WC: May 1 GDT - USA vs. Slovenia

Match: USA vs. Slovenia

Official Website: http://www.ihwc.net/english/
Online Statistics & Rosters: http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournaments_05/output/ws/hydra.iihf.com/IIHF_Core/jsp/content/web_output/index.jsp@compId=1000000009

I predict a 5 - 1 USA win. :yo:

GO USA!! :handclap:

What time is the game?

2-0 USA

People who are actually lucky enough to see the games, can you keep us less fortunate people updated?

Thanks. :toothless

6-1 Usa

Usa will win 11-0. Slovenia won't win a game in this tournament.

It'll be interesting to see Slovenia's defense versus USA's sort-of-not-very-good offense...

The first day was very competitive hockey. Today there will be blow outs:

Prediction: 9-2 USA

Modano and Weight will re-emerge into the spotlight, York and Knuble will show how underrated they are. Halpern will do his job. Park will show his 3 playoff GWG for Minnesota weren't flukes. Legwand and Parrish will get great passes to push in.

Knuble was great for Linköping all season long, especially with Morrison and Huselius.

7-1 USA

1-0 USA 31 seconds in, Knuble from Cole

Awful defensive work from Slovenia

Gonna be a long day for the Sloveinians i think.I have to leave at 9;10 so i am gonna miss this one except for what i can watch now...too bad,it was my first look at the American squad. I'll catch the next one.....i'll make the time and head to the bar for that one.

Well,the Slovene's skate allright...but of course as the game goes on it'll be all the intangibles and little things they don't do well that will kill them.Gord just said they have but 1'000 registered players there.Ya gotta give them points for beng as good as they are with those numbers.

Park fires one off the post at the end of a PP

The hell with that small circle collapsing box Sloveinia...Weight is picking you apart on this pp and will do so all day if you don't send one guy one the puck holder,it's your only chance....do it.

The hell with that small circle collapsing box Sloveinia...Weight is picking you apart on this pp and will do so all day if you don't send one guy on the puck holder,it's your only chance....do it.

hmmm..double post..how did that happen?

2-0, Adam Hall

Dipietro is looking very solid in net. Not a ton of pressure but he has made some key saves.

3-0, Parrish from Weight

Updating boxscore here:

USA/SLO (http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournaments_05/output/ws/hydra.iihf.com/IIHF_Core/jsp/content/web_output/Live.jsp@compId=1000000009&gameId=1000000320)

Oh well,it looks like i won't miss much anyway.They should win by at least 5 or more unless they just don't run up the score.Pierre seems to be taking a shine to Kopitar and i must say,he looks like he knows how to play,big too!!.

4-0 Knuble with his second.Gotta go now!!!It's a quarter past the hour.

Doesn't sound like much of a contest right now. What period is it?

2nd period

Thanks. How much time left? Still 3- 0?

5-0 Slovenia has not swtiched 'tenders...yet.

About 8 minutes and it is now 5-0...update on the goal in just a sec

Halpern from Gionta

Wow :amazed: this is getting ugly fast

Not a big fan of blow outs like this. Usually it means the team comes out flat footed next time after having to lay down for half a game.

Still 5 - 0? End of second?

5-0 at the end of 2

Slovenia is soft...softer than the Latvians I think.

I thought USA would have control of this game,but Slovenia seems to be headed for a real rough tourney

I thought USA would have control of this game,but Slovenia seems to be headed for a real rough tourney

Not surprising, Slovenia is probably the weakest team in the tournament. They are nowhere as good as Latvia.

Ohmygood that 4-0 goal from knuble, what is that goalie thinkin?

Kopitar is pretty impressive. He's one of the only Slovenian guys that showed up today.

Any updates?

It's now 6-0. Yan Stastny with a shorty.

6-0 now, Stastny

7-0, Gionta

I've only seen the 2nd and the 3rd period, but I must say, Anze Kopitar is a good one. He was the best on his team (not that hard though) at 17 years old and even if he was playing in a higher level than in the NHL, he was the only one that made things happen. Top 10 pick in my books.

USA is playing ok. The 3 or 4 quality chances the Slovenians have had throughout the game have been handled easily by Dipeitro.

It 7 :0 with 1:24 or so left in the 3rd.


Kopitar was by far the most impressive player for hsi side. He's only 17 but his prescence was seen in all zones. The major knock on him is his skating but he didn't look out of place at all. He has good size and hockey sense. He broke up a 2 on 1 by hustling back into his zone and knocked the puck off Weight's stick before weight could make the pass. great recovery.


McGuire loved Knuble and Leopold for the US. They had solid games.

US wins as expected. You have to give Solvenia credit 1000 registered players and 6 in door rinks in a country of 2 M and they are in the top 16 hockey nations in the World. They may not win a game but kudos to them for qualifying.

Game over. U.S. wins 7-0. Slovenia looks to be the worst team in the field, but hey, a win's a win, and the U.S. got the job done.

Good first game for the boys. It sure beats getting ambushed by Denmark a la 2003.

Next game against Latvia should be tougher, though. Latvia played Canada tough yesterday, and you can count on them giving the same effort against Team USA.

anybody know why cullen isn't playing for team usa

He is hurt. Bad knee and is out of the tournament.

Good first game for the boys. It sure beats getting ambushed by Denmark a la 2003.

Next game against Latvia should be tougher, though. Latvia played Canada tough yesterday, and you can count on them giving the same effort against Team USA.They are much better then Slovenia.The U.S should still win but they are more then capable of upsetting teams if their opponenet does'nt bring a quality game to the table... the Latvians can play.

I just watched the Mediazone coverage of the game, and I have to say, the play-by-play was pretty hilarious:

Doug Weight is a "pretty decent stickhandler" :biglaugh:

Mike Modano is a "pretty decent skater" :biglaugh:


A few other things:

* Doug Weight looked awesome. He ruled the offensive zone.

* Mike Knuble looked great. There are several guys like him on the team who combine skill with grit, but he looked the best.

* Yan Stastny impressed me. He's small, but has a ton of speed and made a nice move on a breakaway to score a shorty.

* The Slovenia jerseys are AWESOME! What is that on the crest, a yeti or something?

Interesting faceoff numbers from the USA-SLO game. SLO's Jan & USA's Legwand were perfect in the circles.

Faceoff leaders in SLO-USA game:

SLOVENIA:

Ivo Jan, 15 FO's (15-0), 100.00%
Jaka Avgustincic, 11 FO's (10-1), 90.91%
Mitja Sivic, 10 FO's (8-2), 80.00%
Anze Kopitar, 19 FO's (11-8), 57.89%

USA:

David Legwand, 11 FO's (11-0), 100.00%
Mike Modano, 17 FO's (15-2), 88.24%
Doug Weight, 15 FO's (12-3), 80.00%
Jeff Halpern, 13 FO's (8-5), 61.54%

There's no way all eight centers can combine for 90-21 on faceoffs. That would mean that at least 69 faceoffs (combining both teams) were taken by wingers or defensemen.

Doug Weight was handling the puck waaay too much. He looked like a little kid at Christmas time...hoarding his new toys...buzzing around in his own little world...all too happy ro drift amongst slower/weaker players until he was just too tired to make a decent play.
As much as the USA altered thier roster for this tourney...they are still playing their calling card of past International tourneys...against Slovenia...way too fancy to fly against a better team.

Doug Weight was handling the puck waaay too much. He looked like a little kid at Christmas time...hoarding his new toys...buzzing around in his own little world...all too happy ro drift amongst slower/weaker players until he was just too tired to make a decent play.
As much as the USA altered thier roster for this tourney...they are still playing their calling card of past International tourneys...against Slovenia...way too fancy to fly against a better team.



He did have the puck alot, but that's to be expected since he's the top playmaker on the team. He made several great passes, and controlled play along the boards, just like he does in the NHL with the Blues. I thought he played great.