Canada - Switzerland GDT: It's payback time!
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 1:15 PM MST
in International hockey
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PrintHow the hell do you stay mad at the Swiss? It's a country (in)famous for its neutrality, where even French, German and Italian populations can live together in peace and harmony (if by "together" you mean in separate pockets of the landlocked territory, separated by huge mountain ranges). It's a nation known for chocolate and cleanliness, precision timepieces and shady bankers. Its top athletes excel in the non-violent sport of tennis or the self-violent sport of alpine skiing. Its flag is a red cross for goodness sake. What's not to like?
Their hockey team, that's what not to like. For way too many years La Suisse has applied their famous neutrality in a great big old trap, and tried to non-participate their way to a 0-0 tie. What's worse is that occasionally their stultifying game plan actually works, as it did four years ago today when the Swiss stuck their big old pin into Canada's balloon and pricked us good. 2-0, in the Olympic F. Games. A 49-save shutout by a nonedescript NHL goalie who for a day proved as impenetrable as the Swiss Alps, and two goals from a transplanted (a.k.a. "turncoat") Canadian who was long in the tooth and never was much of a player when his teeth were short.
For an entire leap cycle,1461 long days, I have successfully contained my anger at this injustice, but today it has suddenly come to life like a dormant cicada. Who the hell do they think they are, trying to beat Canada at our game? Do we try to beat them in the alpine super combined? Successfully??
The names have (largely) changed, but the stories are still the same. Today another nondescript NHL goalie, Jonas Hiller, hopes for a miracle, while another never-really-was named Hnat "Spell Check" Domenichelli turns his coat against the country he represented so many times in the Spengler Cup. His is an interesting career which I might appreciate on a different day. Not this one, though. Destroy Domenichelli! To hell with Hiller!! Stomp the Swiss!!!
Somewhat more, uh, neutral analysis after the jump ...
Canada ices 5 skaters who failed to score on Martin Gerber in Torino, namely Chris F. Pronger, Dany F. Heatley -- I knew there was a reason I hate these guys -- Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton, and Rick Nash. I could hardly pick 5 guys I'd rather have really motivated to take the game to the Swiss and light the lamp a few times today.
Of particular interest will be the chance at redemption offered the losing goalie of that affair. Martin Brodeur enters the Olympics in Game 2, just as he did in Salt Lake City, and once again looks to run the table. Home town favourite Roberto Luongo staked his claim to the #1 job with a 15-save shutout against Norway, a competent if underwhelming performance that was slightly marred in my critical eye by at least three puckhandling errors. That shouldn't be an issue today, indeed it should be an additional strength. Canada, whose opening game featured countless crisp breakout passes from their blueline corps, has just added another elite passer at the very back end. Moreover, the stupid trapezoid is nowhere to be seen. As an ex-goalie who has participated extensively in the "non save skills" debate, I am keen to see how the two styles play out behind the same team.
Switzerland returns just seven players from the triumph in Torino, including their one bona fide NHL skater, defenceman Mark Streit. Streit wouldn't even make Team Canada, but certainly is a solid player to anchor the blue. Defence (as usual) is the club's strength, with Luca Sbisa and Yannick Weber on the cusp of the bigs. Due respect, but Yannick Weber is no Shea Weber. Canada has the edge from top to bottom, with the only possible equalizer being young Mr. Hiller who seems to be emerging into the game's upper tier of puckstoppers. He'll be tested today.
Up front the Swiss are "led" by the likes of the Edmonton native Domenichelli, fellow Swiss League veteran Martin Plüss, and former Swiss League staple and current AHL bust Andreas Ambühl. Those guys are decent players in the Spengler Cup. But these are the Olympic F. Games.
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Don’t be so gloomy. After all, it’s not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 1:31 PM MST reply actions
Because...
If you don’t, I’d suggest you pick up a phone and dial the number of somebody who DOESSSSSSSS
Willing to trade humour for cash, straight up.
So I lied. Mike Richards had one shift near the start. He’s been on consistently with Toews and Morrow/Bergeron.
Bergeron took Perry’s spot once for a DZ draw.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 18, 2010 5:55 PM MST up reply actions
That makes sense. Use that “bottom 4” for PK, checking, and extra own-zone draws.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 5:57 PM MST up reply actions
Game on
Let’s take it to these guys.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Do every one of our forwards have their HUA? How many 3-on-2s before they wake TFU?
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
I’m sure glad Brodeur was paying attention when Seabrook gave him a drop pass right in the crease. I hope I saw that wrong.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
That's how I saw it too.
And my feed off CTV is on a two minute delay or so, so I was looking for it.
I’m guessing that also qualifies as an HUA Bruce?
That said, if Bobby Luo’s in goal it’s 1-1 and everyone outside Canucks fandom knows it.
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 6:20 PM MST up reply actions
Two not so stellar plays from Doughty so far this game. I’m guessing he’s the guy that draws the short straw.
I’m for going down to 6 D until this game is back ounder control.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 6:38 PM MST up reply actions
2-1
Doughty burned at the blue, and forwards remiss in backchecking again. You could see that coming all the way from the first period.
Nice shot, though.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Boy, I’m sure glad we pick our players based on potential, aren’t you?
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 6:37 PM MST reply actions
Potential and reputation, I believe.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Still, I thought they did a pretty decent job putting together this team.
Can`t believe that Bouwmeester wasn`t picked though.
The terrible thing is, this isn’t hindsight. Most of us thought naming Pronger and Doughty was a mistake at the time.
Well, Pronger looked as bad against Norway as it’s possible to look against Norway and is inferior so far against Switzerland. Doughty, there’s a lot to like but he’s not there yet.
It’s worrisome. Why do we insist on picking big names when we should know so much better? There’s a lot of intelligence in the Hockey Canada crew.
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 7:13 PM MST up reply actions
There’s a lot of intelligence in the Hockey Canada crew.
Why do you believe that?
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Because they won Stanley Cups!!!! 1
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:18 PM MST up reply actions
Mostly the Hiller factor, probably
But the Swiss look confident.
C’mon Heatley, don’t screen the open part of the net.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Dustin Penner wouldn’t have done that.
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 6:42 PM MST up reply actions
So did I when I wrote the original comment.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 6:50 PM MST up reply actions
I remember doin this exact whine 4 years ago
“C’mon boys, it’s fucking Switzerland for Christ’s sake!”
Recognized it as soon as it left my lips.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Way to go, Shea. Get in his grill for shit like that. That’s what the Oilers needed when Mason Fucking Raymond nailed Smid, and nobody did thing one about it.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Who let the Oilers into the Olympics?
That whole sequence was butt fucking ugly.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Bruce with 20 seconds left: “This period can’t end soon enough”
Chris Cuthbert with 15 seconds left: “Delayed penalty”
Cuthbert with 10 seconds left: “SCORES!!”
I am beside myself with the dreadful effort by Team Canada, against these fucking guys, again. $127.8 MM worth of lacksadaisy. I hope the coaches peel the paint off the walls this intermission, because getting outworked is flat out unacceptable to Canadian hockey fans.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Doesn’t sound like those fans are drinking Pepsi.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
EH?? WHAT???!!!
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
He’s been having a tough night too.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:17 PM MST up reply actions
Proposed Edmonton Sun headline if this score holds: HEIL HILLER
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 7:18 PM MST reply actions
The guys at BoC have been all over that. I think they even have some pictures.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 18, 2010 7:19 PM MST up reply actions
They put out Seabrook, almost a 2-1 against on a bad pinch.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 18, 2010 7:22 PM MST up reply actions
Hurt?
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:20 PM MST up reply actions
I just saw him get crankled pretty good late in the second. There’s a replay of it right now. Head shot.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:22 PM MST up reply actions
Eric Staal with two more demonstrations that he’s not a winger.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
I fucking hate this idea that Canada needs to be “more physical” and shoot more.
Dude! You guys picked a team of skill players! Let them cut the fuck loose! Let them pick those goddamned trapping assholes apart!
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 7:26 PM MST reply actions
Uh, but we need to me more physical and shoot more.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:31 PM MST up reply actions
They have over forty shots. I don’t mind them being at least a little bit selective.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 18, 2010 7:33 PM MST up reply actions
Is our problem really that we’re not banging enough slappers from the blue line? Have you seen us pass up any NHL-calibre shots?
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 7:35 PM MST up reply actions
Not slappers, sifters into traffic.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:39 PM MST up reply actions
They put together a team of centers.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
No worries against the Oiler powerplay.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:41 PM MST up reply actions
So much for 3-0-0-0
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:42 PM MST up reply actions
Man… that was Bergeron’s first shift in over 15 minutes. Ballsy call to put out someone that cold for a 10-seconds-left faceoff.
Why was that draw in our end anyway? Intentional offside? It was a real stretch.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:45 PM MST up reply actions
They call it A LOT. Something to get used to.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 18, 2010 7:54 PM MST up reply actions
Hiller’s putting on a show, he did look quite foolish on the second Canada goal but has otherwise robbed glorious chance after glorious chance.
The defence blows, just giving away the puck like it’s Christmas. Doesn’t help that forward support is insubstantial at times. Even when they’re off their game, Canada is still tremendously outchancing the Swiss.
“Insubstantial” doesn’t quite cover what passes for forward support on way too many shifts. “Ethereal”, more like it.
e.g. The Getzlaf-Perry-Staal line did some good work in the O-zone, but elsewhere they were flat out negligent.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 7:53 PM MST up reply actions
Pronger is a hysterically poor choice for 4v4.
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 7:45 PM MST reply actions
“Every player on Team Canada has a role”
What’s Corey Perry’s role?
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
Every player on Team CanadaPatrice Bergeron has a role
Fixed.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 18, 2010 7:56 PM MST up reply actions
Hilarious that Pierre thinks Iginla and Seabrook had few shifts because of injury. Iginla ended up on a regular line FFS.
Seabrook was riding pine would be my guess. He had a rough night.
Iginla did take a bit of a blow to the head, might have scrambled his eggs a bit, when they got him back in there the lines had changed
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 18, 2010 8:03 PM MST up reply actions
I think the lines changed because they wanted to get Toews more ice. He took a pretty regular shift for the whole third. The forward riding pine was Bergeron… until the last ten seconds.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 18, 2010 8:04 PM MST up reply actions
"Team Canada has the lead in Group A"
Uh, Chris? USA 6 points, Canada 5
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
As we speak I am stuffing this game down the memory hole.
by Benjamin Massey on Feb 18, 2010 8:03 PM MST reply actions
Post-game coming up for you to relive it!
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 18, 2010 8:03 PM MST up reply actions
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