IIHF MWC: USA-Canada Recap

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Chris Peters

It might have been a little lower profile, but Saturday’s game between the U.S. and Canada was nothing but wall-to-wall thrills. Back and forth the entire game, a late goal to tie it and an overtime game-winning goal was about as good as you can ask for. Team USA came out on top, 5-4, in extra time thanks to a wrist shot off the stick of U.S. captain Jack Johnson.

HHOF/IIHF Images on Ice

Johnson was outstanding throughout the game, also scoring a power-play goal in the second period with Team USA trailing 2-1. More on him in a bit.

Despite Canada’s extreme depth, the U.S. was able to match its North American rival stride for stride, and even did better than that. Team USA controlled play for a lot of the game, with Canada’s immense skill up front making up the difference.

Coming up after the jump, more analysis from Team USA’s 5-4 OT win over Canada and Team USA’s player of the game and links.

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Why is Dan Bylsma “Observing” the IIHF Men’s World Championship?

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Chris Peters

Though the focus will be on the U.S. Men’s National Team’s big 5-4 overtime win against Canada Saturday at the 2012 IIHF Men’s World Championship, there was a minor footnote today that could prove to be big news in the future.

According to Team USA’s official game notes package and mentioned by Dave Randorf on the broadcast, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma is at the tournament as an “observer.”

Bylsma is not an official part of the staff, so why, unless he loves to vacation in Helsinki, would he be on hand? Surely he’s seen enough hockey over the last several months, guiding the Penguins to 51 wins last season, mostly without Sidney Crosby.

The answer remains unclear, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to speculate that this could have something to do with the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

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Posted in 2014 Olympics, NHL, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey | 1 Comment

IIHF MWC: USA-Canada Preview

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Chris Peters

Without the fanfare of USA-Canada games of the World Juniors or Olympics, the North American rivals will square off in Helsinki Saturday on Day 2 of preliminary-round action at the 2012 IIHF Men’s World Championship. While it may not have as much attention as we’re used to for a USA-Canada match-up, it’s still an important game for both teams at this early stage of the tournament.

When these two clubs square off at noon EDT (due to Kentucky Derby coverage on NBC Sports Network, the game will air on tape delay at 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday), it should be a fairly intense and fast game. Canada is certainly the deeper of the two teams on paper, but this U.S. team has some scrapiness to it, to go along with terrific team speed.

We’ll learn a lot more about both teams Saturday. The U.S. cruised past France, 7-2, Friday, while Canada had a bit of a tougher test against Slovakia, holding on for a 3-2 win.

Coming up after the jump, some more notes on USA vs. Canada, including key players to watch for each team.

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lIHF MWC: USA-France Recap

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Chris Peters

The U.S. Men’s National Team got exactly the start it wanted with a 7-2 drubbing of France in the opening game at the 2012 IIHF Men’s World Championship. There are a lot of positives that can be taken out of this win, but enough to work on as well before the U.S. takes on a stronger opponent. They won’t have much time though, as Team USA will meet Canada at noon EDT Saturday.

(Photo: HHOF/IIHF Images on Ice)

The most important takeaway for Team USA from the 7-2 win is that it got production out of its big guns. Kyle Okposo scored two beautiful goals, Max Pacioretty posted a goal and two assists, Paul Stastny collected three assists, and Jack Johnson and Bobby Ryan each scored on the power play. Getting production out of its star players early is key, especially with the lack of offensive depth.

Coming up after the jump, more notes and analysis on Team USA’s opening-day victory.

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Posted in NHL, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Senior Championship | 3 Comments

IIHF MWC: USA-France Preview

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Chris Peters

If you want to catch Team USA’s first game at the 2012 IIHF Men’s World Championship, you better be a morning person… or at least getting ready for work early. The U.S. will meet France at 5:15 a.m. ET live on NBC Sports Network.

The first game of any tournament is always important. In the round-robin portion of the tournament, every win and even every goal for and against can matter. However, in the first game, it’s just as important to set the tone.

Getting off to a good start is going to be important for a U.S. team still learning to play with each other.

After a 3-2 exhibition win over Sweden, the U.S. can have some confidence, but cautious confidence as good goaltending went a long way for the Americans. Team USA was badly outshot (43-21) and its ability to generate offense certainly will be a concern.

France offers a good test, but does not boast a roster full of NHL talent. That’s a good opening draw for the NHL-player laden U.S. team.

Team USA will have to establish an offensive presence early and hope things start clicking among the lines rather immediately.

Coming up after the jump, a few more notes on the USA-France game, as well as key players for both sides, a quick look at potential lines for Team USA, and other important tournament info ahead of the opener.

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Posted in NHL, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World Senior Championship | 1 Comment

USofH on the Air: The Gospel of Hockey (5/3/12)

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Chris Peters

If you’re up for some lunchtime hockey talk, I’ll be joining Matt Gajtka and Larry Snyder on the Gospel of Hockey Podcast at 12:30 p.m. EDT.

We’ll be talking about the top prospects and Team USA’s domination at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship. We’ll also be digging into the IIHF Men’s World Championship, which begins Friday in Helsinki. I’ll give some thoughts on Team USA’s medal chances and why this will be an important event for USA Hockey going forward.

You can check it out live on Blog Talk Radio, right here. Or follow the same link for the archive later on.

Posted in American Prospects, USA Hockey, World Senior Championship, World U18 Championship | Comments Off on USofH on the Air: The Gospel of Hockey (5/3/12)

2012 IIHF Men’s World Championship: Team USA Preview

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Chris Peters

The IIHF World Championship has not often been kind to the United States. With just two medals in the last 20 years, both bronze (1996, 2004) and no gold since 1933, it’s been a largely forgettable event for American hockey fans. That is, if they even knew it was going on to begin with.

However, with national TV exposure on NBC Sports Network and an overall added awareness of international hockey since the 2010 Olympics, there’s reasons for the American entry to put out a concerted effort to shoot for a medal.

The tournament begins May 4 and runs through May 20 in Helsinki, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden. All, but one of Team USA’s games will be carried live on NBC Sports Network (full schedule below).

Despite an eighth-place finish in 2011, there is reason for optimism in 2012. Three 2010 Olympians have signed on for national team duty, while a host of several up-and-coming stars will also join the club in Helsinki, Finland. It is still going to be an uphill battle for the U.S. to medal, but this year’s team looks well positioned to at least make a run.

Coming up after the jump, an in-depth look at the U.S. roster for the 2012 IIHF Men’s World Championship.

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Posted in NHL, U.S. National Teams, World Senior Championship | 4 Comments

An Ugly Reminder: Racism in Hockey

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Chris Peters

The day after the Washington Capitals downed the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins in overtime, we should have been talking about what a great series it was. Instead, we’ve been forced to focus on the actions of a few severely misguided individuals who felt the need to react with hate-filled comments on the scorer of the game’s winning goal.

Joel Ward scored what could be one of the more important goals in Washington Capitals history, sending his team to the Eastern Conference semifinals, yet faced questions regarding racism directed toward him by some sour fans on Twitter.

When the tweets were amplified by The Huffington Post and other outlets to expose the public show of racism, the outrage was instant from all across the hockey community and beyond. (You can read many of the tweets on Chirpstory, if you have the stomach for it.)

While the widespread outrage shows that the racists are in the minority, there is nothing any amount of outrage can do to take back the things that these few people said.

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Posted in Grow the Game, NHL | 3 Comments

U18 World Championship Recap: Defensemen and Goalies

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Chris Peters

It was pretty well established that the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team would have to rely on steady defense to have success. However, no one could have predicted just how dominant this defensive group would be. Combine that with stellar goaltending from the tandem of Collin Olson and Jared Rutledge and the U.S. was flat out all-world. Allowing just four goals over six games is nuts. So nuts, in fact, that it was the lowest goals-against in the 13-year history of the event.

Trouba, Jones and Sieloff (HHOF/IIHF Images on Ice)

To think that goaltending was considered a concern for this team seems laughable now. No one could have expected such a dominant performance, however. Clearly, the defense played a significant role in the lack of goals against, but the blueliners were not mistake free. That’s when goaltending came up big.

The first period in the gold-medal game could have gone a lot differently if Olson had not saved his best performance for last. He was also extremely sound in Team USA’s 2-1 win over Canada in the semis, the toughest test of the tournament for the squad.

The defense, however, was the story for much of the tournament, limiting opponents to just 133 shots. By comparison, Canada, which boasted Matt Dumba, directorate award winner for defenseman of the tournament allowed 210 shots (playing just one more game than the U.S.). There may never be a more dominant defensive performance in the history of this event. It’s going to take something extra special to top it.

I’ll have more numbers from this historic performance in an upcoming issue of USA Hockey Magazine, but for now here’s an in-depth look at each of Team USA’s seven defensemen and two goaltenders.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL Draft, NTDP, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World U18 Championship | Comments Off on U18 World Championship Recap: Defensemen and Goalies

U18 World Championship Recap: Forwards

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Chris Peters

Coming into the World Under-18 Championship, there was concern about the ability of this U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team’s ability to score goals. Those doubts were fairly quickly quashed at the tournament and Team USA scored 27 goals in just six games en route to its fourth consecutive gold medal.

What made the 27 goals more impressive was that the U.S. had only one instance where a player had a multi-goal game (Nic Kerdiles scored two in the gold-medal game). In five of the six games, the U.S. got each goal from a different player. That kind of balance is hard to come by.

Coming up after the jump, a look at each of Team USA’s 13 forwards coming out of the World Under-18 Championship.

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Posted in American Prospects, Junior Hockey, NCAA, NHL Draft, NTDP, U.S. National Teams, USA Hockey, World U18 Championship | 1 Comment