Grandview's Ryan Pulock scored, and Melville's Damon Severson picked up an assist, leading Team West to a 4-1 win over Slovakia last night, at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Winnipeg.Team West finishes the Round Robin with a 2-and-2 record, not quite good enough for the medal round.
They'll play Team Atlantic in the 5th place game, tonight in Portage.
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Can Canada's World Junior Team do any better than bronze with their goaltending?
In the last 10 or so years where they've finished 1st or 2nd, they've almost always had a stud back there, whether it be Tokarski, Price, Glass, Pogge, Fleury, Mason, etc.
Neither Olivier Roy or Marc Visentin have 'had it' so far.
But, it's a short tournament, and if their tenders have their best two games of the tournament tonight and Wednesday, they should still be okay.
On TV they made it sound like they have to stay with Visentin, but I really thought he looked lost yesterday. Yes, the one goal he allowed was nothing short of atrocious, but a lot of the saves he made looked shaky. He seemed unsure of himself playing the puck, and his rebound control was off.
Maybe that shook off the nerves, and he'll be better tonight... he'll have to be! The States have a tad more firepower than the Swiss.
- It's the first time in a while that my schedule has worked around the World Juniors this well. I remember 3 or so years back, Canada and the States played either a QF or SF game one afternoon, and I had my then-colour guy Blaine Weyland over to watch it, and we immediately left for Swan River when it ended. I like to be plenty early for games, and we weren't going to be THAT early, so I had it to the floor... aaaaaaand got a ticket. Last year, I was in Weyburn with Melville, watching that game with my left eye, and Eberle tying up the Gold Medal game on my laptop with my right. Unfortunately, almost the entire fan base in Weyburn was watching the game on the big screen just outside the booth, and I knew the bad news long before my online feed showed it to me. This year, I'm off tonight, and have both semis back to back. Tomorrow, I'm off to Portage, while the WJHC takes the day off... then I'm off Wednesday night, and get to see the medal games!
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I've followed the NFL this year more than any other year (14/16 on my toonie picks this week BTW... got OAK-KC and STL-SEA wrong). Took a gamble with Dallas over Philly and TB over New Orleans, 'cause they weren't
SJ Communications man Mitchell Blair is a Seattle Seahawks fan... and his Seahawks, led by QB Charlie Whitehurst (???) beat St. Louis 16-6 last night in a 'win-you're-in' matchup.
The win, captures the NFC West crown for the Seahawks, with a record of 7-9. Which, of course, gives them home field next week, against the 11-5, defending champs from New Orleans. Also, a pair of 10-6 teams from the same conference (NYG & TB), MISS the playoffs, while Seattle gets in.
I don't have a better idea... divisions have to count for something, and you need divisions, for the rivalries, etc. But do you think the Giants and Bucs are a little choked??
It's happened in the NHL too... back when the South East was always terrible, and teams like Carolina and Atlanta would get the 3rd overall seed, when their point total actually had them somewhere between 7th and 10th in the standings.
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Might have some SJ stuff to talk about today. A pretty good source told me a major trade could happen as early as today... it's likely just a matter of whether it can be released today, if infact it's still happening.
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I've followed the NFL this year more than any other year (14/16 on my toonie picks this week BTW... got OAK-KC and STL-SEA wrong). Took a gamble with Dallas over Philly and TB over New Orleans, 'cause they weren't
SJ Communications man Mitchell Blair is a Seattle Seahawks fan... and his Seahawks, led by QB Charlie Whitehurst (???) beat St. Louis 16-6 last night in a 'win-you're-in' matchup.
The win, captures the NFC West crown for the Seahawks, with a record of 7-9. Which, of course, gives them home field next week, against the 11-5, defending champs from New Orleans. Also, a pair of 10-6 teams from the same conference (NYG & TB), MISS the playoffs, while Seattle gets in.
I don't have a better idea... divisions have to count for something, and you need divisions, for the rivalries, etc. But do you think the Giants and Bucs are a little choked??
It's happened in the NHL too... back when the South East was always terrible, and teams like Carolina and Atlanta would get the 3rd overall seed, when their point total actually had them somewhere between 7th and 10th in the standings.
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Might have some SJ stuff to talk about today. A pretty good source told me a major trade could happen as early as today... it's likely just a matter of whether it can be released today, if infact it's still happening.
6 comments:
Has to be a Melville trade!
how can you say visentin hasnt had it? the kid had a 960 save percentage when you made that comment. what do you want?
In wins over Norway and the Swiss.
You can't tell me he didn't look OFF against Switzerland.
He was great against the States and will beat the Russians too, but NO, he didn't have it in his first two starts. It's not always about numbers.
so stopping 9.6 out of 10 shots is not having it. pretty lofty standards
I concur, Visentin may have had good numbers vs a weak Norway team and the Swiss, but he did look off on his rebound control. Put it all in the rear view mirror after a stellar performance against the US.
This is my last comment about this "anonymous," since this isn't a world junior blog.
Marc visentin is obviously a top notch goalie, since only two U20 goalies from all of canada are on the team.
But, he let in an awful goal against norway, and an inexcusable goal against Switzerland.
Yes, his save percenatage agaisnt two sub-par teams was very good, and if you saw those numbers in the paper you would think he's had a great tournament. But watching every minute of every game, it was clear he was fighting the puck and wasn't himself, same as Roy in the previous 2 games.
If he played like that against the US they would have lost, but he looked confident and played big when he had to, and I think he'll do the same vs the Russians.
Reply if you must, but that's all I gotta say about that!
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