It's the economy, stupid. Oh wait, no it's not: it's the World Championships. Let's look at Friday and Saturday's games from a Canucks perspective.
Friday, May 13th
USA 5 - 1 Hungary
Still no Thatcher Demko for Team USA. But goaltender Keith Kinkaid redeemed his weak effort in his first game by making a whopping 7 saves on 8 shots. Huge performance!
Denmark 3 - 2 Latvia
Here’s a result that nobody was happy with, as Latvia failed to secure their first win of the tournament, while Denmark squandered a much-needed point by failing to win in regulation.
Former Canuck Nicklas Jensen was all over the ice, firing 6 shots on goal in nearly 20 minutes of ice time. He opened the scoring on a 1st period power play, ripping a wristshot inside the near post.
Latvia responded with two power play goals of their own, then Morten Poulsen tied things up for Denmark in the second.
Denmark had a golden opportunity to win the game in the third period as they had a 2-minute long 5-on-3, but their overly static power play was unable to capitalize. Long stretches of the 2-man advantage were spent with Hansen holding the puck, looking for someone to move into a scoring position.
As for the rest of his game, Hansen played well, but finished with no shots on goal, as he took on more of a playmaking role for his linemates, Lars Eller and Nikolaj Ehlers, who each had 6 shots. Hansen was second among Danish forwards in ice time, with 20:55.
At the other end of the ice, Ronalds Kenins got benched after he went fishing for the puck instead of getting in the shooting lane on Denmark’s second goal. He played just 6:51 after starting the tournament on Latvia’s top line.
The game went to the shootout, where Nicklas Jensen earned Denmark the win with a gorgeous move, finishing off his deke with one hand in quasi-Forsberg fashion. The goal was named the second best goal of the day by the IIHF.
Saturday, May 14th
The biggest news on Saturday had no connection to the Canucks. Hungary earned their first World Championship victory in 77 years, surprising Belarus with a 5-2 win. It was an awesome and emotional scene as Hungary and their fans celebrated the historic win.
It’s especially cool for Canadian-born Frank Banham, the only player on the Hungarian side with any NHL experience. The 41-year old said this was his last World Championships and that he would retire this year (likely to become a player agent). This has to be a pretty high note to go out on.
Russia 5 - 1 Switzerland
Switzerland has to be looking over their shoulder at Denmark right now, as their win on Friday has them just one point behind the Swiss, who got rocked by the newly-Ovechkin’d Russian side and have tough games against Sweden and the Czech Republic still to come. Switzerland kept the shots close against Russia, but couldn’t keep anything else close.
Yannick Weber had a rough game, as he was on the ice for three of Russia’s five goals. On the first goal, he was unable to catch Ivan Telegin on a breakaway, then failed to tie him up, allowing him to score on the rebound. He got beat wide by Evgeni Kuznetsov on the second goal, but wasn’t solely to blame, as he was covered by his defence partner, who couldn’t contain Kuznetsov, who batted in his own rebound.
On Russia’s third goal, Weber seemed to be doing a good job defending Roman Lyubimov, then lost position on him behind the net and he set up Telegin for his second of the game.
Former Canuck Sergei Shirokov made it 4-0, then Switzerland got one back, as Weber’s blistering point shot created a rebound for Simon Moser. Russia finished things off with one more goal for the 5-1 win.
Kazakhstan 1 - 2 Latvia
Latvia finally earned their first win of the tournament, downing Kazakhstan in regulation thanks to a late third period goal by depth forward Maris Bicevskis. It’s a huge result for Latvia, who still has a chance to qualify for the quarterfinals, as three of their losses came past regulation, giving them 6 points, tied with Denmark and just one point behind Switzerland.
That’s a little deceiving, as they’ve played one more game than Denmark and Switzerland, but their final game is a winnable one against Norway, so they have a chance. One of Denmark’s games is against Kazakhstan, however, so they may have the best chance to move on among the three teams.
Ronalds Kenins was out of the doghouse, playing 15:30 and firing four shots on goal. He was in front of the net for Bicevskis’s wraparound winner.
Canada 5 - 0 Slovakia
Canada continues to steamroll through this tournament, this time easily dispatching Slovakia, who could be in danger of failing to qualify for the quarterfinals, with Germany now ahead of them in the standings.
Chris Tanev was excellent defensively, though he did little on the offensive side, with no shots. The one time he did jump up offensively, alertly driving through the middle to create a 3-on-2, Brad Marchand missed the trailer with his pass, leading to a 2-on-1 the other way.
Tanev was second on the team in shifts, though he finished with just under 18 minutes in ice time. Ben Hutton, who hasn’t had many opportunities to prove himself in this tournament, got no ice time whatsoever.
This young Canadian team has yet to face much adversity in this tournament, but Finland on Tuesday should provide a challenge heading into the quarterfinals.
