Ice Hockey 2015 - 2016 Discussion Thread

[Canada4thewin 90]

Hopefully we will win againgst Germany on thursday

[hckošice 14,897]

our commentators are just unbelievable, I don´t know if they live in some naive cloudes or what still trying to find excuses for these guys... c´mon this is unacceptable. let not hide the truth,  this is not because they had a bad day and I don´t know what...Ok I agree they are talented, and very good players, no doubts about, but only in their clubs. Their problem is simple. They are lazy as f..k in National team. When we got 2-3 goals, it´s over, they don´t even try to move or skate, not even a small try to make two-three more steps to the puck, just try to not injured themselves and not lost their big money in clubs..

 

[NikolaB 432]

Slovakia

What was that guys?

[hckošice 14,897]

4 minutes ago, Canada4thewin said:

What happened??

 

nothing. Germany played a great match, nothing to say about. the problem is about our play. This was awful, without move, without emotions, without anything. too lazy.. just as usual

 

but the fun fact is that we have still chance to have everything in our own hands, if those languid super stars will by some miracle win tomorrow against Belarus...

[hckošice 14,897]

11 minutes ago, NikolaB said:

Slovakia

What was that guys?

 

I´m really sorry if you had to watch it. they do it to us, hockey fans quite often...

[hckošice 14,897]

Slovakia - Germany  1-5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hckošice 14,897]

Germans get first victory

Most lopsided German win ever over Slovakia

Germany's Philip Gogulla #87 celebrates with Denis Reul #2 and Constantin Braun #90 after scoring a second period goal during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Championship.

 

 

Scoring three second-period goals, Germany earned a vital 5-1 victory over Slovakia on Tuesday. The result keeps the Germans' quarter-final hopes alive.

 

Patrick Hager, Patrick Reimer, and Dominik Kahun had a goal and an assist apiece for Germany, and Phiip Gogulla and Brooks Macek also tallied. Moritz Muller chipped in with a pair of assists.

Peter Cehlarik replied for Slovakia, which suffered its first loss of 2016.

This was a welcome change of pace for new German national team coach Marco Sturm. It was his team's first win here in St. Petersburg. Germany’s only previous point came from the opening 3-2 shootout loss to France.

This 5-1 score represents the biggest margin of victory for Germany over Slovakia in World Championship history.

Slovak goalie Branislav Konrad, who played in the 4-1 win over Hungary, got his second start of the tournament, but would be pulled in the third period. Germany’s Felix Bruckmann won his World Championship debut. Shots on goal were even at 28 apiece.

The Slovaks, who finished ninth the last two years, are hoping for their first medal since 2012’s silver. Germany’s last medal was also silver, but that was in 1953. The Germans haven't made the quarter-finals since 2011.

However, these two nations have played each other on surprisingly even terms since their first World Championship meeting in 1996. This result improved Germany’s all-time record versus Slovakia to five wins and four losses. Germany has won four out of the last five meetings dating back to 2008.

At 2:51, Slovakia got the first power play when Reimer accidentally clipped Tomas Hrnka with his stick. The Slovaks mounted furious pressure around the German net, including Libor Hudacek hitting the goal post, but couldn’t break through.

Cehlarik opened the scoring on an interesting play at 8:42. Marek Bartanus circled the German net and flung a cross-ice pass to Cehlarik, who put the puck in off Bruckmann from a bad angle. The referee initially waved it off, but Bartanus rushed over and, with great vehemence, pointed at the puck in the net, which quickly clarified matters.

At 4:23 of the second period, Germany tied it up on a nifty passing play. Felix Schutz got the puck behind the Slovak net and sent a backhand centering pass to Hager, who eluded Tomas Jurco’s stick check and beat Konrad.

Gogulla gave Germany a 2-1 lead at 11:03 with a center point drive off a faceoff that slipped in low to the glove side.

The Germans scored their third power play goal of the tournament with some nice puck movement, again off a faceoff. From the goal line, Kahun found an unguarded Reimer out front and he slid the puck past Konrad’s left pad for a 3-1 lead at 14:48.

At 3:45 of the third period, Macek put the game out of reach when he swooped in from the neutral zone, caught the Slovak defence backing up and flung a wrister past Konrad. That prompted a Slovak goaltending change, with Julius Hudacek coming in in relief.

The teams both marched to the penalty box as the final stanza wore on, but neither side could capitalize with the man advantage. Kahun rounded out the scoring for Germany at 5-1 with 5:24 left, bagging a rebound to cap off a rush.

Next up for Germany is defending champion Canada on Thursday. The Canadians hammered the Germans 10-0 last year.

Slovakia will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday against Belarus, which has lost three straight.

 

[hckošice 14,897]

Switzerland - Denmark  3-2 after OT

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hckošice 14,897]

Swiss leave it late

Blum bombshell shatters Denmark

Switzerland's Simon Moser #82 battles for position with Denmark's Stefan Lassen #6 while Sebastian Dahm #32 attempts to follow the play during preliminary round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Championship.

 

 

Switzerland went to overtime for the third time in three games - but this time Patrick Fisher's team got its first victory of the tournament.

 

Looking for a late goal? Look for Raphael Diaz. The Swiss defenceman assisted on his team's last-gasp equalizer to salvage a point against Norway and the New York Ranger repeated the trick as his team once again wiped out a two-goal deficit in the third to force its third successive bout of overtime.

 

This time Nino Niederreitter got the vital touch on a Diaz play to beat Denmark's Sebastian Dahm - just - and tie the scores at 2-2 with two minutes to play.

 

Dahm then had to be alert in the extras to win a duel with Denis Hollenstein after another Diaz pass split the Danish defence. But the goalie had no answer in the 65th minute as Switzerland completed its revival with a one-timer from Eric Blum at the top of the face-off circle to claim a 3-2 victory.

 

That snapped a run of seven defeats in World Championship games that went to overtime or a shoot-out but Niederreitter warned that the Swiss have to start games strongly rather than trying to fight back. "Good for us that we didn't give up, but we have to start games better," he said. "We can't keep coming back like this."

 

For Denmark, meanwhile, the consequences of a third-period slump may prove even more painful than the failure to record a first ever World Championship victory over the Swiss. Influential defenceman Jesper B Jensen was stretchered off with what looked to be a head injury and taken to hospital for further checks. The defenceman fell awkwardly following a hit from Andres Ambuhl. The officials did not call a penalty and Ambuhl, contrite over injuring a fellow player, said after the game that he felt it was a clean hit.

 

The Swiss captain also acknowledged that his team could not keep relying on overtime to get its points.

 

"I guess in the next couple of games we should make sure we only play 60 minutes," he said. "Going into this game we were only interested in getting three points. But we were 2-0 back and we battled and won the game so that's a real positive. We have to keep on going."

 

At that point the Danes led 2-0 and seemed to have the measure of the Swiss attack - but when Yannick Weber scored in the 50th minute the game was transformed. The defenceman moved up from the point to take Simon Moser's pass and squeeze a wrister inside the near post from the edge of the circle. Niederreiter supplied the screen and Denmark began to doubt.

 

"Every team in this group can hurt you," Weber said. "To get out of the group we need our best players to be better than their best players on the day, and I think we did that tonight."

 

Denmark's goalie Dahm pulled off some smart stops as Switzerland began to tighten the screws, but could not hold out until the hooter.

"In the end they got a puck on the net and it bounced off a stick or a skate and went in," he lamented. "It's tough for us - we deserved better than one point - but at this stage we'll take everything we can get in this group and try to build on it."

 

That was harsh on the Graz 99ers goalie, who seemed poised to backstop his team to another good win after two power play goals in the first period put Denmark into a strong position.

 

Switzerland’s stuttering start to the IIHF World Championship prompted head coach Patrick Fischer to make changes with Reto Schappi replacing Gaetan Haas and Samuel Walser promoted to the top line after scoring twice in the first two games of the tournament.

 

But a combination of whistle-happy officials and a visibly nervous defence left the Swiss struggling once again early on.

 

Frederik Storm opened the scoring, getting the key deflection on Daniel Nielsen’s slap shot to beat Reto Berra in the Swiss net after seven minutes.

 

After Denmark took the lead, a game that offered little fluent play from the outset got bogged down in a series of niggly penalties, robbing the Swiss offence of its composure for long periods. Not even a double power play midway through the stanza managed to seriously inconvenience the Danes.

 

But there was no doubting the composure of Nikolaj Ehlers as the youngster doubled the Danish lead a minute before the intermission. Slick stick-handling wrongfooted Raphael Diaz and opened up a lane for a wrist shot to zing inside the angle of post and bar.

 

The middle session was dominated by yet more penalty calls: the teams shared seven minor infractions, making it hard to find much fluency. What bright spots did emerge tended to involve Ehlers as the 20-year-old Winnipeg Jet began to orchestrate more of the play on Denmark’s top line.

 

That injury to Jensen disrupted the start of the third stanza and despite a chance for Lars Eller almost immediately after play resumed, Switzerland began to get the upper hand on its way to forcing overtime for the third game running.

 

[hckošice 14,897]

what a start from Hungary