All of a sudden the Oklahoma City Barons, the Edmonton Oilers’ American Hockey League affliate, have had problems scoring and have run into a very hot goaltender.
The Barons headed into the weekend leading the Grand Rapids Griffins, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in the Western Conference Final of the Calder Cup Playoffs, but the Barons failed to score a goal in two complete games this weekend.
Griffins goaltender Petr Mrazek made 40 saves in a 4-0 Grand Rapids win on Saturday and then made 37 saves on Sunday in a 3-0 Griffins win, who took a 3-2 lead in the series.
Game six now shifts back to Michigan on Tuesday evening.
It was 2011 the last time we spoke and much has happened since then! This week on the show we recap the best and worst moments of the year from the world of sports, we talk about Sean Avery getting waived ahead of the Winter Classic, plus we recap the big game. Also: we’ve got a theory about the success of Daniel Alfredsson and the Ottawa Senators and we look at the main event at UFC 141 and tell you which fighter retired after losing.
In the GABBYs: The Green Bay Packers, The NLL’s Philadelphia Wings, Petr Mrazek, Tim Tebow, Yorvit Torrealba and the NHL All-Star voting process. The Punchline this week is basketball player Manny Harris and his strange injury!
Team Russia will now play Team Canada and Team Finland will now play Team Sweden in the semi-finals of the World Junior Hockey Championships at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Tuesday.
On Monday, Team Finland beat Team Slovakia 8-5 in a game where the goaltending was very poor. Finland, scored four unanswered goals in the second period to blow a 2-2 first period tie wide open. Mikael Granlund led the way with a goal and three assists, and his younger brother Markus, a draft pick of the Calgary Flames scored two goals and one assist.
Finland also got great production from their youngsters. Rasmus Ristolainen, a young 17 year-old defenceman was excellent on the Finnish blue line and picked up two assists. Aleksander Barkov, a 16 year-old forward, scored the game winner.
On Monday night, Russia defeated the Czech Republic in overtime in a game with brilliant goaltending at the junior level. Andrei Vasilevski made 38 saves in a 2-1 Russian overtime win. Petr Mrazek responded with 43 saves for the Czech Republic. With the score tied 1-1, and the Russians moving up ice following a Russian penalty late in the third period, Grigori Zheldakov scored on a pass from Nikita Kucherov to send Russia to the semi-finals.
What was supposed to be one of the biggest hockey games in quite sometime for the city of Edmonton, in actuality has no meaning whatsoever at all. When Team Canada faces Team United States at Rexall Place tonight (TSN, 6pm) the Canadians know they will be going directly to the semi-finals of the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship, while the Americans are going to the relegation round.
Still, there are a couple of important factors that will come into play. First, it is important that Canada doesn’t get into any bad habits. Team Canada has been a little bit undisciplined at times through their first three games and it is important the team carries their momentum they have now into Tuesday by playing a complete sixty minutes after deciding to take parts of the third period off against Denmark Thursday night.
What I love about the World Junior Hockey Championships is the remarkable unexpected. Nobody, and I mean nobody, would have thought at the beginning of the tournament that the Christmas Eve game between Canada and the United States would be absolutely meaningless and that the United States would not be playing meaningful games when they get to Calgary next week.
But that is what happens when you lose two round robin games to competitive teams. On Friday, the Americans lost 5-2 to the Czech Republic. Don’t be mistaken. The Americans were the better team. But Petr Mrazek, a draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings, stood on his head and literally stole one. The Czech netminder made 52 saves. That is how you beat the Americans.
With the win, the Czechs will now play Finland for second place tomorrow afternoon on TSN at 2pm. While Canada has now clinched first place in Group B and get a bye to the semi-finals.
All of a sudden the Oklahoma City Barons, the Edmonton Oilers’ American Hockey League affliate, have had problems scoring and have run into a very hot goaltender.
Loading ...
