Olympic Hockey

Man, they look like their wearing concrete skates. No checking and their slap-shots are so slow. I'm sorry, I can't do it.

Women's basketball has come a long way and some of the women are at or just above the rim, but it's still to grounded for my tastes.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Man, they look like their wearing concrete skates. No checking and their slap-shots are so slow. I'm sorry, I can't do it.

Women's basketball has come a long way and some of the women are at or just above the rim, but it's still to grounded for my tastes.

I didn't realize it was women's hockey last night. We were at a friend's house and I thought they were showing a juniors exhibition or something.

oh that's cold!

Go Team USA! Beat Cana-duh and da Russkies!

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Man, they look like their wearing concrete skates. No checking and their slap-shots are so slow. I'm sorry, I can't do it.

uh,oh! I hope the fire department isn't on Hockey Time at work like I am. "we'll be right over as soon as the Women's game comes on".
I'm doing all my work either during the women's games or between periods.

Ha, yeah. That's about right SAHB.

Shootouts are ga-hey. Seriously, can't we go back to having ties? Especially in the round-robin part of the tournament.

T-Roy wrote:

oh that's cold!

I love major junior hockey. The game is so fast and players so wreckless. Great fun.

Kurt, um, yeah....sorry about that butt whoopin' today in hockey.

Canada got lucky!

i saw a thing on tv about when the US won gold in 1980 against the ussr. quite a shot

A crazy night for hockey fans tonight. We have:

Czech - Russia (Rivalry that goes back to the communist era + insane offensive talent)
Canada - USA (Big rivalry, first true test for the host team + for all Hawks fans it's Kane vs Toews!)
Finland - Sweden (Another major rivalry + it's the 2006 Olympic finals rematch!)

Yeah. Tonight is an awesome line-up. Six great teams.

USA Wins!!!!!

Joe wrote:

USA Wins!!!!!

U S A !!!!! U S A !!!!!!!

Nice to see Crosby lose since I am a Capitals fan!!!

USA really wanted it more. Man, that goalie was amazing.

Miller has been one of the moset underrated goalies with Buffalo for years. Unfortunately he hasn't had much help since Drury and Brier left town.

Canada ran into another hot goalie, which is the what can make the Olympics so unpredictable. Looks like they will have to beat Germany for the right to play Russia! USA should get the winner of Swiss-Belarus (unless Sweden wins really big tonight over Finland by six goals) in which case the US might have to face the very tough Slovaks. This is how I figure it anyway.

It'll be:

USA vs Switzerland/Belarus (shouldn't really matter which one, USA should win)
Sweden vs Slovakia (unless Norway stuns the Slovaks)
Russia vs Canada (Canada has to go through Germany first though)
Finland vs Czech (who play Latvia before)

Then semis:

USA vs Finland/Czech
Sweden/Slovakia vs Russia/Canada

Russia and Canada already playing in the quarters really shows how unpredictable the tournament can get when one of the favourites drops one game and doesn't seed high in the group stage. Real tough luck for the Russians.

And how about Sweden? Looks to the Finns lucked out by losing against Sweden.

My prediction right now: USA vs Canada in the final. That Canada-Russia super-quarter final matchup is a coin-toss. But either way it goes, I don't think the Swedes can match the tempo of either the Russians or Canadians.

Finland vs Czech is tight and can go down to Vokoun vs. Kipper. Rumours have Vokoun going to Chicago after the tournament, so I'd really like to see him do well here. But I'm think USA with the help of the extra day off should be a favourite against either of those two teams.

Then in the final USA beats Canada 9-8. Kane scores seven goals.

What an effort by Team USA! Miller, Rafalski & Brown really played with passion and intensity. This is a huge win obviously as it is a confidence builder and keeps the USA from having to play the extra game in the tournament. We haven't won anything yet but the net effect will carry over into the remaining games. Let's go for the gold!

Quarter finals are set. All games are played Wednesday.

USA - Switzerland
Finland - Czech
Sweden - Slovakia
Russia - Canada

Predictions:


I think Switzerland left all they had on the ice last night against Belarus. USA wins by a fair margin.

The Czechs have a fair shot against the Finns, but their performance against Latvia certainly didn't convince. Also, they play their second game in two nights against a rested Finnish team and the Finns have a good skating team. Finland advances.

On paper, the Swedes are pretty much better in everything. Defense, goaltending (Lundqvist is top ten in the world), two-way game... well, scoring forwards are kind of even, Slovakia has quite a few clutch scorers, but most of them are a bit over the hill. But a guy like Hossa or Gaborik can win the game with a great game. Anyway, if the Swedes control the flow and pace, they beat Slovakia easily. If it's open doors hockey... it's a coin toss.

Speaking of coin tosses, when Russia plays Canada, all bets are off! Hopefully this will be an Olympic hockey classic. Kind of sad these two giants meet already in the quarters, but I guess it makes the game that much more important: one team won't even medal! What do I predict here? Mhh.... Crosby owns Ovechkin in big games... so, late in third Canada gets a three-on-one with Duncan Keith starting a rush, taking Crosby and Nash with him, leaves it to Crosby, Crosby plays to Nash, who scores and a whole nation erupts! Canada wins by the magic score of 6-5 (see Canada Cup '87).

Russia for sure.
USA for sure.

another two are weird. everything can happen. probably Sverige and Suomi.

USA WINS!!

Man, Switzerland is SO tough!

The Czechs and Slovaks both went to sleep and almost got upset last night. Either they got a wake up call or they are gonna lose to Finland and Sweden tonight. I wore my Team Svenska jersey to work tonight.
And the Russia/Canada matchup should be for the ages. What a week of hockey coming up!

Canada - Russia about to start! Should be great. Last time they played (with A squads) Russia won 2-0 in Turin Olympics 2006. But in World Cup (the only other tournament with the best players), Canada beat Russia both in 1996 and 2004. 5-3 and 3-1 respectively.

Before those tournaments, we're talking Canada Cup era (the Olympics back then were with amateurs)...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Cup_(ice_hockey)

...and those tournaments were awesome. Canada of course won most of those games, but I'm getting goose bumps just thinking tonight might get anywhere near what those games were like. I know there ain't no cold war anymore, but still.

The international hockey federation also holds world championship games every year, but the quality of the tournament varies and is not very prestigious, but it should be noted Russia beat Canada to win both the 2009 and 2008 tournaments. Canada won gold in 2007.

A true battle of giants. Canada a slight favourite, because of depth, but it's a single elimination game so anything can happen. Should be a good one.