Former St. Louis Blues Part Of Disappointing Team USA Performances
There were no current St. Louis Blues on Team USA for the World Cup. There were several former ones though and they played a hand in the rather abysmal showing through two games.
The St. Louis Blues have usually been well represented on Team USA through the last few competitions. However, with players leaving, all the current Americans are ex-Blues. Given the team’s performance, maybe the Blues were right to dump them.
Of the current St. Louis squad, only Kevin Shattenkirk is an American with any real claim to be on the team. The higher-ups decided to go with a certain style and wanted more grit. It did not work out.
Former Blue, Brett Hull even said during the post-game show after a 4-2 loss to Canada that Team USA was constructed with the sole purpose of being able to beat Canada. They did in an exhibition game, but not since then.
4-2 does not even show how different the two teams were. Team USA was borderline embarrassing.
If this team was built to beat Canada, then they need to go back to the drawing board. They did not even come close to competing and, as an American, that’s what hurts.
To be fair, some of the goals were a bit fluky. Two went in off body parts and still counted.
However, if Team USA was built on grit and physicality, then they had plenty of opportunities to knock those guys off course. The entire squad just seemed to go through the motions.
Even more frustrating was the play of our own former players. We’v all said things about this player or that once they are gone, but we all cheered for them when they were with the Blues.
T.J. Oshie scored a late goal to cut the lead in half. That was the lone bright spot though as he was largely ineffective during his 18-plus minutes.
David Backes was a non-factor, if not a detraction. Known for his physical style, he threw two hits, was a minus-1 and gave the puck away.
Sep 9, 2016; Columbus, OH, USA; Team USA forward David Backes (42) against Team Canada during a World Cup of Hockey pre-tournament game at Nationwide Arena. Team USA won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Erik Johnson was almost a joke of a roster addition the way he played. He didn’t even reach 12 minutes of ice time, had absolutely no special teams minutes and was on the ice for one of the goals.
Shattenkirk has his own faults defensively. If he could not have been an improvement over that though, then I’d eat my own hat.
We all wondered where the offense would come from with this current team, but I’m not sue anyone thought it would be this paltry. There should be enough talent out there to compete.
I love Jaroslav Halak, but he did not play well enough to earn the shutout by himself. Team USA did very little to test him.
A win against Canada was always going to be tough. We were supposed to at least see a tough, hard fought win by Canada though. They pretty much breezed through after the initial USA score.
It’s just disappointing. Disappointing to see your country’s team show so little fight. Disappointing to see guys you used to root for here, and were in leadership roles, play with so little spirit.
Kinda glad none of #teamusa is on #stlblues after the effort I saw the last two games #embarrassing
— John Dye (@johndyestl) September 21, 2016
Bright Side
Looking at the positives, the Blues were still well represented in terms of current players. Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester had fine games.
Only Drew Doughty had more time on the ice than Bouwmeester did. He’s not a better player than P.K. Subban, by any stretch, but he’s justifying the choice.
Pietrangelo added an assist to his totals. He now has a goal and an assist after getting a helper on the Canadians’ fourth goal.
Bouwmeester and Pietrangelo also combined for four blocked shots. Three of those were big Bouw’s, which is good to see since he was a pretty good shot blocker before his last two down seasons.
Also, trying to look at the bright side, Jori Lehtera had a hit and two blocked shots in limited action. He was barely on the ice for nine minutes, but has not done much to warrant more.
At least he made himself useful in a somewhat more defensive role. None of Team Sweden’s goals were scored while he was out there either.
It has been a fun tournament for the most part. The play of Team USA has just soured it a bit.
Team North America has been fun to watch. There are still Blues to root for on an individual basis and then we can focus more on the NHL come this weekend.
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