2010 Olympics - Men's hockey gold medal winner.

[G1GBallday]

Congratulations Team USA.

I don't mean to brag but I did predict that the Russians would win the gold(post 3 in this thread).

If they do they'll still likely have to go through Canada to do it because from what they said on TSN tonight, with this loss Canada will have to play a qualifying game against Germany on Tuesday with the winner playing Russia in the quarter finals on Wednesday.

In the end though it was as I feared with Ryan Miller standing on his head. Without his amazing performance Canada would have had at least a half dozen goals.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Hey buddy perhaps you did not notice but 5 goals peppered the back of the Canadian net with Brodeur guarding it - well at least 4 anyway. Miller may have been great in net, but that was expected. What was not expected was for Team USA to essentially give Canada a lesson in playing with heart and guts, with Rafalski leading the way.

I was wrong about Ron Wilson. He picks guys who can win you games, and extolls the grinder type player. He could be this year's Herb Brooks.

 

[Special K]

Wow, f'n awesome!! Great job Team USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Doc Holliday]

I don't mean to brag but I did predict that the Russians would win the gold(post 3 in this thread).

The Russians won't win the gold. Too many big egos & no defense. Questionable goaltending. Average coach.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Wow, f'n awesome!! Great job Team USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You mean 'great job Ryan Miller'!!!! He was outstanding!!! Americans were hugely outshot by Canada, but Miller once again was superhuman-like.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I was wrong about Ron Wilson. He picks guys who can win you games, and extolls the grinder type player. He could be this year's Herb Brooks.

Brian Burke went with youth & speed when he chose this team & it seems to have paid out. No more old-timers like Chris Chelios , Jason Blake & Bill Guerin among the group. Canada, on the other hand, went with a mix of youth & experience. Chris Pronger & Scott Niedermayer have been awful so far & didn't play much in the 3rd period. Babcock instead went with Dan Boyle, youngsters like Duncan Keith, Shay Webber & Drew Doughty, who have all been very impressive so far. Martin Brodeur is starting to look his age, but he's been that way all season long. I still insist there had to be a spot on the roster for the likes of Steve Stamkos, Martin St-Louis or Vincent Lecavalier.

The Americans better make sure Ryan Miller doesn't get injured. They're not the same team with Tim Thomas between the pipes. My bet is that Canada will now turn to local fan favorite Roberto Luongo for the rest of the tournament, which has been dubbed the best ever by hockey great Peter Stastny.

 

[Merlot]

In the end though it was as I feared with Ryan Miller standing on his head. Without his amazing performance Canada would have had at least a half dozen goals.

Hello G1G,

True! Ryan Miller was terrific. But your insinuation that the Canadian team would be better if the US didn't have him is a misdirection. Obviously the goalie is part of the "team". If you had him you wouldn't accept opponent fans trying to separate the goalie from the rest of the team in some rationalization attempt. In spite of the fact that Canada had many more shots on goal, many of which came during the Canadian power plays at the end, the U.S. offense was just more effective on even terms, and that was as critical as anything Miller did.

The results of each team playing a common opponent (Switzerland) indicated this could happen. Too bad. I want the U.S. to win the gold of course, but I would also be very happy if the Canadians won. Still, I don't know who will finally get the gold, but this victory was very satisfying. But no matter what happens nothing will ever surpass the 1980 "Miracle On Ice" always voted since as the greatest moment in all of American sports history.

Brian Burke went with youth & speed when he chose this team & it seems to have paid out.

One commentator suggested the Americans went with "grinders", those who would use every facet of the game during every moment, while the Canadians went with great stars used to "being the center of their teams". That seemed like a gross over-generalization and a slap at great Canadian real team players to me, but with some small key truth.

Cheers,

Merlot

PS

Happy 30th Anniversary today to the 1980 American Olympic Hockey Team (Feb 22, 1980 - Feb 22, 2010) and everyone who saw the "Miracle". The karma lives on.

 

[Special K]

You mean 'great job Ryan Miller'!!!! He was outstanding!!! Americans were hugely outshot by Canada, but Miller once again was superhuman-like.

It was reminiscent of just about every Habs win this year in which they're totally outshot, outplayed, outhit, outeverythinged yet still somehow sneak out a win! LOL.

 

[Jman47]

Happy 30th Anniversary today to the 1980 American Olympic Hockey Team (Feb 22, 1980 - Feb 22, 2010) and everyone who saw the "Miracle". The karma lives on.

Hello M,
Remember it like it was yesterday.
The Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid.

Oh to be a teenager again...naah...lol
J

PS Does this mean we are getting older or better?!

 

[lgna69xxx]

ya know tho, after watching the game a second time late last night, alot of Canada's shots were not great scoring chances, more like "soft" shots/scoring opportunities, so it was not as lop sided as the stats seem to show, now dont get me wrong, Miller made some amazing saves and was the difference in the game, but not as much as people think, and overall this USA team is a very very dangerous and serious gold medal contending team. Canada will have to play the Russian's "if" they beat germany on wednesday

Americans were hugely outshot by Canada,.

 

[Jman47]

ya know tho, after watching the game a second time late last night, alot of Canada's shots were not great scoring chances, more like "soft" shots/scoring opportunities, so it was not as lop sided as the stats seem to show, now dont get me wrong, Miller made some amazing saves and was the difference in the game, but not as much as people think, and overall this USA team is a very very dangerous and serious gold medal contending team. Canada will have to play the Russian's "if" they beat germany on wednesday

Hello Iggy,
On the other end of the ice though the US had relatively few opportunities against the best in the game and they made the shots they got count.
Should be an interesting rest of the tournament...
Jman

 

[EagerBeaver]

Brian Burke went with youth & speed when he chose this team & it seems to have paid out. No more old-timers like Chris Chelios , Jason Blake & Bill Guerin among the group. .

My impression from what I read is that Ron Wilson played a role in player selection and favored grinders and hustlers, especially those with youth and speed. They have used a similar selection philosophy to what Herb Brooks used in 1980 with amateur players.

We have seen some posts here suggesting that the Americans were outplayed, but I did not see that being the case. The Canadians were held shotless for a 9 minute stretch in the second period, and then piled up a lot of panicked and off target shots at the end when they were scrambling to get back in the game and then had to pull their goalie. It's like in the NFL when a team is getting their ass whipped and then has 200 passing yards in the second half trying to catch up. You know what that means? It MEANS SHIT. Those are the stats cited by the losing team to ease the pain of the loss, when in fact we should be rubbing alcohol in the wound. Brodeur was not very good, the Canadian defensemen were horrid and they were badly outhustled for the majority of the game. Those are the facts. Rafalski and Miller played with a ton of guts and gave the Canadians lessons in pride and enthusiasm. The USA team is very much a threat to win gold, especially since some of their top offensive guns had quiet games against the Canadians.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Amazing athletic display indeed by Ryan Kesler

sweet empty netter...

 

[lgna69xxx]

Hey Jman47
in a short tournament, thats all that matters my friend

Hello Iggy,
On the other end of the ice though the US had relatively few opportunities against the best in the game and they made the shots they got count
Should be an interesting rest of the tournament...
Jman

 

[Jman47]

Hey Jman47
in a short tournament, thats all that matters my friend

My point exactly... <its a wink smiley because you can't tell>

 

[Joe.t]

Amazing athletic display indeed by Ryan Kesler

I agree, Kesler pick pocketed the Canadian defender who was playing the body when he should have been playing the puck, great play by Kesler and a dumb play by the Canadian player.

 

[Doc Holliday]

It was reminiscent of just about every Habs win this year in which they're totally outshot, outplayed, outhit, outeverythinged yet still somehow sneak out a win! LOL.

Absolutely correct. And i'd like to add that Jaroslav Halak has been fabulous between the pipes for Slovakia & will make them a force to reckon with in the tournament.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Ours is the same team that lost to the Swiss in 2006 and nearly lost to them again the other day so we should stop being surprised when Team
Mediocre loses to the US or anybody else. It is time we came to grips with the reality that we don't own hockey and we certainly don't own the podium.

Canada still has the best team in the tournament, whether or not they wind up losing the gold medal. You need a bit of luck to win such prestigious tournaments. Usually, luck or not, the best team will find a way to win. Canada grossly outshot & outplayed Switzerland, yet Jonas Hillier, one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, stoned them. Just like Jaroslav Halak did to Russia in their game against Slovakia.

The fact of the matter is that Canada not only outshot the USA by a larger margin last night, they outplayed them for the most part of the game. The difference in the game was the goaltending, especially the great Ryan Miller, who's possibly the best goalie in the NHL this season. The guy is unreal! Canada played a great game, but wound up getting killed by the penalties they took. Brodeur played very well, but not great. He wasn't there when Canada needed a game-saving save, like he used to do in past years.

I still predict a gold for Canada. They'll put the great Roberto Luongo between the pipes in their game against Germany, will easily beat them, then will come back with Luongo and beat Russia by one or two goals. I see Canada vs. Sweden in the final. But don't be surprised if it's not a repeat & face the USA once again, with Canada winning the final game.

I'm not bummed out that Canada lost against the USA last night. It was a good win for hockey. It also might have helped NBC realize that they fucked up by putting the game on MSNBC instead of on the major network. Hockey is a major sport, of the THE major sport in the Olympics, just like figure skating belongs there because it's the games' glamour event. Whether or not Canada wins the gold or not, a deserving team will wind up winning the top prize & there are no losers. The biggest winner will be the game of hockey, and us fans.

 

[lgna69xxx]

"Burke not happy with team USA's play" (what a shocker)

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=518573

 

[Doc Holliday]

"You guys are probably going to be shocked by this, but I'm not happy with the way we've played to this point," Burke said during an afternoon press conference at Canada Hockey Place. "If that's how we play, we're going to have a hard time getting to where we want to get here and medaling."-----Brian Burke

I hate to say this, but Burkie is absolutely correct. The final score & outcome of the game doesn't reflect how the game went. Canada dominated this game & the USA were saved by an incredible performance from their goaltender. The final 3 minutes of the game were some of the best minutes of offensive hockey i've seen in years.....Canada bombarded Miller with everything they had, yet the great goalie stood on his head. Will he be able to do it again? By the way, Canadian coach Babcock must have caught the same brain-freeze that USA coach Ron Wilson got during this NHL season & didn't call a time-out with a minute left in order to rest his top line of Crosby-Nash-Iginla, along with the two young defencemen. It might have cost them the game, and possibly the gold medal. What did he have to lose with just a minute left in the game? Stoopid, stoopid, stoopid!