It's a Russian takeover!!!

The joys of being married to a Russian wife. She threw a few verbal jabs at me when Kovalchuk scored the OT winner as the Russians beat the Canadians today. But you know, it didn't really bother me all that much. I am a big fan of most Russian players, especially those that play with heart. And boy, there was a lot of that in Russia's game on Sunday.

“Right now we are the champions of the world and it feels so great,” Alex Ovechkin said. “It’s really special to win here because this is hockey and it’s a hockey-mad country.

I should feel some anger over that statement out of patriotism and competitiveness but really, Canada has won so many of these and this was Russia's first gold medal win at the IIHF Worlds since 1993.
A hell of a game. And a hell of a celebration by the Russian squad afterward. I don't think that 80% of the team could hold a tune as they sang to the Russian anthem, but it still gave me chills listening to it. Seeing Kovalchuk cry with joy. Seeing the players grab the CBC camera and say hello to their mothers half way across the globe. Good stuff.
Congrats to the Ruskies. They deserved it.
You'd have to think that Evgeni Malkin wished he was there today, but he got an even bigger reward....a berth into the Stanley Cup finals. Malkin is unreal. But so are the new crop of Russians playing in the NHL. These guys are taking over. Ovechkin (best player in the world...not Crosby), Malkin, Semin.....and who can say enough about what Evgeni Nabokov did not only for the Sharks this season, but also what he did for the Russian squad as they pushed for gold. Nabby saved their butts earlier in the game when they took way too many penalties. He is a force and, as TSN put it, a stabilizer.
Check out these highlights of the game in Russian. Think those guys were excited about the gold medal win?

T Tags: Russia+wins+gold IIHF Canada hockey

Canada squeaks out a gold medal victory at the World Juniors

I could go on and on about how we Canadians dominate at the World Juniors and overall at world tournaments but I will approach this post game from a different perspective: we got lucky.
After blowing a 2-0 lead with less than a minute left, the momentum was all in favor of the Swedes who were taking it to us not only in the 3rd (I think they outshot us 14-3), but in the overtime as well.
Canadian goalie Steve Mason said post game that the Canadian team was feeling down after the 3rd had ended, and it showed in the OT. But it was Mason who held Canada in it with a great save only minutes into the extra frame. Canada goes up the ice the other way, dumps the puck in harmlessly and the Swedes easily took control of the puck in their own zone. The one Swede defender passed the puck behind his net and around to the boards to what seemed to be an unsuspecting 2nd Swede defenceman. The puck bounced off his skate right to Canadian Shawn Matthias, who used his size to crash the Swede goal from the right side a la Glenn Anderson. Swede goalie Jhonas Enroth stopped the shot but Canada's Matt Halischuk shoved in the garbage goal and that was it.
One little mistake by Sweden, who was poised to take it, and it ends up in their net.
Enroth played so well. He lay in the crease crying for several minutes after the winning goal was scored. I felt bad for him. I felt remorse for the Swedes. But at the end of the day, like the old cliche goes: it doesn't matter how you do it, as long as you get it done. And Canada, lucky as hell, got it done.

TSN has full game footage here.

Above photo is from TSN.

T Tags: Canada+wins+gold Sweden Jhonas+Enroth Matt+Halischuk World+Junior+Hockey+Championship

European Leadership

We Canadians are fueled by icons like Don Cherry, who says that Canadian hockey players are the best and have the most heart. But now especially we are seeing more widespread hunger and desire from European players to win the Stanley Cup. I never used to give teams with a European captain a chance in the playoffs until now.
The emergence of Daniel Alfredsson is bringing to the forefront a European's ability to lead a team to the Holy Grail.
But let's face it, the whole concept of Canadian greatness in team leadership, and especially wearing the "C", to a large degree is tainted to begin with. Gloating that only one non-Canadian captain in NHL history has raised the Cup is pointless(Derian Hatcher with the Stars in 1999).
It comes down to percentages. There has always been a larger amount of Canadian players in the NHL. The Canadian content in the NHL was massively abundant pre-1990, and that number has significantly decreased since then. Especially now, you can see the playing field slowly levelling out when it comes to team captaincy.

Here is a breakdown of captaincy and nationality from this season:

Canadians: 14 (Mellanby, Crosby, Lecavalier, Brind'amour, Niedermayer, Marleau, Morrow, Iginla, Drake, Foote, Smith, Aucoin, Doan, Sakic)
Swedes: 5 (Naslund, Sundin, Alfredsson, Lidstrom, Norstrom)
Americans: 3 (Clark, Drury, Rolston)
Finnish: 3 (Koivu, Jokinen, Timmonen)
Czechs: 1 (Elias)
Russians: 1 (Yashin)
Slovaks: 1. (Chara)
3 teams had no captain, correct me if I'm wrong.

That is the most spread out it has ever been.

We still hold the monopoly when it comes to the odds of one of our own meeting Gary Bettman at center ice to accept the Cup based on the above numbers. But that monopoly is fading. Had the Wings beaten the Ducks the theory would have taken a huge hit, with 2 Swedish captains in the Final. It's just a matter of time. Hell, Alfredsson is the first European captain to make an appearance in the Finals in NHL history. He is leading the race for the Conn Smythe trophy right now. A European! A Swede even! Heaven forbid! Times are changing.

Like Jibblescribbits had discussed a couple of weeks back, it takes European players a while to adjust to the North American style of play. Whenever they do, they are terrific all-round players. Look at Alfredsson, Lidstrom and Elias now. They have been around for a lot of years and are great leaders.
As well, if the current obstruction rules remain and the game is built more on speed and skill, there will be a lot more Europeans coming front and center and into the spotlight.

Canadian players are not always the best. There's just been a lot more of us playing in the NHL and for a lot longer period of time.
What I am trying to say is that it's one thing to be a proud Canadian, and to be proud of what Canadian hockey players have accomplished, but it's another thing to have your head buried in the sand.

T Tags: Canadians Euopeans Leaders NHL

CONGRATS, BOYS!

Some great photos of the victory and celebrations can be found here.