89 replies to this topic

[RideTheRedWave]

I'm excited to see Forsberg, Jagr, and Fedorov play once again for their respected International teams. They are legends of hockey in my eyes and I'm anxious to see how this upcoming tournament plays out. Franzen takes Holmstrom's spot in the tournament for Team Sweden.

[OldBroad]

Is anyone (besides me) watching Olympic hockey? I realize that some of yesterday's games were at odd and inconvenient times for many....I watched the first period of the Russian/Latvia game...thought the Russians looked better from the get-go than the US or the Canadians (but again, I only saw the first period)...good to see Sergei again (although he's looking a little haggard, I thought)....I'm looking forward to the Swede's debut this afternoon...trying to balance my support for our extraordinary Captain Stevie Y and Mr. Babcock against my animosity for several of the Canadian players....It's easier than understanding the Greek debt crisis....

[OldBroad]

RideTheRedWave, on February 16 2010, 9:13 AM, said:

I'm excited to see Forsberg, Jagr, and Fedorov play once again for their respected International teams. They are legends of hockey in my eyes and I'm anxious to see how this upcoming tournament plays out. Franzen takes Holmstrom's spot in the tournament for Team Sweden.

Sorry!! I didn't see this thread when I posted...can someone move my message on the topic to this thread?

[YzerFan19]

OldBroad, on February 17 2010, 10:36 AM, said:

trying to balance my support for our extraordinary Captain Stevie Y and Mr. Babcock against my animosity for several of the Canadian players....It's easier than understanding the Greek debt crisis....

I think that's one of the reasons I'm having such a hard time getting into Olympic hockey. I can't root against Yzerman and Babcock but there's not a single player on Canada that I care about. The Swedes have all of my favorites and I never outright root against the US. Too many choices.

I told a Canadian friend of mine awhile ago that I was rooting for the entire Canadian team to get hurt and then the Swedes to win. That way the most Wings would get gold while Yzerman and Babcock would escape blame.

[NorthStar]

Not only am I watching men's hockey, I'm watching women's hockey... I would think in women's hockey Canada and USA are the top dogs but seems Sweden is trying to catch up good somehow... same can be aid for Finland.. and I didnt think I would see Slovakia field a women's team for sure but a nice surprise....

Now to men's hockey.. Canada cannot take Switzerland so lightly as was back in 2006 when the Swiss shocked us with a 2-0 win.. Canada better hammer Switzerland but not look past that to the matchup with the USA soon this weekend... shoudl be good ones for sure!!!!!

[Mathieu_Datsyuk132351]

YzerFan19, on February 17 2010, 7:23 PM, said:

I told a Canadian friend of mine awhile ago that I was rooting for the entire Canadian team to get hurt and then the Swedes to win. That way the most Wings would get gold while Yzerman and Babcock would escape blame.

That's horrible but genius! I'm happy to see that everyone else seems to be wishy-washy on who to root for, too

It's so awesome that Rafalski got two goals today.

[OldBroad]

Mathieu_Datsyuk132351, on February 18 2010, 7:08 PM, said:

YzerFan19, on February 17 2010, 7:23 PM, said:

I told a Canadian friend of mine awhile ago that I was rooting for the entire Canadian team to get hurt and then the Swedes to win. That way the most Wings would get gold while Yzerman and Babcock would escape blame.

That's horrible but genius! I'm happy to see that everyone else seems to be wishy-washy on who to root for, too

It's so awesome that Rafalski got two goals today.

Wow! The Swiss tend to look like a whole team of Datsyuks! So sorry to see them lose in the shoot-out! What a game they played...but even in international play, we had to turn off the network announcers...blah, blah, blah, camera on Crosby's bloody nose...blah, blah, blah, camera on Crosby's chin....They hardly even knew the names of the Swiss players! Ok, ok...are the US in for a bruising ride on Saturday (or whenever that game is played) because Canada had a tough time today? I loved seeing the smaller Swiss players pound the poop out of the behemoth Canadians....

Sorry to say I'm not a great Roenick fan, either....

My hope was that IF Canada should falter, it could obviously be Crosby's fault...he would be the goat. Unfortunately, he came through tonight eventually. Bah.

[drwmike33]

The Swiss VS. Norway game was excellent! Watch the recap... it was a nail biter the whole time. Jonas Hiller looked shakey at best.

[OldBroad]

drwmike33, on February 20 2010, 5:40 PM, said:

The Swiss VS. Norway game was excellent! Watch the recap... it was a nail biter the whole time. Jonas Hiller looked shakey at best.

The competition has been better than I expected, actually (but what do I know?)...do not answer that.

The US vs. Canada...friggin' AWESOME! Go Rafalski...WOW! That game was a thing of beauty!!

Now I'm hoping the US can put this in perspective and play well for the rest of the tournament....

Not sure I can sacrifice another 3 hours' sleep to watch the Swedes and the Finns, but I'm going to try....

[YzerFan19]

The end of that US - Canada game was absolutely intense. I thought that despite a stellar game Miller should have had the third Canadian goal and at the other end Perry was awful on the back-check on Kesler, the ENG never should have happened.

[SYfanSD]

Rafs is an animal! I am so glad that one is over with

[klaitinen]

That game was wild. Miller was indeed amazing. I thought the U.S did a great job capitalizing on some miscues. I think the next time they matchup however
the outcome may be different. They faced an intense amount of pressure.
I also agree with the ENG.. Perry was a complete bum.. and he knew it.

[OldBroad]

klaitinen, on February 21 2010, 10:59 PM, said:

That game was wild. Miller was indeed amazing. I thought the U.S did a great job capitalizing on some miscues. I think the next time they matchup however
the outcome may be different. They faced an intense amount of pressure.
I also agree with the ENG.. Perry was a complete bum.. and he knew it.

But could it have happened to a nicer guy? (Perry, that is!)

[YzerFan19]

I was just looking at the brackets. After first realizing that Canada is going to have a bitch of a run to the gold medal round (if they even make it there, of course), I noticed that either Russia or Canada isn't even going to make it to the medal rounds.

http://www.vancouver...playoff-dE.html

While there are no easy teams in the tournament, the idea that the Canadiens would lose to Germany is pretty much insane. Yeah, Belarus ended Sweden in 2002 but Marty Brodeur is only a little like Tommy Salo and he might not even get a chance to screw things up. So we're looking at a Russia - Canada quarterfinal. That game is gonna be absolutely brutal.

After rooting for the US last night, I figured out how I can root against Yzerman and Babcock. If Canada loses, it lowers their NHL stock but it's not like the Wings are going to fire them for it. So a Canada defeat makes it less likely that Yzerman bolts the Wings to take a GM job elsewhere. I can get behind that.

[fitch.1918]

YzerFan19, on February 22 2010, 2:30 PM, said:

I was just looking at the brackets. After first realizing that Canada is going to have a bitch of a run to the gold medal round (if they even make it there, of course), I noticed that either Russia or Canada isn't even going to make it to the medal rounds.

It is crazy to think that one out of the two favorites will not make it to the medal round, a big disappointment for either country, but just a complete failure for Canada. And whatever team wins that matchup will have to play more than likely Sweden who has only given up 2 goals all tournament. It cannot be set up any better for the US with all 3 of those teams in another bracket and they would not have to face any of them until the gold medal game which would be a sucess regardless the outcome of that game. Just simply amazing and unreal to me.

I did hear that Luongo would be starting against Germany according to the 6 oclock Sportscenter.

While I love that a Crosby led team is failing I just feel terrible for Yzerman. Although I do like your thinking CJR about him not being hired by another team, about the only good that could come out of it. So hard to root against any team with so may Wings spread out throughout the field.

[YzerFan19]

Second of three elimination games today going to overtime, as Latvia fought back from down 2-0 to the Czechs to tie it 2-2. The Swiss needed a shootout earlier today to get past Belarus, exciting stuff.

[YzerFan19]

Vokoun nearly pulled a Salo. Wow.

[YzerFan19]

And the Czechs win it in OT. You could see that goal coming, the Latvians backed off of the puck for Krejci to get the scoring chance.

[OldBroad]

US vs Switzerland: That was a squeaker! My assessment is that whereas the US used their youth, enthusiasm, speed and Miller to defeat Canada on Sunday, today's game saw only their youth and Miller! They worked hard, really hard, but it was one of those games like we see the Wings play from time to time when nothing quite clicks...passes go awry, players go awry! But they overcame their jitters to win. I hope that this game calms the nerves of the nervous, because they'll need their wits about them to win the next one....

[YzerFan19]

I expected the US to lose after how awful their power plays were in the first two periods. Normally you can't throw chances like that away but somehow they did and still got the win.