Team Sweden should be considered one of the favorites to win the World Cup of
Hockey.
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Olympics in Sochi, the Swedes advanced to the gold-medal final, and this time
around, their defense is, if possible, even better. They have playmaking magic
in the Sedins and Nicklas Backstrom, firepower in?Patric Hornqvist, Loui
Eriksson and Filip Forsberg, and, of course, goalie Henrik Lundqvist.Then, to
make the team complete, they have Marcus Kruger.In 2013, the Chicago Blackhawks
tied Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals with 1:16 remaining in the third period.
Coach Joel Quenneville was looking to get the game to overtime, so he
sent?Michael Frolik, Dave Bolland?and Kruger on the ice to keep the Boston
Bruins in check. Seventeen seconds later, Bolland scored the Stanley Cup-winning
goal. That was not the plan, but thats why its one of the most memorable shifts
in Krugers career.He didnt get an assist on the goal, but it was Kruger who got
the puck to Johnny Oduya, whose shot Frolik deflected so that Bolland could slam
the loose puck in.These days, Kruger is Coach Qs go-to defensive forward, even
if Krugers 2015-16 season was forgettable because of the wrist injury he
suffered in December. The way Quenneville uses Kruger is reason to ponder why
the 26-year-old Swede has gotten only one third-place vote in the Selke Trophy
voting in his career (in 2013). In the same time span, 124 other players,
including Ilya Kovalchuk, have gotten votes to win the award given to the
forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.Last season,
Krugers offensive-zone starts were a team-low 19 percent, according to
hockeyabstract.com. The year before, when the Blackhawks won their third Cup in
six years -- and Kruger his second in three -- his offensive-zone starts were 25
percent. Yet his Corsi has been consistently over 50 percent -- between 51.6 and
55.1 -- except for last season, when it slipped to 48.4.Even last season, when
Kruger missed 41 games because of the injury, he was only 16 total minutes
behind captain Jonathan Toews in shorthanded minutes on the Blackhawks, and he
led the teams forwards in shorthanded minutes per game by 23 seconds. In
2014-15, he played almost 70 more shorthanded minutes than Toews.Of course, the
quiet Swede is the last person in the world to put his name in the same sentence
as the Selke Trophy.When I got to Chicago [in 2011], that was the role that was
available, he told ESPN.com recently. So thats what I needed to be able to do if
I wanted to play in the league.Like so many other conscientious defensive
forwards, Kruger hasnt always been just a defensive specialist. In 2009, when he
broke through in the Swedish league, he scored at a point-per-game pace through
the fall -- on pace with the best in the league. He scored six points in six
games for Sweden at the World Juniors before suffering an ankle injury. He ended
up scoring 31 points in 38 regular-season games and adding another 10 in 16
postseason games as a 19-year-old.Its not like Ive had to reinvent myself or see
myself as a different player. Ive always tried to play solid, two-way hockey, he
said. I learned early on to always do what the coach asks you to do, and if this
is what the coach wants me to do, Ill try to be as good at it as I possibly
can.Its not always easy, and there have been times when [having the defensive
role] has been frustrating since Im used to contributing even at the other end
of the rink. And I think its important to keep on pushing ones self to do that
and not get too comfortable with being a defensive specialist.Last season,
Kruger collected just four assists in 41 regular-season games and one assist in
seven playoff games. All in all, hes scored 28 goals and 88 points in 328 games,
so theres room for improvement in his stats. But though the goal celebrations
have been few and far apart, Kruger has learned to get his kicks from other
aspects of the game.Basically, the way I feel depends on how well the teams
doing, he said. If were not winning, its harder for me to get up for defense and
not contribute in the offensive zone. But its rewarding to get to play the last
shifts of a game because often it means that if we can keep the puck out of our
net, well win. Thats a little boost for me. Things like that may mean more to me
now than they used to.The coach seems to trust me, and obviously, I want to be
on the ice at the end of the games. Everybody wants to contribute to the team
success, and this is a pretty cool way too.
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Walcott is available for Saturdays home match against Southampton as Arsenal
looks to extend its two-point lead at the top of the Premier League. The Gunners
are currently the second highest scorers in the league but Wenger insists
Walcott will add something extra to his team. SEPANG, Malaysia -- Mercedes boss
Toto Wolff understands why Lewis Hamilton initially questioned the team after
suffering an engine failure at the Malaysian Grand Prix.Hamilton retired from
the lead with 16 laps remaining, seeing a potential five-point advantage in the
drivers championship turn into a 23-point deficit. It was Hamiltons third major
power unit failure of the year after MGU-H issues in qualifying in China and
Russia, and immediately after the race he told TV cameras, someone has to give
me some answers and it is not acceptable. Something or someone doesnt want me to
win this year.He later clarified that he was referring to a higher power and not
Mercedes, but Wolff said he completely understood the comments of his driver
either way.Every remark, every answer is allowed after such a frustrating
moment, he said. If you were in the lead of that race and you were just about to
get back in that championship and your engine blows up and someone puts a
microphone in front of your face ... he is allowed to say whatever he wants.
This is the emotion and completely understandable and each of us would express
his frustration in different ways.And there is no explanation, we came together
afterwards and sat down and said how is this possible?. Its a freaky situation
that has no rational explanation and I think after recovering a bit he will just
see that, but in the heat of the moment thats no problem.
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Shoes Outlet. After speaking to the TV cameras, Hamilton met with
his engineers and mechanics to discuss the failure and Wolff said his speech
showed true greatness.He came back into the garage immediately and he went to
see Bradley [Lord, head of communications] and Niki [Lauda] and myself and went
to every single mechanic to say how he felt. Afterwards we had a discussion in a
small group and we were all really down from the incident.Then we regrouped
everybody, all the mechanics and all the engineers, and we had a chat to bring
everybody up. He said some great things about the team and hopefully that is
going to help us recover from Japan.Although being a driver, and very much
frustrated and emotional about the situation, he was trying to pick up the team,
which only the greatest do. In such a moment, to come out and put yourself in
front of the mechanics and engineers, and find words to pick them up for the
next race, and encourage them, it was really great. ' ' '