#57/2013 IIHF WJC Blog

Biscuits and Breezers

Finals Recap

      As you have probably already heard, Team USA dethroned former champions Team Sweden to take home the gold. This was majorly unexpected and completely thrilling! These good old American boys deserved it so much. They poured their blood, sweat, and tears into this tournament and they came out victorious. I am actually kind of happy that they won because it seemed that they tried the hardest that they absolutely could and it paid off majorly for them. Unfortunately Sweden is no longer champions but I think that they will fire back very hard next year and could take the title again. I would like to see that or Team Finland. I am unbiased though! Those are just my personal opinions! Sweden will in fact take the silver medal, Russia will take the bronze medal, and Canada will take 4th place. Yes, Russia beat Team Canada 6-5. I believe I mentioned this in my last blog, but this will be Canada's fourth consecutive year without a gold medal. Do you think that a final next year could be between the USA and Canada or Sweden and Canada? Maybe it will be! It will be very interesting how it turns out. Can't wait for next year!

Game 1 - USA vs. Sweden

     The gold medal was taken by the Americans! The underdogs turned the tournament around and came from behind. This was sort of like the 1980 Winter Olympic games in Lake Placid. The USA took gold but Sweden silver instead of bronze. Team USA was quite amazing in this game just for the fact that they could pool all their strength, confidence, and skill and topple the champions. At first it didn't look like the American's would win it when Cole Bardreau got a penalty for goaltender interference late in the first period when he slid into Niklas Lundstrom. Shortly after that, Jacob Trouba set up a pass to Seth Jones but it bounced off of his skate. Swede Filip Sandberg took advantage of this prime situation and shot a beautiful pass top shelf right behind USA goaltender John Gibson giving the Swedes a 1-0 lead early in the second period. At the 7:41 mark the increased work rate proved greatly when Rocco Grimaldi shot one past Lundstrom to tie the game 1-1. Grimaldi received another point to give the USA a lead when Jacob Trouba's shot on goal was deflected by Rocco and rang into the net. The Swedes desperately fought for the rest of the second period to score again. But queue John Gibson. He was evidently a brick wall in the net. Blocking all of the Swedish shots, Gibson was a very important player for the USA. He ended the tournament with a .9554 save percentage and goals against percentage of 1.36. After a useless two periods of trying to play cat and mouse, Team Sweden pulled Niklas Lundstrom. In the last two minutes of the game Vince Trochek scored an empty netter to make the final score of the gold medal game 3-1. Then celebration fell on the USA players and the partying began. Congratulations to Team USA and great job to Team Sweden. They played just as hard and put out just as much as the Americans did. Truthfully, the Swedes did a fantastic job and I am glad that since they didn't win gold that they got the closest thing too it. Great job boys and congratulations on the medals! Here is a video of the USA hockey team doing their chant after their win! I found it on YouTube so I don't own anything! Enjoy!

Game 2 - Russia vs. Canada

 
    This was Canada's last chance to medal. But sadly, they never made it. Russia beat them 6-5 in overtime. Unfortunately, Team Canada will only be going home with great memories instead of shiny new medals. They fought just as hard as the Russians as did, but unfortunately, it came down to who had enough steam left in overtime. In this case, it was the Russians. Multiple games the Russians played during the group schedules in fact ended with overtime winning goals. I think that personally maybe this gave them an advantage over the Canadians because they were used to winning by multiples instead of just one point. Truth to be told, they weren't even used to losing by one point either. Oddly enough the Canadians decided to use Jordan Binnington as their starting goaltender. With 5 shots on goal early in the first, 3 of them were let go by Binnington. These goals came from Nail Yakupov, Kirill Dyakov, and Alexander Khokhlachev. Jordan was pulled and replaced by Subban after just 8 minutes of playing time. Feeling panicked, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his fifth goal of the tournament and Jonathan Huberdeau also scored to make it 3-2, 5 minutes before the first intermission. 3 minutes into the second period, Mark Scheifele shot one past Andrey Makarov to even things up, 3-3. This was Team Canada's third power play goal of the game. But then Russia struck back. Just a mere 67 seconds later, Yevgeni Mozer scored to give Russia it's lead once again. Ryan Murphy saved the Canadians with another power play goal by tying the score up again 13 minutes into the second period. Ryan finished this game off with a total of three points. With the score tied at the second intermission, the third period was going to be riveting. Captain of Team Russia, Nail Yakupov, finally delivered his second goal of the game 1 minute into the extreme third period to give Team Russia a 5-4 lead. 10 minutes later, desperate and losing the sight of a medal, Brett Ritchie scored for a seemingly hopeless squad. This was a savior for the Canadians and a stress factor for Russia. Now the game's in overtime. Russia's very own Valeri Nichuskin beat Malcolm Subban at 1 minute and 35 seconds into the extra frame, winning the bronze for Team Russia and sending Canada home empty handed. Congratulations to Team Russia for winning the bronze and great game to Team Canada. You guys played your best and hardest, but it just wasn't your time. Maybe next year boys! Here is a video I found on YouTube of the Canada vs. Russia game. Again, I don't own anything so enjoy!

 3 Stars of the Game

1. John Gibson USA

   Gibson was impeccable for the United States of America during their gold medal journey. He basically brought the finals to the Americans. He had a total of 26 saves during the game against Sweden. Gibson was clearly the right choice for MVP of the tournament. He made many strong saves against powerful Swedes in attempts to tie up the game.

2. Rocco Grimaldi USA

     Rocco came from absolutely nowhere and scored his first two goals of the tournament. These goals came at very very critical times and he really stepped up the game and took charge of his own mental look at the the game. He did great working the corners to defend against the Swedes to keep them at bay.

3. Nail Yakupov Russia

    Nail finally showed the world why we was Edmonton's first overall pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. His skills shown through and finally he found his groove in these games. The Russian captain scored twice to help his team and the host country to win the bronze medal.

    Thanks for reading another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! Every blog will be filled with updated hockey news, player reviews, and so much more. Until next time remember, don't get your breezers in a bunch because hockey is always around the corner. Remember, it's always a great day for hockey and it's a lifestyle not just a sport!