2012 World Championships Update

While some NHL-centric hockey fans deride the World Championships for it's often early lopsided scores and the fact many star players are still busy with their NHL seasons, the tournament inevitably provides some amazing games, with Thursday's 2012 World Championships Quarterfinals being exhibit #1.

Why is this bird so angry? He's at a hockey game!

The day started out bright and early in North America with Canada and Slovakia facing off at 6 AM eastern time. Canada, considered a clear favorite based on it's higher ranking internationally, having already defeated Slovakia 3-2 in their opening game of the tournament, and having won Group H.

That assumption was called into question when Slovakia opened the scoring when Tomas Kopecky converted at 5:57 of the opening period and captain Miroslav Satan stomped that notion into dust with the second Slovak goal before the period was even half over. Canada recovered with an Evander Kane goal at 16:14 from Ryan Getzlaf at 16:14.

Canada looked to be back in control with second period goals from Jeff Skinner and Alex Burrows to give the Canadians confidence heading into the third period of their elimination game.

If Canada thought they were going to shut down Slovakia, that plan went awry when Milan Bartovic evened the game, setting up a dramatic rest of the period. Canada outshot Slovakia 13-11, but the game turned when Getzlaf was whistled for a major penalty for kneeing Juraj Mikus at 57:28 as well as being ejected from the game.

With the extra man, Slovakia wasted no time in scoring when Michal Handzus fired one by Cam Ward just four seconds after the penalty call to put his team up 4-3 with only 2:28 remaining, but Slovakia remaining on the power play following Getzlaf's major for the rest of the game. Canada pulled Ward for a chance at 5-on-5 play, but, despite some real effort and pressure, could not get the equalizer and Slovakia held on to win and advance to today's Semifinals in Helsinki.

Following that dramatic turn of events, heavily favored Russia took to the ice against this year's darlings of the tournament, Norway, who came into the game with a four game winning streak. If anyone expected Russia to steamroll the Norwegians, they too were in for a surprise, as the first Russian goal from Alexander Ovechkin was answered by Per-Åge Skrøder for Norway.

While the period ended 2-1 in favor of Russia, following a goal by Alexander Popov at 14:09, the Norwegians let it be known they were not going to be taken lightly when the tournament's leading scorer Patrick Thoresen netted his 7th goal and 18th point just 28 seconds into the second period on a power play which had carried over from the first.

Despite being outshot 29-13 up to this point, the second intermission arrived with the game still tied at 2-2, giving the Russians a reason for concern.

The depth of the Russians prevailed in the third period, beginning with a goal by Alexei Yemelin just under a minute into the third. Nikoali Zherdev tilted the ice even more in favor of the Russians to make it 4-2 at 10:43 and a power play goal by Ilya Nikulin sealed the fate of Norway at 14:52, but the fans in Stockholm certainly knew they were there. Despite being eliminated, Norway's good show of form elevated them into a guaranteed spot for the 2014 Olympic hockey tournament as they rose into the top nine.

The afternoon game was a rematch of the United States 5-0 pasting of Finland just days earlier, but this was a different affair, as the first period ended scoreless despite the USA outshooting Finland 10-7.

The Finns scored first 3:27 into the second in their tight battle with the Americans. The US responded just 21 seconds later when Kyle Palmieri scored to tie the game once again.

The US went ahead at 1:39 of the third on Bobby Ryan's goal, but no one thought that would be the final goal of the contest. While it would take until 13:02 for the next goal to arrive, it did arrive for Finland when Mikko Koivu, Finland's captain, got one past Jimmy Howard while Jack Johnson was trying to defend him without a stick.

Just as the game looked to be going to overtime, Petri Kontiola centered the puck from behind the American goal to Jesse Joensuu, who buried the puck with only nine seconds remaining in the game to send the home fans into a frenzy and win the game for Finland, keeping them on track to become the first host to win the World Championship since the Soviet Union back in 1986.

After three great games, we were due for a letdown in the night's final game between favored Sweden (6-0-1) and the Czech Republic, who had lost two games, including a 4-1 loss earlier to Sweden.

Sweden got the game off to the expected start with a Loui Eriksson goal at 7:10, only to have the Czechs respond with a goal by Petr Nedved, playing in his first World Championships at the age of 40! Then, Jan Novotny's goal at 16:56 put the Czechs ahead and put Sweden on notice they were in for a game.

The second period made it just past the half way point when Martin Erat put the Czechs up by two at 10:27. That lead lasted nearly through the end of the period when Henrik Zetterberg's great individual effort pulled Sweden back to within one with just 45 seconds remaining.

Jonathan Ericsson wasted little time evening the score 45 seconds into the third period (effectively giving Sweden two goals in a minute and a half) setting up yet another tight run to the finish line for the third time on the day. It was an evenly played period, with the shots favoring Sweden 10-9. Sweden killed off the only penalty of the period and again, the game looked to be headed for an overtime until Milan Michaek took the game into his own hands, fighting off Niklas Persson in the corner with one arm and reaching up to poke the puck away from Niklas Kronwall with the other. He then broke free, skated in on goaltender Viktor Fasth and put a tight shot up and over Fasth's shoulder and into the roof of the net with just 29 seconds left in the game to put the Czech Republic into the Semifinals in dramatic fashion, capping an amazing day of close games and surprising finishes.

The Semifinals are being held today, with first Russia facing off against the host Finland followed by the Czech Republic taking on their rivals from Slovakia in the second game with the losers of today's games meeting on Sunday for the bronze medal followed by the winners in the gold medal game later on.

In Canada, TSN will have the first Semifinal live at 7:15 AM eastern, followed by the second at 11:15 AM. Sunday they will have the Bronze Medal Game at 8:45 AM and the Gold Medal Game at 1:15 PM.

The United States will only get one of the semifinals, which will be shown on NBC Sports on a tape delay at 9 PM eastern time and the Gold Medal Final airing Sunday night, also at 9 PM. Die-hard fans in the US who wish to watch the games live can always try to find them shown online.

2012 World Championships Update

It was another memorable day at the 2012 World Championships in Helsinki and Stockholm. The first game of the day saw the United States regroup after their disappointing overtime win over last place Kazakhstan and shock the home fans with a 5-0 blanking of Finland. The United States opened the scoring at 16:19 of the first period and extend their lead to 3-0 after two, but ever mindful of the comebacks by Canada and Russia on Friday, no one thought this one was in the bank for the Americans until they extended their lead to 5-0 by the fifth minute of the third period. For the game, the US outshot Finland 31-18 in a dominating performance which lifts them into second place behind Canada's 16 points with 13.

Finland and Slovakia are now at 12 following Slovakia's tight 1-0 win over Switzerland later in the day. All four teams have played the number of games with 6, and all look to be moving on to the playoffs, as it would take a virtual miracle for France to defeat both Belarus and Slovakia to just draw even with Slovakia on points.

In Group S, Russia continued to play stellar defense in a 2-0 shutout over the Czech Republic. To date, Russia has only allowed 8 goals in 6 games, the lowest in the tournament.

The late game in Stockholm was a critical battle for the fourth an final transfer spot to the playoffs and mighty, mighty Norway steamrolled Germany 12-4. Yes, 12-4. Christoph Schubert summed it up thusly, "It was probably one of the worst days in German hockey history."

Patrick Thoresen scored twice in the first minute and half for a quick 2-0 lead. They would add a third goal before the first period had ended and pumped in six straight in the second before Germany managed their first. The teams then traded goals throughout the third period for the final score as Thoresen finished with 3 goals and 6 points, Mads Hansen had 5, Morten Ask 4, Per-Age Skrøder 3 and five others had 2 each for the victors. The Norwegian outburst was all the more impressive when you consider their first three goals chased German goaltender Dennis Endras, the 2010 World Championships MVP, from the net, and he returned for the third period only to give up three more.

Norway now looks to be in the diver's seat for fourth place with 10 points, as Latvia, with a game in hand, is 4 points back, with Germany now eliminated. Latvia must now win both of their remaining games against Denmark and Sweden to gain a minimum of 5 points to surpass Norway, who now are a +12 over Latvia in goal differential and have a final game against winless Denmark remaining on their schedule.

Tomorrow's schedule has must-win games for France against Belarus and Latvia against Denmark. Finland looks to right their ship against Kazakhstan and Russia meets Italy in what should be an easy one for the Group S leaders.

2012 World Championships Update

It's been quite an exciting 48 hours at the 2012 IIHF World Championships. First, the United States threw away a point by allowing winless Kazakhstan to take them to overtime on Friday morning. Fortunately for the Americans and their fans, they managed to score the game winner with less than 30 seconds remaining in overtime and avoid the unpredictable shootout.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic was defeating overmatched Italy at the same time by a score of 6-0 in Group S play.

After a break, the evening games got underway, featuring two fine matchups that frankly should have been slotted in for the final day of group play based on the pre-tournament rankings.

In their game with Canada, Finland led 2-0 after one period and 3-1 at the halfway point of the game. Canada then got goals from John Tavares and Jeff Skinner to even the game by the second intermission.

After trailing for over a half an hour, Canada finally had their first lead at the 6:04 mark of the third and added an empty net goal in the final 30 seconds to ruin the host Finland's perfect record and take first place in the group.

Meanwhile in Stockholm, Sweden scored first in their game with Russia at 5:57 before Alexander Popov tied it at at 10:27. Sweden's Henrik Zetterberg (at 14:33 of the first) and his Detroit Red Wings teammate Johan Franzen (at 9:36 of the second) pushed Sweden out to a 3-1 lead, but the second half of the game was a disaster for Sweden, as Evgeny Malkin's goal at he sixteen minute mark was followed by Alexi Yemelin's equalizer at 18:27, just like Canada's comeback in Helsinki.

It would take Russia only 15 seconds of the third period to surge ahead, a lead added to by Malkin at 2:40. He completed his hat trick at 11:08 and another goal just after the expiration of a power play with just under a minute to go make the final score 7-2 as the home team fell with a mighty thud for the second time after leading by two at the half way point of the game.

Today's first game had favored Slovakia defeat Belarus 5-1 followed by a surprise, as Norway had three even strength goals in support of goalkeeper Lars Haugen, who shut out Latvia 3-0 to leapfrog them for the final playoff spot in Group S.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament to date came next, as the French got out to a 2-0 lead before Switzerland tied the game with a pair of goals by Damien Brunner in under two minutes. The turning point came early in the third period, as Goran Bezina was sent off for checking to the head, giving France a power play, during which they scored twice in 44 seconds to give them all the margin they would need as they turned the game over to NHL veteran Christobal Huet who made 41 saves for the win.

Germany fell behind 1-0 to Denmark but came back to win 2-1 in their Group S game to keep Denmark winless and give each team 5 games played up to this point.

The two late games were one sided affairs, as Canada avoided the same effort which cost the United States as they romped to an 8-0 win over Kazakhstan and Sweden downed Italy 4-0 to rebound from their second half collapse against Russia.

Group H sees Canada (with an extra game played) atop the group with 16 points, followed by Finland at 12. The United States has 10 points and is trailed bySlovakia at 9 in the final playoff position. France and Switzerland are tied at 6 points, both with a 2-3 record, but both with games against Slovakia still remaining as a key opportunity to claim the final playoff spot.

Belarus has 3 points from their win over Kazakhstan, who look to have relegation in their future, as they have just 1 point and only a final game against Finland remaining which they must win in regulation to have any hope of survival.

The Group S standings favor Russia, who has 15 points and a win and a game in hand over Sweden, also at 15. The Czech Republic are looking very secure with 11 points in third, but Norway is engaged in a real battle for the all-important fourth position.

Norway has 7 points, closely followed by Latvia and Germany with 6. A key games for those three include Norway and Germany facing off on Sunday.

In the relegation struggle, Italy holds the edge with 2 points over Denmark's 1. The Danes have chances to add points with games remaining with Latvia and Norway, while Italy has a lone game remaining with powerhouse Russia. Assuming Italy falls in regulation, just getting to overtime twice would allow Denmark to remain in the top division for 2013.

Dasherboard

In today's Dasherboard, we take some time to catch up on news from the world of hockey.

First, sticking with the jersey theme of Third String Goalie, here are the Top Ten best selling jerseys on ShopNHL.com for the month of April.

#10 - Ryan Kesler - Vancouver Canucks
#9 - Patrick Kane - Chicago Blackhawks
#8 - Jonathan Toews - Chicago Blackhawks
#7 - Tim Thomas - Boston Bruins
#6 - Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh Penguins
#5 - Henrik Lundqvist - New York Rangers
#4 - Alexander Ovechkin - Washington Capitals
#3 - Ryan Callahan - New York Rangers
#2 - Tyler Seguin - Boston Bruins
#1 - Claude Giroux - Philadelphia Flyers

No surprise that all the players are from teams who qualified for the playoffs this season, but personally we were surprised that Crosby and Ovechkin were not only not the top two as usual, but that neither ranked anywhere in the top three. We wonder how the ShopNHL.com rankings would compare to IceJerseys.com's sales for the same period? We also wonder how sales of legitimate jerseys compare to the ubiquitous Asian knockoffs that are choking ebay and craigslist to death.

The second day of the 2012 World Championships saw all the favored teams hold serve, save perhaps the United States defeating Canada in overtime thanks to an unlucky penalty on Canada's John Tavares, who inadvertently swatted the puck over the glass with a single second remaining in regulation, giving the United States a 4-on-3 power play to begin overtime, which they converted after maintaining possession for the entire 1:47 until Jack Johnson scored the game winner. Tavares was just thrilled to be singled out as Canada's Best Player of the Game and having to pose for several photos afterward...

Combined with their opening game win over France, the United States sits atop Group H with 5 points to Canada's 4. (Teams are awarded 3 points for a win at the World Championships) All other teams in the group have played just one game as of the end of the day Saturday, and Switzerland and Finland each have 3 points while Slovakia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and France are all still at zero.

No surprises so far in Group S, where Sweden has 6 points after two wins after easily beating the Czech Republic 4-1. Russia, Germany, both with one game played, and the Czechs have 3 points while Norway, Denmark, Latvia and Italy are all looking to gain some valuable points in the standings now that the expected four teams are all ahead of them in the group.

There's a busy slate of games today with several close parings presenting an opportunity for some vital points for teams on the bubble of advancing. The full schedule is:

• France vs. Kazakhstan
• Denmark vs. Italy
• Finland vs. Slovakia
• Russia vs. Norway
• Switzerland vs. Belarus
• Germany vs. Latvia

Update: Early Sunday morning eastern time, France won their first game of the tournament, defeating Kazakhstan 6-3 and the first upset of the competition occurred when Italy got out to a 2-0 first period in the first period only go see Denmark come storming back with 3 goals in the first 12 minutes of the second period. Italy then regrouped to even the score two minutes later and then hold Denmark off the scoreboard the rest of the way before winning the game in the first minute of overtime.

Also from the World Championships, here is a brief look at the hard working staff of Nike dealing with approximately 650 jerseys needed during the tournament. If only we could get our jerseys customized that quickly...

In addition to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the World Championships, the three main Canadian junior hockey leagues have begun their final series to determine who will advance to the Memorial Cup, which will take place in Shawinigan, Quebec. The format calls for the host club, the Shawinigan Cataractes, a name which translates in English to "Waterfalls", to gain an automatic entry in the final four, while the other three clubs earn their way into the Memorial Cup by winning their league's championship.

The Ontario Hockey League playoffs have come down to the Niagara IceDogs and the London Knights, both the #1 seeded teams in their respective conferences. Niagara features highly rated Bruins prospect Dougie Hamilton among the three NHL first round draft picks on their roster, which include Mark Visentin (Phoenix) and Jamie Oleksiak (Dallas). London meanwhile has two first round picks, Russian Vladislav Namestnikov of Tampa Bay and American Jarred Tinordi of the Montreal Canadiens. The series is currently tied at 1-1 with Game 3 on Monday.

The Western Hockey League has the Edmonton Oil Kings, #1 in the east, taking on the Portland Winterhawks, who swept the #1 ranked Tri-City Americans in the west conference finals. Team captain Mark Pysyk (Buffalo) leads the Oil Kings while Sven Bartschi (Calgary) and Joe Morrow (Pittsburgh) are the first rounders in this series from the Winterhawks. Portland rebounded after losing Game 1 to tie the WHL Finals with Game 3 taking place later today.

The #1 seeded Saint John Sea Dogs are looking to repeat as Memorial Cup champions and must be favored to win the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship, as they are facing off against the upset minded Rimouski Oceanic, the seventh seed in the QMJHL playoff bracket. Nathan Beaulieu (Montreal), Charlie Coyle (Minnesota), Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida) and Zack Phillips (Minnesota) are the first round highlights an impressive IceDogs roster while second rounder Petr Straka (Columbus) of the Czech Republic is the highest drafted player from Rimouski. Despite their much higher seeding, Saint John has not had an easy task going up 2-0 in their final series, needing two overtimes in Game 1 to win 3-2 followed by another one goal margin of victory in their 3-2 win, this time accomplished in regulation.

The 2011 Memorial Cup champion Saint John Sea Dogs

Awaiting the three league champions will be the Cataraces, who feature defenseman Brandon Gormley (Phoenix), a first rounder in 2010.

The Memorial Cup begins on May 18th and runs all the way through the 27th.

The 2012 World Championships Preview

The 2012 World Championships begin today in Finland and Sweden, the first time the hosting of the World Championships has been divided between more than one nation since 1930 when it was shared by Germany, Austria and France.

This year's tournament sees the debut of an entirely new format, as instead of the previous four groups of four teams with the top three in each advancing to a second group stage, the new format sees two large groups of eight teams each, one based entirely in Helsinki and the other in Stockholm.

Another change is that once the Preliminary Round is completed, the top four teams in each group will advance to the Semifinals, to be played within your group, guaranteeing rematches of Preliminary Round matchups.

Not until the Semifinals will teams finally cross over to play squads from the opposite group once all the surviving teams have congregated in Helsinki at the Hartwall Arena for the remainder of the championship.

Helsinki's Hartwall Arena

Another big difference in the tournament comes with the abandonment of the Relegation Round, as the two last place teams in each group will be relegated, to be replaced by Division I Group A winners Slovenia and runners up Austria for 2013.

Personally, we are not fans of this change, as the Relegation Round was always of a certain interest to us, with the battle for survival having the spotlight all it's own for a day, usually in between the Semifinals and Medal Round games. As it stands now, the games which will be critical to the lower seeded teams survival will now be deeply embedded in the Preliminary Round on some random date, held opposite other higher profile matches featuring championship contenders. This chance will take away any drama the Relegation Round once generated, as the vital games which determined who is sent down will now not be apparent until the Preliminary Round is concluded and the previous results are examined after the fact.

The two groups this year are named Group H for Helsinki, and Group S for Stockholm. Group H features the hosts Finland (ranked #2 in the IIHF World Ranking), Canada (#4), the United States (#6), Switzerland (#7), Slovakia (#10), Belarus (#11), France (#14) and Kazakhstan (#16), while Group S has Russia (#1), Sweden (#3), the Czech Republic (#5), Germany (#8), Norway (#9), Latvia (#12), Denmark (#13) and Italy (#17).

Once the Preliminary Round concludes on May 15th, the Quarterfinals will happen two days later on May 17th, followed by the a travel/rest day and the Semifinals on May 19th and the Bronze and Gold Medal games the following day, Sunday, May 20th.

13 games of the World Championship can be seen in the United States on the NBC Sports Network , as they will show all seven Team USA preliminary games, all four Quarterfinals, a Semifinal and the Gold Medal game.

Vital games for the United States will be on May 5th vs. Canada, May 13th vs. Finland and their final Preliminary Round game against Switzerland on May 15th, yet they must avoid dropping any critical points to France, Slovakia, Belarus and Kazakhstan by either losing or even being taken to overtime.

Key players for the United States include defenseman Jack Johnson, Cam Fowler, Alex Goligoski and Justin Faulk, forwards Bobby Ryan, Kyle Okposo, Paul Stastny and Max Pacioretty as well as goaltender Jimmy Howard.

In Canada, 21 games will be on TSN and in French on RDS. Vital games for Canada will occur on May 5th against the United States and May 11th against Finland.

The Canadian lineup features forwards Evander Kane, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, John Tavares, Jamie Benn, Alex Burrows, Jeff Skinner, Patrick Sharp and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and a back line of Duncan Keith, Dion Phaneuf, Jay Bouwmeester and Luke Schenn playing in front of goalkeeper Cam Ward.

Other notable NHLers include Czechs Milan Nichalek, Tomas Plekanec, David Krejci, and Ales Hemsky as well as veteran Petr Nedved, Denmark's Jannik Hansen, Frans Nielsen and Lars Eller, Finns Mikko Koivu, Kari Lehtonen, Jussi Jokinen, Valtteri Filppula and Minnesota Wild prospect Mikael Granlund, Germany's Marcel Goc, Russians Semyon Varlamov, Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk, Switzerland's Mark Streit and Nino Niederreiter, Slovakia's Zdeno Chara, Tomas Kopecky, and veteran Miroslav Satan, Sweden's Jhonas Entroth, Niklas Kronwall, Loui Eriksson, Viktor Stalberg, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jonathan Ericsson, Victor Hedman, Gabriel Landeskog, Johan Franzen and Henrik Zetterberg as well as a number of familiar names now playing in Russia's KHL.

This will be the seventh time Finland has hosted the World Championship, with the first coming in 1965 in Tampere. They hosted again in 1974 and 1982, all three won by the powerful Soviet Union. 1991 saw Nordic rivals Sweden take the title followed by Canada in 1997 and 2003. The Finns will be looking to become the first host to win gold in an amazing 25 years, the last coming back in 1986 in Moscow. Finland has twice won the World Championship, first in a memorable 4-1 win over Sweden in Stockholm, and again just last year in Slovakia, which sends them into this year's tournament as not only hosts, but defending champions.

2011 World Champions Finland

In addition to the TV coverage, fans can also take the World Championships with them via the 2012 IIHF World Championships App for the iPhone by following this link and the Android version here. Also be sure to visit the IIHF's official channel on You Tube, their Facebook page as well as their twitter feed to stay on top of the action!

Today's featured jersey is a 1995 Finland National Team Janne Ojanen jersey. This is the same style jersey used in the 1994 Olympic games, and while branded as a Reebok jersey, they were produced by Tackla using the same mesh fabric and dye sublimation process. Visually, the only difference between the Olympic jerseys and the World Championship versions are the additions of the sponsorship patches to each arm.

The script could hardly have gone any better for Finland in 1995, as they defeated arch rivals Sweden in Sweden to claim their first World Championship.

Finland has a long history in the World Championships and Olympics, first appearing in 1939 and being regular participants since 1949, but did not earn their first medal until 1988 with a 2-1 win over the Soviet Union at the Olympics in Canada, a span of nearly 40 years. Their first World Championship success would come in 1992 with a silver medal in Czechoslovakia.

In 1995, the Finns were led by a line known as "Tupu, Hupu and Lupu", Finnish for Huey, Dewey and Louie, the nephews of Disney cartoon character Donald Duck.

Jere Lehtinen (Lupu), made his international debut at age 19 in the 1992 World Championships, Saku Koivu (Tupu) arrived in 1993, at age 19, in the World Championships and Ville Peltonen (Hupu) completed the line when they all played together in Pelotnen's international debut at the 1994 Olympics at age 20.

While Finland's past history was barren of medals and championships, "Tupu, Hupu and Lupu" entered the 1995 World Championships with Lehtonen (two silvers and a bronze in three years of international experience), Koivu (a silver and a bronze in two years) and Peltonen (a silver and a bronze after one year) as winners with high expectations.

They finished group play with a 3-1-1 record and easily advanced in the quarterfinals with a 5-0 win over France and got revenge for their only loss of the tournament against the Czech Republic in the form of another 3-0 shutout, only this time in favor of Finland, setting up the gold medal final against hosts Sweden.

Peltonen was the star of the show, scoring the first three goals of the game for a natural hat trick before assisting on the fourth Finnish goal to lead them to an eventual 4-1 win.

Here are the highlights from the 1995 World Championship gold medal final between victorious Finland and Sweden.

Here are scenes of the massive celebration on their return home to Finland, as they continue to adopt "Den Glider In" as their own. Don't miss the guy playing air guitar with the then World Championship trophy!

These scenes are proof that while the NHL might not take the World Championships nearly as seriously as they do the Olympics, it clearly still matters to Europeans.