Ice hockey world championships preview 2012

Shit, I don't know. It's not like we'll be seeing them now that they're on pay-tv. No way am I paying for Viasat for the NHL and MTV3 MAX for F1 and a third provider for this.

Did I mention it's Susana Spears's birthday?

I still don't know why the sight of her hit me like a ton of bricks, but it still kinda does.

Happy birthday!

One of a kind

Last friday 2011-05-13 Finland's Mikael Granlund scored a nifty goal against Team Russia at the Ice Hockey World Championship:



The goal has caught the attention of hockey fans around the world. TSN, Canada's sports leader, has an article on the goal.

TSN: FINLAND'S GRANLUND SCORES POSSIBLE GOAL OF THE YEAR

Early in the second period of Finland's semifinal win against Russia, Granland gathered the puck deep along the end boards in the Russian zone, stick-handled past a defender and behind the net, flipped the puck onto the blade of his stick, and flung it into the Russian's net, lacrosse style, to give the Fins a 1-0 lead.

TSN then goes on to make a strange claim:

Twice before has a goal like Granlund's been scored. In 1996, the University of Michigan's Mike Legg defeated the University of Minnesota in the NCAA Tournament with a similar goal, and in 2006 Sidney Crosby scored one just like it while with the Rimouski Oceanic in the QMJHL.

Twice before? That stretches credibility, as this move is quite popular in junior leagues around the world. And indeed, a quick look on the Web yielded several more instances.

Bill Armstrong has apparently scored a goal like that several times (two examples at 1:28), and claims to have pioneered the move.



As you may have gathered, those two goals came in the same week, so for him it wasn't a one time novelty move.

Mikael Granlund himself has scored a similar goal before in Finland's junior league.



And in 2008 U18 contest, though for a reason unclear to me that one was disallowed.



His brother Markus also scored a "lacrosse-style" goal in Finnish junior league.



And it's not just junior league stuff; "Zorro" goals have been seen in professional leagues as well. Here's Jani Lajunen, also a member of 2011 Team Finland, deciding an SM-liiga game on OT.



That was in 2010. If Granlund's goal is the goal of the year in 2011, that just means 2011 was slow. There was another high-profile lacrosse goal in 2010, in the playoff finals of Swiss league by Thomas Déruns.



So, yeah, twice before. TSN didn't even qualify that number in any way. I'm afraid the claim doesn't reflect well on TSN's hockey knowledge, or counting skills.

They do give Granlund's goal one distinction over Crosby's and Legg's.

But what made Granlund's goal extra special was that while both Legg and Crosby scored their goals standing still behind the net, Granlund pulled it off at full speed.

Much like Rob Hisey in SM-liiga. That's the reason Finnish play-by-play for Lajunen's goal called it a "Rob Hisey".



It's very unfortunate that Canada's series don't boast soft hands like that. Oh, Rob Hisey did it in another professional league as well, this time in Austria.



Of course, cool lacrosse goals seem to be his thing.



You'll note the clip is from TSN, so they can't really claim to be unaware of the guy.

Frankly, I expected better from TSN. The Finnish media is, predictably, going banana over Granlund's goal, which seems a little unwarranted as it's not all that unique, but I would have thought Canada's sports leader would have a little better sense of hockey history.

Ice hockey world championships preview 2011

To get us started, here's a look at what the men's hockey world looks like coming into 2011. The countries in red are playing in the world championships proper. The orange countries make up the first division, the greens division II and the blues are competing in the third division. Each year, two countries from each are relegated and two promoted to the next level.

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On to the tournament! As usual, there are four starting groups, two in each host city, which amalgamate into two larger groups for the next round to determine the playoff matchups.

Group A (Bratislava): Russia, Slovakia, Germany, Slovenia.
Group B (Košice): Canada, Switzerland, Belarus, France.
Group C (Košice): Sweden, United States, Norway, Austria.
Group D (Bratislava): Finland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Denmark

Groups A and D form one qualifying round group, with B and C forming another.

Here's my thoughts on the teams, with their finish in last year's championship indicated.


Group A:

Russia - 2nd

Having lost the final game last year to the Czechs, the Russians should be hungry, and they have a good team this year. Then again, you never know with these guys. Needless to say, going home without a medal would be a huge disappointment, and I expect to see them first or second in the qualifying round and in the final.

Slovakia - 12th

Home tournaments are a funny thing. Generally, the host country will either do well, boosted by the home crowd and their pride in playing in front of their fans, or they'll crash and burn spectacularly because of the pressure. I'm not sure which Slovakia is going to do here, but I'm pessimistic. On the one hand, they have an impressive lineup, all the way from world champions Miroslav Satan on down, with the superb Jaroslav Halak in goal. On the other, I saw the practice games they played against Team Finland, where they were absolutely rubbish. Coach Glen Hanlon's uninspiring trap won't serve too well here either. Last year, they finished a dismal 12th, and this year they'll be hard-pressed to secure an advantageous quarterfinal berth in a tough qualifying round. I hate to say it, but I'm afraid the home fans will be disappointed this year.

Germany - 4th

The Germans surpassed themselves last year with a place in the bronze medal game. With their low world ranking, they'll need to beat either the Russians, Slovaks, Czechs or Finns to get a quarterfinal place. Keep an eye on the Germany-Slovakia game in the opening round on May 3rd; it's going to be a big one for the home team.

Slovenia - promoted from 1st division

Finally, the country that gave us Laibach, Mina Špiler and Anže Kopitar is back in the world championships. I'm a big fan of Slovenia, but they'll need to pull a major upset to avoid the relegation round. Their real fight is there, and it'll be tough.


Group B:

Canada - 7th

It's a common refrain among Finnish announcers and commentators that the Russians and Czechs, with what is occasionally and appallingly called their "Slavic mentality", are the kind of teams that either show up or don't. If that is to some extent true of them, both North American national teams are even better examples of teams where everything is secondary to whether the players happen to be motivated or not. The net result is that on any givevn day, it's next to impossible to tell how their teams will play. Last year, we picked Canada to win the tournament, and they crashed out in the quarterfinals. It's the same story again this year; on paper, the Canadian team is strong, but who knows how they'll play? An easy opening round won't help them get geared up for the tournament, although they've had surprising difficulties with Switzerland over the last few years. Only the qualifying round will give any idea how they're going to do.

Switzerland - 5th

My native country has really upped its game over the past decade or so, and can now be relied upon to show up in the quarterfinals and challenge the bigger hockey countries. Unless something surprising happens above or below them in the standings, they should have the fourth quarterfinal spot in this qualifying round locked down. A win there would be a major upset, so they'll likely finish with a similar rank this year as before.

Belarus - 10th

An enigmatic team, sometimes Belarus pulls off a proper upset, and not always with help from Tommy Salo's glove. In fairness, it was the team in front of him that lost the game, but the Swedes prefer to blame Salo because he has a Finnish name. Expect a finish in the qualifying round, as they shouldn't have much trouble putting France away.

France - 14th

The plucky French team has had a surprisingly good showing at the world champs. A few years ago in Canada, they would even have beaten Sweden if the refs didn't always heavily favor the higher-ranked countries. This year, the fight in the relegation round is likely to be stiff enough that the French will, unfortunately, lose the tournament and end up back in the first division.


Group C:

Sweden - 3rd

Bengt-Åke Gustafsson ended his national team coaching career in an, erm, memorable way last year, and the new guy is in this year. By all accounts, though, it's still pretty much the same Team Sweden as it was in Gustafsson's last years: straightforward, physical, even dirty. With a whole bunch of NHL players along for the ride this year, the Swedes should be a force to be reckoned with, but their abysmally bad offensive play in the last EHT tournament was a surprise. If they get their goalscoring going, they'll do well again.

USA - 13th

The US national team oscillates between an excellent, aggressive young hockey team and a total fiasco that ends up in the relegation round. We'll see which one shows up this year. They don't have a very difficult opening or qualifying round ahead of them, but while they should get to the quarterfinals, I expect that to be the end of the road for them unless they seriously overachieve.

Norway - 9th

Norway has been a rising hockey power ever since making it back into the main championship tournament, and they fell just short of the quarterfinals last year. Look for Norway to do well again this year; at the very least, they should make life uncomfortable for the Americans and Swedes in the opening round and fight their way to a good qualifying round finish.

Austria - promoted from 1st division

Every time I've seen the Austrians play at the top level, I've liked them: they play an entertaining, energetic kind of hockey. This year, though, the Norwegians will be a hard nut to crack, and failure there will most likely mean the relegation round, which will be very tough this year. So I'm very much afraid there's a good chance Austria will end up right back in the first division.


Group D:

Finland - 6th

In hockey, Finland is a nation of goaltenders, checking forwards and offensive defensemen. Having said that, this is the first time for ages that Finland is going into a major international tournament with serious questions about its goaltending. It looks like Petri Vehanen from the KHL will take up the number-one spot, and that's not the level of goaltending Finland is used to. However, that's not the big problem; even the normal mix of checking forwards and has-beens from the European leagues at forward doesn't worry me. In fact, as far as forwards are concerned, this is one of the best world championship teams Finland has fielded for a long time.

The problem is, again, the D. If I go on about that, it's only because in my opinion, in hockey as she is played today, the defensemen are by far the most important part of the team. This year, like so many times before, Team Finland's management has been unable or unwilling to recruit enough solid stay-at-home defensemen for the national team. The team is once again overloaded with offensive or two-way defensemen, despite the fact that the defensive end has been nothing but trouble in the previous years. I don't know what the thinking is in the team management, but the Finnish media at least is unanimous in exaggerating the importance of goaltending.

Another extremely strange failing is the constant underachieving of Team Finland's power play under head coach Jalonen. It's bizarre that year in, year out, the Finnish power play is a confused mess. Watching the last EHT tournament, I couldn't even tell what play the PP was trying to set up. Needless to say, they didn't have much success. Frankly, when the players change but the problem remains, you have to look behind the bench. Given the lack of solid defensive D-men, Finland will likely struggle in both aspects of special teams.

On the good side, several players look set for an impressive coming-out championships. Finland's supposed sniper Juhamatti Aaltonen was worse than useless last year, but judging from his pre-tournament play, he's taken a big step forward. I still don't understand how the country that produced Teemu Selänne can call a guy like him a sniper, but this year he's using his speed to good effect with an energetic forechecking game. On the special teams front, centerman Petteri Nokelainen has been playing a very strong pre-tournament and will likely do well in that spot at the championships.

Finland probably won't do exceptionally poorly in the opening or qualifying rounds, but the odds are that in the quarterfinals they'll be facing either Canada, the US or Sweden. All are teams that play a straightforward, physical offensive game, which Finland's weak D won't be able to stop. Similar team, similar story: expect the Finns to drop out in the quarterfinals.

Having said that, I have a good feeling about this Team Finland that I can't explain at all. It's sort of barely conceivable that the forwards can make up for the team's defensive deficiencies and take Finland into the medal games. It's probably wishful thinking, but I'm feeling strangely optimistic.

Czech Republic - 1st

A year or so ago, it looked like the Czechs' hockey star was on the wane. After some lackluster championship performances and another thoroughly forgettable Euro Hockey Tour, the number of Czech players being drafted was in a steep decline. Then they surprised everyone by winning the 2010 world championship. This year, the EHT was a poor showing again, until their home tournament last weekend when they came alive. Jaromír Jágr is still with us and looking a lot like his old self, and in front of their fanatical home crowd, the Czechs played great in the last EHT tournament. Many of those fans will follow them across the border to what is, after all, nearly a home tournament for the Czechs. They'll do well again this year.

Latvia - 11th

Another waning Eastern European country, judging from their play in pre-tournament friendlies against Finland the Latvians aren't going to be terribly impressive. Another big opening round game will be on May 4th: Latvia-Denmark. If they can fight off Denmark and avoid the relegation round, they'll pretty much have maxed out the tournament. If Denmark wins and they end up in the relegation round, they'll make life very difficult for the other countries in there.

Denmark - 8th

Coming off an excellent eighth-place finish and quarterfinal berth in last year's championship, this year my favorite national team's first challenge is to make sure the Latvians, not them, end up in the relegation series. Sadly, they're not likely to beat the Czechs or Finns, but they'll put up a good fight. With good qualifying round games against the Slovaks and Germans, a repeat of the quarterfinals isn't impossible; on the other hand, a loss to Latvia will send them to the tough relegation series, where the Danes have unfortunately collapsed before. Out of all the teams in the tournament, they have the widest range of potential finishes.

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Next year will be a different year in Finland, with commercial television in the form of MTV3 handling the telecasts of the world championships. That may or may not be a good thing. They also did the Euro Hockey Tour this year, and there was a bit of a mêlée at the end of the Finland-Russia game yesterday after a hit by Tuomo Ruutu. He got a game misconduct, and the commentators were shocked and horrified by this terrible miscarriage of justice, because it was a clean hit!

Here's an appallingly bad video of the hit:

Sure, that's a clean hit. In an NHL game. Now, we're big fans of Tuomo Ruutu here, but on the EHT, international rules are in use, and that is as obvious an example of a hit to the head as you can ask for. His shoulder makes direct contact with the Russian player's head. When a player is hit in the head and injured, the player delivering the hit gets a 5+20 minute penalty and a game misconduct. That's the rule. And I would expect people who are paid money to announce and commentate on the game to know that.

Inexplicably, jatkoaika.com, who I usually consider a fairly good source of hockey news, insists the hit was clean because Ruutu didn't have his hands up. If they can point out the clause in the rulebook that says a head hit is legal as long as the hitter's hands are down, I'll be very interested.

The coverage on Yle was, to say the least, biased; it looks like MTV3 may be worse.

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So there we are! I don't feel up to putting together a detailed prediction this year, but unless something weird happens, I expect to see Russia, the Czech Republic, Canada and Sweden in the medal games, so business as usual. It would be nice to see Finland play for a medal, as well as the home team, but I don't really find either possibility very likely.

Until, that is, hours before this publishes on my blog, Anaheim's first line decided they're not going to show up for the playoffs at all and the Ducks were eliminated. There are four Finnish players on the Ducks' roster; if any three of them join, I expect a medal for Finland. A fourth line of Komarov-Nokelainen-J.Ruutu would be simply perfect, Toni Lydman would make me feel a hell of a lot better about the quarterfinal, and Saku Koivu and Teemu Selänne are, well, themselves. Like I said, any three of them join the team and I believe Finland will win a medal.

All in all, I hope we'll get another interesting championship like last year.

IHWC: Last thoughts

So, the world champs are over and we've had a week to take a breather. Here's some concluding thoughts on the tournament.

We picked Canada to win, and they finished in seventh place. So that didn't go so well. However, I'm claiming credit on one point: unlike just about everyone else, we didn't pick Russia to win. I say this because there was a reason. I didn't think the Russians wanted their third medal in a row badly enough, and the way they played the tournament bore it out. They got to the final by playing consistently: in every game, they made the minimum effort required to win. In the final, they ran into a country prepared to do way more than the minimum, and lost. The same thing happened at Vancouver.

Head coach Bykov is leaving Team Russia, and it may be for the best. There's no denyning that he's changed Russia from a lackadaisical collection of skilled players to an international juggernaut, but it hasn't quite clicked yet. They're still a long way from the big red machine of a few decades ago, and in my opinion, one of the crucial differences is in the mentality. Bykov's squad has had real trouble showing up for big games. The ultimate humiliation was their awful start against Canada at Vancouver, but the same thing happened in Germany against the Czechs. In fact, despite the lopsided eventual numbers, it nearly happened against Finland; if the Finnish power play wasn't so amazingly rubbish, made even worse by coach Jalonen's inexplicable decision to insert a new player into the number one power play, Finland might have beaten the Russians the same way the Czechs did. As it is, though, Finland finished the tournament with the second-worst offensive. Only Kazakhstan scored less goals, and they were relegated. So that, as they say, is that. Recall, also, the world champs final in Canada against the home team, where the Russians almost gave the game away in the first two periods and had to mount an almost unimaginable comeback to win the game.

The reason I picked Canada to win was precisely this difference in mentality. While the Russians seem to stumble out of the gate in all their big games, the Canadians rarely suffer from this. What I didn't reckon with was that Mark Messier's first foray into general managering would be such an unmitigated disaster. As I said, the excuses are ready: Canada had only one olympic player and so on. They can hide behind that if they want, but really, their lack of Olympians should be a strength, not a weakness. Instead of sending guys jaded from Olympic success, they picked a young, hungry team that should have done much better. In my opinion, the fact that Corey Perry was their only Olympian makes the quarterfinal elimination all the stranger. And besides, looking at how Perry played, more players like him wouldn't have helped at all.

Speaking of Canada and the Olympics, this gives me an opportunity to poke fun at Canadian hockey again. One of the fundamental myths of Canadian hockey superiority is that while the "Euros" are in it for the money, Canadians play for the glory of Canada, hockey and the Stanley Cup. Remember how a few years back you couldn't read a story about NHL captains without someone brandishing the old adage about European captains? The claim was that no European captain had ever won the Stanley Cup, or would ever win the Stanley Cup, because Europeans just play for the paycheck and don't really care about hockey. Niclas Lidström put that one away, but the fundamental prejudice behind it remains.

That's why it was so funny to see the silly little storm-in-a-teacup over Crosby's refusal to play at the world champs. Apparently the kid didn't want to, saying via his agent that it was "more appropriate" for him to relax and prepare for the next season. Funnily, teammates Malkin & Gonchar didn't seem to think so, and turned up to represent Russia. Some people had the nerve to say that Crosby's refusal was disrespectful toward Hockey Canada, which sent everyone scrambling to the wünderkind's defense. Of course he doesn't have to play some stupid Mickey Mouse tournament! He has his day job to think about! It's fine by me; it's just somewhat amusing that Russian players put their national team before their summer vacation, the anointed messiah of Canadian hockey doesn't, and still Europeans are somehow less "principled" than Canadians. The doublethink required to be a Canadian hockey bigot is remarkable. Ceterum censeo, next time someone mentions running up the score, ask them why it doesn't apply to Team Canada. They beat Norway 12-1 this year.

Anyway, for me, the biggest disappointment of the whole tournament was Team USA. They, too, had a young team, fresh off the motivating mix of success and disappointment that is an Olympic silver medal (we know). Finland was in the same opening round group, and given how puny Finland's defense corps was, I fully expected the Americans to beat the snot out of Finland. They didn't, because incredibly enough, their offense was even worse than Finland's defense. The only thing I can say about the Americans' tournament is EPIC FAIL.

I expected the Americans and Finns to be in the medal games, and neither made it. Jukka Jalonen's Team Finland continues to fall short of even my pessimistic expectations. I'm pretty sure one of the reasons they lost to the Czechs was that like me, they too expected that Finland would win. The numbers would have been much uglier had the Czech offense not consisted almost entirely of unscreened wristshots. I find Jalonen's team to be a little confusing. On the one hand, there's a real attempt to play offensive hockey, even a puck possession game at times, which is a great change from the mind-numbing neutral zone trap we all got used to in the last ten years. It was long a mantra of Finnish hockey that Finland can only win through great defense and spectacular goaltending, and when every head coach fielded the same old 1-2-2, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. So in this sense, Jalonen is great for Finnish hockey.

What I have trouble with is two things. First, and least, the motivational aspect, which was highlighted by several commentators on Finnish state television. Jalonen's team also suffers from spectacularly bad play in big games, even compared to their usual level. The question has been raised whether Jalonen has the leadership to really get the team to give its all when it counts the most. More importantly, I can't wrap my head around the way he picks a team. As near as I can tell, he's totally dedicated to fielding the worst defense ever on a Finnish national team, and suceeded in doing so again this year. Granted, this is better than Erkka Westerlund's system of picking 20 wingers, three centermen and five D and rolling up lines with a pair of dice, but still, I don't understand what he's doing. Then again, I don't even know who actually picks the Finnish national team. Is it Jalonen? Or does our "GM" actually do something? I have to admit I don't even know, so I'm not sure whose fault this all is. Several signs point at Jalonen, though, including the strange inclusion of Antti Miettinen on all of his teams, despite his notorious uselessness on the national team, and an odd penchant for seemingly random players from the Finnish league.

On that note, I do have to gloat on two points about the Finnish team. Juhamatti Aaltonen, this year's European league wildcard, was just as useless as I said he would be in my Finnish-language preview. Aaltonen, touted as a "sniper", managed one (1) goal in the entire tournament, and that was a superfluous empty-netter against Slovakia. A second point is Miettinen's linemate. As I've said, before the tournament, Veikkaaja, the sports supplement (sort of) of one of Finland's biggest daily newspapers, was headlined "Savior". On the cover was Jussi Jokinen. Left off the Olympic team for dastardly and underhanded reasons, Jokinen was now going to save Team Finland at the world champs.

Yeah, right. When Jokinen was left off the Vancouver roster, I argued that this was for two reasons: Jalonen was going to play Mikko Koivu with his Minnesota linemate Miettinen, and Jokinen was always rubbish in international play. The first wasn't the case, perplexingly, but this spring Jokinen quite decisively proved the second. The "savior" of Team Finland was, again, useless. He scored two goals against Slovakia, but in the big games, what did he manage? He took an idiotic 2+10 against Russia for a flying elbow to Sergei Gonchar's head, and three minor penalties in the decisive game against the Czechs. To top it all off, the former shootout specialist missed the net on his game-deciding penalty shot. Some savior he.

That shootout was embarassing, by the way. The Czech forwards were great, but really, as he's freely admitted himself, Vokoun is rubbish at shootouts. He stays up for way too long. All three of Finland's shooters could easily have scored. As it was, only the first guy did; the next two had wide-open nets in front of them and missed. In a way, that does sum up Finland's whole tournament.

It also brings me neatly to the most important point I have. The great thing about the tournament as a whole was the importance of the offense. This year, teams that were good on the offense won, and teams that couldn't score didn't. The low-scoring Czechs were the exception that confirms the rule, while Denmark are pretty much the posterboys. Of the big countries, Finland, Sweden, Canada and the US suffered heavily from an inability to put the puck in the net, while a fearless offense landed Denmark a historical place in the quarterfinals. Switzerland also showed up with a much better offensive game than they ever had under Ralph Krüger, and they would have been in the semifinals if they'd only concentrated on the game, as opposed to spearing and fighting.

I fully expect the Swiss and Danes to do well next year too, while Finland may start paying a heavy price for its systemic neglect of goal-scorers in junior hockey. They may have won the world title, but the last few years have been bleak for the Czechs at the NHL draft, and worse for the Slovaks. The latter have Tomas Tatar and Richard Panik to look forward to; not only do they have awesome names, but they play up to them as well. In the longer run, though, it'll be interesting to see if Finland, the Czechs and the Slovaks can keep up with the other big countries, or if they'll sink to second tier.

All in all, though, the gap between the small and big countries is narrower now than it has ever been, and that's great for hockey. I'm already looking forward to next year.

IHWC: Final Roundup

The games are over, and our predictions are shot to hell.

Czech Republic are the new champions, having defeated Russia in the final. Russians clearly didn't want the third gold medal in a row quite bad enough. Though Vokoun was brilliant throughout the game, the primary reason Russians lost the game was their inability to solve the Czech trap; they insisted on trying to stickhandle through Czechs' four man defensive line all night. Like Don Cherry always says: just shoot the puck in!

Russia didn't receive any help from the referees, either. After a game where practically nothing was called the Slovakian-Finnish refereeing team made the most shocking penalty call of the tournament halfway through the third period. Alexei Emelin delivered a clean hip check on Jaromir Jagr, but the refs chose to call it clipping. Emelin was ejected from the game, and Team Russia, desperately trying to even the score in the third, went on penalty kill for five minutes. Of course, major penalties called on clean hits on Jagr are nothing new in international hockey. It's a contact sport, Jaromir; keep your head up, and wear a real helmet.

All that said, refereeing didn't cost Russians the game, they lost it all by themselves.

***

In the bronze medal game the Swedes, unfortunately, defeated the German hosts. Bengt-Åke Gustafsson's tenure as the head coach of Team Sweden ended with a medal, though not of the color Sweden was looking for. True to his style, Bengt-Åke ended his last game with a gigantic "fuck you" to the host country, calling a time-out with one second remaining.



Ladies and gentlemen, Bengt-Åke Gustaffson.

***

And finally, here are the final rankings:

Gold Czech Republic
Silver Russia
Bronze Sweden
4 Germany
5 Switzerland
6 Finland
7 Canada
8 Denmark
9 Norway
10 Belarus
11 Latvia
12 Slovakia
13 USA
14 France
15 Italy
16 Kazakhstan

IHWC: Quarterfinals

So, that's the quarterfinals over with.

Switzerland - Germany

We didn't see this one, but we did think it was particularly ingenious of Switzerland's top scorer, Martin Plüss, to spear a German player in the crotch in the first period and be thrown out of the game. Also, ouch. We're glad to see Germany back in international hockey after a rubbish couple of years, and nothing would make us happier than a German medal.

Sweden - Denmark

The upsets are over, and Denmark finished in eighth place. It was a memorable tournament, though, and we hope to see Denmark in the quarterfinals again. When they're on their game, they can beat anybody.

Canada - Russia

Grapes only made a passing reference to the world champs on Coach's Corner, which isn't surprising; any tournament Canada doesn't win doesn't really count, whether it's the world champs or the Olympics. Sure, they're banging on about the Olympics now, but did anyone as much as mention the Olympics for years after Torino? No. Anyway, Ron said Steven Stamkos was "on a mission" in this game. We agree, if he means a mission to take the stupidest penalties possible. At the end of the first period, Canada was on a power play until Stamkos took a boarding penalty at 20:00 to take Canada off the man advantage. He seemed to go berserk several times in the game for no reason at all.

Come to think of it, that describes the whole team fairly well. Canada played awful, like they did all tournament. In a truly pathetic showing, they lost every game they played against a team in the top 10 of the world ranking, including Switzerland. They ran up the score against the likes of Italy and Norway, and were totally unable to score against anyone else. Unsurprisingly, a fairly pedestrian effort by the Russians sent the Canadians packing, and good riddance to them. This is the Canada we're used to seeing in international play: arrogant, easily frustrated, dirty.

Of course, the Canadians have their excuses ready. With Canada, there's always an excuse. This time, they're parroting it over and over again: the Russians had 13 Olympic players, Canada only had one, and besides, only the Olympics count. Funny, after Torino nobody said only the Olympics count. And anyway, is having only one Olympic player your excuse for losing to Switzerland? The bottom line is that Canada played horribly, and they deserved to drop out of the tournament here.

Finland - Czech Republic

It was a miracle this thing went as far as the shootout, given how horribly Finland played. The Finnish D was constantly in trouble with the Czech offense, and the biggest single reason the game went past regulation was the Czechs' monomaniacal insistence on taking easy shots the goalie could see all the way. The single Czech goal in regulation was a deflection off a Finnish forward's stick. Finland had a power play in overtime, and despite a full two minutes against a confused Czech PK, they did not manage a single shot on goal. That really sums up the Finnish game. The better team won, no question.

**

So, semifinals.

Sweden - Czech Republic

The Swedish press says they got a free pass to the final when the second round ended, with Denmark and the Czechs. Given that Finland had recently beat the Czechs at Vancouver and destroyed them on the Euro Hockey Tour, I think the Finns thought that, too. It would be salutary to remember that the Czechs beat Sweden quite decisively in the initial round of this tournament, and there's no reason they can't repeat the performance. It's especially likely if the Swedes are already planning the party at Sergels torg in their heads.

Russia - Germany

Seriously.

**

If the Swedes do end up in the bronze medal game, I expect them to lose it. They took on Finland for the bronze at the world champs in Canada, and barely showed up at all. They played horribly and failed to score a single goal. The disappointment of missing "their" gold medal party will be so terrible for the Swedes they'll throw the bronze medal game like they did that year. So, this is my guess:

1. Russia
2. Czech Republic
3. Germany
4. Sweden

IHWC: Qualification round

The quarterfinals are today, and despite the seeming futility of it, I'm keeping up this prediction thing. In fact, our revised qualifying round prediction didn't go so badly; we got the countries right, with the exception of Slovakia and Germany trading places, but I had mentioned that it was a possibility, so I actually feel pretty good about that!

These are the quarterfinal pairs we expected before the tournament:

Canada-Slovakia
Czech Republic-Finland
USA-Sweden
Russia-Switzerland

This is what we expected after the preliminary round:

Russia - Switzerland
Finland - Czech Republic
Sweden - Slovakia
Canada - Germany

And what we're actually getting is:

Russia - Canada
Finland - Czech Republic
Switzerland - Germany
Sweden - Denmark

NHL.com injected a note of humor into the proceedings with a silly report from the world champs, saying this:

The U.S. finished with a record of 2-1-2-1 (W-OTW-OTL-L) and tied their worst-ever showing by placing 13th in the 16-team field, a position it last finished in 2003.

"I'm proud of our players," said U.S. and New York Islanders coach Scott Gordon. "After the tough start we had, we did a nice job coming back and winning our final three games."

After scoring only four goals in three preliminary-round games -- all losses, two in overtime -- the U.S. exploded for 16 goals to go 3-0 in the relegation round.

Dubinsky currently leads all players with 7 assists and 10 points.

Reading that would give anyone a totally false impression of how Team USA did. Um, "exploded for 16 goals"? Well, they were against France and Kazakhstan. They totally failed to score against such hockey heavyweights as Germany and Denmark... And in fact, because of the world champs format, they most emphatically did not go 3-0 in the relegation round, but 2-1-0-0. Yeah, nice job.

Then again, the other North American team isn't doing much better. Canada has lost every game in the tournament against a top-10 country; they've only beaten Italy, Latvia and Norway, while losing to Switzerland, Sweden and the Czech Republic. So, to preview the quarterfinals, we'll start with:

Russia - Canada

While Canada has been doing pretty poorly, the Russians haven't lost a game at the worlds since 2007. Given that Canada has yet to beat a top ten country at this tournament, this one should be a foregone conclusion. Despite running up the score against the likes of Norway and Italy, in their bigger games the Canadians have been unable to score. Given how easily Varlamov shut out Team Finland, there's really no way Russia should lose this.

And that's what we said at Vancouver.

Finland - Czech Republic

The Czechs have been trending upward all tournament, more or less, with a shaky start (including a regulation loss to Norway) followed by improved play, beating both Sweden and Canada while losing to the Swiss. The Finns have been mediocre throughout, losing decisively to the Danes and Russians and scratching out meagre 1-0 and 2-0 wins against Germany and Belarus. The only team Finland properly beat were the hapless Slovaks, who managed to crash out of the top eight completely.

Finland's great weaknesses are defense and scoring, or in other words, the only good thing about Finland is their goaltending. The young, inexperienced and soft Finnish defence has struggled mightily against everyone, and in the game against Russia they made a steady parade to the penalty box while being unable to stop their opponents anyway. The Czechs' penchant for counter-attacks and short-handed goals will be especially dangerous against them.

The Czechs came out surprisingly strong and physical against Canada, so expect them to do the same here, which will land the Finns in trouble. Finland's strategy is the normal one of playing a tight trap, so it's unlikely to turn into a great game. If they stick to their strengths, the Czechs should win.

Switzerland - Germany

The Germans have put together a good tournament, beating Slovakia to secure a quarterfinal spot, but I'm afraid it's the end of the road for the plucky home team. By rights, the Swiss should win this, but if the home crowd can spur the Germans on to great things, it's not impossible they'll advance. This one could really go either way.

Sweden - Denmark

As it happens, Denmark has more of a chance here than most people seem to think. Sweden has really not been impressive this year, and if Denmark can come out as strongly as they have before, they can shock the Swedes. The Swedish media is already planning the parade route for their gold medals, so their arrogance may well be their downfall. Needless to say, we hope it will.

**

The semifinals are seeded as follows:

FIN/CZE - DEN/SWE
RUS/CAN - GER/SUI

So we expect to see the Czechs take on Sweden, and Russia play Switzerland. If the Czechs can knock the Swedes into the bronze medal game, the Swiss might well secure themselves a medal. On the other hand, if Finland does manage to beat the Czechs, we'll have a quarterfinal for the ages against the Swedes. And Finland will lose.

Who is Chad Johnson?

Team Canada's number-two goaltender is someone called Chad Johnson. Who? I found out.

Born in 1980 in the southern United States to Canadian parents, Chad Johnson studied physics at the University of Minnesota and played college hockey there. In 2000, he served as the principal gay and lesbian issues adviser to the Gore/Lieberman campaign, and was nominated for two Grabby Awards for his work in gay pornography.

In 2001, he was nominated for another Grabby for "best three-way sex scene", and was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals. However, he went on to get his Ph.D in high energy physics at Columbia. His work centered around a theoretical particle created as the Higgs boson decays, and took place at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. While studying at Columbia, he was inducted into the GayVN Awards Hall of Fame, and made the NFL First All-Star Team twice, in 2005 and 2006. He's received a total of 62 touchdowns, and holds several Bengals franchise records.

He appeared on the cover of EA's NFL Street 3 in 2006, and was drafted 125th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2007, the Minnesota Vikings signed him as a free agent cornerback, and two years later he made his AHL debut with the Hartford Wolfpack. He played five NHL games last season, with a record of 1-2-1, save percentage of 91,9% and a goals-against average of 2.35. This is his first national team appearance.

He's also employed as a professional photographer in the New York area, and has his own segment on the TV show Sports Soup. He's a soccer fan and supports Arsenal FC, and is still active in the Democratic party.

That's some goaltender!

IHWC: Preliminary round

The weirdest preliminary round of the current format men's international hockey world championships is over. Whew!

Having said that, it's somewhat surprising that our initial prediction is spot on except for two things: Canada lost to Switzerland, and, well, Group D. The Americans lost the deciding game to Finland entirely on their own, and Denmark surprised everybody. If anyone says they saw that coming, they're lying. A couple of days before the tournament, Sweden and Denmark played a friendly match, which Denmark lost something like 12-3. Nevertheless, they beat the US and Finland.

Here's the two qualification round groups, with each team's points:

Group E

Russia (6)
Denmark (3)
Germany (3)
Slovakia (3)
Finland (3)
Belarus (0)

Group F

Switzerland (6)
Canada (3)
Sweden (3)
Czech Republic (3)
Norway (3)
Latvia (0)

And this is how they'll play out.

Group E

Russia (15)
Finland (12)
Slovakia (9)
Germany (6)
--
Denmark (6)
Belarus (0)

Russia will sweep the round, while Finland will beat both Slovakia and Belarus. Slovakia will defeat Germany and Denmark, and those two will beat Belarus. Germany and Denmark end up with 6 points each, and Germany goes through on strength of their win over Denmark in the opening round.

We think Denmark's leaky defense won't stand a chance against either Russia's or Slovakia's high-powered offense, and the Germans' game won't cut it either, although they have a better chance against Slovakia. The Slovaks are the biggest question mark of this group, and if Denmark can put together another solid game, they have an outside shot at making the playoffs.

Group F

Canada (12)
Sweden (9)
Czech Republic (9)
Switzerland (9)
--
Norway (6)
Latvia (0)

After losing to Switzerland and having Steven Stamkos taken out of the lineup, we expect the Canadians will start playing and sweep the round. Sweden will beat the Swiss and Latvians, and so will the Czechs, with Switzerland defeating Norway for the fourth spot.

This is going to be a very tight group, with three teams tied for points and ranked by goal differential. Any game going into overtime will change everything, so it's highly unlikely this will stand. It wouldn't even take a huge miracle for Norway to land a spot in the quarterfinals! Therefore, the following predictions are, at best, tentative.

Quarterfinals

Russia - Switzerland
Finland - Czech Republic
Sweden - Slovakia
Canada - Germany

Semifinals

Russia - Sweden
Canada - Finland

Medal games

Gold: Russia - Canada
Bronze: Finland - Sweden

Three of these four countries have been in the final four of every hockey world championship in this decade bar three, and two of them were represented in those as well. They're also the top four countries of the IIHF world ranking. That didn't really inform our predictions, but it's what we end up with. Also, they're the same ones we had in the medal games prior to the opening round, except we thought the Americans would be in the bronze medal game. Well, that went differently.

We still think Canada will win the tournament, but we'd like to be wrong. We didn't think the Habs would win, either, but that sure felt good too.

Heja Danmark!

I've been going on about Denmark, and I'm not stopping yet. They beat the US 2-1 in overtime to clinch a spot in the top 12, and it looks like they'll be taking some points with them, too. It's likely, far from certain, but likely that this year, Denmark will secure a spot in the top 8 for the first time and get to play in the world championship quarterfinals.

While beating both Finland and the US at the world champs is impressive, it's not unheard of. Each year, there are two first division championship tournaments, and the winners get to compete in the world championships the next year. Denmark won their tournament in 2002, and made their first appearance at the top level since the 1950's at the 2003 world champs in Finland. In their first championship game in 50 years, they beat the US 5-2 to send them to the relegation series. In the next round, they fought Canada to a 1-1 tie, but failed to make the top 8. By the way, that was the only game Canada didn't win that year.

The Finnish media especially has been giving a lot of credit to head coach Per Bäckman. I don't want to take anything away from his achievement, because he's been an excellent coach, but really, this isn't such a huge surprise. Most of the "small countries" at the hockey world champs always used to play a very boring trap defense, and compensate for their lack of individual skill with a lot of stick fouls. The Ukraine was especially notorious for this in the early '00s, and after the rule changes inaugurated in the NHL after the 2004-2005 lockout, a couple of those countries dropped right off the hockey map.

Denmark was never one of those. From their first days at the world champs, they played a spirited, offensive style of hockey that was totally different from the 0-1-4 clutch-and-grab of most other countries at their level. Despite some poor years in the later 00's, they hung on to a spot at the championships and occasionally gave some countries a very hard time.



These days, they have a couple of impressive NHL players. Frans Nielsen plays great for the New York Islanders, and Ottawa's Peter Regin was one of their best players in this year's playoffs, scoring a couple of goals and securing a spot on the Ottawa first line for a while. A standout player in the game against the US was the St. Louis Blues' Lars Eller. Perhaps their best NHL player is Vancouver's Jannik Hansen, who couldn't even make it to the games. A big part of the reason Denmark didn't make the Olympics was that the Olympic qualifiers were held in the middle of the NHL season.

But it takes more than a couple of NHL stars, no matter how impressively they play, and the real driving force behind Denmark's rise is their own indigenous hockey program. The third and fourth liners and the depth defensemen are playing at a much higher level than their counterparts were five or so years ago. The Danish hockey program produces bona fide players, and recently they restricted the number of foreign players on Danish teams to give their own guys more ice time. All this adds up to an impressive world champs run, and I'm delighted. As I said before, I've been a big fan of Denmark ever since they got to the world championships because of their fearless play, and this is a great time to be a Team Denmark fan.



Sadly, there are still serious flaws in the way the Danes play. Their team defense is somewhat mediocre, and they have the worst penalty kill in the entire tournament. In the second round, they'll meet up with Russia and Slovakia, and that might get ugly. Still, they're playing excellent hockey, so who knows how far they'll go?

A particularly delightful aspect of this Danish triumphal march is one I alluded to earlier on my Finnish-language blog. The Finnish media, and Finnish hockey pundits and players both, often complain about having to play against the "small countries". The games are just a waste of time, these countries shouldn't be allowed at the games, and so on, and so forth. Of course, they completely miss the fact that if the IIHF didn't allow silly "small countries" at the games, Finland would never have made it in. Now that Finland is teetering on the brink of the relegation series, maybe the Finnish media will finally shut up about "having to play these games". And that's a victory for hockey.

Rejoice!

I guess I should explain I've been a huge fan of Team Denmark ever since they climbed back into the hockey world championships in '03. And yesterday?



TSN: DENMARK UPSETS FINLAND AT WORLD HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP

Cologne, Germany (Sports Network) - Frederik Andersen stopped 36 of 37 shots as Denmark shocked Finland, 4-1, at the 2010 World Ice Hockey Championship on Saturday.

Frans Nielsen tallied twice, with Peter Regin and Julian Jakobsen scoring once each for the Danes, who didn't even qualify for the 2010 Winter Games but opened up Group D play with the tourney's first surprising final score.

Just rejoice!

Ice hockey world championships preview

It feels like a bit of a letdown to have another major hockey tournament so soon after the Olympics, but the IIHF and the tournament organizers always make a profit, so as long as it's money that makes the world go 'round, we'll have the world champs every year. Here's our brief preview, starting with the teams by current world ranking.

Canada: Canada has a fair NHL-level team, featuring the co-winner of the Rocket Richard trophy and the best defense in the games. It would be astonishing if they didn't do well, but every now and then, they do find a way.

Russia: The best offense in the game, including Ovechkin and Kovalchuk, to drop a few names, backed by solid goaltending in Varlamov. The thing is, you'd think the Russians will want to win this to make up for humiliating themselves completely at the Olympics. Then again, we thought they'd want to win that, too. They might power through to their third consecutive world championship gold medal, or crash out in the quarterfinals. We just don't know.

Finland: We have no D. The team has six offensive defensemen who are total liabilities in our own end, and two stay-at-home D, one of whom is the appalling Lasse Kukkonen. The goaltending is top-notch for a tournament like this, but Pekka Rinne has his work cut out for him. Even Miikka Kiprusoff struggled behind the similarly inept Finnish defence at the Olympics.

Sweden: If Finland has no D, Sweden has no team. 26 players have refused to turn up for the games, according to Aftonbladet's count. Of course, some of them are busy. All other things being equal, that means this is effectively the Swedish "B team". As of this writing, Sweden has yet to announce their team, probably because they're ashamed to. They managed to lose the Euro Hockey Tour with this lot. We confidently expect them to suck.

USA: That Olympic silver medal was no fluke: the US has a great new generation of hockey players coming up. This should be a young, hungry team, and Scott Clemmensen is the best goalie at the games. We expect them to come home with a medal.

Czech Republic: Over the last few years, the Czechs have looked old, tired and confused. They put in a fairly dismal performance on the Euro Hockey Tour. Vokoun is an excellent goalie, but him and Jaromir Jagr notwithstanding, the team doesn't look very convincing. They barely managed to squeeze past Latvia in the Olympic "eighth-finals", and Finland beat them 2-0 in the quarterfinals because they were totally rubbish. We expect a similar finish here.

Slovakia: On the face of it, the only thing the Slovak team is good for is funny names: Richard Panik, Michal Macho and Roman Kukumberg. Then again, their Olympic team wasn't that much more convincing, and they made the bronze medal game. We reckon quarterfinal elimination (see below).

Switzerland: Incredibly enough, this is not Ralph Krüger's Switzerland. They have a new head coach! Under Krüger, Switzerland played an admirably solid brand of hockey for years, finishing a respectable eighth at the Olympics. We'll see what the new head coach does, but we're looking forward to seeing Switzerland do well again. There's no word on the final lineup yet, but we're hoping Switzerland's hero from the U20 tournament, Nino Niederreiter, shows up. Switzerland's decisive games are against the Czechs and Swedes in the qualification round; if they can beat one of both, they even have a shot at the semifinals.

The rest:

We expect a typical performance from both Belarus and Latvia: give some of the bigger countries a surprisingly hard time, but finish just outside the quarterfinals. Norway put up an excellent show at the Olympics, so we think they'll do well and avoid the relegation series altogether.

Germany have really struggled at the world championships over the last decade, but the Olympics looked like a return to form of sorts. They're playing in front of the home crowd, which may either spur them on to great things or make them so nervous they just fail. They have a shot at upsetting Slovakia and making the quarterfinals, but I'm afraid that's as far as they can hope to get.

I'm a big fan of Denmark, but being blasted 10-3 by a rubbish Swedish team before the games doesn't bode well for the plucky Danes. They'll end up in the relegation round unless they pull off a major upset, but they ought to do well there.

Sadly, this is the end of the championship road for Italy and France this time, although France has played surprisingly well. The most interesting struggle in the relegation round will be whether France of Kazakhstan is eliminated, and I'm afraid it's going to be France.

**

The tournament:

Here are the groups:

Group A:

Russia
Belarus
Slovakia
Kazakhstan

Group B:

Canada
Switzerland
Latvia
Italy

Group C:

Sweden
Czech Republic
Norway
France

Group D:

Finland
USA
Germany
Denmark

The worst team from each group will head to the relegation series, where two teams will be eliminated. Next year, Austria and Slovenia return to the championships to replace them. Groups A and D will form Group E, and B and C Group F; the four best teams from each will face each other in the quarterfinals.

To make a potentially tortuously long preview short, here's how it'll go:

Preliminary round:

Group A:

Russia
Slovakia
Belarus
--
Kazakhstan

Group B:

Canada
Switzerland
Latvia
--
Italy

Group C:

Sweden
Czech Republic
Norway
--
France

Group D:

USA
Finland
Germany
--
Denmark

Relegation round:

Kazakhstan
Italy
France
Denmark

Italy and France eliminated. Upset potential: France defeats Kazakhstan.

Group E:

Russia
USA
Finland
Slovakia
--
Germany
Belarus

Upset potential: Germany makes the quarterfinals.

Group F:

Canada
Czech Republic
Sweden
Switzerland
--
Norway
Latvia

Upset potential: Switzerland might well beat either the Swedes or Czechs. At worst, Sweden has an outside chance of missing the quarterfinals altogether, although that's very unlikely.

Quarterfinals:

Canada-Slovakia
Czech Republic-Finland
USA-Sweden
Russia-Switzerland

Upset potential: The Americans or Finns may drop their game.

Semifinals:

Russia-USA
Canada-Finland

Upset potential: If either Canada or Russia are going to fail somewhere, this is the most likely spot.

Medal games:

Canada-Russia
USA-Finland

Final ranking:

1. Canada
2. Russia
3. USA
4. Finland

Boringly predictable? Yes. But you'd be crazy to put your money on anything else.

IHWC: Finland, France and others

Finland's first big game at the ice hockey world championships in Switzerland is today, against the Czech Republic. Just before the tournament, Finland lost to the Czechs in overtime in the last tournament of the Euro Hockey Tour. The game tonight could go either way; a big question mark for Finland is their offensive play, and the big question for the Czechs is goaltending and team defense. I'm tempted to think Finland will win it, but I don't know.

It's a big game, though. Finland and the Czechs will both go on to the next round, where they'll play Canada, Slovakia and Belarus. My prediction is that Finland will lose to Canada but beat both Slovakia and Belarus, and therefore the Czech game will determine whether Finland is second or third in block E. I don't think Finland has what it takes to get past Roloson, and the Finnish defence is going to look pathetic against Canada.

E2 will play F3, and E3 F2 in the quarter-finals. It's looking like that will be either the US or Sweden, and looking at their play in the initial rounds I actually believe Team Finland will beat whichever one it faces. Therefore it's looking like my initial prediction that Finland will be out in the quarter-finals won't hold up, and I believe they'll make the semifinals.

In the semi-finals, however, Finland will likely play either Canada or Russia, neither of which they can beat. I'm predicting a Canada-Russia final and Finland facing the Czechs for the bronze medal, unless Sweden or the US step up their game big time. As usual, the bronze will go to whichever team actually wants it. That's probably Finland, but I don't know. Anyway, looks like another medal for Finland, but I seriously doubt Team Finland can actually challenge either Canada or Russia for a berth in the final.

**

It's been a great tournament for the smaller countries. Hungary nearly got into overtime with Slovakia, and in fact would have if not for the refs, Belarus did beat them, and Germany put up a heck of a fight against Switzerland. Denmark played a great offensive game against Finland, and if they can fix up their team defense and goaltending, they'll actually be a force to be reckoned with. Of the "medium" countries, Switzerland put up a creditable fight against Russia.

Russian defenseman Denis Grebeshkov chivalrously said some nice things about France to iihf.com:

"France has a pretty good team, but they're still not quite at the top level. For us, the game was good preparation for the next game. France is going to be a good team in a few years," Denis Grebeshkov said.

He's right, too; France has played exceptionally well both this year and last year. They very nearly made it into overtime with Switzerland after a heck of a game, and yesterday scored the biggest upset of the tournament so far by sending Germany to the relegation round. Vive la France!

Overall the level of hockey in Europe has clearly gone up. Once again, there are going to be some really tough games in the relegation round. I actually expect Hungary to do well and retain their spot in the world championships, but there's going to be a hell of a fight for the second spot. Germany are odds-on favorites, but they managed to lose a relegation round not too many years ago where they were even bigger favorites.

It's a real shame that Norway and Austria are the most likely candidates for relegation, but there's a real logjam of countries trying to fit into the world champs now. And that, along with the Champions' Hockey League, means that we're living in excellent times for European hockey.

**

I'd also like to make a couple of longer-term predictions. Slovakia is in the middle of its second nearly farcically bad tournament in a row. I can't help but think they're on their way out as a top 8 country. When Germany gets their act together, it's not impossible that Slovakia will lose their spot in the top 8 to the Germans.

Switzerland looks like they're on their way up, but I firmly believe the time has come for Krueger to go. A Swiss team won the Champions' League and they're doing very well in their home tournament. They could do even better, but not as long as Krüger has them playing a neutral zone trap. The Swiss game is far too passive. You can't win a hockey game by defending, as the Minnesota Wild continue to prove in the NHL, and the Swiss are going to need to up their game if they want to start challenging for the top spots in international hockey. They have it in them to do it, but Ralph Krueger does not. In my opinion, they need a coach with a more well-rounded game.

**

Overall, I think this is a great tournament. The big games are just starting up!

Some constants at the ice hockey world champs

Last year I pointed out that the "big" and "small" hockey countries get treated very differently at the ice hockey world champs. I postulated the following rule:

The refs will be twice as likely to call a penalty on a foul if the foul is committed by a player on a team whose IIHF World Ranking is lower than their opponent's.

Based on yesterday's games, this is still true. The Finnish referees in the Belarus-Canada game gave us some particularly shocking examples yesterday.

I don't intend to suggest Belarus had a particularly realistic chance of beating Canada, but the game was deadlocked at 0-2 for a long time. During that time, the Belarus team was constantly playing uphill. The Finnish refs would call three Belarus penalties for every single Canadian penalty, no matter what actually happened on the ice.

By far the most shocking instance was when Mike Fisher took a run at a Belarus player and checked him squarely in the head. The Belarus player was hurt and seemed to be bleeding from his cheek on the bench afterward.

Let's look at the IIHF rulebook.

540 – CHECKING TO THE HEAD AND NECK AREA.
a) A player who directs a check or blow, with any part of his body, to the head and neck area of an opposing player or ”drives” or ”forces” the head of an opposing player into the protective glass on boards, shall be assessed, at the discretion of the Referee, a:
➤ Minor penalty + Automatic Misconduct penalty (2’+10’)
or
➤ Major penalty + Automatic Game Misconduct penalty (5’+GM)
or
➤ Match Penalty (MP)
b) A player who injures an opponent as a result of checking to the head and neck area shall be assessed a
➤ Match Penalty (MP)

Fisher should have been assessed a match penalty. It's as simple as that. Of course, neither Finnish referee called one.

Later that night, Slovakia played Hungary and Switzerland faced France. Switzerland led 1-0 in the second, and the French equalizer was called back because a French forward was deemed to be interfering with the goaltender by, well, standing in front of him. At the same time, Slovakia went ahead 2-1 on a goal where Michal Handzus ran the Hungarian goaltender over and Lubos Bartecko scored on the empty net.

It absolutely defies belief that Handzus running over the Hungarian goalie wasn't goaltender interference, but a French forward standing in front of Gerber was. Again, let's look at the rulebook:

471 - DISALLOWING A GOAL
a) No goal shall be allowed:

6. If an attacking player initiates contact with the goalkeeper, incidental or otherwise, while the goalkeeper is in his goal crease and a goal is scored.
7. If an attacking player initiates any contact with the goalkeeper, other than incidental contact, while goalkeeper is outside his goal crease and a goal is scored.
8. Where an attacking player enters or takes a position within the goal crease, so as to obstruct the goalkeeper's vision and impair his ability to defend his goal net and a goal is scored.

There is absolutely no question that by the rules, Bartecko's goal should never have been allowed. In the Switzerland-France game, this rule was interpreted so strictly that a goal that would even have been allowed in the NHL if it was Tomas Holmström standing in front of the goaltender was disallowed. But in the Slovakia-Hungary game they allowed a goal after Handzus bowled over the Hungarian goaltender and was lying on top of him when Bartecko scored.

Hungary ended up losing by a single goal. It's hard to overrate how important the Slovak tiebreaker was.

**

The fact that this happens from year to year is simply shocking to me. The skill difference between countries like Canada and Belarus is big enough as it is; why do the referees think they need to make the playing field even more uneven?

Bear my rule in mind when watching big and small countries meet up at this year's champs. You'll find it's still true more often than not.

If the small countries got equal treatment at the world champs, we'd have a more exciting tournament and better hockey. At times, the way the tournament is called now is nothing short of disgusting. Letting major penalties go uncalled and permitting goals like Bartecko's is making a mockery of the sport.