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Boy did I so love Jone's goal against Germany, a play that a "smart" player makes and wow how did he put that shot where he did? Sorry Portland but if there is an NHL next season then that is where Jones will play.
And the J.T. Miller critics should be joining me in this meal of crow but they won't as really Miller could score 6 goals and people will trash him. To me what stood out the most wasn't his goal but how effective he was going to the net and screening the German goalie.
Not sure where the stat folks got their info from but Team USA killed more than 4 penalties against Germany. For a while it looked like the USA team was using last year's New York Ranger power play.
The US needs to become more blue collar on their power plays instead of trying to make the perfect play as they did against Germany. While it was nice to see 8 different goal scorers; it would be better if someone stepped up as a scoring leader and ran the power play.
And while the others are going to complain about all the penalties; I won't because the USA (and Canada) play a different game than the rest of the world. Expect these "touch" calls to continue and hope that the special teams will keep the other team off the scoresheet.
The best thing that the US did by winning 8-0 was it turned the standings upside down and it puts more pressure on Russia and Canada. Goal differential is a very important stat when it comes down to deciding which team gets the bye into the semi-finals.
As I am writing this Slovakia has already taken 1-0 lead over Canada and boy would that just freak out the folks to the north if they were to lose. Even if Slovakia loses, every goal they score cuts down the goal differential for the Canadians and helps Team USA.
If the US can defeat Russia in regulation then they will just about clinch a ticket into the medal round. 3 points would give the US a 6-2 edge in points with 2 games remaining.
Go Slovakia go as watching the Canadians on the TSN blog freaking out is just as much fun as beating on the Islanders. Canada's lack of self-discipline just cost them a 5 minute major on contact to the head.
And because this will be a second incident involving a Canadian player then watch the suspensions increase with each incident. Team USA had best watch this carefully.
Back to Action
The rest of the CHL and College teams are starting to play after the holiday break ends but tonight only Michael St. Croix (NYR 2011 4th) and his Edmonton Oil Kings saw action.
(Slovakia makes Canada pay for dirty shot by scoring to grab a 2-0 lead in 1st)
St. Croix earns the game's 3rd star but Edmonton loses one to the Red Deer Rebels 5-3 on home ice. What a crazy game as the 2 teams combined for 96 shots on goal but Edmonton was their own worst enemy tonight.
The Rebels had a 3-0 lead before the game was even 6 minutes old and the Oil Kings trying to catch up the rest of the way. St. Croix got the Oil Kings on the board with his 20th goal of the season at the 12:17 mark of the first to make 3-1.
Edmonton scored to make it 3-2 before the first period ended but Red Deer scored an early goal in the 2nd period to make it 4-2. St. Croix earned a secondary assist on the Oil King's 3rd goal but that was as close as the Oil Kings would get.
St. Croix with his 1-1-2 is now 20-26-46 good for 9th in the WHL scoring race.
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