Bubba Torres Postgame Interview
Archive for the ‘Norway: Live Game Blog’ Category
Norway Postgame Recap
Thursday, March 18th, 2010Norway Semifinals: Live Game Blog
Thursday, March 18th, 2010FINAL! The U.S. wins, 3-0!!!!
——————
2:00 Norway empty net
——————
DESCRIPTION: Despite being trapped in deep, defenseman Nikko Landeros located Howard cutting to the net. His pass stayed nicely on the ice, and Howard snapped a one timer past Johansen’s glove for his second of the tournament. 2:12 left until a shot at gold!
——————
3:01 GOAL!!! Joe Howard! USA 3-0
——————
3:00 THREE MINUTES TO GO!
——————
4:24 The U.S. conditioning is showing. They’re winning puck battles in open space now.
——————
Team USA’s keeping three in the neutral zone at all times to eliminate the stretch pass.
——————
The wave at its best!
——————
6:10 PENALTY OVER
——————
Another huge save by Steve Cash, this time on Rovelstad.
——————
8:16 PENALTY: USA’s Joe Howard called for a hold.
——————
8:31 Norway is flying. They’ve got 8:31 to try to score twice and get a chance at gold. Against the best goalie in the world.
——————
9:10 Norway misses on a 2-on-0 rush!
——————
Broadcast note: We’ve heard from viewers that the video feed is working on Firefox but NOT on Internet Explorer. FYI.
——————
Norway keeps trying the long, slow area stretch pass. It’s worked twice. It’s gone for icing about four or five times. But when it works… look out.
——————
10:30 PENALTY OVER Shot by Brad Emmerson turned aside by Johansen.
——————
A long pass by Andy Yohe misses Alexi Salamone and slides for icing.
——————
12:20 FIRST PENALTY OVER
——————
12:39 PENALTY: Norway’s Eskil Hagen throws the puck over the glass for delay of game.
——————
U.S. coaches are livid about an icing call. To say that Eskil Hagen was dogging it to let that puck reach the red line is an understatement.
——————
14:20 PENALTY Team Norway for delaying the game. Good call… they do it to rest up their key players who are on the ice most of the game.
——————
Norway takes a LONG time on line changes. And now…
——————
14:20 A couple of good chances for Tim Jones in the slot, but he couldn’t quite collect a bouncing puck either time.
——————
One period to go! And HERE WE GO!
——————
Three minutes to go. The crowd has been into this one despite the relatively low score. Lots of good chances. Steve Cash, who has yet to allow a goal this tournament, is showing why he’s the best in the world, too.
——————
SWEET CAR-O-LINE!!!
Tonight’s game has been all about capitalizing on opportunities. The “prime scoring chances” have been even. But Team USA leads, 2-0.
——————
END OF PERIOD TWO, USA 2-0. Shots are 8-7 in favor of Norway.
——————
1:00 Team USA misses on a 3-on-1 rush! Josh Pauls barely misses pulling a shot to his left side, otherwise he would have had an open net. Great game for the 17-year-old so far…
——————
For those wishing to watch the game, try clicking on the big white button with the Paralympics logo on it on the right hand side of ParalympicSport.tv’s main page. This humble blogger pulled up the live feed this way… not sure about computer compatibility issues…
——————
DESCRIPTION: Team USA cycled the puck well on the power play until Alexi Salamone escaped in the near corner. He fed Taylor Chace pinching in from the blue line. Chace’s shot hit a Norway defender, but bounced over Johansen’s glove and into the net.
——————
4:25 GOAL!! Taylor Chace! USA 2-0
——————
4:45 PENALTY: Norway’s Eskil Hagen is off for delaying the game.
——————
5:30 Steve Cash stops a breakaway by Norway’s Helge Bjornstad!
——————
DESCRIPTION: A turnover created by the persistence of Josh Pauls, Greg Shaw found himself all alone from the left dot in. He deked the goalie down and slid the puck into an open side.
——————
6:12 GOAL! Greg Shaw! USA 1-0
——————
Another key to today’s more even game has been faceoffs… a stat that the U.S. has dominated but is even tonight.
——————
8:23 A low shot by Taylor Chace trickles under the goalie Roger Johansen and NEARLY reaches the goal line before being covered up.
——————
8:52 A potential two-on-one rush by Norway is chased down from behind by Taylor Chace. Very tight game right now…
——————
The hockey game is now LIVE on ParalympicSport.tv. Click on the white button on the middle righthand side of the screen.
——————
11:40 Pederson hits the post!
——————
12:00 Shot by Pederson from the slot sent just wide!
——————
13:00 PENALTY OVER
——————
13:30 Good penalty killing so far…
——————
Salamone still has 1:50 on an elbowing penalty. HERE WE GO!
——————
One minute until puck drop! Team USA will need to come with more if they’re going to generate the scoring chances they created in their first three games.
——————
We’re trying to find out why there is a replay of a curling match being aired instead of the live sled hockey game promised by ParalympicSport.tv’s schedule. Stay tuned here for more updates.
——————
END OF PERIOD 1, No score. Shots were 5-3 in favor of Norway.
——————
0:10 PENALTY Alexi Salamone off for elbowing.
——————
Norway is clogging up the neutral zone, preventing U.S. rushes that were so successful in its first three games.
——————
1:42 Taylor Chace hits the post!
——————
Cash has been tested thus far, with five saves already.
——————
3:20 Near breakaway for Bjornstad, but the long bank pass slides too far.
——————
5:25 Nikko Landeros has hit Pederson in the pads a couple of times with dump attempts. A dangerous proposition since it often leads to breakaways the other way.
——————
5:53 Good shifts there by Team USA. You knew after Norway’s 5-0 loss to Canada that it would come out flying in this one.
——————
6:50 Josh Pauls nearly dekes around the goalie, but slides the puck too far!
——————
The Blue Line with some good puck possession now… Page with a shot that whistles wide.
——————
9:30 PENALTY OVER Another shot on goal by Norway.
——————
Pederson’s playing very well, and has intercepted a couple of U.S. passes.
——————
11:38 PENALTY: Norway’s Loyd Remi Johansen off for holding.
——————
12:55 Steve Cash makes a big save on Helge Bjornstad from the right circle.
——————
Both teams a little tentative… several missed passes in the first minute.
——————
HERE… WE… GO!
——————
Remember to watch the game live at ParalympicSport.tv… but stay tuned here for behind-the-scenes insights! Leave comments to support Team USA!
——————
Five minutes to go…
——————
Norway has scored a total of FOUR goals in four games: two by Rovelstad and two by Royne. Don’t wake a sleeping giant…
——————
12 minutes to puck drop! There’s a huge band of Norway fans in one corner of the stands. They’re all draped in the OTHER red, white and blue.
——————
Norway is a team that lives and dies by the success of three players: captain Tommy Rovelstad, Kjel Vidar Royne and Rolf Pederson. Pederson is arguably the best player in the world, though he is slowing down with age. If the U.S. can contain those three players, it should be playing for the gold.
——————
The players are on the ice for warm-ups! Team USA donning its whites for tonight. Puck drop in 35 minutes!
——————
The coaching staff and team veterans have done a good job at keeping Team USA’s eyes on tonight’s game despite Japan’s huge upset of Canada earlier this afternoon. Fortunately, this humble blogger can spend this brief time to appropriately focus on that upset in the context of its importance not for the U.S., but for the game of sled hockey.
A victory by either team in tonight’s semifinal later tonight would surprise no one. But Japan’s win this afternoon was “Miracle”-esque. And that is not an understatement. A team that had never finished higher than fifth in the Paralympics just knocked off gold-medal favorites. Japan beat Canada for the first time in 12 tries since accurate record keeping in the sport was employed in 2004. And it did so “on the road,” in Canada’s own building.
A quote by Japan’s head coach, Kojin Nakakita, following today’s win: “I knew if we played Canada 1,000 times we were going to lose 999 times. But not this one.”
Sound familiar? A certain famous U.S. head coach used a very similar line when addressing his boys prior to a certain Olympic hockey game in 1980. After Japan’s victory, goalie Mitsuru Nagase had tears in his eyes. Japan’s players whooped, hollered, and then bowed to honor the crowd.
CTV, who will be airing the gold-medal game live on Saturday, cannot be happy with the result. But this storybook win will go down in sled hockey history as one of the greatest games played by the feisty, never-say-die Japanese.
Ok… back to the game at hand. USA vs. Norway for the right to play for gold… in 90 minutes!
——————
A quick note: Japan has just pulled a stunning upset over Canada, 3-1, in the first semifinal. It was Japan’s first win over Canada since records were consistently kept beginning in 2004 (1-11-0). The winner of tonight’s game between Team USA and Norway will face Japan in the gold-medal game.
——————-
Welcome to the live game blog for the Paralympic semifinal match-up between the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Team and Norway. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. PDT, so stop by beginning at 6:30 p.m. for updates and incites into this important game. You can also catch all the action beginning at 7 p.m. at ParalympicSport.tv.
Remember, the most recent updates will appear at the top of this post.