As we discussed earlier, this tournament features 3 guys that most 'Hawks fans are pretty excited have on our team. Also, its a really hard tournament to follow. There is no video feed, no audio PXP, and only bits and pieces of game summaries. Here's what I found:
There was one per-tournament exhibition game. Turgeon scored the only goal - summary here.
Once this tourney got going, it was time for our boys to turn it up. The first game was against Finland, and Paul Bittner scored the games first goal. Unfortunately, the Finns got a PPG in OT - but USA got a point. This is format where all games are 3 point games, and an OT / shootout game splits 2 for the winner / 1 for the loser, whereas a regulation win is worth 3 points.
The 2nd game was a 4-2 victory over Russia, although none of our guys scored in this game. This Nick Schmaltz kid has 6 points in 3 games, which is pretty good. He was good in this game.
Going into the final game, a win puts you squarely in the medal round - and 4 goals in the 1st period against Slovakia did the trick. Bittner had a goal + 2 assists, and Iverson also scored. 5-2 final, and USA wins their pool.
I misunderstood the format, until today. Winner of each pool plays the 2nd place team from the other pool - in this case, its Czech Republic VS USA - as well as Russia VS Canada. The winners of those matchups meet for the gold medal. Those games are on 8/9 & 8/10.
The worst the US team can do is 4th place. Last year they came in 7th, and have never won this tournament. Of course, they've never had 3 Winterhawks on the team, either. Should be interesting to see how it shakes out - I like these odds.
No comments:
Post a Comment