Updated:
Dan Bylsma and the USA Hockey staff have spoken.
The 2014 Men’s Hockey Team belongs to Jonathon Quick.
Bylsma will ride Quick into battle against the Russians on Saturday.
Jonathan Quick to start in goal for U.S. tomorrow against Russia #teamusa #usah
— USA Hockey (@usahockey) February 14, 2014Ryan Miller will have to sit, watch, chart shots on goal and be ready for if he is needed at a moment’s notice in the event of an injury to Quick, or an unexpected bump in the road.
One person besides Quick who is loving Bylsma’s decision right now is Alexander Ovechkin. Ryan Miller has made 12 straight saves against Ovi this season in NHL action between the Buffalo Sabres and Washington Capitals. Miller is 12 for 12 against Ovechkin.
Bylsma said Monday that he's not creating a goalie rotation like Canada's Price-Luongo duet. Bylsma intends to ride one man. That man is now Quick until such time that he lays an egg or gets injured.
There is No guarantee that Miller will start againt Slovenia on Sunday.
For now the 2010 silver medal winning goalie and tourney MVP will sit and watch Quick.
Much more to come.....
***
Hey, Coach Bylsma, inquiring minds want to know which one of your goalies will play against the high-flying Russians on Saturday:
Ryan Miller or Jonathon Quick?
After the 7-1 curb stomping of the Slovaks on Thursday, Bylsma turned down his Daft Punk beats long enough to murmur his thoughts to the world media. By the way, how brutal was Jaro Halak in the net for the Slovaks?
Miller? Quick?
(insert silence here)
OK, Danny Boy. We'll play it your way. The strong, silent type is en vogue in Sochi. Mike Babcock hasn't sad boo since Tuesday in Camp Canada. Its a war of attrition. I get it. Why give the enemy an advantage by speaking prematurely.
I expect you to skate up to Ryan Miller at Friday's practice and to softly lean into his space and tell him that he's the #1 goalie for the all too important Russia game on Saturday.
Listen, I like the Quick won his first ever international ice hockey game on Thursday. Was he great? NO, far from it. He didn't have to be great. His team scored him a touchdown. I can promise you the Russians will not roll over and play dead on Saturday like the Slovaks did on Thursday. Its Ovi's barn. He's got the weight of the world on his shoulders in his own country. The margin for error is razor thin. You need to go with the known quantity and play Ryan Miller against the high-flying Russians. Or else.
You do know that Miller has made 77 saves on 79 shots that he's faced by the Washington Capitals this season, right? Of course you do. That's why you are the head coach. Then you'll also know that Miller has shutout Ovechkin on 12 straight shot attempts this season. Ovi id ohfer 12 vs. Miller.
You wanna keep Ovi off the score sheet, throw his piece of kryptonite into the opposing net and watch him get agitated and frustrated.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
Bylsma has intimate knowledge of the Russian club and its potential to unleash its weapons of mass destruction at any given moment in a competitive hockey game. Bylsma has the privilege and honor of scratching “#71… on his dry erase board in his locker room before Pens games. He coaches the Magnitogorsk Locomotive that propels the top line, Geno Malkin. In the NHL, Bylsma is a lucky man to have one of the best 1-2 punches at center ice with Crosby-Malkin. On Saturday, Bylsma becomes the foe of big Geno. He and his coaching staff are going to have to find a way to limit the movement and contain the quick-strike power of Russia’s top six forwards in Semin, Malkin, Ovechkin, Datsyuk , Radulov and Kovalchuk.
Team USA’s goalie, whoever it ends up being, better get a good night’s sleep on Valentine’s Day night, otherwise its going to be a long game on Saturday. Russia will present a more formidable front than Slovakia did on Thursday.
Dan, I beg of you. Please don't go with Quick.
Rumor has it that Mr. Putin will be in the building for the Russia-USA match. The Russians are going to be whipped into a frenzy. Let miller take their crowd out of the game early. He has the ability to squeeze the oxygen out of the building. Quick doesn't.
We don't want to see Miller singing "All Bylsmaself" on the bench with his fifty mission cap pulled over his eyes.
#IIHFSnapshot : The face all of Russia hopes to see a lot of in #Sochi2014: a smiling Ovie. Photo: Andre RInguette pic.twitter.com/fljsAQA6L1
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) February 14, 2014