Off Wing Opinion

Ever hear of Tommie Salo?

After sleepwalking through two preliminary round victories, Team USA finally got a wakeup call at the World Junior Championships, as underdog Belarus took advantage of a combination of American mental mistakes, blown defensive assignments and sloppy passing to cruise to an easy 5-3 win.

After seeing New York Rangers draft pick Al Montoya yield eight goals in just two games (as many as he gave up in the entire tournament last year), Team USA head coach Scott Sandelin gave last night's start to Boston College freshman Cory Schneider.

Schneider, undefeated in six games with BC this season, barely lasted into the second period, yielding three goals -- though he didn't get much help from his teammates defensively. Once Montoya returned, he didn't fare much better, giving up a soft goal on the very first shot he faced -- a weak dump-in from beyond the blue line by Siarhei Kukushkin that the forward took only to facilitate a line change.

Those of us watching the game on ESPN2 missed the fluke goal live, as their cameras were more concerned with following an injured Chris Bourque as he limped back to the Team USA bench and into the locker room.

But now that I'm through with dealing with the shock of seeing Team USA drop a game to Belarus, shouldn't we be asking some questions about that nation's hockey program? As we ought to recall, it was a little more than two years ago that Belarus survived the Olympic qualifying round and fought its way into medal contention with a shocking victory over Sweden.

Something tells me these two victories aren't flukes, and that they may actually be a trend.

Elsewhere, the Czechs beat Switzerland, 5-2; Finland scored four unanswered goals in the third period to beat Sweden 5-4; and Slovakia defeated Germany 5-0.

Today's games: Canada vs. Finland; Russia vs. Switzerland; Sweden vs. Slovakia; and Team USA plays the Czech Republic for a shot at the top spot in Group A, and a bye into the semifinals.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 30th, 2004 at 7:18 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Canada clocked Germany 9-0, outshooting the overmatched Germans, 52-17. Sidney Crosby scored twice more for the undefeated Canadians, and now leads all scorers with six for the tournament. Canada leads Pool B with six points, and should cruise easily to a first place finish and a berth in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, the Russians put away Belarus, 7-2, leaving them tied for first in Pool A with the idle Team USA. Former number one draft pick Alexander Ovechkin scored twice for Russia. There's a slate of four games today, including: the Czech Rep. vs. Switzerland; Finland vs. Sweden; Belarus vs. Team USA (broadcast in the U.S. at 9:30 p.m. U.S. EST on ESPN2); and Slovakia vs. Germany.

And speaking of Team USA, I reviewed the videotape of the third period of Monday's 6-4 win over Switzerland, and was absolutely aghast. While I'm sure the crowd loved watching an eight-goal period, Team USA head coach Scott Sandelin couldn't have been happy with the sloppy play, blown defensive assignments, and lack of hustle demonstrated by the Americans.

Sure, the Americans are the defending champs. But I'm still waiting to see them play like it.

Click here for a profile of Team USA forward, Chris Bourque. Click here for a neat little CBC hack that displays the standings and complete tournament schedule all in one box. And on an up note, there's nothing but good news coming from the tournament box office.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 29th, 2004 at 10:01 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

What lessons should Team USA take away from their 6-4 win over Switzerland last night? If I was head coach Scott Sandelin, I'd be a little worried. It's one thing to give up four goals in a wide open game against Russia, but it's quite another to blow a 2-0 lead, and let Switzerland pot four goals in the final period.

At times last night, it seemed like Team USA was content to coast on its talent alone, figuring it could simply take advantage at will when the puck bounced their way. And for the first two periods, they were essentially correct, although the Swiss deserve credit for playing a disciplined defensive game in the first two periods that prevented Team USA from developing any offensive rythym. As ESPN2's brodcast team noted last night, players turn professional at 17 in Switzerland, and last night the Swiss certainly played like it.

So while Team USA's lackadaisical team might have been enough against Switzerland, and will probably be enough to defeat Belarus, I suspect it won't be nearly as successful against a more talented Czech squad they face later in pool play. And I know it won't be enough against Canada, the yardstick against which Team USA's play has to be measured each and every time. Up next for Team USA, Belarus on Wednesday night. For the remainder of the tournament schedule, click here.

And speaking of Team Canada, they stayed atop their pool with an 8-1 destruction of Sweden, with 17-year old phenom Sidney Crosby scoring twice. And speaking of Crosby, it looks like somebody in the NHLPA got to him and told him to shut up when it comes to playing in an NHL that might be populated with replacement players next season:

"If there is an NHL with replacement players, I think for me to be involved and to say that I would play in the league is not true," Crosby told TSN. "If the NHL is the real NHL with the best players in the world, for sure I want to play in it but at the same time, if it's a league of replacement players, it's not the real NHL. And with all the things going on right now with players and owners, it's not right and I don't think I'd be playing in a league like that."

Elsewhere in pool play, Slovakia blanked Finland, 2-0, and Russia defeated the Czech Republic, 4-1.

For all of your World Junior hockey needs, click here for coverage from TSN, or here for the official site. And thanks to the folks at Fox Sports World, who have added video highlights from the tourney into the nightly broadcast of Fox Sports World Report.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 28th, 2004 at 6:35 am by Eric McErlain and is filed under Hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.