but HYC responded with a 6-2 victory in game 2. This forced the series to go into a 20 minutes overtime in which Herentals won 3-1 to reclaim the Belgian domestic championships title.

With both domestic leagues concluded the focus shifted towards the upcoming World Championship tournaments.

Belgium will participate in the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A which started on Monday in Romania. In total 14 of the 20 players nominated appeared on either the HYC Herentals or Bulldogs Liege roster. Belgium will battle for promotion against hosts Romania, Australia, Spain, Serbia and Iceland.

The Dutch will have to wait a bit longer after gaining promotion to Division I Group B. The tournament in Belfast won’t start until 23rd April.

With Tilburg Trappers still active in the Oberliga playoffs, head coach Chris Eimers selected a large pre-tournament roster consisting out of 60 players. Main headliner on the roster is that of Amsterdam-born, Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Daniel Sprong who has not donned the Orange jersey in official competition before.

In preparation to the tournament, the Dutch will play two exhibition games against Japan on 19 & 20 April. Japan will be one of the opponents in their division which also consists of hosts Great Britain, Lithuania, Croatia and Estonia.

 

[hckošice 14,822]

Friendly Matches

5th April 2017

 

Mens

 

Austria - Sweden  2-6

Finland U19 - Slovakia U19  3-2