USA - Slovenia Men's Hockey

[CYcoFan]

Should be on NBCSN. Puck will drop at about 6:30 CST this morning.

For those that don't get NBCSN, NBC is providing live coverage online at www.nbcolympics.com/live-extra

It should pop right up if you are trying to watch it live. And for those that can't catch it give it about an hour or 2 and it will be available on demand. To get the on demand section click the appropriate sport at the top in this case hockey and navigate to find it.

If live extra won't work for some of you then go here Wiziwig I like Lag 10 once you cancel the first pop up or sometimes 2 there shouldn't be another the rest of the time.

Let's go USA

 

[Cpech56]

Bloody Mary in hand. USA

 

[RayShimley]

Kessel is on fire.

 

[cycloneG]

Getting ugly.

 

[ISUAlum2002]

This doesn't appear to be much of a game.

 

[RayShimley]

Do we still need to worry about goal differential or does a win seal it for USA to win the group?

 

[CYcoFan]

Do we still need to worry about goal differential or does a win seal it for USA to win the group?

We win we win the group. We lose we might finish third.

If we win we would be 3-0, best Russia could do would be 2-1 and Slovenia 1-2 (if they lose to us) Slovakia surprisingly 0-3. We would then bypass the prelim round and be a top 4 seed in Quarters.

Goal differential would be a factor in the seeding of the locked in top 4 teams tho. So Goal Diff does still matter. As well as total goals scored and goals against

 

[cycloneG]

5-0. Nice.

 

[CYcoFan]

Man Blake Wheeler has played really well today. And Dustin Brown continues to struggle. I would like to see Wheeler get more time going forward and Brown is probably healthy scratch. Bylsma probably won't bench Brown because he is one of the leaders, but man his production has to pick up.


Edit - I mean he has actually knocked 2 or 3 of our own players over today being out of position. It is bad

 

[cycloneG]

Power play performance has been poor today.

 

[CYcoFan]

Power play performance has been poor today.

Funny you mention that I was just talking with my wife about it. She was yelling about the same thing. I do agree it needs to be better.

A theory I have that may be a contributing factor:

International Ice is called bigger because it is wider. However, From Red line to Red line same length although Int ice has 12 feet instead of 6 behind net. And more importantly for Power Play. Each zone by that I mean Red line to blue line, blue line to blue line and Blue line to red line is 58 feet long on Int ice. North American Ice is 64 feet in offensive zones and 46 in the neutral zone or center ice. Even tho the O zone and Ice is 13 feet or so wider the lack of the 6 feet of length seems to have bothered all teams in the tourney not just USA and helped the penalty killers.

 

[ThatllDoCy]

Forgot this was on and just tuned in. These Jerseys are awesome, like the new ones too, but the throwbacks are sweet.

 

[CYcoFan]

I think it was the Canadians the other day that ran a 1-3-1 Power Play. That is great offensively with the wider Ice on PP cause you can stretch the D and have a man in middle of the ice, but only having 1 point man on this wide ice leaves a lot, check that a ton, of room to the boards on either side and is highly risky if there is a turnover.


Edit - In watching the USA - Russia replay on NBCSN right now. Russia ran a 1-3-1 Power Play against us once they got set up. They would initially enter the zone and make sure they got control of the puck with 2 point men then they would activate one of the D men and rotate around when they were sure they had it and morphed into 1-3-1.

 

[RayShimley]

I think it was the Canadians the other day that ran a 1-3-1 Power Play. That is great offensively with the wider Ice on PP cause you can stretch the D and have a man in middle of the ice, but only having 1 point man on this wide ice leaves a lot, check that a ton, of room to the boards on either side and is highly risky if there is a turnover.

Russia's seemed pretty dang good yesterday.

 

[cycloneG]

Bah. Garbage time goal.

 

[RayShimley]

****, messed up Miller's shut out.

 

[CYcoFan]

For anyone wonerding Russia Slovakia is technically on USA Network, so they may cut away from it on NBCSN. For Warned

 

[CYcoFan]

Russia's seemed pretty dang good yesterday.

Yeah they also run Datsyuk, Ovi and Malkin out there 3 of the best in the world with a man advantage.

 

[CYcoFan]

the biggest factor for the USA tho on Power Play is Chemistry. We had it yesterday Kane and Pavelski was magical, but these guys only had 5 days to practice together before the tourney began so they had to hit the ground running.

But you guys are right. We seemed to be gaining steam and it took a step back today. It will give the coaches something to point to even in a 5-1 win. It should be noted too tho even tho we had 2 PPG against Russia, Russia's defense man down or even strength is their weak link

 

[Wesley]

Power play was okay against the Russians.