Back at it this morning… Hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday. A reminder that tonight’s Kings-Ducks game is a 6 p.m. start. Today also kicks off the World Junior Championships, the top international tournament under-20 players. The United States pulled off the dramatic win last year, and this year’s USA team includes defenseman Derek Forbort, the Kings’ first-round pick from June. Canada’s team includes Kings prospect Brayden Schenn while Russia features Kings prospect Maxim Kitsyn.
Round-robin play starts today in Buffalo, with Canada playing Russia at 1 p.m. Pacific time and the United States playing Finland at 5 p.m. Pacific time. Both of today’s games will be live on the NHL Network.
i wish i could watch the games! i dont get the NHL network, unfortunatly. GO USA!!!!!!!!!
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Just want to let everyone know that tonight’s game will be legally available on the internet to those who don’t otherwise have access to it, at “Hockey Night on Y!”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/hockeynight/2010122608
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also covered on TSN in Canada perhaps satilite or cable will carry in California??
big event for many teams, in watching the Canadians we have no real superstars and our scoring in pre-tournament games have come from 14 different players, big challenge to do it by committee rather than some big scoring names.
I suspect somehow or someway US vs. Canada in the finals, then who knows it Buffalo??
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Cant wait to see kitsyn in action. Hopefully Schenn dominates and gives us Kings fan a pleasant glimpse of the future.
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I’m actually going to root for Russia and Kitsyn, simply as a Kings fan who wants to see an OV type player in the orginization,,,the only flag I care about (in Hockey) is the one with a crown on it!
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Big Rob in Dallas Reply:
December 26th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
@Ravens, I was watching last years WJC on NHL network this morning. The games are fun to watch. I like how the defense is not so suffocating like in the NHL. I looked up Kitsyn after your comment as I interpreted OV to be Ovechkin . He is 19th on Hockeys future and has a rating of 7/D. I know that is just opinion and maybe old. Let’s hope he breaks out for Russia and goes onto great things. We are clearly an elite sniper away from being one of the the best in the NHL.
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I am going to watch Forbert closely ,in our future he may be key?
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I’m also one of those that cares more about the players that might/will wear the crown than any country.
Again to those who are starved for hockey info and don’t already have the NHL Network on their cable or what ever, that is the key to getting several times more information than normally available in the Southern California area (and I’m sure many other areas as well). Only ended up costing me another $5.00/month. Well worth it imho.
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For me the Kings are well represented. So Canada can have the silver. Go USA!
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I don’t understand the apathy for our US national team and it’s program.
It’s perhaps unfamiliar territory for Americans to be the underdogs we are in hockey and soccer. Maybe Americans really aren’t the supporters of underdogs and lost causes anymore.
But, that’s a right, indifference.
Last years gold medal for Team USA was a very sweet victory after the criticism leveled at the 08-09 squad. It’s nice to see that these generally undersupported American programs can perform well and admirably on the largest stages (here I am referencing the USA soccer teams good showing at the World Cup as well).
I’m sure the Canadian team will be expecting to retreive the Gold on American soil. Whatever the outcome I hope that the US team isn’t embarrassed by a lack of support from home fans during the tournament. As with soccer games between the US and Mexico it is humiliating to have the home field and get only 20% support during the game. I guess Kings fans are somewhat familiar with this unfortunate dilemma from when the Redwings come to town.
I’ll be watching Forbort closely and hoping he performs better than Hickey and Teubert did in their WJC’s
go go USA!
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Don’t expect Canada to be flashy, they will be physical, this team is not as skilled as last year, but they makeup for this in physical play.
Canada will have some firepower, but this isn’t a Taylor Hall, Eberle fueled offense, more dump and chase, get in low and cycle the puck to generate offense.
This should be a very physical WJC this year, can’t wait!
Go USA!
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Kitsyn scored the first goal for Russia against Canada. Schenn just had a nice rush 2 on 1 but missed his shot high. They have only had great things to say about Schenn, including that he kept the team calm while Canada went down 1-0.
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wavesinair Reply:
December 26th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
@markisonfire, “They” are the announcers who are BEYOND Canadian homers. The broadcast is so lopsided that they didn’t even replay the Russian goal between periods. But yeah, Schenn looks good.
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markisonfire Reply:
December 26th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
@wavesinair, Oh, I fully agree, trust me. But regardless, they interviewed him, and whether or not he did any of that stuff, I like that they are talking about him. 3-2 Canada right now, by the way.
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wavesinair Reply:
December 26th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
@markisonfire, Me too.
Looks like it’s going to be a high scoring game!
BobkovBankShot, say it 10 times fast, it’s fun!
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And the Russians come back… 2-2. Good game. It’s always nice to see a goalie named Roy get beat.
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3-3 at the end of the second period. Kitsyn was in front of the net screening the goalie pretty hard on the Russians’ third goal, a power play goal.
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Kitsyn and Schenn both look good.
If you don’t have NHL Network, Kitsyn is tall, rangy left winger who is a right handed shot. He wears #13 like Valery Kamensky and looks a little like him. He goes to the net consistently and appears to have pretty good hands. He’s playing on the first line.
Schenn looks faster out there and is hitting like most of the Canadians. He looks like he’s trying to do a little too much on his own as though he’s not quite on the same page as his teammates. He has been one of the better players on the ice.
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Schenn gets PP goal
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wavesinair Reply:
December 26th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
@anonymous 310,
The goal…
http://deepinsidethekings.com/2010/12/26/schenn-almost-fans-and-scores/
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Didn’t see a penalty there…
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