x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Quick Strikes: Four Nations Bronze and Gold matches held at Amalie Arena today

Posted on by Acha

I’m’a get back to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a second:

Four Nations Bronze and Gold matches today at Amalie Arena

But first, go read this excellent preview of the Four Nations Tournament from Pension Plan Puppets—Four Nations will do battle but will anyone watch? “Teams are beginning to arrive in Florida for exhibition games prior to next week’s Four Nations Cup. This will be the 22nd tournament since 1996 (although it began life as a Three Nations Cup). This year it’s a crucial pre-Olympic tournament, as rosters should be very close to what we’ll see in February. Three of the teams (Canada, USA and Finland) will be playing each other in Group A during the round robin at Pyeongchang.” [Pension Plan Puppets]

How to “watch”: Four Nations 2017. “Assuming you CAN’T go to Florida (if you can, please take us with you), you can watch the games on HockeyTV – yes, that’s the ONLY place it’s streaming. Hope you’re ready to fork over $29.99 for a month-long subscription to watch all eight games (Don’t forget to cancel your subscription, either, or you’ll get automatically charged).” [The Ice Garden]

Get hyped and read about the rivalry between Team USA and Team Canada. Canada vs USA: Anatomy of a shorthanded goal. “In anticipation of the Four Nations Cup, I took one of Canada’s most illustrative goals—conveniently scored by Hamilton native and Markham Thunder defender Laura Fortino, for that GTA connection—and broke it down. Is this really a thinly veiled excuse for me to praise Jill Saulnier? Read on and find out!” [Pension Plan Puppets]

The Ice Garden wrote a good scouting report of each team:

“As the dismal results of the past couple of years demonstrate, pure on-ice talent is not enough to compensate for poor coaching and an apathetic national Federation.” [Sweden]

“Finland boasts one of the world’s most formidable goalie duos in Noora Räty and Meeri Räisänen. They’re backed up by 22-year-old Eveliina Suonpää, who was the Naisleijonat’s third goaltender at the Sochi Olympics. Suonpää is capable if called upon. Along with Anni Keisala and Jenna Silvonen, she represents the next generation of elite Finnish goaltending. But expect Räty and Räisänen to be Finland’s netminders at 4 Nations.” [Finland]

“But this is also a team that looked pretty flat against Canada recently at Agganis Arena. After a Sunday game in Quebec City against their foes from across the border, Team USA struggled on defense just a few days later.” [USA]

“We’re going to give Canada this one – it’s about time they won a tournament, and though they have some things to shake out (and we expect it’s going to be a very close tournament), our prediction is that Canada is going to skate away with a gold medal.” [Canada]

You can see the box scores and results of the first six round-robin games here at the Four Nations Team USA website. [USA Hockey]

The Bolts

New Hall of Fame member Dave Andreychuk taught Lightning ‘how to win’. “He’d limp his way into (the dressing room), come in a walking boot,” Mulligan said. “He’d stick it in a bucket of ice for 10 minutes and put his skate on and go play while it was still numb. Lot of the guys … their minor bumps and bruises didn’t hurt as much. They’d say, ‘He’s playing. I should be out there, too.'” [TBO.com]

Tampa Bay Lightning’s Cup-winning captain, Dave Andreychuk, reflects on his long career. “To the end, Andreychuk was the ultimate teammate. That sense of team commitment is a huge reason why he is revered by fans and players alike, in Tampa, Buffalo, and Toronto, the three cities where he had his biggest influences. In typical self-deprecating Andreychuk fashion, when asked if anyone goal stood out in his career he talked about his ‘one slapshot goal’ against Arturs Irbe before being prodded into remember some slightly more memorable goals.” [Raw Charge]

Surging Lightning go for West Coast sweep at Anaheim. “It’s been a long wait for our power play to awaken,” Coach Randy Carlyle said after the game. “I think tonight we were more determined to get pucks back on our entry. We moved the puck effectively and got the puck towards the net. We were more tenacious and hungry for the puck.” [ABC7]

Their power play sounds like a zombie y/y?

The Prospects

The Game

If you enjoyed this article please consider supporting RawCharge by subscribing here, or purchasing our merchandise here.

Support RawCharge by using our Affiliate Link when Shopping Hockey Apparel !

Talking Points