Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Nucks Fan Rebuild & Retool Center - Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
There's a feeling of 1972 in the air, only the stakes here are a little more dire. One game to decide bragging rights in a fun little tournament that literally means everything to an entire nation right now.
After a nail biter against Finland, Canada was able to get a win and get what they wanted: a one game, winner takes all showdown against the Americans. After the loss during the round robin to the US, Canada felt as though they could play better, and while they did play well in that game, they're definitely capable of cranking things up another notch. And with Cale Makar healthy and the team overall in pretty good shape, especially compared to the Americans, the possibility of a Canadian win tonight is there.
Except...
Jordan Binnington.
Once again, late goals allowed by Binnington put a game that was dominated by the Canadians for almost the entire 60 minutes, saw an entire nation hold its collective breath, til Sidney Crosby came out and made a big hit before firing the puck from center ice into the empty Finnish goal to seal the deal in a 5-3 win. And while there's a lot of discussion about Jordan Binnington having come up big in the last winner take all game he played on TD Garden ice, when the Blues beat the Bruins in game 7 to win the 2019 Stanley Cup, and the fate of this Canadian team and pretty much the collective sanity of the nation rides on whether or not we'll get that Binnington or the one we've been dealing with throughout this tournament.
To a man, this team is going to have to play the game of their lives, and I am not trying to be snarky when I tell you that this could very well be the last time we get a team wearing those colours on the ice for us, unless something changes. The US is determined to enact so much of their fascist wish list, and controlling Canada, along with our resources, is high on it. Writing it off as something too crazy to ever happen is something that we have to stop doing. Everything people warned he would do if given the presidency again, he is doing. Preparing for the worst is hardly a bad idea.
I know nationalism can be difficult for some people. Canada is as flawed as any nation. There are things that need fixing. But even as bad as things have been, this is still a place I am proud to call my home. I know that I am fortunate to live in a country where I have never had to deal with things that make mere existence a life or death struggle. And I know it's selfish in a way to not want that to change. But I do not want to be like them. They can keep their death cult. I'm Canadian, and I'd rather die than have their way of life forced upon me.
So it's up to Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and the rest of Team Canada to channel Paul Henderson, Phil Esposito, Yvan Cournoyer and the rest of that 72 Summit Series team. An entire nation is counting on you tonight. No pressure, eh?
As we move forward, do me a favour. Take notes. Anyone who isn't denouncing them with a everything they have, needs to be noted. And for those who have already turned their backs on us, well, this is a fine example of how to deal with traitors.
LINEUPS
From nhl dot com...
4 Nations Face-Off championship, TD Garden, Boston
8 p.m. ET; Disney+, ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS
Canada projected lineup
Brayden Point -- Connor McDavid -- Mark Stone
Sidney Crosby -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Sam Reinhart
Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Mitch Marner
Brad Marchand -- Sam Bennett -- Seth Jarvis
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Josh Morrissey -- Colton Parayko
Travis Sanheim -- Drew Doughty
Jordan Binnington
Adin Hill
Scratched: Sam Montembeault, Thomas Harley, Travis Konecny
Injured: Shea Theodore (upper body)
United States projected lineup
Brady Tkachuk -- Jack Eichel -- Matthew Tkachuk
Jake Guentzel -- Auston Matthews -- Jack Hughes
J.T. Miller -- Dylan Larkin -- Matt Boldy
Brock Nelson -- Vincent Trocheck -- Chris Kreider
Noah Hanifin -- Adam Fox
Jaccob Slavin -- Brock Faber
Zach Werenski -- Jake Sanderson
Connor Hellebuyck
Jake Oettinger
Scratched: Jeremy Swayman, Kyle Connor
Injured: Charlie McAvoy (upper body)
Looks like the only change for Canada is Konecny is out and Seth Jarvis is back in. As far as the US, they're saying there may be last minute changes that we likely won't know til game time. Fortunately, it will not include Quinn Hughes, who has not flown to Boston after not being cleared to travel. And that's good, because my biggest fear was not Hughes leading them to victory, but re-aggravating his injury and missing even more time. My concern is for the Canucks when it comes to Hughes, and I am thankful that he's not able to help them. We do know that Matthew Tkachuk and Auston Matthews are banged up and may not be as effective, so we hope that this is something that can be exploited tonight.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
No more words, just a tune that will get your pulse racing and make you wanna run through a brick wall from one of Canada's finest. Here's VOIVOD with 'We Carry On'.
Go Canada Go! Fuck the USA!
The NHL can often be its own worst enemy. And then every once in a while, they do something that shouldn't work, but absolutely does. Add in the current political climate, and suddenly winning two hockey games this week has become vital to the entire nation.
There were two issues from that game on Saturday that need to be addressed moving forward, one of them was something that will have to be adjusted on the fly, the other a problem that everyone who knows even a passing amount about hockey could have told them was going to happen.
Jordan Binnington is not the answer. He's not even the third best goaltender this country has at its disposal, and the fact that they went with him, even after a barely passable performance against the Swedes really makes you wonder about how the brain trust at Hockey Canada evaluates talent. Binnington let his team down by not making the stops they needed.
And then there was the USA's defence shutting down the Canadian attack all game long, and Jon Cooper and his staff need to figure out how to do break this down and get more opportunities, because this was evident during the Swedish game, too. And with the Finns sporting a number of solid players on their back end, not finding a way to get going offensively is going to mean an early and embarrassing exit for Canada from this tournament.
And yes, it's that dire. Canada has to win in regulation in order to get a shot at the Americans on Thursday. If they can't get it done in regulation but still win, there's a really gross scenario that sees them still out: If the USA loses to Sweden in regulation. I know you're thinking "There's no way they'd do that, right?" Yeah. The team that literally plotted to start a hockey game with three straight fights, wouldn't be above ensuring they don't have to face the one team that could possibly keep them from winning it all. If you haven't figured out assuming America will do the worst possible thing as they safest bet, I don't know what else to tell you.
And how about that WWE-worthy heel turn by J.T. Miller. To go from having your name chanted at home, to literally outing yourself as a fascist seems a little unbelievable from a written standpoint, but here we are.
Anyway, the (hopefully) good news is that we could see Cale Makar back in the lineup. And while Thomas Harley was outstanding coming into the lineup to replace Shea Theodore, it was rather evident that the Canadians were missing their top defenceman. If Makar is able to go, Harley is still able to stay in the lineup though, and I would not be surprised at all if that's how it ends up.
LINEUPS
Courtesy of that nhl dot com thingy...
1 p.m. ET; TNT, MAX, truTV, SN, TVAS
Canada projected lineup
Sidney Crosby -- Connor McDavid -- Mark Stone
Sam Reinhart -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mitch Marner
Brad Marchand -- Sam Bennett -- Travis Konecny
Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Brayden Point
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Josh Morrissey -- Colton Parayko
Travis Sanheim -- Drew Doughty
Jordan Binnington
Adin Hill
Scratched: Seth Jarvis, Thomas Harley, Sam Montembeault
Injured: Shea Theodore (upper body)
Finland projected lineup
Kaapo Kakko -- Aleksander Barkov -- Mikko Rantanen
Sebastian Aho -- Roope Hintz -- Patrik Laine
Eetu Luostarinen -- Anton Lundell -- Mikael Granlund
Artturi Lehkonen -- Erik Haula -- Joel Armia
Niko Mikkola -- Esa Lindell
Olli Maatta -- Henri Jokiharju
Urho Vaakanainen -- Nikolas Matinpalo
Kevin Lankinen
Juuse Saros
Scratched: Juuso Valimaki, Teuvo Teravainen, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Injured: None
I'm trying to stay calm here, but I am gonna lose my shit if Binnington is in for another game. Logan Thompson not being named to the team was infuriating enough, but the way Binnington has played makes you wonder if the Canadian born MAGA supporter is working as a double agent.
And while we were thrilled to see Kevin Lankinen make the most of his shot against Sweden after Juuse Saros was lit up against the Americans, we would very much like Kevin to have a poor performance today, thank you. Nothing personal, we love him a lot, but we'd love him even more if just wasn't very good this afternoon.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Another great Canadian tune, this time from Vancouver's own ANCIIENTS. This one is off their Juno nominated album 'Beyond The Reach Of The Sun', available on Season Of Mist Records, here's 'Melt The Crown'.
Canada stumbled through a win over a game Swedish squad, while the Americans feasted on Finland's broken so-called number one goalie. Barring a meeting of these teams in the final, this is the most important match of the tournament.
I'm so glad that members of Team USA feel comfortable enough to voice their displeasure about Canadian fans booing their national anthem. It's helpful, honestly. Fascism is a movement that absolutely thrives on two ingredients: ignorance and indifference. And for these guys to not get why Canadians are voicing their displeasure means it's either column a, column b, or some mix of both.
At the end of the day, should we really be surprised that wealthy American athletes are going to take that position? It's almost a certainty that they, to a man, voted for the chaos that is happening in America right now, albeit unintentionally. They, like so many others, were doing it for what they saw as reasons that mattered to them, and the rest, well... it doesn't affect them so, what are you going to do?
This is where I would say that it absolutely sucks that we have this distraction looming over the game, taking away from what should have been a fun battle against two of the world's hockey powers. Instead, politics have very much saturated this tournament, making the game far more intense and meaningful to fans this side of the border. As someone who was alive and watched the 72 Summit Series against the Soviets, there is definitely a feeling of deja-vu. That series was about so much more than hockey, and I encourage you to revisit the documentaries and the whole games of that epic 8 game series for yourself, because if you're not old enough to remember, recent events will fill in a world of context you may not have been able to glean previously.
As far as the other side, I won't be surprised to see some try to counter with invoking the Miracle On Ice at the games in Lake Placid. Just one problem with the analogy here: In this scenario, you're the Soviets.
I'd like to be able to just write off the Americans, but let's face it, this is a squad of some of the best players in the NHL. Speed, skill, goaltending, and they've lost the best defenceman in the NHL and it doesn't even seem to register with them. Canada will have their work cut out for them tonight, and having already lost Shea Theodore to injury, they're going to need more from these guys than we saw against the Swedes.
That was such a prototypical Canucks game, wasn't it? Lead established. Foot off the gas. Oh, no... it's tied in the 3rd? Thankfully, they were able to get a timely goal from Mitch Marner to secure a 2nd point, but they need to win today in order ensure a spot in the final. That means Connor McDavid will actually have to do more than give Sportsnet content of spectacular efforts that amounted to absolutely nothing, like we saw in Game One. Yes, Nathan MacKinnon scored a great power play goal, but the rest of his night, especially in OT seemed to be just a succession of plays where he tried to do it all himself rather than making the play that would result in a goal.
And for the love of god, if he is not absolutely lights out, this has to be the end of Jordan Binnington as Canada's number one in the crease. Yes, he came up big in OT, but that game doesn't get to the extra frame in the first place if he actually stops one of those goals. He looked very beatable, and the Americans could turn this into a laugher if Binnington isn't Canada's best player tonight.
And with Cale Makar missing practice yesterday due to illness, that could mean an already suspect Canadian defence is even worse. He did skate this morning, so hopefully that means he's good to go, but that is something to keep an eye on in tonight's game. If Makar can't go, Dallas Stars D Thomas Harley will be added to the lineup.
Meanwhile, in the early game this morning, Sweden and Finland will do battle as both teams look to bounce back from losses in their tournament openers. The big news for Finland is the Canucks' Kevin Lankinen will get the start against Elias Pettersson and the Swedes. Lankinen was the backup in the game against the USA, which saw starter Juuse Saros get lit the hell up in a 6-1 loss. You cannot expect me to believe that the Canucks didn't break Saros with that come from behind victory in the playoffs last year, and I am thrilled to see Lankinen get this well deserved shot to try and salvage their tournament against a tough Swedish squad.
Pettersson was fairly inconsequential in the game against Canada. A couple chances, but he wasn't really an impact maker. I would like to see him step up and get some of the confidence he's lost this past year or so. The Canucks season literally depends on him regaining his form moving forward.
LINEUPS
Courtesy of the ol nhl dot com thingy...
8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS
United States projected lineup
Brady Tkachuk -- Jack Eichel -- Matthew Tkachuk
Jake Guentzel -- Auston Matthews -- Jack Hughes
J.T. Miller -- Dylan Larkin -- Matt Boldy
Brock Nelson -- Vincent Trocheck -- Kyle Connor
Zach Werenski -- Charlie McAvoy
Noah Hanifin -- Adam Fox
Jaccob Slavin -- Brock Faber
Connor Hellebuyck
Jake Oettinger
Scratched: Chris Kreider, Jake Sanderson, Jeremy Swayman
Injured: None
Canada projected lineup
Sam Reinhart -- Connor McDavid -- Mitch Marner
Sidney Crosby -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mark Stone
Brandon Hagel -- Anthony Cirelli -- Brayden Point
Brad Marchand -- Sam Bennett -- Seth Jarvis
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Josh Morrissey -- Colton Parayko
Travis Sanheim -- Drew Doughty
Jordan Binnington
Adin Hill
Scratched: Travis Konecny, Samuel Montembeault
Injured: Shea Theodore (upper body)
So Travis Sanheim will slot into Theodore's place, and Makar remains a game time decision. No changes for the USA, as they roll with the adjustments they made after the first period against Finland.
GAME DAY BATTLE HYMN
Enough talk. Time to shut them up.
Let's do this! Go Canada Go! Fuck you to the fascists!
