dat's sick

Well, think about these three things to ease your sadness: 1. We had the youngest team in WJC history, it would have been pretty historic if we won it. 2. We have like 10 players from this team who can play next year, among them Markstrom and Hedman. 3. Everyone is saying the 91's in Sweden have the most talent since the year with Zetterberg (1980), or even since Naslund & Forsberg (1973). And if you look at Paajarvi's tournament, it might be true. That kid is probably the biggest talent I've seen since.. maybe Zetterberg, but not even he was that good at that age. So as long as Hedman and Markstrom don't disappear to the NHL during this year, the next tournament is actually looking even more promising than this one.

I don't want to argue everything anyone says here or anything haha, but the "s***-talking" from the swedes was blown way out of proportion in the North-american media. Languague barrier + young non-media trained kids (a statement by a 17-year old was what started the whole debacle) = big news in north-america. Hedman imo was one of the few Swedish players who really played well this game.. are you sure you're not mixing him up with Ottawa draft pick Karlsson who was terrible today? For me, Tavares was a real disappointment, though he looks really dangerous when he's right around the goal. Hodgson for me was the most impressive player today. As for Markstrom, he will be a big name in the NHL in a couple of years. He's basically almost as good as Lundqvist was in Swedish Elite League, but at a younger age and playing in a worse team. He didn't get to show his best side in the semi or in the final, but he will hopefully not go to the NHL just yet so he can play one more WJC and maybe then we'll beat you guys in the final at last

"there's nothing better than beating Canada on their home ice, something I think we will do. " That's what I wrote and here's why: If Sweden would have played like they did in the group game against Russia, or even the way they played most of the game against Slovakia, and Canada played like they did against Russia in the semi, we probably would have won this game. But what happened was that most Canadian players did their best game in the final, certainly Tokarski did. But that's what's great about Canada's hockeyplayers, they are almost alway able to find a way to be at their best when it matters the most. Whether it's with 5 seconds left of a semi-final, in a shoot-out or in a final game. Meanwhile, Sweden got an early penalty, fell behind, felt the crowd pushing Canada on, got some unfortunate call or rather non-calls against them and it was too much. They played their worst game when it mattered the most. What I'm saying is that Canada got the game exactly where they wanted to get it. Had Backlund not taken that unnecessary penalty right at the start, who knows what would have happened?

Haha, I might say the same to you. I just imagine the reaction from the crowd if those same situations happened involving Tokarski instead. Look at the Esposito situation again. See how he doesn't even have his eyes on the puck after he realizes Markstrom is going to beat him to hit? See how he extends his right leg instead of retracting it and try to get around him? I'll admit that Markstrom did seem riled up on that skate to the bench but come on. He's a goalie, he skates like 10x slower than regular players, it's not like the Canadian got run over by him or anything. He could have easily avoided him if he wanted to. But he knew from the Esposito situation that the refs thought it was okay to run him over. PK, yes by far (also goes with Sweden's PP being horrible), PP yes much better (sweden also has had weak PK all tournament), 5 on 5 maybe. They definitely got the better chances in 5 on 5, and Sweden did do their worst game overall of the tournament. But if you count 5 on 5 goals it's 1-1, so Sweden were far from outplayed in that gameform. PP was what decided this game.

Yes, he purposely keeps his mask only loosely attached to his head so his dives will look more authentic *MASSIVE ROLLEYES* ..or you know, the Canadian players actually ran into him.

It's as simple as this: a goaltender shouldn't have to worry about getting body-checked when he's on his way out to the bench. Nor should he have to stand for players (Esposito) trying to seriously injure him when he goes out to play the puck. Every goalie helps out a bit when they get interfered with, but I think you need to watch those situations again. It's not like the Canadian players cruises by him and he dives, those are real hits he gets. Canada was definitely the better team, mostly because of their PP who was leagues above ours, but I just can't stand it when a team behaves like that even when they have the lead, and the refs do nothing and you Canadians just go "lol flopper roflmao". Mostly I feel disappointed because I expected a fun and good game but the refs just lost control of the game.

Classy play that period Canada. And you're booing Markstrom? That guy has been run over, what, 4 times now? I can't remember seeing anything like this before.. and yes, Markstrom is making it look worse than it is (just like every goalie in the world always does, because you just SHOULDN'T run over the goaltender). And then you boo Hedman for defending his goaltender.. something EVERY DEFENDER in the world also SHOULD do. Too bad the refs let this game go out of control when they didn't call Esposito when he first took down Markstrom. Figures that he scored the 2-0 goal moments later as well. Canada is playing good, better than Sweden (those PP's..) and deserve the lead, but I just can't feel anything but resent for a team that plays like they do even when they have a lead, and at home too.

First period looking very much like the first period of Sweden-Slovakia, except that Canada is creating a bit more on 5-on-5. What we really need to do though is stay out of the box and start crashing the net more, like Canada is doing. Only 1-0 so far, could have been more, but I still think we're looking like the better team and I'm confident we'll turn it around.

I don't think you have to worry about that. Both because I've never seen Hedman deliver a dirty hit, and because Canada is the team that has a habit of doing things like that and getting away with it. What they did to Forsberg in that WC final a couple of years ago still makes me sick just thinking about it.. Watch out for Lasu though, he completely destroyed a slovakian in the semi with a very nice (and clean) open ice hit. oh, and: GO SWEDEN!! I'm super pumped for the game. Prediction, 6-3 win for Sweden.

I keep thinking his name is "Futterbuck"...

That last goal must be incredibly tough mentally for them. They were 5 seconds away from getting atleast a silver medal. It's very hard to bounce back from that. My big question is what the russian defender was doing on his knees on that goal?

Hate shootouts, they're not in any way a fair determination of who's the better team. Edit: and that's game. Really looking forward to the final match. Even though i think we would have had an easier game against Russia, there's nothing better than beating Canada on their home ice, something I think we will do.

has to be a goal. I've seen way worse that have been allowed. although that was AGAINST the Wings, which obviously changes things.

Well, I spoke too soon. I should have known, Canada is always able to do this crazy s***. Russia must be shell-shocked now, this game belongs to Canada.

this is amazing, I love it when Canada loses. Although I'd prefer it to be against us in the final, this is fine too.

aww crap. okay wings, time to start playing again.

www.atdhe.net

Haha, Russia ties it up right after Canada's taken the lead once again.. Exciting game, but I can't say I'm intimidated by either of these teams performance. With defense and goaltending like this Sweden will destroy the team that wins this game.

I LOVE that Datsyuk commercial

Great work by Z, he pretty much created that goal out of thin air. I feel almost ashamed for doubting him a little bit a while ago when he a bad couple of games, now he looks just like his old self again.

Good game so far, lots of speed and chances. Minnesota look better than I expected.

Haha yeah he was talking about Mike Babcock telling him something..

5-3 Wings. Goals by Filppula, Huds, Z, Hossa and Kronwall.

I'll be honest, the only team I'm really worried about is Boston. They look scary good. It's never easy to win a cup, and we still have some defensive problems and line formations to work out, but we have shown that when the big teams and the big games come up, we can turn it up a notch and tighten up our play. Teams like Vancouver, Washington, San Jose, Chicago etc. might challenge us, but in a 7-game series I have a hard time seeing us lose against any of them.

Did you guys see Tedenby on the 4th goal by Sweden? Whoa. Thank god we managed to overcome all the bulls*** by the refs and the crazy goaltending of Janus and win this. I'm not really afraid of Canada now, atleast there won't be Canadian refs in that game (...right!?). But really, this Swedish team is just incredible.. apart from sometimes sloppy defending it's so much fun to watch them. Always on the attack, always keeping their feet moving, amazing skill, great physical play (did you see that Kronwall-esque hit by Lasu? Holy s***) and completely fearless. And Canada got beaten once and only just managed to pull out a win in the final in last years tournament, when we had a considerably weaker team.