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Who Will Hoist That Really Ugly Trophy In Two Weeks Time?
This poll is closed. |
| America |
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4 |
11.11% |
| Canada |
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23 |
63.89% |
| Russia |
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1 |
2.78% |
| Slovakia |
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1 |
2.78% |
| Czech Republic |
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2 |
5.56% |
| Sweden |
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2 |
5.56% |
| Finland |
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3 |
8.33% |
| Germany |
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0 |
0% |
| Bananastan |
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0 |
0% |
| Total: |
36 voters |
100% |
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Pekka
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em seu burro dos pais!
Feb 2002
time: 07:36
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Oh man what a game.. it was prolly the worst game of the World Cup. Horrible hockey from us, and Germany was able to execute their gameplan perfectly. No excuses though, we knew how they would play anyway, and were unable to break it decisively. Well, 2-1, we won, advanced to North America for semi finals against the winner of Russia/US. We won, that's all that matters, but seriously, we played pretty bad. Only Kipper was up to his own standards, everyone else.. not really.
The very few players that played at least close to their level was Nemo, and he was helping the team a lot and gave few excellent passes that should have been goals but they weren't. He didn't get a single penalty minuet and was about the only one checking. And that's the other thing, we didn't check at all. I'm very disappointed, yet relieved we made it. But it was too damn tight.
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Tingkai
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To find the Northwest Passage
Aug 2001
time: 13:36
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Just the unbaised opinion of a Vile fan, eh.
How many goals did he score? How many assists did he make?
And he didn't do anything stupid? Wow, give the guy a bonus.
As for the way the Finns played, that often happens when a strong team plays a weak team, especially coming after the big game against Sweden.
Don't sweat it.
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Flubber
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With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:36
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Finland-- not impressive at all but if you plan to have an off game, thats the one to do it in
canada-Slovakia I think Canada shoould win this one as the Slovaks haven't really been competitive with anyone and their goaltending hasn't been the superlative type that you need to win . .. yet.
US-Russia
Czech-Sweden .. . both these are pick-ems. US and Czech are both similar in that they have not always played as well as they expect while both Sweden and Russia have looked good mostly
Oh and the sprts networks here are really harping on the "Brett Hull story". I say leave the guy alone .. . its tough for a guy used to being a superstar to find out he's the marginal player (healthy scratch) even if it is the national team
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Pekka
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em seu burro dos pais!
Feb 2002
time: 07:36
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Tingkai, he is one of the only players who did decently. Most everyone else were poor... Kipper was good though, even when he let one easy to slip between the legs, he did good and held us in the game that seemed too close. Nemo IS a role player, I say it again. He did what was expected and did so well. He wasn't far off from assisting few goals and scoring himself. However, that's not his role in our team. His role is to be aggressive, going in deep to the offensive zone and put pressure on the defense by his aggresiveness and movement. Now, he did that, but the rest of the line didn't support him enough to make better results. He was in fact the only player there I wasn't disappointed at. And he was used now, because we need him against RUssia/US, we need that aggressive forechecker, and he needed to get some time on the ice now so he won't have to be total newbie on friday. I say his performance was good, others  Kipper 
IF you want high scoring guys, well that's not Nemo. That's not his job in our team, though of course everyone is expected to score and what not when the time comes. His job is to work hard, harrash the defense of our opponent, go in deep and hard, and from that, create some situations. Which he did. The rest of the line wasn't supporting him, and wasn't holding up at all. Nemo did his job, while the rest in the line didn't, and that's why that line didn't do well in statistics either.
Flubber, yeah, a horrible off game.. but then again like you say, it's better to do now. I'm not too worried, I think he have a great shot at the winner of Russia/US, we just need to come more prepared. I say that it was again an attitude problem, attitude problem that influenced to the preperation on every individual, and with 90% preparation, only 50% result and play was given.
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Tingkai
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To find the Northwest Passage
Aug 2001
time: 13:36
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Yeah, US-Russia is definitely a toss up. The Russian goalie who plays for the Anaheim farm team has gotten good press.
The Czechs might pull it together if they can do a win one for the gipper type thing, although I think they're still in emotional shock from the tragedy.
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Tingkai
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To find the Northwest Passage
Aug 2001
time: 13:36
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Pekka, it doesn't matter what you say. There are some basic things in hockey that are just not done. Don't blindside the goalie when the puck is no where near him. It's like kicking someone with your skates. It just ain't done.
Vile will have to play a lot of clean games before I think differently of him.
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Pekka
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em seu burro dos pais!
Feb 2002
time: 07:36
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 ok I see your strategy.. well anyway, you should be excited because in fact, they have played well. They were ranked pretty low, even though they have such famous players in there, but it usually just goes wrong, something happens in the team I don't know what. But it's not the case this time it seems like, and they're coming on strong, so it's VERY close game with the US. I'd say they are my favourites to win it even, seeing their past performance in this tourney. But I hope we face US, because it's easier opponent for us  . We can't handle Kovalev and the merry bandit of those guys, but we might be able to handle the oldies in US team. We'll see. Good luck
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Serb
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Siberia, Communist party of Apolyton
Nov 2001
time: 11:36
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USA!!!USA!!!USA!!!
 Attachment: usa_fl.gif
This has been downloaded 35 time(s).
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Flubber
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With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:36
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It should be tough for the Russians to defeat the Americans twice but I think they might do it. It may depend how the Americans react to the Brett Hull controversy. I believe the Russians are more talented but the Americans are experienced and it all comes down to who handles the pressure better
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Flubber
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With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:36
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Any comment on this story Pekka??
Source is http://www.wch04.com/countries/fin/notebook090604.html
Turmoil-ridden Finns will take win
By Risto Pakarinen
Special to WCH04.com
Sept. 6, 2004
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HELSINKI -- One down, two to go.
They say hockey is the fastest sport on Earth, but like life itself, the ultimate extreme sport, can be even faster. Forty eight hours before Monday's quarterfinal against Germany, Finland had clinched the top seed position in the European division, and head coach Raimo Summanen was on top of the world.
Twenty hours later, defenseman Janne Niinimaa had left the team, citing "chemistry problems" with the coach as the reason and 15 hours from that, the rumour around the press center was Summanen might not even show up behind the bench and that there was a revolt in the making on the Finnish team, with several players ready to call it quits.
Well, the coach showed up.
The team? They kind of showed up, eliminating the Germans, 2-1, in a game that wasn't expected to be that close based on Finland's success in the tournament.
Monday's Finland-Germany quarterfinal game in the World Cup was a game of halves.
A half-full arena witnessed a half-hearted Finland play half a game and beat Germany. The level of play was only OK, but it was good enough to take Finland to the semifinals. But if that's the best they can do, the semifinal will be their final game in the tournament for the Finns.
It was as if the halfway point of the game was some sort of a wake-up call for the players. First, Olli Jokinen scored a goal at the 10-minute mark, but it was disallowed for obstruction. Half a minute later, Kimmo Timonen and Niko Kapanen set up Niklas Hagman to score a goal.
And they then went back into their funk. Saku Koivu called it one of the worst games he's played with Team Finland. Only Miikka Kiprusoff's goaltending kept Finland on top of the game.
After Marco Sturm's goal for Germany, the 8,000 people in the stands had to hold their breath for about two and half minutes until Mikko Eloranta deflected Timonen's slap shot past German goalie Olaf Kolzig.
Related Links
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team Finland roster
World Cup of Hockey 2004
Chat about the World Cup
Exhale.
"The first three games had been preparation for tonight's game, and it's a totally different situation in a playoff game," Summanen said. "It's all mental and that's why this was a huge win. I am very proud of the team.
"It was a weird game, we didn't get our skating going and couldn't even dump the puck and instead gave a lot of turnovers in the neutral zone. But that's the way it is when the stakes are high and the other team plays like Germany tonight."
"We knew it'd be a tough game when they play the trap, and we just didn't have enough speed in our game. However, we have played one perfect game, against the Czechs, so we know we have it in us," said Timonen who set up both of Finland's goals. He is also Finland's leading scorer thus far.
"This is an important tournament for me, to be able to play against the best of the best," he said. "We knew it was in everybody's interests to win tonight, but Germany played well tonight. It's not easy to get through their five-man defense waiting on the blue line. We knew it'd be close, but not that it would be that close."
Obviously, Niinimaa leaving the team and the media attention around it had shaken up Team Finland.
"Hockey is a big thing here and if the same thing happened in Montreal, it would be all over the papers there, too," Koivu said. "The game against the Swedes was very emotional and then there was the [Niinimaa] incident, so we just weren't prepared to play tonight."
He didn't want to speculate more about Niinimaa.
What happened within the team, stays with the team," he said.
Notes -- Germany out-shot Finland 28-24. ... Finland will play the lowest remaining seed in the North American pool in the semifinals. ... Finland travels to Toronto tomorrow, getting ready for the next game.
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Flubber
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With a view of the Rockies
Aug 2000
time: 22:36
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errr and Serb-- I appreciate you don't want to jinx things but I think that Russia deserves at least the same chance as anyone else in the poll. Given the results to date, any thinking that says Slovakia has more of a chance of winning this thing than Russia is just dead wrong ( and a good example of what you get with small sample sizes and a skewed pool-- although actually the lack of much stronger voting for the US is, to me, a sign that people were voting based on the teams and not merely from blind nationalism)
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Kassiopeia
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Jyväskylä, Finland
Jul 2001
time: 07:36
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Summanen is provoking a lot of discussion in the local media, yes. They say his style is too aggressive to some players, with insults going down to the personal level. He's also unpredictable, lashing out at people for going solo even if it has paid off well, and having "favourites" inside the team whom he won't criticize half as fiercely.
Also, someone leaving the team in the middle of a tournament is very, very unheard of here, this is the first time AFAIK. The Finnish attitude is "we'll do what we must and sort it out later", this flies directly in the face of it, meaning something's really not right.
Word has it that the Finnish ice hockey organization has been planning sacking him ever since Niinimaa left, but those are mostly rumours. Probably the org will want to leave him be for the tournament and see what happens. That lucky 2-1 goal against Germany probably saved Summanen from a lot of trouble.
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Pekka
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em seu burro dos pais!
Feb 2002
time: 07:36
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Flubber, it's REALLY difficult to know where the truth is. The tabloids here are making lot of headlines, but they aren't exactly known for their journalistic abilities.
I guess it's true though, that Niinimaa and Summanen do have bad chemistry, and Summanen is a passionate coach who also gives you the negative feedback pretty properly, meaning there are no words saved. I feel that Niinimaa is a professional, and should take it like a man. Then again, I don't know how far Summanen went with his words with Niinimaa. SO it's difficult to say. One thing is for sure, the tabloids didn't respect the team to let it slide until the tournament is over, but started stirring some crap and this affects the team negatively.
As Kassi says, no one has ever left a team, so this is first time in here so it also is heavy in that way. But, the tabloids have made it stupid now already. That's for sure. They could pull these stories when they have done playing in this tourney.
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Pekka
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em seu burro dos pais!
Feb 2002
time: 07:36
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Yeah pretty much Czechs are super team, so it's not a surprise they won. I think it was surprising how easily they won. I think Sweden didn't score early enough, and they built up pressure from that very fast in their home arena, and didn't have good goalie to make the crucial saves, and then they had to open up their play to get more scoring chances, which ultimately turned against them because of the skill of Czechs and their devastating 2 on 1's.
Serb, yeah too bad for Russia. It was a good game though. Tkachuck was able to score 4 and that was it. We faced simular fate playing against Russia in last World Cup, Pavel Bure scored 5(!) himself, and we ended up losing it like 7-5 or something like that.. he had 5 breakaways, and scored every single one. Very frustrating to watch.
Well, so we're facing the US, unless Slovakia wins Canada, which is highly unlikely to happen because of the solid game of Canada, I mean Canada won't collapse SO bad, and Slovakia has weak defense and goalie, so their offensive lines are not able to make that kind of impact against Brodeur and their defense.
I feel we have good chances against the US. SUre, they are the favourites. But we had 2 horrible games, both against Germany, when we were the favourites. We always play good as underdogs, plus there won't be ANY attitude problems. Preparations should be 110% and not like last time with Germany.
We play close to the way Canadians play, and if we succeed in AGGRESSIVE forechecking, which has been kind of... we haven't done it enough, but against Czechs we did some of that stuff and it worked good, so if we are able to continue that and be aggressive enough in the physical play, I say US is in for a long night. I know they are not able to take our speed away, but we might be able to takei their speed away. I just hope it happens. We should play with confidence, little arrogance, and extremely physical and aggressive and hit it where it hurts and surprise the US team. We do have the better goalie, US plays a game that allows us good offensive, as they don't play like Swedes or Germany, it really opens up lot of scoring chances for us, just like Canada did to them, and we hope to capitalize on that and keep our defense rock solid and help Kipper as much as possible.
Basically, I think we should put the pressure on oldie US defense lines, and force them to make mistakes and do quick overturns in the neutral zone and their defensive zone with aggressive forechecking and 2 man waves supporting. Little risk playing so arrogantly, but it should pay off.
US has no chances.
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07-09-2004 01:08
-- Sorry pekka-- take it for what its worth-- a prediction from an often-wrong fan
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