Thursday, November 7, 2019

In Place of Four Nations: Canada vs the USA

Hello out there! We're on the air, it's hockey night tonight....

With a Stompin' Tom earworm, and thoughts on Budweiser's call to action for other brands and fans to join them and support women's hockey, let's do these traditionally looooooong 7 takes.

1- I am incredibly lucky in that tonight my family and I get to travel to Pittsburgh to watch Canada vs the United States, the second time in a year we've gotten to do so. Last time we watched with 9,000 people in Detroit; this time it's an intimate venue - the 1,500 seat UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, otherwise known as the Penguins practice facility.

I want to note though, one price that was exacted for my family's entertainment. USA and Canada and Finland should be in Sweden this weekend. The Four Nations Tournament was canceled after the Swedish team boycotted their federation due to what they perceived as (and certainly seemed to be) unfair work conditions. Thankfully, the dispute has since been resolved, but not before this tournament was canceled by their federation, who was supposed to host. One positive takeaway from the dispute (in addition to the resolved work complaints) was that during the dispute multiple Swedish NHL'ers voiced their support for the women. Mika Zibanejad of the Rangers made a financial commitment to the women, and Henrik Lundquist spoke at length about the issue, and other Swedish players also voiced support. I am hopeful that as women's hockey pushes to get to the next level, more NHL players will join in support.

Onward and upward. Let's talk rosters and players I'm excited to watch.

2- Here's where I am at with rosters: The talent pool for both US and Canada is now so deep that picking 23 person rosters with the definitive best players has got to be impossible. There is literally too much talent at a similar level, which is a reason we need a proper league for the women, post college. I read a quote today from American defender Megan Keller, where she mentioned "not practicing every week," now that she's post college. This is mind boggling, but I digress.

The point I'm getting at is when I look at a Canada or US roster I immediately just think of all the great athletes who are missing,  because roster spots are limited. At the national team level it is what it is, but what a shame there is not a proper league with the infrastructure for these players to shine. Watts, Giguere, the Shirley sisters, Gebhard are a short list of Canadian collegiate athletes who might have been considered (oh, the Potomak sisters....there are seriously so many). And I think of  Brittany Howard who got one Hockey Canada camp, tore it up, eventually made Team Canada and then got one shift for the duration of the series, in part because there's pressure on Pearn to win, and so who has time to develop talent for the long term? We so badly need a proper developmental league for these players post college. And it's more difficult for the casual fan to get engaged at the national team level when it's a core plus a revolving door of players who are a smidge below the core talent wise.

In terms of veterans, biggest one who's missing that I would have loved to watch live is Meghan Agosta.  Other big names missing that come to mind are Szabados and Rebecca Johnston, as well as Brianna Decker. These are players who I suspect are not medically ready or have other things going on as they are proven veterans.

Regardless, I am lucky to watch some amazing players tonight.

3- Some Canadians I'm pumped to watch:
Marie-Philip Poulin: I haven't really seen her since last year's rivalry series as she got injured late in the CW season and then she was done. At the Rivalry Series I know she played with Bettez on one side and if I recall correctly, Daoust was still out with a knee injury for that series. So those three could be a line again this weekend. Canada really needs to produce against the US at even strength, and if not....at some point I'd look at switching something up and putting Loren Gabel with Poulin. I recognize that again this is perhaps unfair. What amount of time has Bettez had to prove herself alongside Poulin at the National level? 3 games?
Loren Gabel: 2x NCAA Champion, and most recent Patty Kaz winner Loren Gabel has several qualities: great timing for arriving on the scene and burying rebounds, thinks and executes the game extremely quickly, is cut from the same Championship winning big moment cloth that Poulin is. Anyone who gets to play with Poulin is going to get set up a ton. Gabel has already proven she can score against the US. I think she and Poulin could potentially do some damage against the US together.
The defense: I will fully admit I don't watch the defense enough when I watch hockey. I could learn a ton if I would make a better effort of it. Watching live, I want to take advantage of it. Canada has opted to bring 7 defense, 3 of whom are still in college. Of the 3 college defenders (there are also 3 college forwards) Claire Thompson and Micah Zandee-Hart play at Ivies which means their schedule started later and they have fewer games under their belt than Ella Shelton, a defender on the roster from Clarkson. I think the defense should be interesting as usual. The veteran defense are Larocque, Rougeau, Ambrose, and Fast. No Lacquette, which is a bit of a shame. I felt like she ripped the puck pretty well and was an offensive threat.

4- Some Americans I'm pumped to watch:
Hilary Knight: When I think of Knight on the ice, I pretty much think of a shark just circling waiting for its moment to go in for the kill. She appears to play with incredible efficiency, trusting her teammates to do their jobs, and then executing with precision when the puck comes her way. Her line of Hannah Brandt, Dani Cameranesi and herself is one of the most fun lines I've ever watched. I always feel like the replays explicitly show Cameranesi is setting up Knight, but I want to keep an eye on Brandt, who like a lot of players, flies under the radar due to the undercoverage of the sport and the fact that the US team is so loaded with talent. I suspect if I paid a bit more attention I'd see that Brandt is creating turnovers, that allow Knight and Cameranesi to blast off into the offensive zone.
The Lamoureux twins: After playing forward and absolutely crushing it at the Olympics, Monique is now being asked to play defense again. Pretty versatile player to be world class at multiple positions. There are probably no Americans that I want to see succeed more than Jocelyne and Monique. The brand that they have created for themselves is very compelling for me. Their advocacy in their foundation to #CheerForTheOneBehind, and the work they do with Comcast to get internet into the hands of kids who don't have access but need it to succeed in today's world is quite inspiring. Not to mention they have overcome their share of hockey heartache like any player who is around for a while, and I thought their 2018 Olympics were pretty much legendary. There was a lot of pressure on players like Knight and Duggan in those Olympics, and certainly they delivered, but not without a deep roster including the Lams, behind them.
Cayla Barnes: At last year's World's I noticed what an incredible skater she is. I look forward to seeing more of it tomorrow. Her Boston College Eagles are currently undefeated on the season, and you know Barnes is a big part of it.
Katie Burt: Another (former) Eagle, Burt holds the record for most NCAA wins by any goaltender. Her National Women's Senior team debut didn't go as she would have hoped, in last year's Rivalry Series, as the US Team fell 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena, in Toronto. Burt had a strong year with the Boston Pride before joining #ForTheGame and will be hungry to get another game against Canada. I suspect Alex (Rigsby) Cavallini will get the start tomorrow, but as an NCAA fan, I'd be pretty pumped to watch someone with Burt's NCAA pedigree perform.
Annie Pankowski: I've never seen her play live, and in my opinion no one in hockey (except maybe Jordan Binnington) had a more impressive 2018-2019 hockey story. Pankowski's story includes ample hockey heartache, but watching her lead Wisconsin to an NCAA Championship (endless highlight reel moments but the shorthanded goal in the NCAA final was a moment I thought she couldn't beat...until the WWC) and then slide right into the WWC roster and dominate was a thing to behold. Just an amazing story last year. Anyway, here's her deke to put USA up 2-0 in the shootout to win gold, nbd:



5- What else? Last year going into the WWC, I wondered if Amanda Kessel's best days were behind her. Ha. Lesson learned. Just for fun, here's a mere excerpt of Kessel's resume:
*3x NCAA Champion
*Patty Kazmaier Winner
*Olympic Gold Medalist
*3x World Champion
*Did I mention good at shootouts? Here she is at the 2019 WWC, getting the shootout gold right before Pankowski's, vs her old college teammate Noora Raty:



6- Enough talk about the players. Let's talk fans. Do you think the rink will be full? The Penguins have done a good job online promoting the event. Unfortunately the Robert Morris Colonials are on the road tomorrow, when a lot of women's college hockey teams are off this weekend. I expect every local girl hockey player will be in attendance. But there hasn't been much buzz about this even beyond that. I suspect attendance will be pretty solid, but we'll see.

7- At any rate, I made signs, because apparently that's a thing I do. I hope they are not too much. As is always the case with your earnest blogger over here, they are from the heart. :)








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