Ivan Hlinka final: USA wins silver

The Ivan Hlinka entry for the USA in the 2013 tournament came up a little short.  After winning their pool, they faced the Czech Republic in the first medal round game.   The Americans were victorious,  setting up a gold medal showdown with Canada.

Of course, none of us saw this game, unless you were in Piestany - but my understanding is that the 'mercians got their ass kicked.  Folks in the hockey media are reporting that USA had zero scoring chances in the game.  That's generally going to work out bad for you.

If you were pulling for the Red, White & Blue  - as a 'Hawks fan you just have to re-visit your feelings after the 2011 & 2012 WHL finals.  In an 8 team tournament, 2nd place is pretty good - much like 2nd place in a 22 team league.  However, it also sucks.  The United States has never won this tournament, although this was the 8th silver brought home.

All three of the 'Hawks involved had good tournaments, although the only way to tell from here is looking at scoresheets.  There is one video clip of a sweet Paul Bittner goal:

USA! USA! USA! - Hlinka update

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.

USA Hockey coverage here

 

The 2013 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, and what it means to you

What is the Ivan Hlinka tournament, you say?  You are not alone - it takes a certain level of hockey nerd-dom to follow it, as well has having players involved that you already follow.  You are in luck.

Short story is that this is a pre-season tournament, world junior style, featuring players in their 17 year old year.  This creates a buzz due to having the top draft eligible players representing their countries, even if its off the radar of your casual fan.

The 2012 Team Canada entry brought home the gold, featuring Nic Petan (as well as McKinnon & Drouin).  Derrick Pouliot has a gold medal from his 2011 efforts.

The 2013 tournament runs August 5-10.  Why it matters to you is that there are 3 Winterhawks playing, all for Team USA!  Paul Bittner, Dominic Turgeon, and Keegan Iverson have been named to the team. One could interpret these developments as the 'Hawks have 25% of the best forwards the USA has to offer.  We've been fortunate enough to watch these 3 players for a season now, and the sky's the limit with how far these guys can go.  Coach Johnston recently told Yahoo! that this trio will be taking on a bigger role with the 'Hawks this year, which should be fun to watch (there's some other interesting MJ quotes in there - give it a read).

Our friends over at the Pipeline Show had a segment which touched on this USA team, as well as some other levels of USA hockey.  Sounds like the enthusiasm for these kids' potential extends well beyond Oregon.

I'm not sure what kind of coverage this tournament will have.  You would guess there's some sort of webstream - I'll keep an eye out for it, and will try and post via twitter.  If you come up with anything, let me know.