VSN Presents: S94 World Cup of Hockey Review

[Baby Boomer 753]

@ace_five_

 

Welcome everyone,

 

Two weeks ago, took place the S94 World Cup of Hockey in Istanbul, Türkiye and six teams battled to win the gold medal and by the same token enter history. The teams were Team Canada, Team USA, Team Western Europe, Team Eastern Europe, Team Nordic and Team World. In this article, we are going to look at each team's strengths and weaknesses and after, we are going to look at the playoffs of the tournament. However, before we start, I would like to thank and congratulate the two World Cup commissioners, @leandrofg and @rory, without whomst this tournament would not be possible!

 

TEAM PREVIEW

 

Team Canada

 

Offense rank: 1^st (1175 TPE)

Defense rank: 2^nd (953 TPE)

Goalie rank: 2^nd (1041 TPE)

 

On paper, not a lot of teams were going to be able to compete against Team Canada during this World Cup. Indeed, Canada had by far the best offense of the tournament led by Leonard Triller @Triller and Harry Callahan @dstevensonjr. The net was also safe as Merome Dilson @MexicanCow123 and Joel Castle @animal74 separated the task of protecting the cage of Team Canada. The only "weakness" Canada has, if you absolutely wanted to name one, is their defense, but they still have the second best in the tournament. 

 

Team USA

 

Offense rank: 3^rd (1052 TPE)

Defense rank: 1^st (1102 TPE)

Goalie rank: 4^th (786.5 TPE)

 

Once again, Team USA looks really solid on paper and the gold medal was the only good answer for the Americans. The United States also had a really good offensive core with players like Daryl Dixon @Ricer13, Jimi Jaks @ke1vi and Mac Atlas @v.2 . The American team can also count on the best defense of the tournament with Mark Calaway @Beketov, Jacob Stone @scoop and  Skor McFleury @Alex. The only thing that I can see bringing the team down a little bit is the goaltenders, but the defense is making up for it.

 

Team World

 

Offense rank: 2^nd (1058 TPE)

Defense rank: 4^th (896 TPE)

Goalie rank: 1^st (1135 TPE)

 

Just like Canada and USA, Team World had only one ambition and it was to win the gold medal and nothing else. World's goalie tandem, Lachlan Summers @kirbithan and WWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWW @rory, is by far the best in the tournament and they will be tough to score against. They were going to be helped by the forwards Axle Gunner @Steve and Thor Reingaard @N0HBDY who were going to take care of scoring goals. The defense might the only soft point this team has.

 

Team Western Europe

 

Offense rank: 4^th (1031 TPE)

Defense rank: 3^rd (900 TPE)

Goalie rank: 6^th  (559 TPE)

 

Even tough Team Western Europe seems to be a little less good on paper, than Team Canada, Team USA and Team World, they could really cause a surprise and be finish the tournament with a medal. The team strengths are really their forwards and their defensemen with players like, Callum Gary Yannick Janser @Daniel Janser, Sjin @Sjin and The Frenchman @OrbitingDeath . On the other hand, their big weakness is clearly in the net.

 

Team Eastern Europe

 

Offense rank: 6^th (892 TPE)

Defense rank: 5^th (876 TPE)

Goalie rank: 3^rd (813.5 TPE)

 

Just a little bit under Team Western Europe, we have Team Eastern Europe who could also cause some surprises in the competition. Indeed, Eastern Europe, can count on Wann Kerr @VattghernCZ and Maximim Anisimov @McLovin to lead the team offensively. They also have a pretty good and young goalie tandem  lead by Ryan Artyomov @Enorama and Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts on the back end playing the point. What is going to hurt Team Eastern Europe is their lack of depth forward and defensemen.

 

Team Nordic

 

Offense rank: 5^th (928 TPE)

Defense rank: 6^th (729 TPE)

Goalie rank: 5^th  (668.5 TPE)

 

Finally, we have Team Nordic, who in my opinion, started the tournament with the worst team on paper, because of their depth just like Eastern Europe. However, it would be really foolish to count them as defeated before the competition. Indeed, players like FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY Analfist @STZ, Jarmo Ruutu @jRuutu and Raimo Tuominen @SlapshotWrangler can really change a game by themselves if they want. In this tournament, Team Nordic's weaker point is going to be their defense.

 

PLAYOFF RECAP

 

Quarter-finals #1

Team World #3 vs Team Eastern Europe #6

 

Team World finished 3rd of the round robin tournament and faced Team Eastern Europe in the quarter-finals who finished 6th. Team World won the game 5-3 to gain their place in the semi-final. Yaroslav Trunov @qripll scored a hat-trick and the only three goals of his team in the losing cause. For Team World, Axle Gunner (1g, 2a), Mina @Baozi (1g, 2a) and Severus Targaryen @Banackock (3a) all had a 3-point nights to help their team get the win.

 

Quarter-finals #2

Team Western Europe #4 vs Team Canada #5

 

The second quarter-final saw Team Western Europe, who finished 4th in the standings, play against Team Canada who had a really disappointing round robin tournament and only finished 5th. However, Team Canada won the game 1-0 and advanced to the semi-final. The big hero of this quarter-final is Merome Dilson. Indeed, Dilson stopped the 27 shots he faced in the game to complete the shutout. The only scorer of the game is Harry Callahan.

 

Semi-finals #1

Team USA #1 vs Team Canada #5

 

Team USA finished 1st in the standings, so this means that they were facing Team Canada in the semi-final. The game finished 4-3 in second overtime for Team USA. Skor McFleury (1g, 1a), Kronchy Kardashian @Garsh (2a) and Daryl Dixon (1g, 1a) all finished the game with two points. Dixon also scored the overtime game winning goal at 0:40 of the second overtime to give USA their ticket for the gold medal final. With this loss, Team Canada went to the bronze medal game.

 

Semi-finals #2

Team Nordic #2 vs Team World #3

 

After finishing second in the round robin tournament, Team Nordic faced Team World in the second semi-final. Team World surprised Team Nordic by winning the game 4-1. Lachlan Summers stole the game for Team World by saving 49 of the 50 shots he faced and maintaining a 0.980% save percentage. Three players of team World had a 2-point game, Mina (2a), Severus Targaryen (1g, 1a) and Thor Reingaard (1g, 1a).

 

 

Bronze Medal Game

Team Nordic #2 vs Team Canada #5

 

For the Bronze medal game, Team Nordic faced Team Canada in a really tight game, but it is Team Nordic who came out of the game with a 4-3 win to bring the bronze medal home. In the game for Team Nordic, Jarkko Laakkonen @Xdjk93 (2a), Jarmo Ruutu (1g, 1a), Kimi Raikkonen @mattyIceman (1g, 1a) and Tord Yvel @Trazan (2a) all had a game of 2 points. Congratulations to Team Nordic for winning the Bronze Medal.

 

Gold Medal Game

Team USA #1 vs Team World #3

 

Finally, Team USA and Team World were the two teams facing each other in the most important game of the tournament, the S94 World Cup of Hockey Gold Medal Game. Team World ended up winning 3-2 in overtime to win the Gold. In the victory, Severus Targaryen (1g, 1a) scored 2 points, including the game winning goal at 12:46 of the first overtime period. To finish, I would like to congratulate Team World for their Gold Medal and Team USA for their Silver Medal.

 

That’s all for me, thanks everyone for reading, I wish you all a good season and I will see you in another VSN article!

Edited August 8 by Pifferfish

[BOOM 8,817]

Dassler would have made all the difference to Western Europe..... obviously.