Euro Hockey Tour.
A tournament that I meant to keep track of but forget year after year. Until now.
The tournament consist of 4 international teams (Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, and Russia) playing four mini-tournaments (one in each country). They start off in Finland, then go to Russia in December, Sweden in February, and finish off in the Czech Republic in April. The good thing about this year's tournament is that the NHL lockout has provided the national teams the opportunity to use NHL players. Usually, if an NHL player was to participate it would be when his team is not in the playoffs and wants to use the last leg of the tour as a training camp for the World Championship.
(Most information from the Eurohockey website)
Rosters
Czech Republic
Goalies: Ondrej Pavalec* (Bili Tygri Liberec), Alexandr Salak (Farjestad)
Defense: Petr Caslava (Severstal Cherepovets), Lukas Galvas (Ocelari Trinec), Jakub Kindl* (CSOB Pojistovna Pardubice), Jakub Krejcik (Lev Praha), Jakub Nakladal (Spartek Moscow), Filip Novak (Dynamo Moscow), Ladislav Smid* (Bili Tygri Liberec), Marek Zidlicky* (Rytiri Kladno)
Forwards: Martin Hanzal* (Mountfield Ceske Budejovice), Tomas Hertl (Slavia Praha), Petr Hubacek (Jyvaskyla), Zbynek Irgl (Dinamo Minsk), Petr Koukal (Neftekhimsk Nizhnekamsk), Jan Kovar (Plzen), Petr Nedved (Bili Tygri Liberec), Jiri Novotny (Lev Praha), Jabuk Petruzalek (Khabarovsk Amur), Tomas Plekanec* (Rytiri Kladno), Martin Ruzicka (Ocelari Trinec), Jakub Svoboda (Kometa Brno), Jiri Tlusty* (Rytiri Kladno), Michal Vondrka (Slovan Bratislava)
Finland
Goalies: Tuukka Rask* (Plzen), Pekka Rinne* (Dinamo Minsk)
Defense: Teemu Eronen (Jokerit Helsinki), Ilkka Heikkinen (HC Lugano), Juuso Hietanen (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod), Janne Jalasvaara (Dynamo Moscow), Mikko Kousa (Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo), Teemu Laakso (Severstal Cherepovets), Petteri Nummelin (HC Lugano), Ossi Vaananen (Jokerit Helsinki)
Forwards: Ilari Filppula (Jokerit Helsinki), Jonas Enlund (Sibir Novosibirsk), Niklas Hagman (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl), Jesse Joensuu* (Pori Assat), Mikko Koivu* (TPS Turku), Petri Kontiola (Traktor Chelyabinsk), Teemu Laine (Dinamo Minsk), Jori Lehtera (Sibir Novosibirsk), Antti Pihlstrom (Salavat Yulaev UFA), Teemu Ramstedt (Espoo Blues), Sakari Salminen (KalPa), Jani Tuppurainen (Donbass Donets'k)
Russia
Goalies: Konstantin Barulin (Ak Bars Kazan), Sergei Bobrovsky* (SKA St. Petersburg)
Defense: Yuri Alexandrov (SKA St. Petersburg), Anton Belov (Avangard Omsk), Yevgeny Biryukov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk), Maxim Chudinov (SKA St. Petersburg), Dmitry Kulikov* (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl), Evgeny Medvedev (Ak Bars Kazan), Ilya Nikulin* (Ak Bars Kazan), Evgeni Ryasensky (CSKA Moscow)
Forwards: Artem Anisimov* (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl), Evgeny Dadonov* (Donbass Donets'k), Denis Kokarev (Dynamo Moscow), Evgeny Kuznetsov (Traktor Chelyabinsk), Igor Makarov (SKA St. Petersburg), Kirill Petrov (Ak Bars Kazan), Alexander Svitov (Salavat Yulaev UFA), Vadim Shipachev (Severstal Cherepovets), Vladimir Teresenko (SKA St. Petersburg), Alexei Tereshchenko (Ak Bars Kazan), Viktor Tikonov* (SKA St. Petersburg), Nikolai Zherdev (Atlant Moscow Oblast)
Sweden
Goalies: Johan Holmqvist (Brynas IF), Gustaf Wesslau (HV 71)
Defense: Jonas Ahnelov (MODO), Niclas Burstrom (Skelleftea), Oscar Fantenberg (HV 71), Daniel Fernholm (HV 71), Victor Hedman* (Barys Astana), Staffan Kronwall (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl), Tobias Viklund (AIK)
Forwards: Mikael Backlund* (VIK Vasteras HK), Jesper Fasth (HV 71), Richard Gynge (Dynamo Moscow), Patric Hornqvist* (HC RED ICE), Calle Jarnkrok (Brynas IF), Melker Karlsson (Skelleftea), Gabriel Landeskog* (Djurgardens IF), Oscar Lindberg (Skelleftea), Joel Lundqvist (Frolunda HC), Tony Martensson (SKA St. Petersburg), Fredrik Pettersson (Donbass Donets'k), Carl Soderberg (Linkopings HC), Martin Thornberg (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
* Notes locked out players
Schedule
All games are in Turku, Finland unless denoted.
November 7
Czech Republic vs. Sweden (in Liberec, Czech Republic)
Russia vs. Finland
November 9
Sweden vs. Russia
Finland vs. Czech Republic
November 10
Czech Republic vs. Russia
Finland vs. Sweden
Last Year
Russia 2W - 1OTW - 0L - 8PTS - +5GD
Finland 1W - 1OTL - 1L - 4PTS - +2GD
Czech Republic 1W - 2L - 3 PTS - -2GD
Sweden 1W - 2L - 3PTS - -5GD
Predictions
1 - Russia
2 - Sweden
3 - Czech Republic
4 - Finland
I am surprised that there aren't more locked-out NHLers involved. I thought this would be a great time for those locked out to represent their country outside of the World Championship or Olympics (or the World Cup, when-the-hell-ever the NHL smartens up and brings it back).
Maybe it's because the KHL is considered the top Euro league, but the Russian team looks pretty damn good. Their goaltending has been good and they have a few good young players, and a few NHL washouts (hello Zherdev, Svitov). The Karjari Tornament was the only EHT tournament Russia won last year, and a repeat performance is doable.
Sweden has the chance to redeem themselves after finishing last and not just with the Karjala Tournament, but in the Euro Hockey Tour. Both goalies are doing good in the SEL and they have a good group of players on their team. They will be contending with Russia to win this part of the EHT.
Let's just hope the Czech's start Salak all three games, Pavelec has been TERRIBLE. Other than that, the Czech's roster looks pretty good, with 7 locked out players (most among national teams). There is no question they have the fire power to do damage to the rest of the field. The Czechs are more likely to be involved in high-scoring games. Where they finish will depend if their defense can hold up.
See above for the Finnish review. Rinne hasn't been impressive while Rask has been good (somebody misses Shea Weber). The roster doesn't look as good as the others, but that's probably since I don't recognize half the players on it (well, more than the other rosters). I don't think they would let the home crowd down, but they will be challenged.
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