It was another USA-Russia classic at the 2011 IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship on Sunday night. The U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team controlled play for most of the game, but a win appeared to be in doubt when Russia erased a two-goal deficit in the third period. With just 21 seconds left in regulation, Reid Boucher scored the game-winning goal and helped keep Team USA alone at the top of Group B.
Coming up after the jump, a complete breakdown of USA-Russia.
To put it simply, tonight’s game is… well… HUGE. Not only does the U.S. take on one of its historic rivals in Team Russia tonight, it also has a chance to all but secure itself the bye into the semifinals with a regulation win.
Coming up after the jump, a complete preview of USA-Russia, including a look at some of Team Russia’s top players.
As I’ve said before, there is no such thing as an easy game in the IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship. If you don’t believe me, take a look at what happened earlier Saturday night in Crimmitschau.
Team Russia had a 3-0 lead heading into the second period against host Germany. The Germans ended up scoring three second-period goals to tie the game. In the third, Russia scored to make it 4-3, but shortly after, the Germans tied it once again. Russia eventually won in a shootout, after killing off a 5-on-3 power play for Germany in the waning seconds of overtime. Marvin Cupper was solid in net for the Germans, but the shootout always seems to be a strong suit for the highly-skilled Russians.
While Germany is the host country, it is just one year removed from playing in the World U18 Championship Div I after being relegated from the top flight in 2009. Knowing that, one would think this Russian squad that rolled past Slovakia, 8-2, was going to be able to cruise against Germany. Despite superior skill, speed and size, Team Russia struggled against the home side.
In addition to a determined Team Germany, the Russians had to contend with one of the most raucus home crowds I’ve ever seen. It appeared the supporters were rallying Team Germany, almost willing them to play better. It’s no wonder that the Germans took over the second period when attacking the net closest to their loudest cheering section.
Tonight’s game had perhaps one of the most exciting atmospheres I’ve ever seen in hockey. I hadn’t been in a building that loud since the 2009 IIHF World Under-18s in Fargo, when the U.S. beat Canada, 2-1, in the semis.
Despite the 5-4 SO loss, the German crowd was so proud of its team that the players earned a curtain call. Despite heading to the locker room after Russia’s anthem played, the crowd stayed and cheered the local boys. It was great to see the German team come back out and acknowledge their fans and for the fans to shower the team with support. The way Team Germany played against a team with superior talent like Russia was almost inspiring. They just kept plugging away out there.
To get back to my point, you can’t ever take anything for granted in these IIHF World Championships, at any level really.. The best team on paper doesn’t always win. That’s a good lesson for Team USA to take out of tonight’s Russia-Germany clash.
Despite rolling through the Five Nations and having only lost twice to it’s own age group, this tournament is a whole new ballgame for Team USA.
This Russian outfit that the U.S. will play Sunday is not the same team it blew out in the Five Nations in February. So expect a bit of a dog fight Sunday. Especially now, since Russia may have gotten a bit of a wake-up call thanks to Team Germany.
The team that plays with confidence, as opposed to cockiness, on Sunday will have the edge.
It’s a must-win game for Russia if it has any hopes of earning the bye into the semis. Team USA can almost assure itself that bye with a regulation win. So not only is it a game against a rival, it’s a game with enormous implications.
I’ll have my full preview up tomorrow morning. Don’t forget, you can watch the USA-Russia tilt live on FASTHockey.com at 1:30 p.m. EDT Sunday.
Another day, another win for Team USA at the 2011 IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship. The U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team trounced Slovakia, 8-1, this afternoon in Crimmitschau, Germany.
Eight different players scored for the U.S., which notched six power-play goals and one shorthanded tally. Goal scorers included (in order): Rocco Grimaldi, Connor Murphy, Robbie Russo, Travis Boyd, Reid Boucher, Adam Reid, Dan Carlson and Ryan Haggerty.
The message to Team USA before the game was to be better than it was on Thursday. Despite earning a 2-1 win over Switzerland, the U.S. didn’t have it’s best night. Though it played a weak Slovakia team, the U.S. looked to be vastly improved from the previous night.
The six power-play goals showed marked improvement on special teams, as the U.S. were unable to score on seven power-play opportunities against Switzerland. Quite a difference.
I think the area that the U.S. appeared to lack the improvement it was looking for was in the penalty department. Team USA found itself shorthand on eight different occasions. While it killed all of the penalties against both Slovakia and the night before against Switzerland, it is unlikely that the U.S. will be that lucky against the likes of Russia come Sunday.
Perhaps the U.S. stayed the same in one area, but it was an area it need not necessarily be better. John Gibson was solid for the second straight day in net. The big goaltender stopped 20 shots in 48-plus minutes of shutout hockey. Matt McNeely spelled Gibson 8:24 into the final frame and stopped four of five shots. While a shutout would have looked nice on the stat line for Gibson, assuming he kept the Slovaks out of the net, getting rest was more important with Russia waiting in the wings.
Highlights:
If you missed the broadcast today on FASTHockey, there were a few big highlights you didn’t get to see.
Travis Boyd’s shorthanded tally was a thing of beauty. He out-raced a defenseman to the puck in the Slovakian zone, out-muscled said defender, put the puck to his backhand, and with one hand on his stick let it glide right into the net. It was a great goal and that was probably the straw that broke the Slovakian camel’s back.
I’ve been debating which was prettier… Boyd’s goal or Dan Carlson’s. Carlson took the puck from the red line into the Slovakian zone, walked the defenseman at the top of the faceoff circle and wired a shot into upper-right corner. It was a great individual effort and display of skill.
Standouts:
Robbie Russo was named Team USA’s player of the game and I think it may have been an easy choice. Through two games, he’s been about as reliable as anyone on this U.S. roster on the back-end. He scored a power-play goal on a one-timer from the center point and just kept things nice and calm throughout the game for Team USA. I love his poise with the puck and ability to keep things settled at all times. His panic level is either extremely low, or non-existent.
Connor Murphy had another solid effort for the U.S. He had a power-play goal on a wrister from the high slot. He might have the best defensive sensibilities on this team. Murphy has made several key plays defensively for the U.S. throughout. It’s not hard to see why Central Scouting thinks of him as a potential first-round talent.
Zac Larraza has been real good in his last two games, both offensively and defensively. He’s had a few scoring chances of his own, but has also prevented some in his own end. He has used his excellent size and reach to his advantage.
In fact, the line of Larraza, Ryan Haggerty and Dan Carlson has been one of the better units for Team USA. They’ve provided some offense, in addition to solid defense. I think that may have been a bit unexpected, but certainly welcome.
Reid Boucher had another brilliant goal today, showing off his absolutely deadly release. Skating down the left wing, Boucher took a pass from Miller and absolutely wired a shot into the top-left corner. It was an unstoppable shot. His natural goal-scoring ability has been evident. Boucher has two goals in the tournament so far.
Ryan Haggerty hasn’t gotten a load of ice time, but he’s made the most of what he’s been given. He’s already got two goals in the tournament, and if you count the exhibition against Finland, is on a three-game goal-scoring streak. Not too shabby.
Seth Jones just keeps looking better. I think the young defenseman has room to grow his game, but he’s playing at such a high level right now. It’s scary to think he can improve further. As he grows and his game grows, he’s going to be a real special player. At this tournament, he can be counted on in almost every situation and he’s seeing the ice a lot. Jones keeps it simple, and plays smart.
The U.S. still can be better, but it showed the improvement Ron Rolston was hoping for. However, they’ll have to be even better come Sunday when the U.S. takes on rival Russia. These two clubs have had some great battles over the years at the U18 level, so it should be an exciting match-up. I will have a complete game preview on Sunday for that game.
Saturday is a much-needed off-day for the U.S. squad. The players will have a chance to rest and recover from two good hockey games.
IN OTHER ACTION:
Sweden got back on track with a 10-2 trouncing of Norway. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the Norwegians have a 17-year-old Tore Vikingstad or Mats Zuccarello in the pipeline. The Swedes had to be smarting from the 2-1 loss to the Czechs the night before.
Canada easily handled the Czech Republic, 5-0. The Canadians might be in a position to take first in Group B, but they’ll have a tough game against Finland Saturday night in Dresden. I don’t think you’ll see this Canada team let down as we saw with last year’s club.
Over here in Crimmitschau, I was able to take in the Germany-Switzerland game. To be honest, I thought the Swiss were going to roll in this game, based on what I saw against the U.S. I was flat-out wrong. Germany won 4-1 in front of one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever been a part of. Chanting, singing, drums and clapping throughout the game made it just a blast to take in. More than 3,000 people were on hand to watch Tobias Rieder score two goals and goaltender Marvin Cupper stop 44 shots for the tournament hosts. It was a lot of fun to watch and also a great example of how you should expect the unexpected at the World Under-18 Championship.
I hope to have a post up tomorrow with a few brief updates about Team USA. I also sat down with Rocco Grimaldi and Ryan Haggerty after tonight’s game and hope to have some of their thoughts on the tournament so far posted tomorrow morning.
If you have any questions about the tournament or FASTHockey broadcasts, feel free to drop me a line in the comments.
Rest and recovery was the theme as Team USA poured off the bus for it’s post-game meal last night. A tough battle with Switzerland and a tight turnaround to play Slovakia in the afternoon is a pretty tall order.
Team USA will meet the Slovaks at 3:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. EDT on FASTHockey.com) after having played the nightcap Thursday.
In short tournaments like the IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship, this is the kind of schedule you can expect. So it’s not exactly catching Team USA off guard.
However, now that the rest and recovery portion is covered, let’s take a look at what to watch for in today’s match-up… After the jump.
Well it wasn’t pretty, but the resut is exactly what the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team wanted as it earned a 2-1 victory over Switzerland. Getting off on a positive note was really key for this U.S. squad. Opening the tournament with a hard-earned three points has to be a good feeling, even though I think the U.S. might be a little disappointed in its overall game.
I think there were a number of things effecting Team USA in it’s tough match-up against Switzerland. There may have been a few first-game jitters and I think Switzerland’s overall speed and skill might have surprised the Americans just a bit.
As I mentioned in my previews, the U.S. could expect a tough game and that’s exactly what they got. It was a physical, grind-it-out type contest as predicted. In the end, the U.S. was able to find a way to win.
A big reason for that was John Gibson. The big man between the pipes put in a good effort against Switzerland, stopping 30 shots. The Swiss had several skilled forwards that were keeping Gibson on his toes. Additionally, the U.S. ended up with six penalties to kill, many of which came during a very sloppy second period.
Scoring first ended up being huge for Team USA as it had the early momentum. Ryan Haggerty’s goal got the U.S. that early lead and it came in handy when the U.S. kind of lost its mojo a bit in the second frame.
The Swiss owned much of the second period, with the U.S. still mustering a few good scoring chances in tight. Team Switzerland held a 13-7 shots advantage in the frame and got the tying goal from Dario Simion who scored off the rebound. That gave the Swiss a pretty good spark and put a lot of pressure on Team USA.
The third period seemed to be when the U.S. was taking control and taking advantage of it’s opportunities. Reid Boucher made it 2-1 when he one-timed a feed from J.T. Miller from inside the left faceoff circle a la Steven Stamkos. It was a huge goal and I think it got Team USA its confidence back.
Again, Gibson continued to make the saves he needed to make late in the game and kept things pretty simple as he often does. He didn’t have to be flashy at all. In fact, when Gibson was named player of the game, he couldn’t have looked more non-schalant about the whole thing. Just always on an even keel.
Other standouts tonight included Robbie Russo, who played a lot of minutes on the blueline and picked up an assist, and Connor Murphy, who made several key plays defensively and even had a few quality scoring chances. Those two were go-to guys for Ron Rolston in just about any situation.
I also liked what I saw out of the four under-agers on the team (Jacob Trouba, Seth Jones, Henrik Samuelsson and Nic Kerdiles). I think all four had some of those first-game jitters and made a few mistakes, but really settled in well as the game went on.
Other than that, I think the U.S. squad did enough to win and will hope to be better tomorrow as it will take on a pretty decent Slovakian team. I’ll have a preview of that contest tomorrow morning on USofH.
NEXT GAME: Team USA vs. Slovakia – 3:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. EDT) – LIVE on FASTHockey.com
IN OTHER ACTION:
Russia cruised past Slovakia 8-2 today. It wasn’t pretty. Team Russia looks like a force to be reckoned with right now because I don’t think the Slovakian team was a complete cupcake. Team USA players can’t get caught looking ahead to Russia before it’s game against Slovakia tomorrow, though I’m sure they have it in the back of their minds.
Over in Group B, Finland handled Norway, 5-2, while the Czech Republic pulled off a huge upset over Sweden, 2-1. The Finland result was to be expected, but I don’t think anyone saw the Czechs beating Sweden. It’s a huge win for the Czech Republic, in what is sure to be an insanely tough group to get out of. There’s at least one good team that will find itself playing in the relegation round.
For more news, updates and stats for the IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship, visit IIHF.com.
Be sure to check out all of the Team USA updates on Twitter, Facebook and over at USAHockey.com.
Also, in case you haven’t heard, FASTHockey will be carrying a live video-only feed of every single game at the 2011 IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship. The U.S. games will be the only ones with play-by-play, but if you’re really looking forward to seeing some of the top NHL prospects in the world, you might consider taking in a few non-USA games.
Well, as I said, it’s a tight turnaround. Even for broadcaster/bloggers. Make sure to check back here tomorrow for more updates.
Well, the waiting game is over and it’s just about time to kick off the 2011 IIHF World Men’s Under-18 Championship. Russia and Slovakia will play at 3:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. EDT) to open tournament play in Crimmitschau.
Team USA kicks off its title defense at 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. EDT) against a solid team from Switzerland. Don’t forget, you can catch all the U.S. action live on FASTHockey.com.
It cannot be stated enough that the U.S. will not have an easy game in this tournament. The World Under-18 Championship includes the 10 best hockey nations in the world and everyone has skill and size. It’s quite fun to watch for fans, but it provides an intense few weeks for the players and coaches.
Coming up after the jump, a full preview of Team USA’s contest against Switzerland.
NHL Central Scouting Services unveiled it’s final rankings for the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. As is the case with any comprehensive ranking, it’s kind of tough to judge.
I don’t envy the job of CSS in having to rank every draft-eligible player available. How does one accurately do that? In many cases, CSS has been very much in line with what the NHL Draft actually looks like. Other times, you have a Jeff Skinner situation in which CSS ranks him well out of the first round, but he ends up being the seventh overall pick in 2010 and probably wins a Calder Trophy. That’s just the nature of the scouting game.
The talk around Germany has been just how crazy this year’s draft could be. The lack of depth and variety of talent could make for some very interesting selections along the way.
Since my main focus right now is preparing for the World Under-18 Championship, I’ll have to keep this post brief. Coming up after the jump, I’ve got some quick thoughts on the CSS North American rankings.
Greetings from Crimmitschau, Germany! After a long few days of travel, I’m on the ground here and was able to take in the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 Team’s pre-tournament contest with Finland in Dresden last night.
The U.S. has completed its pre-tournament schedule, falling to Canada on Saturday, 2-1, and beating Finland Monday night, 4-2.
Coming up after the jump, a USA-Finland recap, why pre-tournament exhibitions are important, scouting Crimmitschau and new details about tournament coverage on USofH.
The International Ice Hockey Federation World Under-18 Championship is under a week away now, with action starting on April 14. While the tournament doesn’t enjoy the same exposure in North America as the World Junior Championship, there are several ways to follow the U18 action.
Let’s have a look, shall we?
FASTHockey To Carry Team USA’s Games at World U18s
What some of you readers may not know about your friendly neighborhood hockey blogger, is that my first passion is sports broadcasting.
Well, I am happy to tell you that I will be serving as the play-by-play broadcaster for each of Team USA’s games at the 2011 IIHF World Under-18 Championship in Germany. You can catch every U.S. game via live video stream on FASTHockey.com.
Of course I’d encourage you all to tune in. If you love international hockey, or you love prospects and want to get a glimpse into what the future of the NHL looks like, I highly recommend you taking in at least a few of the broadcasts. For many of the European prospects that are eligible for this year’s and next year’s draft, this may be your only chance to see them in action. The same goes for the U.S. U18 squad.
I’ve been lucky enough to cover a few events for FASTHockey over the last two years, including last year’s World U18 Championship in Belarus. Marc Ruskin and his staff at FASTHockey have done a fabulous job of making available tons of great hockey to the masses through live web streaming. I hope you’ll check it out.
USAHockey.com has the complete broadcast schedule here.
(I just want to quickly thank USA Hockey and FASTHockey for making me a part of the World Under-18 Championship. It’s an honor to be able to broadcast the tournament again, as it truly is one of my favorite events in the game.)
After the jump, find out what kind of U18 coverage you can expect from USofH, helpful tournament links and an addition to the United States of Hockey family.
The United States of Hockey 