The Cobra
01-05-2011, 04:23 PM
Cobra....
I don`t know what to expect today in this game. It`s a game that neither team expected to play---but that being said if the kids come out wearing their hearts on their sleeves this may end up being the better of the games today to watch. A lot of eyes from "upstairs" will be watching these kids today to see both how they play and how they handle the let down of playing for the bronze medal. Hope the kids know and appreciate that.
TSN.ca Staff
1/5/2011 9:53:21 AM
Team USA and Team Sweden will face off on the final day of the World Junior Championships, but the stakes won't be what they expected when the puck dropped at the beginning of this year's tournament. The two talented clubs will play for the bronze medal on Wednesday, after they fell short of their quests for gold.
Watch the game live at 3:30pm et/12:30pm pt on TSN, TSN.ca and TSN Mobile. Then, tune in to see the gold medal game between Canada and Russia at 7pm et/4pm pt on TSN, TSN.ca and TSN Mobile.
Playing on what was expected to be their home ice, the Americans quickly found out that Buffalo's proximity to the Canadian border was problematic. Canadian fans packed the HSBC and when they weren't rooting Team Canada on, they were often supporting whichever club was playing against the U.S.
For the majority of the tournament that didn't seem to matter, as the United States wore the label of tournament favourite well, dispatching their competition and going undefeated heading into the semifinals. However, in their semifinal encounter with Team Canada, when the Canadians put pressure on the U.S., the pro-Canada crowd seemed to bury the Americans, ultimately sealing the game for the Canadians.
Goaltender Jack Campbell, who helped lead the team to a gold medal a year ago, made 37 saves in the loss to Canada and did all he could to keep the U.S. in the game. Despite the disappointing result in the semis, Campbell has had another strong tournament, posting a 4-1 record with a 1.63 goals against average and a .940 save percentage.
Much like the U.S., Sweden was considered to be a potential gold medal winner prior to the tournament. They solidified that when they were able to get past Canada 6-5 in a shootout at the end of round robin.
However, when their semifinal date with the Russians also ended up in a shootout, the result wasn't as favourable. After watching a late third period lead get erased, Sweden had their chances in the extra frame but were unable to capitalize.
Sweden has been without one of their top players and a possible top 10 selection next year's NHL Draft, Gabriel Landeskog, who has been sidelined with a sprained left ankle.
This marks the fourth year that Team Sweden has gone undefeated in the preliminary round, unfortunately for the Swedes they don't have a gold medal to show for it.
A win would give Sweden their second consecutive bronze medal, after they dominated Switzerland 11-4 in the same game last year.
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TSN STATS PACK for SWE/USA:
SWE won bronze last year, USA last won bronze in 2007
US has gone 9-0-1 over their past 10 meetings vs SWE, SWE last winning in 1998
USA:
US has never won a medal in 4 previous tournaments on home soil
US has a shooting% of 8, only NOR and GER have been worse
50% of the US goals came on the PP 8/16
US has no players with more then 2G, Coyle (5GP, 2G, 4A) only player avg a PT per game
Campbell is 2nd in the tournament in sv%, .940
SWE:
SWE has won 2 medals in the US, 1996-silver-Boston, 1989-silver-Anchorage
SWE has the tournaments 8th ranked team sv% .898
Cehlin (4) leads SWE in goals and PTS (6)
Lehner is ranked 9th in sv% .906
SWE allowed 4G in their first three games, and have allowed 8 over the past 2
I don`t know what to expect today in this game. It`s a game that neither team expected to play---but that being said if the kids come out wearing their hearts on their sleeves this may end up being the better of the games today to watch. A lot of eyes from "upstairs" will be watching these kids today to see both how they play and how they handle the let down of playing for the bronze medal. Hope the kids know and appreciate that.
TSN.ca Staff
1/5/2011 9:53:21 AM
Team USA and Team Sweden will face off on the final day of the World Junior Championships, but the stakes won't be what they expected when the puck dropped at the beginning of this year's tournament. The two talented clubs will play for the bronze medal on Wednesday, after they fell short of their quests for gold.
Watch the game live at 3:30pm et/12:30pm pt on TSN, TSN.ca and TSN Mobile. Then, tune in to see the gold medal game between Canada and Russia at 7pm et/4pm pt on TSN, TSN.ca and TSN Mobile.
Playing on what was expected to be their home ice, the Americans quickly found out that Buffalo's proximity to the Canadian border was problematic. Canadian fans packed the HSBC and when they weren't rooting Team Canada on, they were often supporting whichever club was playing against the U.S.
For the majority of the tournament that didn't seem to matter, as the United States wore the label of tournament favourite well, dispatching their competition and going undefeated heading into the semifinals. However, in their semifinal encounter with Team Canada, when the Canadians put pressure on the U.S., the pro-Canada crowd seemed to bury the Americans, ultimately sealing the game for the Canadians.
Goaltender Jack Campbell, who helped lead the team to a gold medal a year ago, made 37 saves in the loss to Canada and did all he could to keep the U.S. in the game. Despite the disappointing result in the semis, Campbell has had another strong tournament, posting a 4-1 record with a 1.63 goals against average and a .940 save percentage.
Much like the U.S., Sweden was considered to be a potential gold medal winner prior to the tournament. They solidified that when they were able to get past Canada 6-5 in a shootout at the end of round robin.
However, when their semifinal date with the Russians also ended up in a shootout, the result wasn't as favourable. After watching a late third period lead get erased, Sweden had their chances in the extra frame but were unable to capitalize.
Sweden has been without one of their top players and a possible top 10 selection next year's NHL Draft, Gabriel Landeskog, who has been sidelined with a sprained left ankle.
This marks the fourth year that Team Sweden has gone undefeated in the preliminary round, unfortunately for the Swedes they don't have a gold medal to show for it.
A win would give Sweden their second consecutive bronze medal, after they dominated Switzerland 11-4 in the same game last year.
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TSN STATS PACK for SWE/USA:
SWE won bronze last year, USA last won bronze in 2007
US has gone 9-0-1 over their past 10 meetings vs SWE, SWE last winning in 1998
USA:
US has never won a medal in 4 previous tournaments on home soil
US has a shooting% of 8, only NOR and GER have been worse
50% of the US goals came on the PP 8/16
US has no players with more then 2G, Coyle (5GP, 2G, 4A) only player avg a PT per game
Campbell is 2nd in the tournament in sv%, .940
SWE:
SWE has won 2 medals in the US, 1996-silver-Boston, 1989-silver-Anchorage
SWE has the tournaments 8th ranked team sv% .898
Cehlin (4) leads SWE in goals and PTS (6)
Lehner is ranked 9th in sv% .906
SWE allowed 4G in their first three games, and have allowed 8 over the past 2