tough game today nameless one!!!

Didnt watch it tbh...

Ha, the problem with that is that Finland has been doing that for years and years and it has never worked so now Shedden is trying something different and guess what... it is working for the first time the Finns are not chocking and coming back to win the big games.

I am a Finn and I loved it when Shedden was asked in YLE about the fights at the end of the game.

He was all smiles when he said that he was proud of how the Finns stood up to the Americans, completely contrary to what Westerlund and others before would have said.

And yes, you win with your bread and butter players not the entire team if that is what is called for.

Lest I forget, that first goal was bullshit, but Finland played better than USA and deserved the win.

Here's my 2 cents on the game:

First of all, that first Finnish goal should have never allowed. Never! Instead of firing the video judge the IIHF should have a collection on his behalf and pay him a good eye surgeon so that at least some of his vision could be returned! ;-)

Edit: They should however edit the poor b***ard who hired a blind person as a video judge!

And that brings us to the officiating. Now, what to say, where to start? First it looked like those referees were listening some samba music on ipods and whistling with the music, so odd were the calls. Hopefully that duo can watch the rest of the games from the stands, as on the ice thou should have no access.

USA didn't fall directly because of that bad goal, IMO they lost because they lost their cool because of the bad call on that goal. It could have been any bad call by the referee against USA, as it appeared the young team wasn't able to control their emotions after that and that caused them to make bad first passes leading into turnovers and counterattacks by the Finns. And you have to remember USA got outshot 45 - 22, so it was also because of Esches superb play that the game as as close as it was. Goalies can win games, yes, but if they don't (dispite great game) then you need to be able to see what went wrong with the rest of the team.

The off to tonights game. I'm quite sure it will be a good one, at least if the referees allow the teams to play this time. Canada has a great team built (again) this year, there is no denying that fact. On the other hand, beeing the underdog has allways suited the Finnish mentality better than beeing the favourite. The match has indeed potential, given that both clubs like to play physical, in-your-face type of hockey with hard hitting. So I think I'll head to the shop now and refill my fridge with few beers so that they'll be nice and cold once the puck drops at 22:30 local time.

So cheers!

Well, dryden, we can agree to disagree. Maybe you choose to misunderstand some of my points, yes, of course Canada plays as a team as well, of course Jokinen and Selänne can be called scorers, of course Shedden is allowed to try out stuff.

I'm just looking at these things from a different point of view, and perhaps with a different understanding than you since I am a Finn, and much of my analysis is ALWAYS coloured with humor and should not be taken as a challenge to argue .

I can acknowledge that you have good points too, perhaps you can admit that Shedden - though he comes from God's Chosen Country - might be wrong sometimes.

In the end, however, I will stand by my Lions till the bitter/sweet/bittersweet end.

man, somebody at the iihf seems to have cojones

OK, Finland won fairly IMO irrespective of the disputed goal but this just shows that there is a huuuge bias against the Americans in particular. I am 100% sure the video ref in question was a Canadian and that he miscalled it on purpose. I also heard from one of our commentators this -- the Americans prepare printed materials before each game containing stats and other information and before one game at least the Can person responsible for the distribution of said materials just dumped them in a rubbish bin. Who needs that? I know, i know there's alot of passion but don't push it beyond what's reasonable, ok?

People doing stuff like should just be fired, that is just damn childish.

I am just wonder why the iihf says that the video ref has been exclused for the rest of the wc08, what about next years? Will that person be back as a ref?

Are you certain he was Canadian because you read it in a serious newspaper article? Because it sure as hell doesn't make sense. Why would he help the team that battles Canada for the top spot in the group? It would have been smarter for him to help out the States, since they can't take away our group lead anymore.

No, this time it's not because i read about it in any newspaper article.

Aren't video refs local officials attached to the arenas? i think they are. But even if they are not there is still a good chance that he is a local because surely iihf cannot bring with them that many officials.

Even if he is Canadian, it doesn't change anything of course, he still should be fired.
Just doesn't make sense is all I'm saying.

Well perhaps it's not about making sense... perhaps it's not about calculating how to help TC to win... all Canadians are very decent people who of course would never do that... if it is true, it could be, say, because of an anti-American bias which i think is there

well ...this far ,best explanation of our first goal has become from our friend Elmo :
"Immediately after those refs allowed that Koistinen's goal, actually I started laughing cause first reaction of course was that video judge have yelled 'no goal' on the phone, but as Russian refs don't speak so much English only thing they picked was goal; I could even imagine that ....well he said something about the goal, so I guess it was then "

Hey Schooley. You're just like me, only take the real interest to these boards when its international hockey and Canada's playing. Not so tuned into NHL.

Tell everyone the story behind your moniker, please.

...nothing pervert......please