Running 2007 World Junior Championships (Hockey) thread

Bernier gets the shutout, lets play "Oh Canada".

 

Canucks played a good solid road game. Bernier was the Canadian player of the game.

Haven't checked the game sheet but I'd be interested in knowing how many minutes of ice time Tavares had--not many, I suspect.

Interesting bit of trivia: the Czech Republic had more guys from the Quebec Major Junior league than Canada.

 

For me the turning point was early in the first when Bernier was solid in killing that five-on-three. The Canadians were sloppy and turnhing the puck over but they settled down and the Czechs never really threatened after that.

 

Better dogs at St Mikes- check
Better popcorn at St Mikes- check
Better hot chocolate at St Mikes- check

When you're serving a crowd of about 700, the quality of concessions can be maintained easier than 6K a game. Good meat by-products can only help you draw so many extra ticket buyers, unfortunately...

I love St Mikes College Arena for what it is...an historic Tier 2 rink. Loved watching Tier 2 and Midget games there, right on the action. As an OHL rink I don't miss it at all. Well, other than the tasty frankfurters and the quick side-trip to Albert's Fine Jamaican on St. Clair a couple blocks west for the oxtail gravy and jerk chicken.

 

Want to go to a real oldtime rink in Toronto?

Go see the newly reborn Junior A Dixie Beehives at Weston Arena (Lawrence & Weston Rd). One of the great old barns built post WW2 and the best damn fries of any rink in Toronto or Mississauga.

 

Keep hearing rumo(u)rs Boom Boom's grandson may, like Okposo, be heading for (olive) greener pastures after the WJCs...

Nope, not an off-night. He sucks tremendously. But he's been the "good soldier" for USA Hockey and their NTDP the past couple years. It's a thank you gift more than anything, which goes a long way in explaining why the USA has won so few medals in this competition. The politics and idiocy of USA Hockey are only surpassed by where most in that organization come from, the NCAA.

 

Thanks for the tip JR...but I'm stuck with the two Canlan establishments (Etobicoke and York), Chesswood and Westwood, at least this weekend.

 

You seen Geoffrion at all this season, Fly?

 

As a kid who grew up not far from the awesome old Dixie Arena and who spent many a night cheering on the original Beehives, I don't recognize this new team at all. They could be playing in the fucking parking lot here and I wouldn't watch them.

 

Fly, I don't know whether you've read "Future Greats and Heartbreaks" but he has a couple of damning indictiments in his book about the USA hockey programme. It will never go anywhere until 1) the players are held accountable and 2) the parents stop running the programme.

It doesn't appear to be just his opinion but that of many of the scouts who work the international circuits.

 

Throughouth his years with the York Toros, my eldest kid's home rinks were Chesswood, Westwood and Weston.

 

Smith was Nashville's 2nd round pick in last June's NHL Draft. Good size @ 6-1, 165. Athletically is one of the best US goaltending prospects to come along in quite some time, can steal games single-handedly. Mental game isn't there yet, but should come with experience. But in a short tournament like the WJCs, he's by far the USA's best hope even though he's just 18 years old.

Smith was in tandem with the starting goalie for the Czech WJC team, Michal Neuvirth, on the defending OHL Champs Plymouth Whalers last season and the first two months of this year before Neuvirth was traded to arch-rival Windsor. The two split time almost evenly a year ago, but Neuvirth got the majority of the playoff starts. When the Washington Capitals, who owned Neuvirth's rights, sent him back to the OHL in September, it was inevitable one of them would be dealt. Smith is a year younger and a local Detroit-area product so he was the one to stick with the Whalers.