Ice Hockey 2015 - 2016 Discussion Thread

[rybak 3,420]

2 minutes ago, hckosice said:

 

exactly.

Hopefully we will finish on first place  or we can have problems against GB? 

[hckošice 16,572]

2 minutes ago, rybak said:

Hopefully we will finish on first place  or we can have problems against GB? 

 

most likely it will be the game for promotion between you and GB. the crucial will be to defeat all other opponents, especially both koreans teams, which will not be so easy too.

Good luck

[rybak 3,420]

2 minutes ago, hckosice said:

 

most likely it will be the game for promotion between you and GB. the crucial will be to defeat all other opponents, especially both koreans teams, which will not be so easy too.

Good luck

Thanks

[hckošice 16,572]

16 hours ago, rybak said:

Thanks

 

South Korea just defeated Great Britain 1-0

[rybak 3,420]

4 hours ago, hckosice said:

 

South Korea just defeated Great Britain 1-0

Yes, and we lead against North Korea after first period 3-2 

[hckošice 16,572]

Estonian U18 moves up

Spanish silver curse continues

Vladimir Nestertsuk and Kristjan Simson celebrate Estonia’s opening goal in the final game against Spain.

 

Estonia won the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship Division II Group B after edging host Spain 5-4 in the final game to earn fast promotion back to the Division II Group A.

Both teams swept through the tournament undefeated during the first four game days. Estonia beat Serbia (5-3), Belgium (10-0), China (3-2) and Iceland (15-2). Spain started with a 7-2 victory against China and continued with wins over Serbia (4-2), Iceland (3-0) and Belgium (8-5).

Team captain Vladimir Nestertsuk, who dominated the scoring race with 7 goals and 13 points, opened the scoring for Estonia but Spain made it a 2-1 first-period lead with power-play goals from Bruno Baldris and Alejandro Burgos.

The Estonians became stronger in the second period and in the 36th minute they succeeded with two goals within a span of 38 seconds from Nikita Minin and Rasmus Kiik.

Spain came back in the third period. After eight seconds of play Burgos tied the game with his second marker of the night. The Estonians replied immediately with Dmitri Patrusev’s 4-3 goal half a minute later but at 10:23 Alberto Martinez tied it at four.

Eventually the Estonians broke the deadlock again with Nikita Kozorev’s 5-4 goal that turned out to stay as the game-winner. Estonia won gold at the tournament, Spain had to settle for silver again.

For Spain silver has become the predominant colour. While the men’s team competed in the Division II Group A since last year, all other teams play in the Division II Group B where the U20 team won silver in 2014, 2015 and 2016; the U18 team has now won silver medals in four consecutive years (2013-2016) and the women’s team was also denied promotion having to settle for silver in 2012, 2013 and 2016.

Serbia recovered from the losses against the two top seeds and beat Belgium (2-1), China (1-0) and Iceland (4-0) to earn the bronze medals.

Iceland, Belgium and China ended up in a three-team tie with three points each after China got its first win on the last day, 5-4 against Belgium. It was one goal too little for the Chinese to avoid relegation as the goal difference in the head-to-head games decided with recently promoted Iceland finishing in fourth place (9-8) before Belgium (9-9) and China (8-9). It is Iceland’s best finish in four years.

China’s Mingwei Ren was named Best Goaltender, Spain’s Bruno Baldis Best Defenceman and Estonian scoring leader Vladimir Nesertsuk Best Forward.

 

Edited April 3, 2016 by hckosice

[hckošice 16,572]

Japan - Switzerland  0-4

 

 

 

[hckošice 16,572]

Japan’s sun sets

Swiss survive as Stalder, Huni lead attack

Team Switzerland celebrates after scoring a first period goal against Japan during relegation round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship

 

 

Switzerland defeated Japan 4-0 on Sunday afternoon to win the relegation series in two straight games. Japan is relegated to Division I.

 

The Swiss, who won Olympic bronze in 2014, dodged a bullet. The last time they were relegated was at the 2004 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

Lara Stalder paced the Swiss attack at McArthur Island Centre with a goal and three assists, and linemate Christine Huni added a goal and two assists.

Japan used back-up goalie Akane Konishi instead of starter Nana Fujimoto in this game. (According to the Japan Ice Hockey Federation, Fujimoto was "not in good condition" today.) Florence Schelling earned her first shutout of the tournament for Switzerland, which outshot Japan 23-20.

Germany will take Japan's place at next year's tournament.

It is a disappointment for the Japanese, who were hoping to return to the elite division for an unprecedented third straight year. Their plucky play always makes them crowd favourites.

At 8:50, Evelina Raselli opened the scoring for Switzerland on the power play.

Two quick goals early in the second period put the Swiss in firm control. Anja Stiefel scored at 1:16, followed by Stalder at 2:30.

With 38 seconds left in regulation, Huni added an empty-netter to make it 4-0.

Switzerland will look forward to competing at the 2017 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Plymouth, Michigan.

 

 

[hckošice 16,572]

United States - Russia  9-0

 

[hckošice 16,572]

U.S. thrashes Russia

Defending champs are one win away

USA's Kelli Stack #16 celebrates after a first period goal against Russia's Anna Prugova #31 while Tatyana Burina #23, Olga Sosina #18 and Haley Skarupa #11 look on during semifinal round action at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey Women's World Championship

 

The U.S. scored five first-period goals in a 9-0 semi-final romp over Russia at the Sandman Centre on Sunday. The defending champions will play for gold again.

 

Like last year, the Americans will take on the winner of the Canada-Finland semi-final, while Russia will face the loser for bronze.

"Obviously any time you can get a big win in the semi-finals, it gives you a lot of energy and fire going into the final," said U.S. captain Meghan Duggan.

In this blowout, U.S. scoring leader Hilary Knight had two goals and two assists. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson potted two goals and an assist, and Kelli Stack scored twice. Megan Bozek had a goal and two assists. Brianna Decker chipped in a goal and an assist, and Monique Lamoureux had three helpers.

"I think we look forward to playing in the gold medal game," said Stack. "It’s what we work for so hard all year long. We’re super-prepared and ready to go. It’s just going to be a lot of fun."

Goalie Alex Rigsby recorded her first shutout and second win of the tournament. The Americans outshot Russia 40-17.

"The biggest thing for me was just taking it one shot at a time and making sure I was focused the entire game, playing my game," said Rigsby. "Also, we made sure we were doing extra communication out there among the defence."

Coach Ken Klee’s offense is firing on all cylinders heading into a likely rematch with archrival Canada. The U.S. has racked up 22 goals in four games in Kamloops.

"I think this is maybe the best game of the tournament we’ve played," said Klee. "Our pairings on D were working well together. Our forwards were all reading off each other. We had a lot of one-touch passes today to open players, and we gave ourselves a lot of great looks."

They're air-tight defensively, allowing just two goals in total so far. The last one was by Michelle Karvinen at 5:03 of the first period during Finland's 2-1 loss on Tuesday.

The Americans have won six out of the last eight IIHF Women's World Championships. Every final since the inaugural 1990 edition has pitted them against Canada.

"You look at how close we are with whoever our opponents are," Klee cautioned. "We had a close game with Finland. We had a good game with Canada. Either way, it should be a great hockey game."

The Russians weren't expected to win the semi-final, but were disappointed about not giving the U.S. more of a fight. At least superficially, not much has changed since last year's semi-final, where the Americans thumped them 13-1.

Now the focus must shift to winning Russia's third bronze of all time. They previously took that medal in 2001 and 2013.

The U.S. opened the scoring at 6:59. A forechecking Monique Lamoureux grabbed the puck behind the net and centered it to Stack, who made no mistake.

"I think we just needed to get the puck in deep and start working the cycle, shooting pucks where the goalie’s not," said Stack.

Just 37 seconds later, it was 2-0. Shiann Darkangelo backhanded the puck to Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, who stickhandled past a forest of Russian defenders and beat goalie Anna Prugova along the ice from the right faceoff circle.

Clearly, it wasn’t Russia’s day. Bozek’s point drive was accidentally tipped over Prugova’s shoulder by a Russian defender to make it 3-0 at 10:31.

At 11:20, Knight powered home a loose puck, and it was 4-0. Knight has led this tournament in scoring twice (2011, 2015). The Russians made the token gesture of pulling Prugova in favor of Nadezhda Morozova.

The U.S. made it 5-0 with just 15 seconds left in the opening frame, as Duggan crashed the crease and converted a down-low centering pass.

"I think all of our lines can score and contribute," Klee said. "I think we showed that tonight."

In the second period, Knight skated below the goal line and centered it to Lamoureux, who got the 6-0 goal at 5:01.

It was a cleanly played game on balance, and that's why it took till late in the second for the U.S. power play to click. Decker and Stack added man-advantage goals two minutes apart before the horn.

In the last minute of the middle frame, several players collided inside the U.S. blue line and Russian forward Yelena Dergachyova was shaken up. She was helped off to the dressing room. Adding insult to injury, she got a kneeing penalty on the play.

Just 1:23 into the third, Knight waltzed in unobstructed to snap the 9-0 goal past Morozova.

Russia has lost all 12 of its games against the Americans at the Women’s Worlds. Its most lopsided defeat ever was 15-0 on April 4, 2000.