2009 IIHF World U20 Championship

[Themanofbat]

USA - Slovakia 3 - 5
Russia - Czech Republic 5 - 1

Slovakia beats USA? That was surprising. So the semifinals will be:

Sweden - Slovakia
Canada - Russia

Yeah... the Slovak goalie made a billion saves in that game...

 

[Shifty]

Russia, Canada going to a shootout to determine who faces Sweden in the gold medal game.

 

[Themanofbat]

Man.... that was an incredible game with arguably the most fantastic finish since game 8 of the '72 Summit Series...

 

[Galactus]

Man.... that was an incredible game with arguably the most fantastic finish since game 8 of the '72 Summit Series...

I have some vague memories that the Canada Cup-finals in 1987 were quite spectacular too, with all three games ending with a 6 - 5 result.

 

[Alex The Great]

Go Canada!

 

[Themanofbat]

I have some vague memories that the Canada Cup-finals in 1987 were quite spectacular too, with all three games ending with a 6 - 5 result.

Yeah, those Canada Cup games were great, but with Canada being 5.4 seconds away from not making the Finals was a real nail biter...

I remember watching with about 11 seconds to go and they were all fighting for the puck along the left blue line, and thought there wasn't enough time to get the puck in front of the net, and then it just happened...

This kind of playoff magic seldom happens... especially when I watch the games.

 

[The Mighty Wind]

If Tokarski ****s the bed for a third game in a row I might just strangle him myself. I understand Quinn's reasoning for starting him yet again but I really would have gone with Pickard myself.

 

[The Mighty Wind]

Yeah, those Canada Cup games were great, but with Canada being 5.4 seconds away from not making the Finals was a real nail biter...

I remember watching with about 11 seconds to go and they were all fighting for the puck along the left blue line, and thought there wasn't enough time to get the puck in front of the net, and then it just happened...

This kind of playoff magic seldom happens... especially when I watch the games.

No kidding. The entire game I just kept thinking of the team as being invincible until it got down to about six minutes left and I realized that we were a single goal away from being knocked out of the tourney. When it went 5-4 I lost all hope. I thought we were goners for sure. There was that little bit of hope when the Russians missed the empty net and iced it, but like you as soon as it went to the left boards I thought it was over for sure. Then that little bit of hope when Tavares shot it, snuffed out when it looked like the Russian who blocked it had cradled it. All of a sudden Eberle streaks in, scores and **** if I didn't go nuts. I was hanging out with friends who aren't into hockey or sports really, and had insisted the game was on. The entire time they complained about watching it and then that goal was scored and all of us erupted. As my one friend said "So, this is why you watch sports."

 

[Shifty]

What happened to Sweden?!

I was hoping for another close game to follow the American and Russian games. Markstrom must have been Hasek's star student at the school of diving.

5 years of gold. Nothing beats the first back in North Dakota. An 8 year drought ended by Super Team Canada. And its back to Saskatchewan for more home ice support later this year.

 

[Themanofbat]

Good game by Canada... I thought they were a little slow in the first period, especially after two emotional games, and the Swedes tried hard to goad them into stupid penalties, which they didn't bite... and that's 5 in a row.



Next year's team will face a LOT of pressure to win six in front of the home crowd...
I bet those tickets will be sold out in minutes, if not already...

 

[Shifty]

Good game by Canada... I thought they were a little slow in the first period, especially after two emotional games, and the Swedes tried hard to goad them into stupid penalties, which they didn't bite... and that's 5 in a row.



Next year's team will face a LOT of pressure to win six in front of the home crowd...
I bet those tickets will be sold out in minutes, if not already...

They're package tickets right now, costing over $1000 for one seat for 21 and 29 game packages..

 

[Shifty]

GOLD MEDAL GAME SETS RATINGS RECORD FOR TSN

Team Canada's gold medal victory at the World Junior Hockey Championship last night has made ratings history for TSN as the most-watched broadcast of all time on the network.

Preliminary data revealed 3.7 million viewers watched Canada take its fifth consecutive gold medal in a 5-1 victory over Sweden. The audience surpassed TSN's previous audience high of 3.5 million viewers for the gold medal game at the 2003 World Junior Championship in Halifax.

The gold medal game on TSN is the most-watched program ever on a Canadian specialty channel and is also the most-watched program overall across all Canadian television this broadcast season. Audience levels for the game peaked at 4.7 million viewers at 9:58pm et, as Team Canada celebrated its victory in Ottawa.

With 602,000 viewers, RDS also had a record audience for the gold medal game. TSN and RDS's total combined viewership for the game was a record 4.3 million. The game was watched in whole or in part by 9.3 million Canadians, or nearly 30% of the country's population.

Overall, the World Junior Championship in Ottawa has been the most successful tournament ever for TSN. The network averaged 1.7 million viewers over Team Canada's six games (four preliminary round games, one semifinal game and the gold medal final), surpassing the previous high of 1.6 million in the 2006 event in Vancouver by 5%.

TSN.ca also scored big with Team Canada's gold medal win with an additional 100,000 viewers watching live streams of the championship game online.

Figure it would happen. Its time for the World Juniors to setup shop permanently in Canada. Or at the very least alternate like this:

Canada, USA, Canada, European team

2010 Saskatoon and Regina, Canada
2011 Buffalo, United States
2012 Calgary and Edmonton, Canada

I guess the IIHF will discuss in the future.