What The Hasek? A Few Notes About The Spengler Cup

Just a quick update of what’s going on in Spengler Cup action.

• Despite getting TSN’s (more on them later) Highlight of the Night yesterday, Dominik Hasek hasn’t look like himself. Not saying every goal scored on him was his fault, but by the end of the route it looked like he was giving up.
• Today’s later, and very popular, game involving Canada and HC Davos will be over shadowed by Canada-Czech Republic in the World Juniors. Maybe it’s me, but a game with a hard-to-predict result is more interesting than one that’s 90% guaranteed to be a blowout.
• Back to TSN. I realize that the Spengler Cup is going to be treated like nothing compared to the World Juniors, but - at the very least - get a fact checker. Yes, Petr Sykora is playing in the Spengler Cup. No, it’s not the 2-time Stanley Cup winner, its the lesser-known a-few-games-with-Washington-after-the-lockout Sykora. Mind you I found the screw-up hilarious, but that’s just me.
• Yashin-led St. Petersburg won Group Torriani, getting a bye to the semi-finals. Geneve-Servette finished 2nd while Sparta Praha is last. Since Spartak Moscow finished last in Group Cattini, they will cross over and face Geneve-Servette in the Pre-Semifinals. The winner of Canada-HC Davos gets a bye while the loser will face Sparta Praha.

Saturday Night Hockey Doubleheader: World Junior Championship Predictions

It's rare that we get to do a half-decent post once a week, so consider this a Christmas Miracle that we are doing 2 post in one day! Here is our predictions on what will go on during the round-robin part of the World Junior tournament.

Group A - Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, USA (host)

BEK:                                MDK
1- USA                            1- USA
2- Finland                         2- Finland
3- Switzerland                  3- Switzerland
4- Slovakia                       4- Germany
5- Germany                      5- Slovakia


Group B - Canada, Czech Republic, Norway, Russia, Sweden

BEK:                               MDK:
1- Sweden                       1- Canada
2- Canada                       2- Czech Republic
3- Russia                         3- Russia
4- Czech Republic           4- Sweden
5- Norway                       5- Norway

Saturday Night Hockey: Spengler Cup Preview

Merry Christmas!

With no NHL or international games (that I know of) on today, I figure it would be a good time to look at the "lesser" of the two holiday tournaments. This year's Spengler Cup features 2 KHL teams (SKA St. Petersburg and Spartak Moscow), two Swiss League teams (Geneve-Servette and host HC Davos), Sparta Praha from the Czech league, and Team Canada.

SKA St. Petersburg

Goalies: Mikhail Meyer, Maxim Sokolov, Jakub Stepanek
Defense: Denis Denisov, Johan Fransson, Denis Grebeshkov, Sergey Gusev, Igor Nikitin, Aleksey Petrov, Aleksey Semenov, Grigory Serkin, Vitaly Vishnevskiy, Dmitry Vorobyev
Forwards: Maxim Afinogenov, Evgeny Artyukhin, Sergey Brylin, Anton But, Petr Chaynek, Gleb Klimenko, Leonid Korolev, Artem Kryukov, Alexander Kucheryavenko, Tony Hans Martensson, Konstantin Panov, Maxim Rybin, Dmitry Shitikov, Maxim Sushinskiy, Mattias Weinhandl, Aleksey Yashin
Top Threat: With decent goaltending and some notable players on defense, their offense (led by Aleksey Yashin) should be able to dominate any opponent.
Weakness: Tell the forwards that it's the playoffs. Remember, this is a Yashin-led team.

Spartak Moscow

Goalies: Dominik Hasek, Alexey Yakhin
Defense: Ivan Baranka, Denis Bodrov, Alexander Budkin, Oleg Piganovich, Mikhail Ryazanov, Yakov Seleznev, Dmitry Vishnevsky, Grigory Zheldakov
Forwards: Yevgeny Fedorov, Oleg Gubin, Kirill Knyazev, Yevgeny Lapenkov, Roman Lyuduchin, Jurai Mikush, Branko Radivojevic, Stefan Ruzicka, Alexey Shkotov, Andrei Sidyakin, Alexander Suglobov, Alexander Yunkov, Mikhail Yunkov, Mikhail Zhukov
Top Threat: A few names stand out, but the biggest reason that this team will have at winning it will be goaltender Dominik Hasek. Even in his mid-forties he's still a dominant goalie.
Weakness: It's Hasek, try to get him to do the splits.

Geneve-Servette

Goalies: Ginaluca Mona, Tobias Stephan, Federico Tamo
Defense: Marc-Andre Bergeron, Goran Bezina, Robin Breitbach, John Gobbi, Martin Hohener, Larry Leeger, Jonathan Mercier, Brian Pothier, Daniel Vukovic
Forwards: Eliot Berthron, Jan Cadieux, Florian Conz, Thomas Deruns, Dan Fritsche, John Hennessy, Richard Park, Pierrick Pivron, Flurin Randegger, Christopher Rivera, Daniel Rubin, Tony Salmelainen, Paul Savary, Oliver Setzinger, Jeff Toms, Morris Trachsler, Eric Walsky
Top Threat: On paper, this doesn't look like a strong team. They are currently 8th in the Swiss National League. If they have any strength it would be their offense.
Weakness: Marc-Andre Bergeron is on their defense...'nuff said.

Sparta Praha

Goalies: Thomas Baumle, Tomas Popperle
Defense: Felicien Du Bois, Michal Gulasi, Jan Hanzlik, Patrik Husak, Petr Macholda, Doug O'Brien, Radek Philipp, Jiri Vykoukal
Forwards: Marek Bartanus, Michal Bros, Karel Hromas, Tomas Kurka, Petr Kafka, Tomas Krapov, Jakub Koreis, Ondrej Kratena, Lukas Lunak, Emanuel Peter, Daniel Pribyl, Radek Smolenka, Petr Ton, Yorick Treille, David Vyborny
Top Threat: Just like Geneve-Servette, this team is struggling. Their offense looks like the strongest point on this team.
Weakness: Struggling team, not going to be much of a challenge.

HC Davos

Goalies: Reto Berra, Leonardo Genoni
Defense: Rene Back, Charlie Cook, Beat Forster, Robin Grossmann, Zdenek Kutlak, Tim Ramholt, Lucas Stoop, Alan Tallarini, Jan von Arx
Forwards: Jaroslav Bednar, Paolo Duca, Peter Guggisberg, Mathias Joggi, Josef Marha, Joel Reymondin, Sandro Rizzi, Gregory Sciaroni, Peter Sejna, Janick Steinmann, Petr Sykora, Petr Taticek, Reto von Arx, Dino Wieser, Marc Wieser
Top Threat: Along with being the host of this tournament, they have been a good team this year (2nd in the Swiss National League). On paper they look like a fairly balanced team.
Weakness: Goaltending might be their weak spot.

Team Canada

Goalies: Jeff Drouin-Deslauiers, Tyler Moss
Defense: Brendan Bell, Curtis Brown, Micki Dupont, Joel Kwiatkowski, Cory Murphy, Curtis Murphy, Mark Popovic, Travis Roche, Duvie Westcott
Forwards: Serge Aubin, Mark Bell, Brendan Brooks, Blaine Down, Josh Holden, Mike Iggulden, Martin Kariya, Eric Landry, Yannick Lehoux, Brett McLean, Glen Metropolit, Pascal Pelletier, Domenic Pittis, Jean-Pierre Vigier
Top Threat: Mark Messier. Yes I know he's the coach.
Weakness: (Former) Oilers goalies, a few ex-Leafs, very little time to prepare, lack of interest from back home, et cetera-et cetera.

Showing Some International Love: U20 Division I and II Recap

The tournaments ended Sunday and (surprise, surprise) I'm a little late on recapping it. More than likely I'll be doing something for the WJC (and Spengler Cup) soon, so better late then never I guess.


U20 Division 1A

Final Standings
1 (Promotion)- Latvia      5W-0L- +18GD
2- Belarus                       4W-1L- +9GD
3- Great Britain               3W-2L- +2GD
4- Italy                           2W-3L- +5GD
5- Japan                         1W-4L- -6GD
6 (Relegation)- Ukraine   0W-5L- -28GD

Latvia earns top spot and a promotion for next year's WJC after beating Belarus 3-1. Both team started the tournament off strong before fading into close wins. Besides a blow-out lost to Latvia early on, Great Britain played close games and could have pulled out an upset if Belarus didn't comeback in their game. Italy and Japan stayed the course and ended up 4th and 5th respectively. Ukraine gets relegated after failing to show up for a game, their...uh..."best" lost was 5-1...TWICE.

U20 Division 1B

Final Standings
1 (Promotion)- Denmark     4W-1L- +21GD
2- Slovenia                         4W-1L- +17GD
3- Austria                           3W-1OTW-1L- +11GD
4- Kazahkstan                    2W-3L- -5GD
5- Croatia                          1W-1OTL-3L- -19GD
6 (Relegation)- Lithuania     0W-5L- -25GD

This group was tighter than I thought. Along with the win against Slovenia, Denmark advances due to having a greater Goal Difference (funny side note: both Denmark and Slovenia allowed 14 goals). Austria’s chance to advance pretty much ended after needing overtime to beat Croatia (regulation win = 3pts....overtime win = 2pts). Kazahkstan had a standard tournament, win against the weaker team, lost against the stronger ones (although they almost beat Slovenia until a 3rd period meltdown). Croatia’s last-day win against Lithuania keeps them up for another year. Lithuania gets sent back down to Divison II. 


U20 Division 2A

Final Standings
1 (Promotion)- France     5W-0L- +44GD
2- Netherlands                3W-1OTL-1L- +3GD
3- Spain                          3W-2L- -4GD
4- Belgium                      1W-1OTW-3L- -17GD
5- Estonia                       1W-4L- -13GD
6 (Relegation)- Iceland    1W-4L- -13GD

France had no challange what-so-ever, so lets skip them. Netherlands and Spain had good tournaments. Belgium stays in Division 2 thanks to an overtime win against the Netherlands, if that didn’t happen, they would have been knocked down. Even though Estonia and Iceland are tied, Estonia won their head-to-head match, bumping Iceland down to Division 3.


U20 Division 2B

Final Standings
1 (Promotion)- Poland    5W-0L- +51GD
2- Hungary                     4W-1L- +34GD
3- South Korea              3W-2L- -3GD
4- Romania                    2W-3L- -8GD
5- Australia                    1W-4L- -18GD
6 (Relegation)- China     0W-5L- -56GD

This group was over before it started (almost). Poland and Hungary were dominant throughout the tournament. Poland beat Hungary on the last day to advance. South Korea looked to have struggled against the weaker team, but managed to get the win. Romania and Australia stayed mediocre, which was enough to stay in Division 2. China didn’t stand a chance and will play in Division 3 next year.

Saturday Night Hockey

We have a few things to say here (even though there just links), time to celebrate!

Ryan Kennedy of the Hockey News talks about a few prospects in the lower-tier U20's....that's good in my books.

Staying with IIHF stuff, Women's hockey outside of North America is about to get a boost.

In the "about damn time" news, Donald Fehr is the new head of the NHLPA.

The Phoenix Coyotes had to sign an amateur goalie this week for a game, does anything go right for that franchise?

And finally, HBO's "24/7" series kicked off with a nice little rant from Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau.

Line-up Notables

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Vancouver Canucks (wait...a Western game gets the early start?!?!)

Toronto: J-S Giguere and Mike Brown are out. Jonas Gustavsson gets the start.

Vancouver: Sami Salo, Rick Rypien, Mason Raymond, Peter Schaefer, Christian Ehrhoff, and Guillaume Desbiens are out. Roberto Loungo is expected to start.

Minnesota Wild vs. Calgary Leafs West Flames

Minnesota: James Sheppard, Josh Harding, Guillaume Latendresse, and Clayton Stoner are all out, Matt Cullen might return for tonight's game. Niklas Backstrom will start.

Calgary: Just Daymond Langkow, Raitis Ivanas, and Steve Staios are on IR. Miikka Kiprusoff gets the start.

Showing Some International Love: The Home Stretch

With the lower U20 tournaments wrapping up this weekend, it's time to take a quick look at who's getting bumped up, and who is going to say goodbye.

U20 Division 1 Group A - Belarus (host), Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Ukraine

Current Standings:
1 (Promotion)- Latvia    3W-0L- +15GD
2- Belarus                     3W-0L- +10GD
3- Great Britain             2W-1L- +1GD
4- Italy                          1W-2L- +2GD
5- Japan                        0W-3L- -10GD
6 (Relegation)- Ukraine  0W-4L- -18GD

While Latvia currently has the lead because of Goal Differential, Belarus still has a chance to be promoted. They play on Sunday to determine who will move up. Great Britain has surprised me, and now they have an outside shot at placing first (although there lost against Latvia more than likely nullifies that). If Belarus and Latvia start collapsing, then a win against Belarus will give Great Britain the push up. Italy's lone win will probably keep them in the division. I'm almost ashamed of Ukraine, I thought they had a chance to play in the top division next year, now they are fighting just to stay in Division 1. Their game against Japan later today will decide who gets relegated.


U20 Division 1 Group B - Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Slovenia (host)

Current Standings:
1 (Promotion)- Denmark   3W-0L- +16GD
2- Austria                          2W-0L-1OTW- +9GD
3- Slovenia                        2W-1L- +14GD
4- Kazakhstan                   2W-2L- -3GD
5- Croatia                          0W-3L-1OTL- -22GD
6 (Relegation)- Lithuania   0W-3L- -14GD

Pretty much a clear-cut group here. Slovenia, Denmark, and Austria are still much alive. Austria and Denmark will meet Saturday to determine who gets promoted. Slovenia is in an interesting spot. Provided that they win their last 2 games (one against Austria) while Denmark would have to lose there two in order for Slovenia to advance (due to there surprising overtime win over Croatia - more on that latter - Austria only gets 2 points instead of 3). Kazakhstan's win last night puts them solidly in 4th, so they survive another year. The biggest surprise of the group (uh...score-wise) is that Croatia was able to force overtime (with a shorthanded tying goal no less) against a highly-regarded team like Austria. The single point they got from the game has them ahead of Lithuania with the two facing off on Saturday.


U20 Division 2 Group A- Belgium, Estonia (host), France, Iceland, Netherlands, Spain

Current Standings:
1 (Promotion)- France     3W-0L- +33GD
2- Netherlands                3W-0L- +6GD
3- Spain                          1W-2L- -6GD
4- Iceland                       1W-2L- -6GD
5- Estonia                       1W-2L- -8GD
6 (Relegation)- Belgium   0W-3L- -22GD

Well my predictions are shot to hell. France was expected to finish top 2 and will, most likely, be promoted. The Netherlands (again score-wise, it would be nice to find a feed to some of these games) haven't looked overly dominant and have relied on third period rallies to beat opponents. Out of the three, Spain has put up the most fight against the the top two. Iceland lost 5-1 against Netherlands, they have yet to face France. Estonia put up a fight against Netherlands, but were demolished by France. Belgium has a slim-to-none chance staying up.


U20 Division 2 Group B- Australia, China, Hungary, South Korea, Poland, Romania (host)

Current Standings:
1 (Promotion)- Poland      3W-0L- +34GD
2- Hungary                       3W-0L- +32GD
3- South Korea                2W-1L- -4GD
4- Australia                      1W-2L- 0GD
5- Romania                      0W-3L- -15GD
6 (Relegation)- China       0W-3L- -47GD

Poland and Hungary have shown no mercy, making their match-up Sunday very interesting. South Korea and Australia have been middle of the pack. Romania kept last night's game against Korea close, while China has been completely dominated during the tournament. It's safe to say that Romania win their game against China later, and keep playing in Division 2.

Showing Some International Love: The Lesser Known U20's

While yesterday was Canada's last intra-squad game, and while TSN* (and - to a lesser extent - other media outlets here) will be non-stop about the team until the damn tournament is over, we here are going to focus on the lower U20 tournaments (or as its known: the place where teams come from to lose 50-0 to Canada).

*Quick side note: TSN really needs someone with a smidge of international hockey knowledge to tell them that the U20's don't count in the world ranking. Stop with the "Swiss is top 7 material" in an essentially meaningless tournament.

U20 Division 1 Group A - Belarus (host), Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Ukraine

My Predictions:
1 (Promotion)- Belarus
2- Latvia
3- Ukraine
4- Italy
5- Japan
6 (Relegation)- Great Britain

While Latvia (the main tournament's relegation from last year) will prove some tough competition, Belarus has a shot to get promoted since they get home-ice advantage. The promotion will most likely go the winner of their game. On the other side of the spectrum, I expect Great Britain to fall back to Division 2, mostly because Japan and Italy are mainstays at this level.

U20 Division 1 Group B - Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Slovenia (host)

My Predictions:
1 (Promotion)- Austria
2- Slovenia
3- Denmark
4- Kazakhstan
5- Croatia
6 (Relegation)- Lithuania

The U20 Austria team is too much like there senior team: too good for Division 1, not good enough for the top division. I can see Slovenia making a push for the top with Denmark (and possibly Kazakhstan) as an outsider looking in. The battle for last will be between Croatia and Lithuania. I'm picking Lithuania to go back to Division 2 (admittingly I'm a bit bias on this one)

U20 Division 2 Group A - Belgium, Estonia (host), France, Iceland, Netherlands, Spain

My Predictions:
1 (Promotion)- Iceland
2- France
3- Estonia
4- Belgium
5- Netherlands
6 (Relegation)- Spain

France and Iceland will be the battle for the promotional spot. I'm giving Estonia third place mainly by default, Belgium would improve while the Netherlands slip because the competition seems higher than last year. Spain will get knocked down to Division 3.

U20 Division 2 Group B - Australia, China, Hungary, South Korea, Poland, Romania (host)

My Predictions:
1 (Promotion)- Poland
2- Hungary
3- Romania
4- Australia
5- South Korea
6 (Relegation)- China

Poland will regain its spot in Division 1, although Hungary might be able to put up a challenge. Between the other four, even though Australia seems likely to go back to Division 3, I've heard there program is improving. Romania had a decent showing last year, so it comes down to the two Asian teams. South Korea finished higher last year than China and I can't see that changing.

That's it for now, and unless I start caring about the top division, the next time you'll see something like this will be at the end of the month since the Division 3 (ya, that's as far as that goes) group starts in January.

Saturday Night Hockey: Invasion Time

Don't know about my plans today, if I'm around I'll get something done.

Line-up Notables

Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Montreal: Andrei Markov is out for the season (still), Scott Gomez is questionable for tonight. Carey "The" Price "Is Right" will start.

Toronto: Mike Brown and Mike Komisarek are out with finger injuries, Jay Rosehill is doubtful for tonight. J-S Giguere is expected to start.

Invasion Game: Atlanta Thrashers vs. New York Islanders (damn, even the Nordiques are invading here)

Atlanta: Just Fredrik Modin is out. Ondrej Pavelec might start tonight.

New York: Mark Streit, Kyle Okposo, Milan Jurcina, Doug Weight, Mike Mottau, Tim Hunter, and Bruno Gervais are all out, John Tavares and Radek Martinek are game-time decisions. Rick DiPietro may start.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Vancouver Canucks

Tampa Bay: Vincent Lecavalier and Steve Downie are on IR, Mattias Ritola is a game-time decision. Mike Smith might start tonight.

Vancouver: Sami Salo, Rick Rypien, Mason Raymond, and Peter Schaefer are out while Mikeal Samuelsson, Christian Ehrhoff, Guillaume Desbiens, and Ryan Parent are all questionable. Cory Schneider gets the start tonight.

Saturday Night Hockey

Sorry for the lack of a post last week, it's been kind of hectic around here getting the house in order. I should have time tonight to get something written up. For now though:

Line-up Notables

San Jose Sharks vs. Montreal Canadiens (also known as the game were I can't sleep in!)

San Jose: Jason Demers is on the IR, while Devin Setoguchi, Niclas Wallin, and Kent Huskins are all game-time decisions. Antti Niemi gets the start.

Montreal: Andrei Markov is out the for season...In other news, Price is in net.

Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Rogers Maple Leafs

Boston: Trent Whitfield is the only player out. Tim Thomas is expected to start.

Toronto: Mike Brown joins Dion Phaneuf on IR, Colby Armstrong is expected to play tonight. J-S Giguere gets the start tonight.

Buffalo Sabres vs. Ottawa Senators

Buffalo: Rob Niedermayer is still on injury reserve, Tim Connolly and Craig Rivet are game-time decisions. Ryan Miller will get the start.

Ottawa: No Injuries to report. Brian Elliot might start tonight.

St. Louis Blues vs. Edmonton Oilers

St. Louis: Roman Polak, T.J. Oshie, and David Perron are all on IR. Jaroslav Halak might start.

Edmonton: Ales Hemsky is considered questionable for tonight. Nikolai Khabibulin will probably start.