Metaloctopus

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Of course it does If you don't get this immediately, I am not sure you're equipped to understand an explanation.

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Well, since it is your preference to insult my intelligence, I guess you leave me no choice but to point a mirror back at you:

Is Cooper Williams not expected to be counted on? Cowan? Dathe? Rizy? All those guys struggled with command tonight, and are all expected to be weekend contributors. Labeling this as "Tuesday" pitching, simply because it happened to be a Tuesday, as if we didn't see a ton of weekend pitchers tonight, shows that you are either dishonest, or ignorant.

Allow me to preface my remarks with the fact that I know this game won't have any effect on the outcome of the season, before everyone loses their minds.

With that out of the way, that was a really irritating performance. Guys refusing to adjust to off-speed (seemingly) all night, and pitchers making non competitive pitches all night (mostly). Let the other team earn a win. I hate giving away games, especially to teams that aren't any good.

I'll never, ever understand the mindset of some athletes, with this inability to get up for certain games. My mindset, in anything I've ever competed in, is I want to win, I hate to lose, and if I'm going against someone with inferior skill, then I want to dominate, and I feel embarrassed if I let them hang around. So I just don't understand saying "it doesn't matter". Who cares how much it matters? Just show up and do your job, have some competitiveness, and enjoy the fact that you get to play a game,.

Anyway, I guess we're all wired differently. My opinion of this team hasn't changed. I just get annoyed with listless performances.

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Leafs fans have been shitting on him all tournament

Complaining he doesn’t play like that for them.

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Then they don't know hockey. He's well known for being one of the best two way forwards in the league, and not just an offensive guy.

Leafs fans are to hockey, as Mets or Phillies fans are to baseball. Despite the fact that their franchises usually don't win anything that matters, they all seem to think it's always championship or bust, and they hate just about everyone on their teams, unless they win a championship.

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One final thing I would also add (and I put this in a different thread on the MSB, but probably more fitting here): A goalie being on fire is part of the game of hockey and sometimes fluky… But Hellebuyck has been the best goalie in the world for 5+ years now and was literally the NHL MVP last year (EXTREMELY rare for a goalie to win it. Like a non-QB winning NFL MVP. It almost always just goes to the guy with the most points).

Going into the tournament, goaltending and defensive pairings was considered an American strength, compared to the Canadian advantage at forward. It’d be a bit different if Hellebuyck was just an above average NHL goalie (like Binnington is) and stood on his head.

No baseball fan would call it a miracle/fluke if in a game 7, Team A’s Cy Young winner outdueled Team B’s above average ace to beat Team B’s better lineup. Goaltending is part of the equation, and the U.S.’s was well-known to be superior. It’s not a fluke Hellebuyck outplayed Binnington (who was pretty good today, too).

Do I think Canada generally outplayed the U.S. today? Yes. (Which does NOT mean I think the U.S. didn’t deserve the gold.) But I always find it funny that goalies “steal” games, no matter how good they are. If Connor McDavid had 2G, 2A today and Canada won, no one would say he “stole” the game or it was a fluke. If Tom Wilson did? Sure, maybe fair. But Hellebuyck is elite. He’s the McDavid of goalies.

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Indeed. Goalies are the key to any Medal, or Cup run. I just thought the US came out sloppy in this game, and played a bit timid. But they came through when they needed to, not just Hellebuyck, but guys breaking up passes to prevent sure fire scoring chances and, of course, putting the put in the back of the net one more time than Canada did. If anything, Canadians should be concerned that they couldn't beat us on a day when we weren't close to our best.

I think a lot of the perceived advantages that people think the Canadians have among their forwards is overblown. They have the better top line, but I'll take our overall depth at forward over theirs. Very comparable, scoring wise, but our guys also get back on defense and play with meaningful physicality (not just gooning it up like Tom Wilson likes to do). Again, not our best showing throughout much of this game, especially when you compare it to how we played them both games at the 4 Nations, but I'm proud of them for staying with it and not giving in.

Now that the gold medal barrier is broken against Canada, I'm excited to see Team USA play with even greater confidence in the years to come.

I don't want to listen to Garth Brooks, no matter when, or where, or why it is being played.

LSU sports plays some of the most annoying music at games, just because it says something about Baton Rouge, or Louisiana, in general.

No question they have the talent. It all has to come together, which is never a guarantee, and baseball is also cruel at times with how weird things happen.

The opportunity is there, though. Gotta have the building blocks in place, and we have those. We'll see how it develops.

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yeah, well, don't know what to tell you other than you're wrong.

Not an argument here, you're just wrong.

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You're free to believe that. But no data will back that up, and just logically speaking, when you have a system that encourages players to chase money or playing time elsewhere, when they don't get immediate playing time where they already are, you end up with very thin rosters, in terms of quality of depth, and it is also very hard to build team chemistry, because there is so much turnover every year. That leads to a very watered down product, and the results on the field all across the country attest to that fact.

Nothing about that is "better". I'm all ears if you have a reasonable argument.

It was WAY too conservative in the third period, and that had to be all on Mike Sullivan. I don't think the players would choose to hold themselves back like that.

The first period was pretty even, but team USA owned the second period. It could have been 4 or 5 to nothing going into the third if not for Markstrom playing uncharacteristically well. It just felt like the flood gates were ready to burst open in that third period if we could carry that momentum and get a quick goal, but instead it was dump and change, dump and change, all period. I kept saying to myself "Sullivan is treating this game like it's 3 or 4 to nothing, and trying not to make mistakes, and it's going to cost us". Sure enough, it did... At least temporarily. A one goal lead is not something you sit on like a mother hen.

But you saw what happened as soon as there wasn't a lead to desperately cling to, and the guys were allowed to play free again. They immediately started hounding the offensive zone in the last minute and a half of regulation, and then totally dominated overtime, just like they dominated the second period. If Mike Sullivan ever tries that conservative approach again without a sufficient lead to justify it, Bill Guerin should call down to the bench and inform him that he's fired, and one of the assistants will coach the rest of the game and tournament. You've got a team full of super stars, and that's how you want to tell them to close a game?

If it sounds like I'm not excited about the win, believe me, I am very excited and proud of the team. I'm just mad that our coach almost got us eliminated. I hope he learned a lesson, and that the players all rallied together and said "coach, let us win the game, instead of trying not to lose".

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Lots of down votes from people with no sense of humor. You miserable bastards. lol

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This place has no sense of humor or sarcasm. Everything goes over most of their heads.

We had almost 50 shots on goal to their 20, our goalie gave up two bad goals, and the first goal against us was just an unlucky bounce off our own defender's skate. This game was never close by any measure outside of luck and bad goaltending. The offense didn't have an inspiring first period, but they laid it on after that.

My only real issue with this game was Swayman's performance, and he's not our #1 goalie.