Ladies and gentlemen boys and girls, we may have an underdog story here.
After losing their first 2 games to a loaded north America team, all Europe's done is win win win. They upset the americans on saturday, and pulled off another on a solid Czech Republic team.
But get this. Of all the 8 teams competing, Europe may have THE WORST roster out of them all.
To get a firm understanding, let's take a look at every team's roster, with Europe being the last to be compared.
The first team is Team Canada. Just like Europe, after losing their first game of the tournament ( a preliminary match versus usa), they've won all of the rest. They just came off a rout of the Czech Republicans on Saturday, and they're waiting to take out USA tomorrow. However, on wednseday, they'll have what could possibly the guarantee of Europe's Underdog story, as they'll face off against the team in teal
Canada's roster is LOADED. Best goalie of the tournament, best offence, best defence.
#1 seed for sure.
Next up is Team Czech. They were pretty good during the prelims. After getting squeezed out by Russia, they took their next two games. But now, they're 0-2 and could be seeing the end of the road for them soon. Their roster is pretty stacked. Noticeably their captains. Plekaneck, Hemsky and Voracek, as well as Ondrej Palatine and some other small names on the offence. Their defence isn't that good, besides Andrej Sustr, and it could be the worse of the tournament.
Their goalies are stacked as well. 2 solid nhl starters and 1 backup goalie that's pretty good in neuvirth, who could be considered a starter at some point soon.
Unfortunately, besides that, the Czechs are the 7th seed of the tournament.
Taking a look at finland, they've had a pretty bad prelim, taking the first game, then losing the next 2. They'll play seen tomorrow, and we're routed by the north americans yesterday.
Their roster is mixed. Laine and barkov lead the way, as well as Joonas donskoi, but afterwards, things aren't too good in forward, besides maybe korpikoski and teravainen. Their captains are pretty old, koivu, jokinen and flippula. Their defence is half good half bad. Maatta, Ristolainen, and Vatanen, then the rest are ahl players.
In net, they have bloody Tuukka Rask and Pekka Rinne, Finland might have the most solid Netminders of the tournament.
5th or 6th seed.
Now the young guns, team north america.
They have so many good players, it would take me a good paragraph to name all of them. Just search up their roster, it's pretty stacked.
Defence, they're riding off of ghost bear and jones, with ekblad out of the tournament, a very recent news.
In net they've got stanley cup champion and best goalie of the tournament, Matt murray, starting with John gibson. Connor hellebuyck is in tow as the #3 goalie.
NA squeezes past finland for the 4th seed.
Mother Russia has some good players. Ovechkin, Datsyuk(surprisingly) and Malkin as well as young guns in tarasenko and panarin.
Their defence is, sorry to say it, but it's mediocre.
Their goalies are all nhl starters, as vasilevskiy could be a starter if bishop wasn't in tampa.
Russia is either 2nd or 3rd seed.
Now Sweden. They're okay, I guess, the Sedins are old, but they're still playing well, Loui Eriksson pairs off with them. There are some young guns as well. The forward is impressive. On the D, Karlsson and Hedman, as well as Ekman-Larsson. They've got the best defence in the tournament.
They may have the worst goalies in net though, besides europe. Enroth pretty much got roasted during the prelims lundqvist is running out of water in his fountain of youth, and Markstrom is pretty good, actually.
Tied for 5th or 6th with finland.
The americans have so many good forwards! Kane, Kesler oshie, pacioretty, the list goes on and on. Their defence is highlighted by big buff, the johnson twins, mcdonagh, and suter. In net they've got, I'm not kidding here, 3 starters. Not just starters, all-star starters.
Damn. US might be 2nd or 3rd seed, tied with russia.
So there you go. Europe has the worst roster out if them all. Besides Kopitar and Chara, their roster is a barren wasteland, especially without Freddie Andersen in net. Halak has gotten the job done so farm but their goalies really scare me. We have a Greiss, who's reached his prime for too early, grubauer, who'll struggle to get into his prime with Holtby in front of him on the depth chart. Really, there might be some small name in there, but afterwards, if you look at it, the evidence is there. Team Europe is the compelling underdog. And they might win it all.
Monday, 19 September 2016
Team Europe's Underdog story
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