Auf gefrorenes Blog› Super-Reihe

By OFB

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

In a contest that wasn’t as close as the final score, Canada took Game 2 in the Super Series by a 3 - 0 tally. It was a more physical contest than Game 1, and had a bit of the surreal as well, with a light covering of fog on the playing surface. Notable to Caps fans is that Josh Godfrey (Canada) and Simeon Varlamov (Russia) did not play.

Canada’s defense is very good, but the Russian team didn’t try to drive the slot at even strength at all. Russia’s shots were mainly from the perimeter, with a Canadian player in between the shooter and Jonathan Bernier. Simply put, against the talent level of the Canadians, that’s an excellent way to lose a hockey game. It might not be fun, but the Russian forwards may need to man-up and go right into the teeth of the defense to created scoring chances.
Brandon Sutter certainly brought his physical game today, throwing several big hits, including a high hit on Alexei Cherepanov, which was penalized.
Speaking of Cherepanov, the skilled winger is certainly an interesting player. Projected to go top 5 in the 2007 Draft, he slipped to the Rangers at 17th. It’s not hard to see why his skill-set is highly thought of, as he pulled several very slick moves, including a nice curl-and-drag on the power play to set up a teammate. At one point, he seemed irritated by Canada finishing their checks, and threw one of his own. That said, he played strictly on the perimeter, and many of his shots were from outside.
Canada’s first goal highlighted the difference between the teams: Turris and Perron (who scored on an excellent individual effort later in the game) worked a give-and-go like they had been practicing it together for months, resulting in the Canadians’ first goal. The Russian team, however, looked disjointed and uncoordinated, and when they had to make more than one pass to set up a play, it seemed to fall apart for them.
Karl Alzner wasn’t as noticeable in this game as he was in Game 1, and that’s probably a good thing. It may cost him a chance at the coveted fur hat, however.

Not much more to say than that. Team Canada looked like a well-oiled machine and Team Russia looked like a collection of individual talent, with predictable results. Unless the Russian squad pulls together as a team and gets reckless in the slot, the prospects of them taking a contest from their North American rivals seems slim.

Knee-Jerks: Super Series Game 1

By OFB

Monday, August 27, 2007

The first Juniors Super Summit game was a push-me, pull-you affair: the Russian team got ahead and seemed to be in command early, but Canada’s smart, physical game eventually broke through to the tune of a 4 - 2 win over the hosts.

Karl Alzner’s game is often described as ’smooth’, and today was no different, less an out-of-character tripping penalty. The Caps’ first pick in the 2007 draft has an effortless stride, a low panic-point, and an active stick. He poke-checked a puck destined to be a Russian open-net tally out of danger, blocked a shot man-down, and received plenty of ice time. Not flashy, but effective.
Josh Godfrey (drafted 34th overall in 2007) demonstrated his power point shot three or four times, though he only put it on-cage once. He didn’t seem to get many even-strength minutes, but was a fixture on the power play, and his slapshot drew comparisons with Al MacInnis’. Later, he showed decent speed by getting back to try and foil a Russian short-handed chance.
Both goaltenders gave up some soft goals, but Canadian netminder Steve Mason settled down later in the game, where Simeon Varlamov (drafted 23rd overall, 2006) of Russia struggled for consistency and was weak on the ice, allowing several 5-hole strikes and giving up all of Canada’s goals low.
The Canadians looked faster than the Russians overall, and were much more aggressive on the forecheck.
Canada carried the physical play for the most part, but the best hit of the day may have been Russia’s Vyatcheslav Voynov clobbering pheonom John Tavares in the first.
Evgeni Dadonov was one of the few forwards that showed a pulse for the host team, using his speed to get wide on Canada’s defense and create several scoring chances.
Alexei Cherepanov displayed some of his exciting skill-set, but didn’t figure on the score sheet, and didn’t have many scoring chances.

In the end, the game was decided by a combination of Canada’s excellent penalty killing and Russia’s confused-looking power play. The referees called things very tight, and the special teams of each squad got quite the work-out. If Russia wants to get back in the series, it seems that Varlamov must settled down, and Russia must convert on their man-up opportunities.

Mostly, however, it’s nice to see competitive hockey again. The level of young talent and passion on the ice is an excellent lead-in to the 2007-2008 NHL campaign.