Last day of the preliminary rounds at the World Juniors hockey championship. Looks like Russia and Canada are the heavy weights once again with USA going to the relegation round after 2 upset losses. Hard to imagine a medal round without the US but they play Canada tonight (the New Years Eve Classic) so at least Canada will face them once even if the game means nothing in the standings. Still can't believe the US lost to Finland, not that Finland doesn't have a good team but the US on paper at least should have dominated the game. Oh well, now the US has to fight just to get a berth in next years championship.
(http://www.chillmedia.co/joomla/images/December-2011/Sports/home-sweet-home.jpg)
(http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/IIHF+World+Junior+Championship+Semifinals+UKME41GZGVFl.jpg)
Hockey? Whats that? :bg
If it ain't American football I don't care. In the United States today a reasonable estimate of the popularity order of sports is: * NFL (National Football League) * NBA (National Basketball Association) * MLB (Major League Baseball) * NCAA football (college football) * NCAA basketball (college basketball) * NASCAR (stock car racing) * NHL (National Hockey League) * MLS (Major League Soccer) * WWE (professional wrestling) * AFL (Arena Football League) * WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) * IRL (Indy Racing League).
Pushing around a puck with a stick is about as dumb as running a goofy shaped ball about a field with funny lines across it. Though both are violent games if I have to pick a game I prefer watching the goofy looking ball game.
You know Edgar unless one has satellite TV or cable with many channels you can't find a hockey game on the boob tube to watch.
Being a hockey fan (and once player, these days all my piss poor shape body can handle is the lot less physical game of soccer) and native Swede I was up last night (after New Years celebrations) watching our game against Russia and despite almost giving up on the game after the second period (I was dead tired and we were down 0-3) I'm so glad I didnt as we managed to turn the game around in the third and then beat the Russians in overtime 4-3. This means we are through to the semi-finals against either Finland (our arch enemy) or Slovakia, meanwhile Russia has to face the Czech and then Canada in the semi-finals.
I agree it was shocking to see the US not making it out of the group stage, still it seems Canada is in a class of their own this year (as per usual). We (Sweden) don't really have the defence this time around for us to really put up a fight but hopefully we will make it to the final.
i like hockey as a replacement for what was once "professional boxing"
since they decided to make all the big fights pay-per-view, i stopped watching them
but hockey has almost as much fighting :P
what makes football here in the US great is the cheerleaders :bg
this year, i am liking the Tampa Bay "team" the best
http://www.buccaneers.com/cheerleaders/index.html
of course, the Redskins and Broncos always have a good team, too :P
in this video, the Tampa Bay cheerleaders teach some English rugby players about football
http://www.buccaneers.com/multimedia/videos/American-Football-vs-Rugby/b43ec4ad-6d32-4318-a4f4-2aa86cb2b812
lucky guys :P
Well, hockey is by far the most popular sport up here in Canada, in some ways it's more than just a sport but is tied directly to our national identity. The World Juniors are extremely popular and generally draw top ratings for the championship, the US/Canada final in the Vancouver Olympics actually had 80% of the country watch at least some of the game.
Hi Ghostly,
Sweden's come-back against Russia was unexpected but Sweden is one of the hockey powerhouses and traditionally does well. The elite leagues there have produced some great players, I think Peter Forsberg still holds the points record at the juniors.
i think that "sport" where you push a bag of something around with a broom is big up there, too :bg
(kind of a poor-man's version of shuffleboard)
ok - so it's not a bag of poo - it's a "stone"
curling...
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Men_curling_-_1909_-_Ontario_Canada.jpg)
my way sounded more interesting
Quote from: dedndave on January 02, 2012, 08:04:14 PM
i think that "sport" where you push a bag of something around with a broom is big up there, too :bg
(kind of a poor-man's version of shuffleboard)
Yup, curlings pretty popular but nothing like Hockey. I like curling, used to play quite a bit as a kid but haven't in many years. Lots of Scottish heritage in Canada so the sport was imported by the Scotts.
that picture was supposedly taken in Ontario ~1909
i like the old derby hats :P
notice that the two at the end (the pushers) are wearing Scottish hats (tams i think)
Crap, my buddy Fred had tickets to the Finland/Sweden game and is taking his GIRRRLFRIEND. Those tickets have been sold out for a year now, by lottery no less and my now former friend managed to get 4 games, I'm stuck watching it at home. I mean his girlfriend doesn't even like hockey, good tickets are going online for up to $500 a pair ($1000 for the final), what a waste.
[edit ~4min left in second]
Well, Ghostly,
Your boys are going to have to kick it into high gear soon, Fin's just scored their second goal. Be quite a show if they managed another game like the one against Russia.
Yes I'm seriously disappointed by the way we played the first period and large parts of the second, I don't get what the current coach is trying to achieve with this new 'get past the blue line and dump a puck on goal' mentality. Our strenght has always been keeping the puck in the other team's zone with fast puck drops along the boards while looking for an opening, now it's some sort of poor-man's transatlantic thing where we drop the puck EXCEPT we have no bodies in front of the goalie. And if that's not bad enough my cable provider ComHem has some crap problem which means all subscribers get no reception as of the third period. I see on the web that we have managed to score a goal but I can't watch the damn game. Ahwell, the way we play we wouldn't stand a chance against Canada anyway, who'm I think will beat Russia quite comfortably later tonight.
Hey Ghostly,
1:44 left and Sweden ties the game, a sloppy play by the Finnish goaltender but a puck in the net is a puck in the net. I agree, my buddies and I here were talking about the sloppy play at the blue line by the Swedes and lack of traffic in front of the net, well it looks like they've survived regulation at least, we'll see how OT goes.
You can watch the game here:
http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/
Russia's always a tough one to beat, great skaters on that team and when they play Canada they bring their A game. I think it'll be a close one but those are the most fun to watch.
Hey Ghostly,
Looks like your boys will meet either Canada or Russia for the gold medal game, won it in a shootout. I can't believe the mistake by Granlund on the last shot, I'd hate to be him, must feel horrible.
My cable provider got it's sh*t together so I was able to watch the end of the game. I'd never have thought that Granlund of all the finns would mess up his penalty. Anyway we're through to the finals and while there was precious little to be happy about concerning gameplay atleast the game was dramatic enough to get my pulse going.
Quote from: Ghostly on January 04, 2012, 12:44:01 AM
at least the game was dramatic enough to get my pulse going.
Well, as the big ad campaign for the juniors this year says, Pressure Is Power :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwKtGqgQRWw
They expect nearly 10 million people to watch the Russia game tonight, the US game on New Years Eve had nearly 7 million watching at least part of the game. It's going to be good.
Not going too well for the home team, horrible penalties and Russia is playing quite a game. Doesn't look good...
Well, after being trounced in the first 2 periods the Canadians put up a great effort in the 3rd but still lost 6-5, congrats to Russia I guess the best Canada can do now is Bronze.
I could hardly believe the result when I turned on the TV this morning, Canada losing 6-5 to the Russians and they were down 5-1 going into the third (impressive almost comeback from Canada though). Not as big an upset as USA not making it out of the group play but I was absolutely certain Canada would prevail in this semi and make it to the final. Still, no hockey team have the same pressure on them as Canada I guess and we're talking young individuals here.
It was a shame but they showed a lot of heart in attempting the comeback after being so far behind and it did come down to the last few seconds, it was incredible that the Russians managed to beat off the last 5 minutes of unrelenting pressure by the Canadians. Give the Russians credit though, they played a great game and never let up. That said, I'm a Team Canada fan and I have an aversion to Russian hockey teams so I'm pulling for Sweden in the Gold medal match.
Quote from: donkey on January 04, 2012, 07:27:13 AM
That said, I'm a Team Canada fan and I have an aversion to Russian hockey teams so I'm pulling for Sweden in the Gold medal match.
Thanks, something tells me we'll need all the support we can get! Due to the extreme rivalry between Russia-Canada I'm sure we'll get an easier game from Russia even though it's the final, for them the game against Canada was likely THE final. So if we can avoid trailing by 2-3 goals entering the third then who knows. Also I'm thinking you're probably not the only canadian who will be rooting for us over the Russians so chances are it will feel like a home game :)
The British play some foul tricks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFskFNYyLBw) :8)
Quote from: jj2007 on January 05, 2012, 01:20:14 PM
The British play some foul tricks (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFskFNYyLBw) :8)
:bg
Sports for wimps, nice that they invented a sport for people who were too feeble to play hockey. Of course there's nothing wrong with the less demanding sports, not everybody has the stamina or physique to play a sport like hockey. I guess after you are too weak to play hockey you move on to soccer and then to checkers or something after that. One period of hockey would either have those guys looking for oxygen or lying in a pool of blood trying not to swallow their teeth.
...and that doesn't even include the fighting - lol
Quote from: dedndave on January 05, 2012, 06:39:21 PM
...and that doesn't even include the fighting - lol
Went to a fight the other day and a hockey game broke out.
Not sure if you are getting the game Ghostly, but the Canadian crowd is chanting "Lets Go Sweden" :)
Going to overtime...
Sweden wins on an awesome goal by Mika Zibanejad !!! 31 years they waited. Congrats, we'll get you next year in Russia (and in 2 years in Sweden)
Canada takes Bronze, putting them in the medals 14 years in a row, disappointing result but next year...
Thanks Donkey, man I was at the edge of my seat from third period forward, particularly since the Russians started picking up steam from then on (they looked really tired the first two). Whatever the end result may had been I was proud to see them play our usual style of hockey with lots of possession in the enemy zone and relying on our strong skating, we pretty much have to since we can't shoot for sh*t ;D Amazing crowd I must say, we probably had better support than we would have had here in Sweden :D Also great that one of my two favourite players (Mika) got to score the winner (the other one is Rakell).
Looking forward to next tournament in Russia, Canada will be back with a vengeance that's for sure.
Mika scored a beauty that's for sure, he's certain to be back in Ottawa soon after his performance at the juniors (sorry you have to lose him but when your that good we invite you to play in our house :bg). Seems more aggressive since he was sent back to the Swedish Elite League, I watched him a couple of games with the Ottawa Senators and he looked like he was either overwhelmed or underskilled, well he definitely has the skill so we'll see how he does when he gets back to the NHL. The announcers on Canadian TV were already saying Ottawa may call him back very soon. The Russian players really impressed me and there are so many of their stars elligible for the draft this year, hope my Montreal Canadiens get one or two :)
There was a crowd of about 20,000 there for the game (capacity), the vast majority of them like me were pulling for Sweden. Add that to an estimated TV audience of about 5 million (peak), and that might be the biggest game some of those kids will ever be in.
Sweden just outskated the Russians who looked tired while the Swedes looked energized and fresh.
(http://media.thestar.topscms.com/images/7a/d0/95dc42464b9e9ce139d3dcb5d2fd.jpeg)
what's with those pants ? :lol
they look like stylish depends
Quote from: dedndave on January 06, 2012, 05:02:23 AM
what's with those pants ? :lol
they look like stylish depends
Well, you might need depends when a 220 pound, 6'4' Russian with metal blades on his feet and a stick in his hands is coming straight at you with hurting on his mind :bg
it's amazing how fast i can skate when someone is chasing me :bg
Quote from: donkey on January 06, 2012, 04:53:41 AM
Mika scored a beauty that's for sure, he's certain to be back in Ottawa soon after his performance at the juniors (sorry you have to lose him but when your that good we invite you to play in our house :bg).
Heh, well I hope we can keep him for just a while longer since he plays center for my team in 'elitserien' (swedish elite league) called Djurgården and we could use the help making it into the swedish hockey playoffs, he is one of that rare breed of strong offensive players who also does an amazing job at backchecking, usually it's one or the other.
edit: Oh and wonderful pic, Petter Granberg looks like he's having second thoughts on that flying hug from Mika :)
I hope you hang on to him for your playoffs, he's an Ottawa Senator who are in the same division as my Canadiens so I think he's better off in Sweden. Oh well, the Canadiens are doing horribly this year so they wouldn't put up much of a struggle against Ottawa anyway :bg
At least he doesn't play for Boston, then I would be obliged to hate him (its genetic, not my fault).
Went out skating today for a game of pickup, and I've been thinking...
CCM skates $400
Composite stick $100
Gloves $80
Helmet $40
Jersey $160 (Reebok official Canadiens jersey to piss off the Calgary boys here)
Sholder pads $45
Shin guards $25
Elbow pads $19
Pants $47
Almost $1000 and I still can't play worth sh*t :) . But man do I love this game...
Edgar
:U :U :U :U :Uтрус не играет в хоккей (russian folk) :bg :bg :bg :bg :bg
Quote from: Rockphorr on January 26, 2012, 07:09:37 PM
:U :U :U :U :Uтрус не играет в хоккей (russian folk) :bg :bg :bg :bg :bg
Hey Rockphor, do you live near Ufa, the next championship will be held there.
It is not so far and not so near. Moscow - Vladivostok is 11 days by railway,, from me to Ufa about 5 days