Olympic Hockey

[spearchucker]

Originally Posted By: Bryce

Interesting take on kare11 showing Shattuck's representation in the games. Pretty impressive for a "high school" program.

Ya they kind of have a hockey factory going on down there. Its actually pretty impressive that some of the high school teams can skate with them considering they have more in common with a D1 college program than a private school.

I don't know if you can compare them to a high school when it costs $40,000 a year and they recruit all over the world.

[walleyes12]

Finns win 5-1 over Blearus this afternoon. Some guy named Mikko Koivu got 3 assists.

I think hes going to put up good numbers through out. He likes this european style hockey, fast skating, not alot of hitting.

[Bear55]

I don't know if you can compare them to a high school when it costs $40,000 a year and they recruit all over the world.

That was kind of my point comparing them to a D1 school, they pertty much recruit from all around the world. Not that school is an afterthought there but there is a great deal of focus on hockey and developing players for the next level. There was a good reason Crosby decided to park himself there a year when he was too young to play Canadian Jrs.

[OnAFly]

They play on an NHL sized rink this year, since they are using the Vancouver arena. I guess the European players are having a tough time getting used to it (according to the announcers).

Definitely not as much/hard hitting as the NHL, though. The refs seem to be taking hits from behind and to the head very seriously. I think the NHL could learn from this.

[scsavre]

I hope the US comes out hitting tonight. It will work against the Euros but it wont bother the Canadians. Our only hope against them is Goaltending.

Koivu, whos that. The Wild should go after him. Its nice having a Wild player doing well. Its kind of funny how the announcers have talked up our Fins saying we should be such a good team because of them.

[PierBridge]

Kessel on the board 1-0 USA currently airing on USA network!

[OnAFly]

I sure wish I were watching the game instead of working...

[harvey lee]

I wish that team USA was a bit better. They should be wiping Norway of the map.

Team USA has a ways to go before they could beat the better skilled teams.

[scsavre]

USA does have a long way to go. They make some horrible mistakes that the Canadians will eat up. Some of the things they did just didnt even make sense. They seem to be getting better though. And Miller about 5 or 6 awesome saves.

I think team USA's best asset was there faceoffs. Honestly did they even loose one. Man they won a lot of them, cleanly too.

[SkitterPopper]

Quote:

I don't know if you can compare them to a high school when it costs $40,000 a year and they recruit all over the world.

Technically, they are not a high school team. They do not participate in the MSHL. There is a cap on the number of games that a MSHL team can play and SSM plays way more than that.

And HL, thanks for being Debby Downer again. Do you remember the 1980 team? Nobody ever pegged them to take it all.

GO USA!!!!!

[harvey lee]

I hope they win but after watching today, they did not seem to be playing all that well as a team.

I was just making a point about their team play SkitterPopper.

Thats what they will need to beat the better teams out there. Not to do with being negative, only realistic.

[PierBridge]

I wish that team USA was a bit better. They should be wiping Norway of the map.

Team USA has a ways to go before they could beat the better skilled teams.

I think a Bronze Medal while still unlikely would be a good achievement for Team USA. Canada and Russia are LOADED!

Ryan Miller will have to stand on his head for us to have a glimmer of hope against the better teams.

I think the smaller non-Olympic size rink may help us a bit too.

[Bear55]

We have a very young team this year so anything close to a medal will be an accomplishment. Now 4 years from now we might have one heck of a team. Of course Canada and Russia will still be loaded then so I look forward to some epic hockey games. We don't often beat Canada in international play but we always seem give them a game. Now we have to figure out how to beat them.

[scsavre]

How about those Norwegians. I loved the stories. One guy is a plumber, another a contractor and another is a teacher. If Those guys woulda won a game, that is another miracle on ice. Its amazing they are not even full time hockey players.

USA, get tough and physical, not much else we can do.

In 4 years we might be a serious contender.

Imagine guys like the Johnsons on D and guys like Kane and Prise. Maybe add Oshie and other young players that will be peaking.

[Hester]

Yeah we will see scsavre.

That Parise is a flat out stud for the Devils. To bad he plays in the east, it would be nice to see him skate more often. He had 45 goals last year and is on his way again this year.

Hester

[KMR85]

Hiller almost beat Canada today. That was a fun game to watch. Would have been awesome if Canada lost. Too bad Switzerland was horrible in the shootout.

[JimBuck]

That was a fun game last night. I would have loved to see the swiss pull an upset out of the hat but by the 3rd they seemed to lose strength moving forward. Hiller played a great game but in the end, it's hard to beat the experience of Brodeur, especially in an overtime situation. I'm not a Crosby fan but man is he dangerous on offense.

[SkitterPopper]

Sorry Harvey, maybe that was not the best choice of words. I am just tired of hearing Canada is better on paper than the USA. Maybe they are maybe they are not. One thing for sure is that the olympics are something that has very little paper history. If you have a hot goalie or a few pucks bounce your way you are right in there.

By the way I would say that Canada did not look to hot in their game againist the Swiss last night. Anything can happen and I sure hope they come away with a medal. I have to agree with Pier and say the game Sunday night will be decided by the goaltender.

[OnAFly]

SP - Maybe they are maybe they aren't

Sorry, they are. On paper, Canada is a better team. You're right though, on the ice is what matters.

Take the Swiss team. It's a bunch of Elite league guys, guys that wouldn't be stars in the NHL (besides Hiller). For some reason they just have Canada's number.

Watched a little bit if the Slovakia/Russia game, wow the Russians are fast and can go from their goal line to the offensive blue line in about a second with three or four passes.

Slovakia is good too. They seem to be a little more of a shoot from the point and crash the net type of team. Russia is all tic-tac-toe.

[OnAFly]

Just saw the final score of the Slovakia/Russia game. Slovakia wins in shootout 2-1.

Here's the first upset in the tournament. Though, Slovakia is not really a pushover team. They've got plenty of talent.

[goblueM]

i was watching women's hockey the other day - they need to scrap that until there's actually some degree of competition for US/Canada

[Bear55]

Wow, Canada squeeks out a shootout win and Russia is beat by the Slovaks! Hopefully these games are showing some chinks in the armor vs an early wake up call to the two favorites.

[scsavre]

Gotta love Olympic hockey. You get these teams, the really good teams like Canada and Russia and they are not firing on all cylinders yet. Anything can happen in this tournament.

By the way Canada and Russia/swede are so far and away the best on paper. You could just look up their NHL stats and figure that one out. But hey, too many stars usually makes for a poor core of a team. Go USA

[walleyefisher0990]

So far the hockey has been really good. I really enjoyed the Swiss/Canada game. I was pulling fo the Swiss, that goalie Hiller i think, he played out of his skull, that glove save he made against Getzlaf was amazing. really fun game to watch. I am excited for the US/Canada game on sunday, if the Swiss can put up a fight like that i think we got a good shot at beating Canada, the US team is just getting started, there a solid team.

[OnAFly]

I don't think USA is as strong defensively as the Swiss team is. The Swiss are like the Wild were a couple of years ago, where if they get a two goal lead, the game is just about over. Plus Hiller was nearly impenetrable last night. If he keeps that up, this could be a medal worthy team.

I think the USA will show it's weakness defensively when they play Canada. Canada has sooooooo much skill offensively, they can and will take advantage of every mistake made defensively. The Swiss team just didn't make many mistakes.

goblueM - I agree, that women's Russian team is an embarrassment. If they want to compete at an Olympic level, they need to at least compete with other teams. A USA/Canada game would be a pretty good women's game to watch.

[brmuskie]

I saw some of the Russia China women's game and thought at first that it looked like a JV high school game and then after a couple of minutes I realized there was no way that either team could compete with a JV high school team. I turned the channel to watch something entertaining.

Men's hockey has been definitely entertaining - go USA!

[OnAFly]

I'm watching the US/Canada game.

I can admit when I'm wrong. Canada doesn't look like the team I thought they would. I really thought they would beat the US easily. Right now its looks like they are going to lose 4-3.

[harvey lee]

What a game. They said this is the fiest time the USA has beat Canada since 1960.

[Bear55]

Wow what a game! US played about as good as they could have and wins 5-3. Here's to a gold medal run and not seeing Canada again because I don't think we can beat them twice. Then again we do have Ryan Miller on our side so anything is possible.

[jentz]

I don't think USA is as strong defensively as the Swiss team is. The Swiss are like the Wild were a couple of years ago, where if they get a two goal lead, the game is just about over. Plus Hiller was nearly impenetrable last night. If he keeps that up, this could be a medal worthy team.

I think the USA will show it's weakness defensively when they play Canada. Canada has sooooooo much skill offensively, they can and will take advantage of every mistake made defensively. The Swiss team just didn't make many mistakes.

goblueM - I agree, that women's Russian team is an embarrassment. If they want to compete at an Olympic level, they need to at least compete with other teams. A USA/Canada game would be a pretty good women's game to watch.

Canada Who?? USA USA USA