Olympic Hockey
 

Well I'm surprised not to see a thread on this.

What's your picks for this year?

My top finishers are:

1. Canada
2. Russia
3. Finland
4. Slovakia

I don't see the Czech team doing anything... I plan an exit for them in the quarters.

GO CANADA! PROVE ME RIGHT! :thumbsup:

I haven't watched as much as would have liked, but I think it'll be
1.Canada 2.Slovakia 3.Russia
If Kiprusoff was playing for Finland, I'd have them higher. Same for Hasek and the Czechs, now that he's injured.

1. Canada 2. Finland 3. Russia

Let's take a minute to appreciate the magnitude of the Swedish Woman's team victory over the USA in the Woman's Hockey semi-final.

3-2 in a shootout

Meaning, for the first time in history, Canada will face someone else in the final.

Goooo Sweden!

Well in any case, I'm guessing:
1. Canada
2. Russia
3. Sweden
4. Finland

For the benefit of anyone parusing this thread... These are all Mens Hockey standings

also, people should go out on a limb and say the 4th place finisher too! Who did the 3rd place beat in the bronze medal game?

1. Finland in a huge upset
2. Canada in a "how did this happen?"
3. Russia in a "at least we got something"
4. USA in a "I wonder if NASCAR is on?"

1. Canada
2. Sweden
3. USA
4. Russia

And yes, I saw Russia beat Sweden. Sweden is a much better team than what was shown there, and they will learn and rebound from that loss. Id throw the Czechs in the metals, simply because Vokoun is a bad man. But I just don't think they can hold it together for the entire tourney, as evidenced by the Swiss surprising them yesterday. If Vokoun can get into his zone though, I might be eating my words in the end.

Damn, switching to the women for a sec, Sweden beat the US in the semis! That's about as big an upset as I can think of having happened in ladies hockey. The Swedish goalie stood on her head that game.

1.Russia
2.Canada
3.Sweden
4.USA

I hope Canada proves me wrong and gets the gold, but the Russians are good.

canada vs slovakia

1. Canada
2. Russia
3. Sweden
4. Slovakia

The Swedes aren't that good this year. Yes, Forsberg will play the next game but he is nowhere near 100%. Russia has impressed me but knowing Canada, they will come out on top :)

--jaded

Wow... Switzerland just put a cap in Canada's ass. 2-0 Swiss.

Fucking devestated..

Go Switzerland!! That's awesome. They beat the Czech and now Canada.

Meanwhile, the swedes are rolling Latvia 5-0. Sweet.

--jaded

What the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUdge???

Is the whole world gone Crazy???

Is the apocalypse upon us???

I'm glad it's only round robin...

I think everyone needs to readjust their top four...

HOLY HELL!!!! The Swiss handed Canada their ass, with a little help from the Russian ref and an amazing performance from Gerber?!?!?!? Man, the Russians really don't like Canada for some reason. First paying off a French judge, and now this. But before anyone starts yelling conspiracy, look at the fact that Canada had 17 minutes of PP time, including a 5v3 and a double minor, that they just couldn't beat Gerber on. Even if you give Nash his contoversial no goal, that still wouldn't have changed the game much, as Canada owned the 3rd period and still couldn't score.

Maybe these Swiss cats are for real, at least their goalies are.

if that goal by Nash counted, which it would have, the floodgates would have opened up and Canada would have ripped them to pieces. They out played them in every aspect pretty much. Gerber won that game for the Swiss hands down, I mean Depetro had 2 goals, both PPG. Pronger folded when they had that double minor

Most of all the Ref was unfair, I hate it when Ref's effect the flow of a game and negatively influence the outcome. Half of those calls weren't legit penalties, hell when Joe got cut that wasn't even the penalty the Ref was calling, he was incompetient.

However, It's good that they lost because it will serve as a wake up call to the boys that they need to get their special teams working or else they won't get anywhere in the tourny

How about that "slashing" penalty on Pronger with 2 minutes left? That was the biggest bullshit call in the history of bullshit calls.

The Swiss always play us hard, despite the talent difference. Their goalie was a one man show. Not concerned at this point. It's round robin play after all.

Yeah... and everyone forgets Canada lost to Sweden in last olympics round robin play

That slashing call *was* crap... but it round robin so time to move on.

A loss like this can sometimes put a fire on a team's ass... especially when they are favoured to win.

And if my Aunt had balls, she'd be my Uncle. The floodgates were open already. Christ, they outshot the Swiss 23-3, or somethin crazy like that, in the 3rd. The story is that Canada does not score during almost a periods worth of power play time, against a team they should by all rights destroy.

Shaky win against the Czechs... who will we face in the quarters? russia or sweden

Thank God and Brodeur for that win, eh boys? If it wasn't for him, that would have been an ugly loss, with a capital UG. With all the talent and creativity on that team, managing only 8 shots in 2 periods is inexcusable.

I will have to admit I was wrong about Vokoun though. What the hell has happened to him? He goes from a questionable team in Nashville who can't win without him, to a much more talented Czech team that can't win because of him.

Swedes lost against Slovakia - maybe deliberately - to draw the Swiss. I think that means we get Russia.

Ok, russians it is... that's gonna be a good game. If we exit in the quarters... well... I may cry.

There is no plausible explanation for how I react to Canadian national teams losing tournaments. When Canada lost to the Americans 8 years ago, it upset me for weeks. I dreamt about it. It was weird.

I have a lot going on in my life. I manage stress very well. And yet, for some crazy unknown reason, I worry about the Canadian Mens Hockey team losing in the Olympics. For some reason it matters to me, and deeply. I'm considerably in debt, I have trouble paying bills, I might have an infection in my urinary tract, but all that is secondary to the worrying I must do over a hockey team.

I don't know if that's a cry for help or not. I'm fiercely patriotic, and I strongly want Canada to win another gold medal like the women did. I may have to call in sick to work if they don't....

If it makes you feel any better, I broke my big toe drop kicking a small space heater when the Wings were put out of the playoffs by Calgary. I was pretty upset about the Yzerman injury already, so that just pushed me over the edge. I wasn't suffering from a UTI at the time though, so take this for what its worth.

nooooo canada lost :(

and in a shutout no less. At least they will all be well rested for the remainder of the regular season.

I blame Steve Moore!! ;)

oh well, the women did us proud :thumbsup:

That was an abysmal performance. I don't really have a problem with them losing - Russia, Sweden, Finland, the velvet divorcees, and the US are all very good teams with lots of talent and on any given night, anyone can beat anyone else.

But to be shut out 3 out of 4 games is pathetic. Pat Quinn and Wayne Gretzky messed up big time, in their selections and in the coaching.

Well so did i, both my picks got eliminated today =( i thought slovakia would do better. And canada, well they just blew it.

And the hockey induced insomnia begins...

I have nothing to say. I stared at the screen for about 10 minutes after the game, just blank... Unbelievable....

This combined with everything else stressful going on in my life was an absolute nuclear bomb on my psyche.

I've been cheering for team Canada through the past 15 years I've been watching hockey, watching every junior tournament, every canada/world cup, and of course every olympics and world championship game. The woman's team is a nice bonus too.

So when they won the olympics, then two world championships, two world junior championships, the world cup, and our B team even manages to come second, forgive me for being ultimately confident in the ability of the Canadian squad to dispatch any and all opponents when truly called upon. Our core of players is absolutley dominating on paper... sadly that's all they turned out to be at Torino.

I got up at 4:00 am to watch their game against Italy... true dedication hahaha. Then being completely and utterly disappointed during the preliminaries after their game against Germany.

Now, I really really wanted to believe they would beat Russia... that the do-or-die nature of the game would make Canada snap out of it and play to their potential.

I waited four years of thinking "The world championships are nice, but I can't wait for the olympics where our TRUE team can come and show what we're really capable of." Leaving nobody in the world doubting... It all seemed so certain.

But that's exactly how team Canada played... expecting to win. They got beat to the pucks. Flatfooted, they were danced around by the Finnish team. Contrary to Canada's every man for him self approach, the Fins worked like a finely oiled machine. They simply put Canada to shame.

The game against Russia was close... A few bounces here or there and it's an entirely different game. But big players score big goals in big games. Nobody stepped up on team Canada. Martin Brodeur gets the team Canada MVP for the tournament. You can only lean on spectacular goaltending for so long though. And I think this tournament sowed the seed of my hatred for Todd Bertuzzi. How many assinine penalties does a guy need to take before getting benched by the coach? Boooooo Bertuzzi.

Where was Joe Sakic? Iginla? HEATLEY!? Cmon.

I'm ashamed of their lacklustre performance, they are better than that.

< /rant>

Like I said in the Canada forum, I gave a big oh oh when I saw Gretzky's roster. I won't get into specifics but certainly according to me, probably half of the team picked had a big question mark beside it.

Ok maybe a few for spite. Pronger? On small ice surface? Dominant. Big ice? Fish out of water... McCabe? One Question. Why?... Bertuzzi? Same question as McCabe...Pat Quinn? Can't even coach a team into a playoof position or .500 record. Gretzky? Time to step aside. Give Dave King a shot.Or John Muckler.

I wasn't as upset with the roster choices as you are... mainly because I've seen how these guys can play together and I know they have the ability to make it.

What I was upset with was the unmet potential...

Where does that fall? Well of course the players need to get the job done... but more often than not when you have underperforming players, you need to look at the coaching staff.

As much as I don't like the guy, sutter really knows how to motivate and get everything out of his players.

Look for a wholesale coaching change in 2010

100% agree with you about Quinn. I laughed out loud when I heard he was tagged as the coach, seeing as how poorly the Leafs have played over the past few seasons.

And I might get crucified for this, but I have always said that Pronger is a choker. He has crumbled in every high pressure situation (read: playoffs) he has been in with the Blues, and has even single handedly cost his team wins on several occasions, IMHO.