Hlinka Gretzky Cup Day 1

JUNIOR HOCKEY IS BACK!!!

Okay so I did sleep in for the first period of Canada v Finland but I have the excuse of having bad sleep and also not realizing it was Monday.

I was able to catch around the beginning of 2nd period just after the no-goal. Which... we'll get into later. Shortly after I joined though I watched as J-C Lemieux was boarded preatty badly and had to leave the game. No penalty.

The game was 2-2 when I joined and while I would be cheering for Canada either way, I was watching specifically for the d-pair of Ryan Lin and Carson Carles of the Vancouver Giants and Prince George Cougars respectfully.

After some truly almost heinous ref calls, Canada got a goal courtesy of my bug Ryan Lin after a real great pass from Valentini who's name you would hear all throughout the game. With four seconds to go in the 2nd period, Canada was now up 3-2.

3rd period was pretty normal with another Canada goal eight minutes into the period. Then a penalty hit Canada for the EIGHTH TIME this game and Finland wasn't able to score on their power play but did end up with a goal two seconds after. 4-3.

Soon after that Belchetz attempted a Michigan though it didn't work out. I would've gone crazy if it did to be honest.

The rest of the period was generally the same with Finland pulling their goalie around two minutes before the end and Canada getting an eng bringing them up to 5-3 for a final score.

The final SOG was 39-26 in favour of Canada and Gavin Betts did an incredible job. Gammals did as well, every goalie deserves their flowers.

Now, I respect refs. Most of the time. I understand that it's a hard job and people are always going to hate you.

However,

Please explain to me how Finland had five power plays while Canada only had one. Including the fact that the boarding against Lemieux did not have a penalty even though he literally had to leave the game. I try to stay unbiased when it comes to reffing when I do analysis but multiple people have spoken out about how odd the calls were and it's something you can't ignore. Despite all that, Canada still came out with a win.

I did not watch the Sweden v Germany game due to it being at the same time but the final score was 10-0 Sweden. I'm not able to get any stat sheets on penalties, toi, ect but it looks like Germany's goalie Max Bolle was the only goalie that played for the team this game.

I went into the USA v Slovakia game on the side of Slovakia. For games that aren't my home team I tend to look for players I recognize or have heard about before to cheer them on and in this case Matus Lukacik of the Prince George Spruce Kings was a fourth liner for Slovakia.

Now, instantly as the game started we got a penalty for Slovakia. and I mean like a minute in. USA wasn't able to do anything on the power play however and the game went on. Then boom goal for USA. Okay that's fine we'll see how Slovakia responds- oh they scored a minute later. This all happened before five minutes had even elapsed in the first period.

I was able to watch the full game this time and let me tell you it was stressful. Team USA would gain a one goal lead then Slovakia would tie it up again, rinse and repeat. Both goalies did an amazing job and I do have to shoutout Samuel Hrenak for doing an amazing job in the crease.

Now third period opened with it being 3-2 USA. Oliver Ozogany had scored one goal in each period so far. At this point any goal would be good to get them tied up again. But of course Ozogany scores bringing the teams tied and also getting the first hat trick of the Hlinka Gretzky up also as one of the youngest players in the entire tournament at age 16.

Unfortunately, late into 3rd period and off of a 3-on-5 penalty kill, USA was able to gain the lead once more at 4-3. They then proceeded to be greedy bastards and get two eng bringing the final score to 6-3.

Ozogany still came out with a hat trick and player of the game and Hrenak did an absolutely amazing job in net.

For Switzerland v Czechia I also did not watch that but I kept tabs mostly. It wasn't a Germany level blowout but Switzerland did get the first two goals early in before Czechia scored another six in the rest of the game. Final score was 6-2 Czechia.

Tomorrow the matchups are going to be Canada v Switzerland & USA v Sweden at 6:30am PDT and Finland v Czechia & Slovakia v Germany at 9am PDT. I will be working for the rest of this week until Saturday so my recaps will be a lot more based on other coverage instead of live like I try to. Prelimary rounds continue tomorrow and Wednesday before taking a break on Thursday and getting into actual standings starting Friday.

You can watch these games yourself online or on your TV if you have the channel and I do recommend it a lot.

In the mean time, I'll see ya tomorrow!