Thursday, January 05, 2006
WJC: It's a Wrap! Canada > Russia, again!
I'm back from the Canada/Russia game and it was a lot better than I expected.
In case you live in a cave or some country other than Canada, the good guys beat the evil ex-Communists 5-0 in a well-played battle. I was impressed by how the Russians were eager and able to play the physical game. Unfortunately for them, they got worn out after awhile and got away from their skill-based attack which got them to the final game in the first place.
Full game recap posted here.
Sure, the third period was anti-climatic, but the first two periods were great and the result was great, for me and the rest of Canada ;)
Oh, and the Finns beat the Americans 4-2 for the bronze medal. As Howard Dean would say, "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAH!!"
If I didn't have this damn fever/flu, this day would be perfect.
The award winners can be found here.
As a member of the media, I got to vote on the media all-star team.
Here was the team that was ultimately chosen by the media...
Goaltender: Tuukka Rask, Finland
Defenceman: Luc Bourdon, Canada
Defenceman: Jack Johnson, USA
Forward: Evgeni Malkin, Russia
Forward: Steve Downie, Canada
Forward: Lauri Tukonen, Finland
Most Valuable Player: Evgeni Malkin, Russia
and here was the choices I made...
Goaltender: Justin Pogge, Canada
Defenceman: Luc Bourdon, Canada
Defenceman: Teemu Laakso, Finland
Forward: Evgeni Malkin, Russia
Forward: Nicklas Backstrom, Sweden
Forward: Stanislav Lascek, Slovakia
Most Valuable Player: Tuukka Rask, Finland
Clearly, the media is biased against Czechs and Slovaks, right? :)
After the game, us mediots were also given special editions of The Province newspaper with "GOLD GLORY" on the cover.
Covering the tournament as a member of the press for Eurohockey.net was a great experience. I'll be posting more of my thoughts about players, nuances, and so on over the next couple of days.
Now, off to drown myself in flu medication.
Yea... it's totally biased against the hunkys! didn't you say in another post that some of em was leading the tourney in scoring? WTF!?
And HockeyJack was a #3 overall pick for the 'Canes.
Thank you for proving me right! I see that you are the epitome of Swedish chivalry and grammar ;)
When you reach your 15th birthday, then come back and talk to me.
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Jackoff Johnson was actually pretty good for most of the tournament, but his lack of discipline and the bronze medal game basically killed him from my ballot. I also had a tough time eliminating Kessel and Tukonen. Kessel had the points, but he piled up many against Norway and he was too individualistic, in the end. He's fun to watch, however.
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