I knew Canada was gonna win, I just knew it. However, I didn't think it would be 5-0, and it wouldn't have been had it been for a few factors. First, don't call so many penalties, I mean, come on they were just picking on team Russia, obviously. You can't have a team that dominated come out scoreless.

Second, count a goal when it goes in, if this was done, given that Canada played a great game, it would be more like a 3-2 win I bet giving the Russians confidense. Taking away a goal, morally hurts the team, giving 10 penalties in the beginning gives Canada a 5-4 advantage almost the whole way through the game, and takes confidence away from team Russia as they are afraid to play as they normally do, so they don't.

Here is from the Press:

Canadian Press

1/6/2006 1:14:00 AM

VANCOUVER (CP) - The Russian bravado was gone after losing 5-0 to Canada in the gold medal game at the world junior hockey championships Thursday.

The cockiness the Russians showed leading up to the game was replaced by complaints about a goal that wasn't allowed and an empty feeling after finishing second behind Canada for a second consecutive year.

"At the end of the game I had tears in my eyes," said defenceman Andrei Zubarev.

Just a day earlier Zubarev had said that historically the Russians were more skilled than Canada. Khudobin had even boasted Russia would "dominate" Canada.

Asked to explain what happened, Zubarev was suddenly lost for words.





"You saw everything yourself," he said finally through an interpreter. "It was just the way the game took a turn. It just happened."

Goaltender Anton Khudobin was so distraught he tossed his glove, stick and mask at the Russian bench. Several team officials had to console him.

Coach Sergey Mikhalev argued that a disallowed goal could have swung the game in Russia's favour.

"This goal would have had an outcome on the game," said Mikhalev. "Team Canada would have had to play differently."

Canadian coach Brent Sutter doubted the goal would have made any difference.

"I have to disagree with the Russian coach," said Sutter. "We would not have changed our game plan if the Russians had scored one goal."

The controversial play occurred early in the second period with Canada ahead 2-0.

Nikolai Lemtyugov fired a shot that TV replays showed beating Canadian goaltender Justin Pogge between his skates and stick. The puck quickly bounced out of the net and play continued.

After a whistle and a faceoff, play continued again. It wasn't until another whistle that Russian officials began demanding American referee Brian Thul review the play.

Thul told the benches that because play had resumed, the goal could not be reviewed.

"If that goal was counted and taken into consideration, the psychological impact would have inspired the team," said Lemtyugov.

Evgeni Malkin, named the MVP after tying American Phil Kessel with a tournament-leading 10 points, wasn't surprised the call went against Russia.

"We were ready that the referee might not be on our side," said Malkin. "Of course it didn't help our motivation. Nonetheless, we fought back and tried our best."

Prior to the final, Malkin said if his team played to its potential it would "easily" beat Canada. After the loss, Malkin could only praise the Canadians.

"They are a very good team," said second player taken in the 2004 NHL draft. "They play tough, physical and strong."

Lemtyugov shrugged when asked about his teammates pre-game chatter.

"Everyone speaks for themselves," he said glumly. "It doesn't matter what game you are playing, you have to do your job and you have to play a good game."

Defenceman Alexei Emelin said the loud, soldout crowd of 18,630 intimidated the Russians in what was a physical, high-energy game. The Candians hit everything in red, disrupting the flow of the Russian attack like boulders in a river.

A stifling Canadian defence kept the big Russian guns silent, forcing them to shoot from the outside and hurrying their attempts to dodge a hit. Pogge was easily able to handle the few shots that got through.

After playing like a well-oiled machine in winning five games during the preliminary round, the Russians blew a cog in the final.

They were on their heels after trailing 2-0 after the first period. When Michael Blunden scored his first of two power-play goals at 12:02 of the second period to make it 3-0, the Russians began losing their cool and taking needless penalties.

For Khudobin, who plays for the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League, it was like reliving a nightmare. In last year's final Khudobin was pulled after allowing three goals as Canada hammered Russia 6-1 for the gold.

After giving up the third goal Thursday he lay flat on his back in his crease. He didn't look like a man who wanted to stand up.

 

Yeah this game was ****, how's a team suppose to try a comeback when they wont even call a legit goal but they had no problem in calling the billion penalties against them.

 

Amen, I was hoping to see a good fair and tough game seeing how both teams played to get here I would not expect anything less, boy was I ever dissapointed.

 

Truth be said I only saw the last two periods but candidly speaking, although the "complaints" about the wrong goal call and the penalties MAY be valid, it should not take away from the fact that Canada played EXTREMELY well. Especially the goally.

I heard that at one point it was 13 shots to three in favour of Russia. I think I also heard that Canada scored the first three goals on only 13 shots. (not taking anything away from the Russian goally, it was not his failing)

I didn't have any problem with the officiating in this game. Once the Canadians got a couple of goals ahead I felt the Russians were taking foolish penalties out of frustration.

I enjoyed the game and I felt Canada played very well and deserved the win.

 

To each his own I guess, it's not that Canada played extremely well, it's that Russia played extremely bad if you saw any of their previous games, that was not Russia playing out there.

 

So your saying the "American" ref favoured Team Canada even though EVERY Canadian fan in an 18k person building booed the Americans and cheered the Russians in there game?! I do agree about the Russian goal but rules are rules. Why not pull the Russian players off the ice and wait for the review the play rather than restart the game and at the next stopage whine and complain for a review? If you did watch the game youd agree with the above statement that alot of the penalties were warranted and the ones that werent can hardley be blamed on favortism.

 

yeah matt one thing you gotta realize is that the refs werent all from canada, so i dont know weather or not which team they were favoring i didnt watch the game. but team canada did beat all the other teams in this tournament, in which they came in as underdogs for the gold and silver.

 

Yes I know that the reff's weren't all Canadians, still though, you know who the atmosphere was biased towards, plus all the booing all of the sudden didn't help. You can't have two very strong teams come together and one ends up scoreless, think about it.

 

Well its kinda called intimidation. The team that hadnt lost, the team that spanked them in the previous meeting, team with 18k fans cheering them on and a team built to hand out a physical beating beat a team designed to be all skill. Dont get me wrong....I hate any controversy but lets be honest....the team that played the best , worked the hardest and played a very disciplined game won. Plain and simple.