It was a sound defeat by the Canucks in a sense because they made it look more easy than the shot total suggested: 44-21 Flames. Roberto Luongo was solid again but was unimpressed after the game. He did not come out and skate the circle and give his stick away after being named the first star of the game. Why? Because he wanted the shutout. He joked post game: "I don't like shutouts, that's why. I like to let goals in in the last five seconds. Shutouts are overrated." Then he got a little more serious and said: "I'm a competitor and obviously I want to stop them all and I was a little disappointed that went in there at the end." (The Province).Tim Jackman, seemingly one of the only guys scoring for Calgary lately, scored with only 11 seconds left after not being covered well enough by Dan Hamhuis.
These are good times aren't they? Hell yes, but don't get cocky. I sensed a little bit of cockiness in Kevin Bieksa post game when he said in front of the Rogers Arena fans: "Yeah we love beating Calgary on home ice don't we?" I know it's funny and fun, but I wouldn't be saying that stuff. As great as these times are they won't last forever. There will be some form of adversity as time goes by. I just like the majority of the team's focus right now. I hope they can remember these times and what it takes to win when the going gets tough down the road.
VANCOUVER — Niklas Hagman’s disappointment couldn’t be missed.
After nearly all of the rest of the Calgary Flames had cleared out of the dressing room following the morning skate, Hagman finally made his way off the ice, walked to his stall and sat down.
The situation was obvious to all: He was a healthy scratch for Wednesday night’s clash with the Vancouver Canucks.
“Obviously, it’s tough. I’d rather play, but I’m not playing today,” the left winger said quietly.
The Flames had no shortage of candidates to spend a night in the press box after their four-game winning streak was snapped in Monday night’s 5-2 home-ice loss to the New York Islanders.
It prompted the squad to summon rookie Mikael Backlund back from the minors — two days after he was assigned there — meaning somebody would join Craig Conroy as a scratch.
Even during the winning streak, a handful of players struggled, and head coach Brent Sutter opted to sit Hagman, who hasn’t scored in eight games and has just one tally in 15 outings.
“I haven’t scored, haven’t put up any points, and obviously they expect that from me. I expect that from me, also,” he said. “You could say it’s frustrating.”
Hagman, a three-time 20-goal scorer, has eight goals and 17 points in 40 games. His minus-7 rating is second worst on the team.
However, he’s not that far removed from being sat out.
“Toronto. Last season,” said Hagman.
“It’s not fun. In Toronto, we were going through a tough stretch and trying to get things going better ... (Here) we’ve got 14 forwards so everybody can’t play. I want to be one of the guys who’s playing, but tonight I’m not.”
Getting back into the fray, and happy about it, was Mikael Backlund.
Backlund was sent to the AHL Abbotsford Heat Sunday after being sat six straight games, but his time in the press box was more a case of Sutter not wanting to tinker with a winning lineup.
Originally, the plan was to send Backlund to Abbotsford for a week because the Heat were slated to play four games in six nights, but Backlund suited up for only one game, a 4-0 loss to the Manitoba Moose Monday night.
“It sucks we lost, but it was fun to play. Play a lot,” he said.
Watt released
Minor league forward J.D. Watt had his contract with the Flames terminated Wednesday, two days after saying he wanted to pursue his career outside the organization.
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- Team Canada's Brayden Schenn after Russia's come-from-behind 5-3 gold medal victory over Team Canada in Buffalo, January 5, 2010. (Mark Webster/QMI AGENCY)
BUFFALO — Big defenceman Jared Cowen, now an unfortunate two-time world junior silver medallist, said it best before the Canadians broke from selection camp in Etobicoke last month.
When you win, it feels like everything you did was right.
And when you lose, you question everything you did along the way.
There is doubt and disbelief in Hockey Canada’s national junior program after the five-goal, third-period meltdown at HSBC Arena Wednesday night.
Before the tournament started, everyone lamented the lack of finish on head coach Dave Cameron’s big, energetic team.
Scoring goals wasn’t the problem. Preventing them when it mattered most proved their downfall.
This is the second straight year that the gold-medal game hung in the balance and the Canadians didn’t get it done.
This was supposed to be the mission to reclaim the gold.
Instead, that’ll be the motto again in Calgary and Edmonton for the 2012 tournament, only that Canadian team will carry the burden of two bitter defeats with it to Alberta.
Where did this Buffalo breakdown go wrong?
Everyone shares part of the blame.
The players stopped playing their system late in the second period, and never re-started. Not even the physically impressive trio of Ryan Johansen, Zack Kassian and Marcus Foligno could get the puck deep and re-establish dominance down low.
But the Canadians had to know the Russian surge was coming.
They witnessed the comeback against the Finns. They saw what happened to the Swedes.
And they still didn’t have a good enough contingency plan to halt the uprising to get the pendulum swinging back in their favour.
They just became the latest and greatest victim.
Cameron, as a coach, had a couple of tricks at his disposal to try to stop the bleeding.
The second intermission, the players say, they didn’t notice any cockiness or belief the game was in the bag.
“We knew we had to play right till the end,” said Kassian, who like fellow Sabres pick Foligno, will be haunted by this loss every time they walk in the building as pros.
Two days earlier, they broke the favoured American team’s spirit.
But they couldn’t do it to the Russians, who begin every description of their own team with the word “character”.
Cameron burned his timeout after Russian captain Vladimir Tarasenko tied the game 7:29 into the third. That turned out to be too little, too late.
He should’ve used it after the quick second Russian goal by Maxim Kitsyn, the Los Angeles pick whose junior rights are held by — who else — Cameron’s Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors.
The Canadian coach said he never once considered yanking starting goalie Mark Visentin, who struggled so mightily when the tide turned.
Stack up that against what the guy on the other bench did.
Russian coach Valeri Bragin made a goalie change, which often gets the attention of a struggling team.
Suddenly, Igor Bobkov, who gave up six to the Canadians on Boxing Day, was back in net for the first time in 11 days, and became one of the most surprising winners in tournament history.
He held off the Canadians’ push for a fourth goal.
He is today, in his own words, the new Jack Campbell, who came on in relief in Saskatoon to beat the Canadians last year.
These Russian kids are now national heroes, unforgettable champions who not only won in thrilling fashion, but beat a team with the backing of 98% of the people in the NHL rink.
Bobkov called his mom and dad in Surgut right after the win. He said his mom cried, she was so happy for him and his team.
Bragin said he’s already been contacted by important government-types back home.
It’s funny how quickly things can change.
Russia’s veteran players were labeled chokers for their disastrous quarterfinal overtime defeat at the hands of the Swiss last year. Getting torched by Jordan Eberle’s clutch goal with five seconds left two years ago in Ottawa didn’t sit that well with the federation, either.
That’s all forgotten.
This isn’t: the fourth-place Swedes openly indicated they were unimpressed with Canada after beating them in the playoff shootout.
Surely, after what happened in the final, they had a point.
Right now, it’s the Canadian brass looking in the mirror. Did they pick the right players? Was the correct philosophy in place? And what could’ve been done to stop the train from careening so far, so quickly, off the rails?
As Cowen said, that’s what happens when you lose. The questions start flying.
But when you win, you just sing and hug and party the way the Russians did at their hotel after the game.
You never see flaws in the reflection of a gold medal.
ryan.pyette@sunmedia.ca
twitter.com/ryanpyette
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