Its been 2 months since the gold medal game between Canada and Sweden at the '09 World Junior Tournament in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and not only did Canada capture gold, it was their 5th consecutive...Canada has been dominant in this tournament ever since its existence and always produces a team with future NHL stars such as Sydney Crosby, Carey Price, and Ryan Getzlaf.....so it was no exception with this years team that they would have the same dominance with John Tavares and Cody Hodgson leading the way... However, the '09 USA Team definitely had their chance to capture gold with their roster... well if not gold then silver, well at least a bronze! However, it was a disappointing turnout for the Americans as the finished 5th with a 5-3 quarterfinals lost to Slovakia (credit to Slovakian goalie Jaroslav Janus) and a horrific performance by USA goalie Tom McCollum...
USA had a top line that any team would want...they had 2 top ten draft picks in the '07 and '08 drafts respectfully in Colin Wilson (Boston University) and James vanRiemsdyk (University of New Hampshire) and a definite first rounder in this years draft in Jordan Schroeder (University of Minnesota)...The three of them were dominate in the opening round and finished with a combined total of 30 points with vanRiemsdyk leading in goals and Schroeder leading in assists...USA breezed through Germany (8-2), won a hard fought battle against the Czechs 4-3 (McCollum was bad in that game), crushed Kazakhstan 12-0, and lost a heart breaker to Canada 7-3 after being up 3-0...USA finished the preliminary round with 3 wins and 1 loss....
USA drew Slovakia in the first round and many thought the US would breeze through and face Canada in a very anticipated semi-final rematch...not so fast...McCollum played like any goalie would do against a team that he and the rest of the world thinks they could beat...he was lazy...got beat with shots that a first round draft pick should of stopped and never re
ally let his team have a chance to win...I was never was sold on McCollum to begin with...I never liked USA to go with a major junior goalie because they dont know he meaning of one and done because they play a best of 7 playoff format...USA had success with college goalies in Al Montoya and Jeff Frazee(winning goal and bronze) so why not go with NCAA...
ally let his team have a chance to win...I was never was sold on McCollum to begin with...I never liked USA to go with a major junior goalie because they dont know he meaning of one and done because they play a best of 7 playoff format...USA had success with college goalies in Al Montoya and Jeff Frazee(winning goal and bronze) so why not go with NCAA...McCollum just looked very lethargic and unmotivated...It looked like he didnt care that he was playing in one of the biggest tournaments in the hockey world....We shouldn't put all the blame on him since USA did have opportunities to score but McCollum better take some responsibility on that loss...USA wen on to beat the Czechs 3-2 in overtime to capture a very meaningless 5th place
Caps off to Canada though...Islander fans must be very excited to hear Tavares (MVP) name being called first overall in this summers draft...Canada didn't make much of the gold medal game either in 5-1 win vs Sweden (they tied the Russians with 1 second left then beat them in a shootout in the semi-finals the night before)...USA must take this tournament and use it for motivation for next years....
The Nuch
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