Olympics Thread

[Doc Holliday]

Carey price was good as usual,the price was right. Defence and goaltending was the difference. Proud to be Canadian, Go Canada Go!

Say what??? The Americans in the men's semi-final were barely in the Canadian zone. Canada's offense kept the intense pressure going from the drop of the puck until the end. As Smuler described it, it was like bees were swarming their zone all game long. And once the pressure would get momentarily off, the Americans would be faced with Canada's Iron Curtain at their blue line.

Jacques Plante would have got a shutout yesterday & he's been dead for over 20 years!

p.s. Mike Babcock is no dummy. The reason why he has his defence (and PK not playing) playing so tight defensively is because he's suspicious of his goaltending. Same thing with the forwards' intense pressure in the opposing zone and them backchecking and blocking shots. Even the world's best player was blocking shots yesterday!

 

[Doc Holliday]

I just tuned into the USA/Finland game and the Americans are trailing Finland by a score of 2-0. Patrick just missed on his 2nd penalty shot of the game. The ice isn't good once again. I wonder why this is? The scrapers are out at every commercial break to remove snow from the ice.

Anyways, i'm not surprised at the score. The USA was bound for a letdown after losing yesterday's game, the one that really mattered. The bronze (or silver) medal for the Americans, Canadians and Russians at these games is like a slap in the face. They were there for one reason alone and it was to win gold. Same thing with the American and Canadian women. Gold was their only goal and it was obvious when some of the American girls were receiving their silver medal.....it almost appeared for a moment some of them would take it off and give it to someone in the crowd. A silver medal for them was simply a reminder that they choked in the final 3 minutes of regular time and gave away a 2-goal lead to the slightly less talented Canadian team who had failed to score all game long until that point.

 

[man77777]

My opinion is that Finland is just better than USA which is the 4th Hockey Nation in the world. Too much arrogance, not enough work, poor mental strengh and probably slightly overated talents.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Well, you know what they say about Opinions

Tough game for the States today, they came for Gold and were the best team for 4 games and then hit a rut, it happens to good teams, that is why a short tourney like this can be won by almost any team in it.

With that said, Gold "should" be won by Canada but dont count out the Swedes.

 

[man77777]

Well, you know what they say about Opinions

Last time I heard this one, I was 11.

US medias will be way harder than me on their team...

35years without a gold medal is all but "bad luck".

 

[G1GBallday]

 

[november]

Finland 5 USA 0 that folks is karma. I am so happy!

 

[joelcairo]

These comments by Max Pacioretty summarize the attitude of the American team:

"It starts off the ice,'' Pacioretty said. "Everyone on this team realizes you have to play for the team and check your ego at the door. All of us are the top players on our team back home and you come here and you're asked to play different roles. You see everyone in the room, willing to go to the dirty areas, block shots, make hits. It's nice to see when you see a guy like Patty Kane backchecking as hard as he can across the ice. It kind of puts things in perspective.''

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/winter/2014/icehockey/men/recap?gameId=1221

Congrats to Finland on demolishing the US 5-0. Great to see a class act like Teemu Selanne get his 4th (!) medal in his 6th (!) appearance, as well as getting 2 goals including the winner. Not bad for a 43 year old! Probably shares the honor with Bobby Orr as the two nicest and classiest guys ever to play in the NHL. And Teemu and Bobby - despite their incredible talent - also showed a lot more humility than guys like Kane, Kessel or even Pacioretty (with his "All of us are the top players on our team" comment that EB noted in his quote above).

 

[joelcairo]

Mike Babcock is no dummy. [/I]

Comment saved for posterity.

Agreed: one of the best hockey coaches in the world is no dummy.

Dan Bylsma, on the other hand, might not be a bad coach...but he is an overrated one, as his stints with talented squads like Pitt and Team USA have shown. The Pitt Cup win would probably have been accomplished with any coach (well, okay any coach except Ron Wilson) but a great coach would probably have delivered at least a second Cup to Pitt considering its considerable talent. And a great coach might not have allowed Team USA to beat Finland, but the result would not have been a lopsided 5-0 loss.

 

[Special K]

The better team won both yesterday and today. I wasn't completely sold on Team USA being all that great to begin with. They barely scraped by the Russian squad and that's only because of the fluke call for the net off the mooring. They were also outhit throughout the tourney as well. Does it really matter at this level if you're not playing for the gold medal? Just as is in the Stanley Cup nobody cares about who finishes 2nd.

Now if the Swedes and can just pull one out of their ass, that would be sweet justice!!

BTW, welcome back Mr. Cairo!

 

[Merlot]

Well, you know what they say about Opinions

Like yours on Kessel. Funny how we haven't heard about him for a while. As usual, a fast start then all that superstar talk evaporates to nothing. Now Ive gotten a small taste of what it's like to be a Toronto fan. Thank God I don't have to suffer that over and over again.

The better team won both yesterday and today. I wasn't completely sold on Team USA being all that great to begin with.

Too bad Finland can't get to play the Canadians again. It would be interesting to see who is the better team after that tie.

:thumb:

Merlot

 

[joelcairo]

Thanks SK. Some truly ugly things happened in the NHL during my enforced vacation so the Olympic break came at the perfect time.

 

[sampson]

If United States played Finland in a best of 7 that meant something to both teams i believe the states would win. They have the better roster, although it did not show today. I think after losing to canada they just weren't motivated to play for the bronze medal where countries like Finland will play their hearts out to win a bronze. I also believe that canada has the strongest roster in the tournament and would beat any team in a best of 7 but when they play sweden tomorrow it is a best of 1 and anything can happen. A goalie like Lundqvist is capable of stealing a game at anytime. Although i am from canada and hope canada wins they have not won gold yet.

 

[gohabsgo]

Congrats to Finland on demolishing the US 5-0.

+1

Maybe the blowhard Brian Burke should have picked Bobbie Ryan for team USA

 

[EagerBeaver]

The Canadians have struggled to score goals in the tournament. It is their defense that has carried them. Against Sweden, anything can happen. Does anyone know what time the game is?

 

[sampson]

It is on at 7 am eastern time.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Cool, a little breakfast hockey when I get up tomorrow!

 

[Doc Holliday]

The Canadians have struggled to score goals in the tournament. It is their defense that has carried them.

While it is true that they have struggled to score goals, their offense certainly hasn't struggled since they badly outshot nearly every team they've played. Against Latvia, they had 57 shots on net. That doesn't include all the shot attempts and the blocked shots. Against the US, Jonathan Quick was fantastic!

But team defense did carry them, i agree....however, the best defense is a great offense, and by swarming the US zone (and all the other teams they had faced previously) throughout the game, they managed to keep their opponents out of their zone, making the defenceman and Carey Price look better than they might be.

The Canadians are also very well coached. If i could have my choice of coaches throughout the league, i'd pick Babcock. Assistant coach Claude Julien is also very high on my list, along with Phoenix' Dave Tippett. I've always been a big Paul Maurice & Ted Nolan fan, and John Cooper in Tampa has impressed me all season long. Paul Maclean of Ottawa also used to be high on my list, but now i'm debating.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Suncor is giving us the morning off to watch the game and the premier of Alberta has allowed the bars to open at 5am....

 

[smuler]

Suncor is giving us the morning off to watch the game and the premier of Alberta has allowed the bars to open at 5am....

This is true patriotism!! :thumb:

Go Canada

Best Regards

Smuler