Men's Ice Hockey World Cup of Hockey 2016

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Team Europe vs Canada in the finals , i hope

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Russia - Finland  3-0  HIGHLIGHTS

 

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Palát - Plekanec - Pastrnák

M. Michálek - Hanzal - Voráček

Frolík - Sobotka - Hemský

Jaškin - Birner

 

Nakládal - Šustr

Kempný - Polák

Jordán - Z. Michálek

Kundrátek

 

Mrázek (Neuvirth)

 

Scratched:  Faksa (Injury), Červenka (Injury), Pavelec

 

 

 

Parise - Pavelski - Oshie

Van Riemsdyk - Stepan - Kane

Pacioretty - Kesler - Wheeler

Abdelkader - Dubinsky - Palmieri

 

McDonagh - Niskanen

Suter - Carlson

J. Johnson - Byfuglien

 

Bishop (Schneider)

 

Scratched:  Backes, E. Johnson, Quick

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Czech Republic - USA  4-3

 

 

 

 

 

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Czechs earn a W for pride

Winless Americans lose 4-3 in finale

The Czechs salvaged some pride with a big win over the U.S. in the final game of the round robin.

 

The Czech Republic scored three goals in the second period en route to a 4-3 win over the United States in the final game of the round-robin portion of the World Cup.

It was a particularly difficult game for both teams. Whereas it looked to be a key game on the schedule before the tournament started, both teams lost their first two contests, rendering this meaningless in the standings.

The players had their bags packed before the game, ready to go home or to their NHL training camps, knowing they hadn’t qualified for the weekend’s semi-finals.

"The guys gave a true effort," coach John Tortorella said. "We played hard. We created some offence. Most of the game we did the things we wanted to do; we just couldn't score enough."

"Obviously, it's different than when you're still playing for something," noted Czech defenceman Andrej Sustr. "But you still have to take pride in every game you play for the national team. That's what got everyone going. We're professionals; you can't just take a night off."

Nonetheless, after a sluggish start, the Czechs and Americans gave it their all. The Czechs got on the board first at 12:44 when Zbynek Michalek wired a point shot past Bishop during a delayed penalty.

Less than two minutes later, on a power play, Zach Parise made a nice feed to captain Joe Pavelski who buried the puck to tie the game.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the period was that Czech goalie Mrazek incurred two minor penalties, one for high sticking and another for roughing.

The Czechs regained the lead at 6:03 of the second. Milan Michalek’s point shot was stopped by Bishop, but in the ensuing scramble in the crease Parise knocked the puck into his own goal.

But again the U.S. tied the score. This time it was a sweet pass from Dustin Byfuglien along the boards to a wide open Justin Abdelkader. He had only to find the empty net to make it 2-2 at 14:13.

The Czechs, though, struck for two late goals to take control. Jakub Voracek lost the puck to the side of the goal, but Michael Frolik took a wishful shot from the icing line that fooled Bishop.

Just 39 seconds later, Milan Michalek got his second of the night on an odd-man rush, wiring  across-ice pass from Ales Hemsky to make it 4-2.

Ryan McDonagh brought the Americans to within a goal early in the third, scoring the first short-handed goal by any team so far at this year's tournament.
 

 

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Czech Republic - United States  4-3   HIGHLIGHTS

 

[phelps 8,695]

well, last day of the preliminary stage of the WCH2016 quite sleepy, if compared to the exciting day we had on Wednesday...

 

the first period of the SWE-North America match was definitely the best period of hockey we've seen this week, fast pace, a lot of goals and exciting plays from both ends...

if only we had a few more games like that every season...

 

and also the "friendly" game between Europe and CAN, despite not counting that much anymore and being as expected mainly one-sided, did offer the audience some great hockey moments (the double miracle save by Halak's worth the cost of the ticket alone by itself)...

 

I'm still totally against the farce of having 2 "all-stars" teams among the participants to a National Teams' event, but I have to admit that in any case it's a great tournament...

and, despite being basically the first pre-season action for most of those players, they're already in good shape just to give us an exceptionally entertaining show we're going to miss a lot as soon as it's over...

 

by the way, my picks for the semis are Canada and Sweden, with Canada going on to win the Trophy (they look too strong even to be put only in a slight danger...and I can't imagine them losing a single game...not this week and under these circumstances, at least)...

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as expected, Canada won against Russia and earned a place in the World Cup of Hockey final series...

 

the final score is quite close (5-3)...and we can also say that we had a real game for 45 of the 60 minutes...but the truth is that the Canadians never looked really in trouble and the Russian never did the impression they could win the match, even when they suddenly scored a couple of goals and did take momentarily a 2-1 advantage...

when the hosts accelerate their pace at the beginning of the third period, it was immediately clear that there was no chance to stop them...they scored 3 in a while and everything else was just "for the books"...

but at least we saw a very entertaining game, with so many great players taking it seriously (which wasn't so sure before this tournament started, considered the fact that we are just at the beginning of the NHL pre-season) and giving the audience a night to remember...

 

now I'm really looking forward to the second semifinal game between Sweden and Team Europe...I hope it's gonna be a really close game and a good show...

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Canada - Russia  5-3

 

 

 

 

 

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Crosby impossibly brilliant

Canada solves Bobrovski with 3rd-period barrage, wins 5-3

Sidney Crosby scores a goal in the first period of another classic Canada-Russia showdown.

 

Canada broke open a tense and thrilling 2-2 tie with three goals in the third period to defeat Russia 5-3 and advance to the best-of-three World Cup finals starting Tuesday night.

The team was led by captain Sidney Crosby who was brilliant, and then some. He opened the scoring with a gem, added two fantastic assists on goals by Brad Marchand, and carried the team to victory.

The only reason the score was close was the sensational goaltending of Sergei Bobrovski, but in the third he proved merely human as his mates in front of him offered little support.

Canada has now advanced to the finals of every Canada Cup/World Cup (eight events) going back to the inaugural tournament in 1976. The Russians, however, haven't been in a finals since the classic 1987 tourney when they were still the Soviet Union.

The only goal of the opening period was a thing of wonder concocted by Crosby. He went deep into the corner to force Alexei Marchenko to make a quick pass, which he did, to Dmitri Kulikov.

Kulikov, however, mishandled the puck. Crosby went right at him, stripped him of it, and from close range deked Bobrovski out of his equipment before backhanding the puck into the open net at 7:40.

"They made a little reverse to the middle," Crosby recalled.  "I think he [Kulikov] might have over-skated it a little bit or just lost it for a quick second and picked his head up and I was able to get my stick on it.  So, I had a little bit more time than you typically get, but I was happy to see it go in."

It was a highlight reel, vintage, spectacular, incredible goal from Canada’s captain.

Over and above Crosby’s heroics, both goalies came up with big saves, Price proving to be in mid-season form and Bobrovski denying a one-timer by Steven Stamkos—on a feed from Crosby—during a power play. He also stoned Shea Weber on a short-handed breakaway.

When teams came out to start the second, who knew that this would become not only the best period of the tournament but one of the best 20 minutes of hockey you will ever see?

Canada dominated, outshooting, outchancing, outplaying Russia, and after more than eight minutes the Russians hadn’t registered a shot on goal.

But Bobrovski was Tretiakian in goal, making saves with his pad, blocker, glove to keep the score 1-0. Russia seemed to be playing rope-a-dope, and at 8:47, they got their chance.

Jay Bouwmeester made an ill-advised pinch at the Russian blue line, and Nikita Kucherov stole the puck and raced down the right wing on a two-on-one. No need to pass. He rang a quick shot off the far post and in, stunning the crowd and making it a 1-1 game.

The Canadians continued their attack but could not beat Bobrovski. Ryan Getzlaf blasted a hard shot off the crossbar, and then Russia struck again. Yevgeni Dadonov did some nice work with the puck behind the net, and got it out to Yevgeni Kuznetsov, who batted the bouncing puck in at 16:24.

A minute later, though Crosby did his thing again, stealing the puck from in close and passing right away to Brad Marchand, who had the open side to hit. It concluded a riveting period. Shots favoured Canada, 33-15, but after 40 minutes it was a 2-2 game.

"It was a big goal because we felt like we were controlling the play and doing a lot of good things and we were down, 2-1," Crosby suggested. "So, to be able to get that one back pretty quickly, go into the third even, and especially the way we were playing, we believed we were going to score.  But anything can happen sometimes, so it was nice to get that."

Canada's experience and patience paid off in spades. Unruffled by Bobrovski, they continued to get pucks to the net, and were rewarded. Marchand scored his second on a long shot just 1:16 in, one the goalie would like to have back.

Corey Perry converted a rebound at 5:48, and John Tavares brought the puck to the net patiently before drilling a high shot in at 9:22 to make it 5-2 and give the fans some breathing room.

"I [told the players] we're playing really well, just keep doing what we're doing, and there's no chance they can keep up if we keep doing what we're doing," Babcock said. "And in the end, that proved to be true."

Artemi Panarin finished the scoring, knocking a puck in from the crease with 8.2 seconds left.