These weren't your father's Russians or Swedes

Personally I was impressed with the amount of hitting the Russians did. In the semi-final game you could make a good argument that they hit better and harder than us throughout the game. In fact I am sure they did. Now for starters we didnt have an forward over 6'1". We had a small team up front for sure and other than Cormier no one really regularily threw a good bodycheck. This wasnt a physical team this year.

The Swedes came out hitting pretty good too but I was the most impressed with their combatitiveness. When was the last time (if ever) that you could say a Swedish team roughed up a Canadian team more than vice versa? I know we weren't a big team this year but is this a sign of the times in your mind? Was it just this particular team that was a little softer physically (up front) or a combination of us drifting away from the physical aspect of it and seeing the Russians and Swedes getting tougher?

BTW guys like Myers on the back end were bone crunchers this year but outside of him and perhaps Cormier up front we werent overly physical. Discuss.

Exactly. Old stereotypes should be dead.

I felt that Russia was the most physical team of the tournament. Like Bob McKenzie said it was sort of a role reversal - Canada had the skill while Russia had size and grit. Both teams are sort of playing a hybrid style which should result in some epic matches down the road.

Just watch Ovechkin and even Datsyuk, really physical.

I give credit to the Russians and Swedes this year for their physical play but to tell you the truth I'm not so sure that we are necessarily forgetting physicality/size either. The previous 4 teams could all hit really good, it's just this version of the 5th gold medal team that was small in stature and couldnt compete as well. I don't think it'll be like that next eyar as much. We'l still seek out skill but a power forward or two is something we need up front for next year.

This wasn't really your father's Canada, either.

This wasn't really your father's Canada, either.


The old stereotypes were the Euros were soft and the Canadians were unskilled goons.

The teams are more similar now then ever before. Makes for better hockey. :handclap:

I definitely give all countries credit for taking the best points from their opponents' games and including it in their own to create the best of both worlds (hybrid of skill + physical play).

In tonight's game I thought Sweden came out really physical early on because they wanted to 'send a message' that they wouldn't be banged around by Canada like usual. I think that came back to bite them in the beanbag when Markstrom couldn't handle the rough stuff.