Ice Hockey - NHL/KHL/IIHF

Amazing what a change of scenery can do. Boeser with a brace as well. EP on the up. Looking at the Blues recent efforts they look a good bet for the SC at the moment. In the IIHF U20 Division 2A (tier 4) in Brasov Team GB will be playing Romania soon. However a possible title decider against Italy seems unlikely following a shock 4-3 penalty shoot out loss to South Korea after holding a 3-1 opening period lead as well. Prior to this the team had seen off Spain comfortably 7-2 followed by a 5-3 win against Lithuania.

In Division 1A (tier 2) Belarus are running away with it. They have several NHL draft prospects in the side led by defenceman Dmitri Kuzmin of the OHL Flint Firebirds drafted by the Jets in the third round last year. Denmark and Hungary look set to battle against relegation to Division 1B.

 

So Florida look like the favourites along with the Avalanche for the Presidents Trophy. St.Louis, Carolina and the Rangers are bid dark horses.

Carolina are an in depth team, St.Louis are free scoring and the Rangers are backstopped by Igor Shestyorkin who is more than an admirable replacement for Lundqvist. The Wild have found their marquee player after many arguments among fans about whether Kaprizov deserved his salary he has broken franchise scoring records and went over the one hundred point mark for the season in their last game.

Alex Ovechkin continues to break records and is not far off getting past Gordie Howe and probably will chase down Gretzky in due course. Will Auston Matthews be able to keep up his scoring form as he secures the Rocket Richard trophy to pose a threat to the great eight in due course. A vast amount of statistical analysis would point to Ovechkin being the greatest goal scorer in NHL history adjusting for scoring totals, keeper equipment, depth of competition.

Very sad news this week with the passing of two legends of the sport. Mike Bossy from lung cancer and an Islanders hero at the age of sixty five. One of the best scorers in the game as with Guy Lafleur the Montreal Canadien and legend who has passed at the age of seventy after a long illness.

Former NY Islanders great Mike Bossy passes away at age 65 | The Laval News
Guy Lafleur, Canadiens legend and Hockey Hall of Famer, dies at 70 (nbcsports.com)

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Ovechkin just this week had tied Bossy and Gretzky for the most number of fifty goal seasons in history. Under Boudreau the Canucks would have been in the playoffs had he been in charge from the start. Players like Pettersson and Boeser have found their mojo and Podkolzin grows week by week and will surely be a captain in several years. He'll be sent to Abbotsford for their AHL Cup playoffs while others have made the big team this year such as Highmore with the likes of Rathbone and Klimovich to come.

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Florida took the Presidents trophy. These are the playoff brackets. Game ones are complete. Lightning need to wake up having lost to the Maple Leafs 5-0. Florida beaten at home by the Caps as well. Hurricanes, Avalanche and Blues looking good. Boudreau has had his contract with the Canucks extended.

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There was a wild game between the Rangers and Penguins at Madison Square Garden. After finishing tied 3-3 the game went into three overtimes and equalled the number of shots in a game without a goal being scored. Domingue came into overtime and did not give up a goal while Shesterkin posted a 0954 save precentage facing 82 shots.

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Liam Steele has had an impressive season with Stanstead College and is off to the Chilliwack Bruins aged eighteen before joining Cornell University in the NCAA.

Chiefs Commit to Liam Steele for 2022-23 Season - Chilliwack Chiefs

 

If they had come up against anyone else they would have won through. TB may be hampered by losing Point and Kucherov is still not one hundred per cent. A lot of criticism of Matthews as well. Then again Ovechkin took a lot of stick before winning a SC. At the same age though and in a weaker team Ovy was contributing more.

Team GB lost their opener in the WC 5-1 to the Czech Republic. Not a bad effort and Ben Lake of the Giants scored the consolation.

 

Not the strongest team from Norway in a long while despite their two youngsters on the blueline. Shame but still a point earned.

 

A complete abdication of defensive responsibilities and how not to bring the puck out of your zone. Lightning 2-0 up on the Panthers. Not really a surprise. Blues fighting back hard against the Avs. Pens may be losing some of their established stars before the start of next season. Letang and Malkin don't like their contract offers and neither does Crosby. Could be a hard few years ahead for the Pens.

 

Team GB did well in their last two games against Latvia for instance in holding first period leads only to blow it against Austria rather badly. They should have won those games. Cade Neilson was probably Team GB's MVP.

In the SC the Lightning swept the Panthers 4-0. Vasilevskiy recorded the highest number of series clinching shut outs to match Chris Osgood while Kucherov once again climbed the playoff point scoring totals surpassing players who have played far more games than him in playoffs. Despite missing Brayden Point it was pretty comfortable with the Wall in net.

The Rangers have tied the Hurricanes 2-2 with Shesterkin putting up amazing save percentages in net. 0.958 in the last game. The Oilers have the upper hand in the Battle of Alberta with McDavid on a points charge along with Evander Kane. Can he surpass the most goals scored in a playoffs ?

The Avalance were 3-1 up on the Blues. Last night they were 3-0 up on the board but despite one of the best playoff goals in recent years from Mackinnon they lost 3-5. Is this a momentum changer ? Lots of bad blood between the teams. Bnnington and Kadri seem to have an ongoing feud and Kadri was targetted by Blues players during game five. I wonder what the handshakes will be like when the teams do end this series. Another punch up which would be most unseemly.

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This applies to all the top nations in ice hockey. Because the NHL think's it's more important than the WC. It's a unique situation in sport. Instead the NHL keep trying to push their own WC. The last one was a joke. Team North America and Team Europe included with the six best other nations.

 

Oilers through. Their fans are getting really cocky all of a sudden. Hope that cockiness is knocked into a hat by the Avs or Blues.