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U-17 Five Nations Tournament in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Aug 9

Posted by EB in News | No Comments

All local Michiganders looking for up and coming hockey players from across the globe will want to catch the Under-17 Five Nations Tournament being held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this week. Those not local are still able to watch streams of the games provided here.

The tournament kicked off Tuesday, August 9, and will run through Saturday, August 13.  Teams from the Czech Republic, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland and the United States will all participate. A full roster for team USA can be found on the USA Hockey website.

The tournament will feature a round-robin format where each team plays each other once with two games taking place on each day. The team with the highest point total at the end of the tournament will be crowned champions.

This is the first time that the U-17 Five Nations Tournament is being held in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and for many of the USA participants, it’s the first time wearing a USA sweater in international competition.

“It’s a huge honor,” said 15-year old goalie Devin Williams, who hails from Saginaw, Michigan.

The U.S. team has never played together before and will only be together for 11 days, something the coaching staff doesn’t believe will hinder the team’s success.

“We’re going to rely on our guys’ hockey sense,” said USA head coach Bob Corkum said. “We have a very good skating club, we have a lot of skill on both offense and defense.”

If you’re in the area, tickets for the games are only $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and children for a day pass that allows access to both games played during the day of purchase. A week-long pass can also be purchased for $40 for adults and $20 for seniors and children.

The tournament bracket and schedule is as follows:

8/9

Germany v Slovakia, 3 PM Est

USA v Czech Republic, 7 PM Est

 8/10

Czech Republic v Switzerland, 3 PM Est

Germany v USA, 7 PM Est

 8/11

Czech Republic v Germany, 3 PM Est

Slovakia v Switzerland, 7 PM Est

 8/12

Switzerland v Germany, 3 PM Est

USA v Slovakia, 7 PM Est

 8/13

Slovakia v Czech Republic, 3 PM Est

Switzerland v USA, 7 PM Est

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World Championships to Award Medals Sunday

May 14

Posted by Eddie in News | No Comments

Tomorrow afternoon, two Nordic nations will play for the right to be called World Champions. Sweden and Finland will play each other in the championship game for the third time since 1992. They are currently ranked third (Sweden) and fourth (Finland) in the most recent IIHF World Rankings.

The Finns have not won the annual international tournament since 1995, when they defeated the same nation on Swedish soil in Stockholm. They will have the weight of an entire country on their shoulders, as most of the players were anywhere between toddler and teenage years when Saku Koivu led his country to the championship as a young Montreal Canadiens prospect.

Playing the underdog role in the broad landscape of European hockey due to the dominance of Sweden and Russia, Finland has played for gold four times since 1995; falling to Sweden (1998), Czech Republic twice (1999 and 2001) and Canada (2007).

The Finns are led by Jarkko Immonen, who is the leading scorer in the tournament. His 11 points in eight games have come via eight goals and three assists. Yesterday we profiled Mikael Granlund, and the young forward is the teams second-leading scorer and could play a role in setting up other players as he is second in the tournament with six assists.

Since losing to the Finns in 1995, Sweden has earned a medal 10 times. In that span, it has consisted of two golds (1998 and 2006), three silvers (all losses to Canada) and five bronze. If the Swedes wish to add another gold to their collection, they have to find a way to figure out how to get pucks past goalie Petri Vehanen, who has allowed seven goals in 328 minutes. For those keeping score at home, he has a 1.28 GAA and a .950 save percentage. Just like Finland, the Swedes have firepower both in goal and at the forward position.

Patrik Berglund is second in points with 10. Berglund is tied with Immonen with eight goals, but Berglundhas a +6 rating compared to Immonens +1 rating. Sweden goalie Viktor Fasth leads the tournament in save percentage (.968), goals against-average (1.00), and shutouts (3). His three clean sheets are 1/3of the entire shutouts recorded in the entire tournament. Of goalies that have played 40 or more percentage of their teams games, Fasth is tied with Jonathan Bernier of Canada with least goals allowed with six. The difference is that Bernier played 42 percent of his teams minutes compared to 74 percent of Fasth.

The bronze medal game will take place prior to the gold medal game between Czech Republic and Russia. Both games will take place in Bratislavia, Slovakia. The co-host city (along with Kosice) is located in the west end of the nation, and borders Austria and Hungary. The bronze medal game will take place at 10:00 a.m. EDT, while the goal medal game will start at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

Another fact dealing with tomorrow’s games: In the two times Sweden has defeated Finland in the championship game, Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic has won the bronze medal. When Finland won in 1995, Czech Republic lost the bronze medal game to Canada.

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NHL will open 2010-2011 Season Overseas

Sep 7

Posted by EB in News | 5 Comments

The Phoenix Coyotes and Boston Bruins will travel oversees for the beginning of the 2010-2011 season playing at O2 Arena Prague, Czech Republic. Phoenix and Boston will play their two first games against each other on Saturday, October 9th and Sunday, October 10th.

The Carolina Hurricanes and the Minnesota Wild will face off at Hartwell Areena in Helsinki, Finland on Thursday, October 7th and Friday, October 8th.

The Columbus Blue Jackets and the San Jose Sharks compete in a conference square off in Stockholm, Sweden. The two teams will play both Friday, October 8th and Saturday, October 9th at Ericsson Globe Arena.

The oversees games are a continuing business move to increase fans across the globe. Last season, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Florida Panthers opened in Helsinki. Sales on Friday and Saturday broke the Hartwall Areena record for highest merchandise sales ever for a hockey game at that venue. Merchandise sales also saw and increase of 52% from the 2008 numbers.

Be it that you are for or oppose the NHL’s move to attract more fans, it seems it is here to say and for the right reason. The move increases global audience as some competitors such as the NFL already have.

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What is Hockey?

Dec 28

Posted by EB in Soap Box | 6 Comments

The preliminary rounds of the International Ice Hockey Federation World Under 20 Championships are under way and some superb hockey is being played. I highly encourage you to watch some of the games, especially USA and Canada on New Year’s Eve.

Despite all the talented players from around the world, I am drawn to focus on minuscule detail of two games. Sweden beat the Czech Republic 10 – 1 and Canada defeats Latvia 16 – 0.  In the wake of all this, the focus is on records being broken and not that of what hockey stands for.

Hockey is a team sport that teaches many things that are not only used on the ice but off the ice as well. Growing up, I remember after every game shaking the hands of the opponent. To this day, I still shake hands with the opponent after the game in my recreational league. Why? Simple; team sportsmanship.

Perhaps I am old school, but you should never defeat a team so badly as Sweden and Canada has done to their opponent. Not only is it disrespectful to the opponent, but disrespectful to the game of hockey itself. It saddens me that any coach would allow their team to do such a thing, and even more saddened, that fans would encourage such things.

Maybe because they are young, maybe because Canada is showing off for their home crowd, maybe Sweden is trying to prove their capability, maybe this or that, either way, I hope both teams are humbled by the end of the tournament.

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