Hockeyhead

Canada defeated Sweden 5-1 in the gold medal game of the World Junior Championship.  The Canadians added empty netters from Jordan Eberle and Cody Hodgson to ice the Swedes for good.  Dustin Tokarski stopped 39 shots, looking calm and composed in his best outing of the tournament.

Hodgson and probable first overall pick John Tavares finished tied for the tournament scoring title with 16 points a piece.

The final was chippier than expected, and tempers were hot after Stefan Della Rovere took a rather cheap shot at Sweden’s goaltender Jacob Markstrom who was skating to the bench on a delayed penalty call.  Markstrom wandered away from his crease several times and paid the price on a few of his trips.

Markstrom had been one of the tournament’s brightest stars up until tonight’s gold medal game.  Pat Quinn came under some fire for his decision to stick with Tokarski in goal after he had allowed 5 goals against the Russians on Saturday.  Quinn’s patience paid some handsome dividends, as Tokarski was the difference in this one.

When fans vote for all-stars you can guarantee one thing, inconsistencies.  There are three players atop the NHL’s scoring race from the Eastern Conference; only two of them are going to be starting the all-star game.  Four out of six players voted starters for the East are from the Montreal Canadiens.

Alex Ovechkin is second in league scoring with 53 points, and is arguably the best player in the world.  Alex Kovalev is on pace for about 60 points this season and has been openly criticized by both the media and his own coach.  Kovalev was voted as a starting forward for the Eastern Conference all-star team.

If I have my times tables correct, and I do, then Ovechkin’s 27 goals are three times Kovalev’s 9 goals.  It gets worse, Mike fuckin’ Komisarek will also be starting.  Ovechkin’s teammate Mike Green and former Hab Mark Streit (leading all defensemen in scoring) would make much more logical selections as starters.  Then again, there isn’t much collective logic among these voters.

Four out of six starters for the East will be from Montreal, only Carey Price and Andrei Markov are actually worthy of the selection.  I love Komisarek’s hard-hitting style, but we’re talking about a game where players tend to pussy-foot around the ice… we want the goals.

On Tonight:

Is there even a conversation to be had here?  The only hockey game I’ll be watching tonight is the Canada vs. Sweden gold medal game.  Saturday night’s Canada and Russia semi-final was one of the greatest games I’ve ever watched in the World Junior Championship, and a pleasant renewal of hockey’s greatest rivalry.

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