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tikki · Feb 15, 2006, 11:04 PM

A few thoughts from watching about 12 hours of olympic hockey today.

Wide rinks really open the game up for offense.
The NHL should have suspended play Friday to give players ample time to travel to Turin. The players seemed exhausted
The Czech Republic is screwed without Hasek
The Ottawa Senators are even more screwed
Canada is going to win it all. They are amazing.

Discuss.

hickey · Feb 15, 2006, 11:21 PM

latvia was fast and never gave up, a very courageous team.
-about the NHL games yesterday, I heard the commentators saying some players didnt arrive until yesterday afternoon. insane.
-I was surprised that Russia went down to Slovakia like that, especially after kovalchuk's comment.

tikki · Feb 15, 2006, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by hickey

-about the NHL games yesterday, I heard the commentators saying some players didnt arrive until yesterday afternoon. insane.

Mostly the US players because they couldn't leave the east coast because of the blizzard.

hickey · Feb 15, 2006, 11:38 PM

yeah thats what i meant, must have been tough.

iLikebeer · Feb 15, 2006, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by tikki

Mostly the US players because they couldn't leave the east coast because of the blizzard.

Shane Doan, Wayne Gretzky, and Ladislav Nagy (injured) were all in Phoenix Sunday night for a game while the blizzard was still in the news. Then they flew to Canada for a practice before flying on to Torino. Any team with NHL players would have had players showing up last minute.

Team Canada is amazing. Their lineup makes up for us not getting the All-star game this year. And congrats to Shane Doan for his 1st Olympic goal.

I was blown away by how well Italy played. Their goalie isn't bad at all and they just kept going. Latvia too, but Italy's performance blew me away. Team USA has some talent too. They looked good, but couldn't put much into the net.

Things I like: No trapezoid rule, bigger ice opens things up
But: maybe the rink is a bit too big, the game is less physical as far as hitting goes, they call every little thing for penalties, anyone can get away with delay of game by tossing the puck into the stands...except the goalie

It's great seeing all the different teams come together and compete with national leagues and different styles of play! I love it!

DigitalEl · Feb 16, 2006, 01:03 AM

A few thoughts from watching about 12 hours of olympic hockey today.

What a glorious puck orgy today was!!!

Lots of good points above. This is just a "me too" post.

Go Canada!

Go Czech Republic!

For me it's great to hear names I haven't thought about in awhile. Due to last season's lockout and ESPN not carrying the NHL this year, it's been a long hockey drought. Glad to have it back.

Here's to a great tournament! <glasses raised>

tikki · Feb 16, 2006, 01:05 AM

Originally Posted by DigitalEl

For me it's great to hear names I haven't thought about in awhile. Due to last season's lockout and ESPN not carrying the NHL this year, it's been a long hockey drought. Glad to have it back.

ESPN not carrying Hockey is a travesty. Nothing like having college basketball every night of the frigging week.

villalobos · Feb 16, 2006, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by tikki

ESPN not carrying Hockey is a travesty. Nothing like having college basketball every night of the frigging week.

The NHL season ticket for the remainder of the season is only $109. And THAT is all the hockey you can handle, and some more.

Unfortunately I missed all the olympic hockey so far....

tikki · Feb 16, 2006, 01:12 AM

I have nagged my cable company for them to carry Center Ice, but they won't do it. Stupid Insight.

DigitalEl · Feb 16, 2006, 01:20 AM

ESPN not carrying Hockey is a travesty. Nothing like having college basketball every night of the frigging week.

I still detest ESPN for giving in to the NFL and cancelling "Playmakers" due to pressure from the league. Talk about typical corporate gutlessness... But there's no arguing the numbers. The NHL just wasn't a draw on ESPN/ESPN2. Sure, more people might be watching than would watch some of the other filler crap they now air, but the production costs were staggering. What I really miss is "NHL 2night."

iLikebeer · Feb 16, 2006, 02:44 AM

Originally Posted by DigitalEl

[/b]What a glorious puck orgy today was!!!

Lots of good points above. This is just a "me too" post.

Go Canada!

Go Czech Republic!

For me it's great to hear names I haven't thought about in awhile. Due to last season's lockout and ESPN not carrying the NHL this year, it's been a long hockey drought. Glad to have it back.

Here's to a great tournament! <glasses raised>

There are still 9 home games left in Phoenix. If you have a student ID, you can get the upstairs tix for $10 and the downstairs tix for $25. We got lucky last Sunday and got $100 tix for $25 each.

Also, you can catch the games most nights on OLN, Fox Sports Network AZ, or phoenix local channels 3 and 6. I used to watch the games over antenna on WB before I got satellite. If you like Lacrosse, they've got a deal going that for $150 you get 2 tix to the redwings game on March 4 (sold out), 15 tickets to the Phoenix Sting (worth $15 each) and some food and some Coyotes souvenir.

If anyone has DirecTV with the HD package, check out channel 74. It broadcasts all the hockey games live in HD (every hockey game in the Olympics, not just USA). Also, usahockey.com has the complete men's and women's schedules for Team USA including the time and channel.

spectre · Feb 16, 2006, 03:57 AM

From what I saw, Canada looked pretty good—albeit very sluggish. Powerplay with Sakic, Iginla, Bertuzzi, Blake and Pronger looked amazing.

DigitalEl · Feb 16, 2006, 05:14 AM

There are still 9 home games left in Phoenix. <snip> We got lucky last Sunday and got $100 tix for $25 each.

I'm such a snob now. I spent 3 seasons watching every Penguins game from the press box. I used to produce sports for a TV station there. After that, it's hard to sit with the beer-swilling commoners. (kidding... sort of)

Also, you can catch the games most nights on OLN, Fox Sports Network AZ, or phoenix local channels 3 and 6. I used to watch the games over antenna on WB before I got satellite.

That's the thing. I don't like ESPN. Never have, really... But their hockey coverage was excellent. And NHL 2night was an awesome nightly recap show... One of my first Season Passes on my old 14 hour Series 1 TiVo. Watching a game on Fox Sports or the local broadcast just isn't the same. I hate the "Rah-rah, go hometeam" announcers. I detest the muddy, greyish-looking picture. The local broadcasts just don't have the polished, high-quality look of the national network. Not to mention, who wants to watch only the Coyotes all the time?! As for OLN, I don't have digital cable and am getting nickel and dimed enough. I'm not paying more for cable than I already am. Not complaining about that... It's just my choice.

Someday hockey will be on a watchable channel again and I'll be there. In the meantime, I do watch the Coyotes and follow them a little. It'll just never live up to the romance of watching the Leafs growing up (on Canadian TV, over-the-air from Hamilton, Ontario and across lake Erie to my little town in Pennsylvania). And I'll never be as intimitely involved with the Coyotes as I was with the Penguins in the late-90s... When I watched them on unannounced pre-training camp skates to the post-playoff cleaning-out-the-lockers interviews.

Thinking back to then, one of my favorite stories was just a few days after the Nagano games in '98. The Czechs took Gold in the first tournament featuring NHLers. Of course, Jaromir Jagr, Jiri Slegr, Martin Straka and Petr Nedved were on the Pens that year. It was awesome going to the first practice back. There was plenty of good-natured taunting going on. The Czechs had beaten Canada on their way to Gold. A guy you may have heard of named Lemieux was around for the Canadians. Definitely good times.

wdlove · Feb 16, 2006, 10:13 AM

I don't really like sports. So won't be watching any of the games. Do wish team USA all the best.

DigitalEl · Feb 16, 2006, 10:18 AM

Thanks for sharing. Another well thought out, meaningful and riveting post.

DarwinX · Feb 16, 2006, 10:26 AM

While on the surface the Czech Republic losing Hasek seems like a doom and gloom loss, while I forget his name, the backup goalie can flat out play and I would still expect them to give other teams fits. As for USA, I hope they can get it together. In line with everyone else, this tournament is surely Canada's to lose. They're simply that good.

I'm a big fan of the open ice. After seeing the World Jr. tournament up close and in person, it is simply amazing to watch the speed of the game.

Just my 2 cents.

hickey · Feb 16, 2006, 11:50 AM

as for calling penalties on every little thing, its kind of like the all star game in that you want to be able to show off the skill of all the players and the countried they represent. Im not saying to let the games get out of control with hits and all, but I feel they should called a little tougher by the refs simply because its the olympics.

davesimondotcom · Feb 16, 2006, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by spectre

From what I saw, Canada looked pretty good—albeit very sluggish. Powerplay with Sakic, Iginla, Bertuzzi, Blake and Pronger looked amazing.

Talk about a scary lineup on power play. Whew.

I watched the USA/Latvia game yesterday. The US looked sluggish and tired (who'da thunkit?) but Latvia looked energetic and very fast.

Irbe played well in goal except for a stretch that lasted about two minutes in which the US scored two goals on two shots.

The US looked surprised by Latvia's speed.

Watching Sweden/Russia right now. Russia looks really good. Not 1970s Red Army good, but very good.

Sweden is not capable of sneaking up an anyone wearing their yellow sweaters. Whew, I haven't seen that much yellow on TV since the Oregon Ducks last season in their "alternate" jerseys.

Looks to be a good tourney.

Dakar · Feb 16, 2006, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by davesimondotcom

Whew, I haven't seen that much yellow on TV since

(Insert insensitive Asian Joke Here)

davesimondotcom · Feb 16, 2006, 01:04 PM

As far as the style of play in the Olympics, I love the wider ice surface and the speed. The emphasis is on passing and precision and not as much on power and trap defenses.

Kind of reminds me of the old '80s Oilers teams of Gretzky, Messier, etc.

davesimondotcom · Feb 16, 2006, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar

(Insert insensitive Asian Joke Here)

Just to clarify, there was no racial overtones to my comment. Not that you are saying there was. But still...

Dakar · Feb 16, 2006, 01:06 PM

Not at all. I thought you were referring to uniforms. But it was there so I had to take it, even if I pansied out since I didn't actually have a good punchline.

davesimondotcom · Feb 16, 2006, 01:12 PM

Does anyone else think that the standard uniform template with the stripes on the shins of the players and the socks the same color as the breezers looks silly?

Kind of reminds me of the old Cooperalls we used to wear when I was a kid. We thought they were cool, but they should have been reserved for referees.

davesimondotcom · Feb 16, 2006, 01:18 PM

Now watching Latvia/Slovokia and all of a sudden Irbe is a seive. Latvia looks tired from last night's game.

Still, they are only down 5-3.

tikki · Feb 16, 2006, 02:14 PM

oh how i wish there was web casts of this stuff. It'd make my 14 hour day of classes more bearable.

LeftWingLock · Feb 16, 2006, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by tikki

I have nagged my cable company for them to carry Center Ice, but they won't do it. Stupid Insight.

Mediacom won't offer Center Ice either. I do get two games a week on HDNet and the two OLN games which is about all my wife can stand.

School was cancelled today due to an ice storm so I am happily sitting here feasting on the Olympic tournament. From what I've seen so far, the US doesn't have much of a chance.

brapper · Feb 16, 2006, 03:09 PM

I've been really surpirsed by the results so far...

And I'm pumped to watch Canada - Germany right now!

davesimondotcom · Feb 16, 2006, 04:22 PM

Bad Metaphor of the Day:

Germany/Canada - Danny Heatley on a break flys by a German who hooks him for a penalty. Announcers: "Heatley looked like he was going top speed but then showed another gear."

Heatley and car metaphors... probably not the best.

tikki · Feb 16, 2006, 09:30 PM

Just got home and watched the USA game (god bless TiVo). The team played better today, but it still doesn't feel totally in sync. Hopefully the day off tomorrow will give them time to get totall acclimated. Also, if Tkachuk doesn't score the first five times they set him up, why keep going back?

In other news, the Swiss beat the Czechs? I wish I was home to watch that one.

ShortcutToMoncton · Feb 17, 2006, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by tikki

[*]The Czech Republic is screwed without Hasek

Maybe, but Tomas Vokoun is still one of the best goalies in the NHL. Unless he gets a bad case of the heebie-jeebies, there's no reason why it should make a whole world of difference.

Yes, I had to say heebie-jeebies.

greg

tikki · Feb 17, 2006, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton

Maybe, but Tomas Vokoun is still one of the best goalies in the NHL. Unless he gets a bad case of the heebie-jeebies, there's no reason why it should make a whole world of difference.

I know he is good. he's the goalie of my favorite team: Nashville. :-)

That said, he didn't look so great yesterday. We'll see tomorrow.

iLikebeer · Feb 17, 2006, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by DigitalEl

[/b]I'm such a snob now. I spent 3 seasons watching every Penguins game from the press box. I used to produce sports for a TV station there. After that, it's hard to sit with the beer-swilling commoners. (kidding... sort of)

[/b]That's the thing. I don't like ESPN. Never have, really... But their hockey coverage was excellent. And NHL 2night was an awesome nightly recap show... One of my first Season Passes on my old 14 hour Series 1 TiVo. Watching a game on Fox Sports or the local broadcast just isn't the same. I hate the "Rah-rah, go hometeam" announcers. I detest the muddy, greyish-looking picture. The local broadcasts just don't have the polished, high-quality look of the national network. Not to mention, who wants to watch only the Coyotes all the time?! As for OLN, I don't have digital cable and am getting nickel and dimed enough. I'm not paying more for cable than I already am. Not complaining about that... It's just my choice.

Someday hockey will be on a watchable channel again and I'll be there. In the meantime, I do watch the Coyotes and follow them a little. It'll just never live up to the romance of watching the Leafs growing up (on Canadian TV, over-the-air from Hamilton, Ontario and across lake Erie to my little town in Pennsylvania). And I'll never be as intimitely involved with the Coyotes as I was with the Penguins in the late-90s... When I watched them on unannounced pre-training camp skates to the post-playoff cleaning-out-the-lockers interviews.

Thinking back to then, one of my favorite stories was just a few days after the Nagano games in '98. The Czechs took Gold in the first tournament featuring NHLers. Of course, Jaromir Jagr, Jiri Slegr, Martin Straka and Petr Nedved were on the Pens that year. It was awesome going to the first practice back. There was plenty of good-natured taunting going on. The Czechs had beaten Canada on their way to Gold. A guy you may have heard of named Lemieux was around for the Canadians. Definitely good times.

LOL, I'd invite you to come join our little Yotes group at a game, but I think I might be one of those beer-swilling commoners.

I do try to stick to the Guinness though. IMHO, that separates me from those lowly bud light drinkers.

Sounds like you have a lot of great memories from Hockey.

Hopefully we'll have a good enough fanbase and team to locally add to those memories someday, seeing as you could throw a rock from Goodyear and hit the Glendale Arena.

DigitalEl · Feb 18, 2006, 05:38 AM

Hopefully we'll have a good enough fanbase and team to locally add to those memories someday, seeing as you could throw a rock from Goodyear and hit the Glendale Arena.

Absolutely. It's good to see lots of kids & young people at the games I do manage to get to. That's that future fan base you're talking about. As for my proximity to the arena, I'm a good 20 minutes or so from it. Nice! It's funny to hear all the East Valley folks whine... Like those of us west of the 17 haven't been driving a long time to everything forever.

ShortcutToMoncton · Feb 18, 2006, 01:45 PM

I would just like to take this time to say "OMG" and "LOL" at the Canadian men losing to the Swiss. Hahahaha....that's pretty great.

Hopefully they do like last time and wake their asses up.

greg

iLikebeer · 05:22 PM

Is the US game being played live on any channel? It's delayed on USA and everywhere is showing the Finland/Czech game.

This is a great Olympics for hockey! Upsets and close games everywhere!

Absolutely. It's good to see lots of kids & young people at the games I do manage to get to. That's that future fan base you're talking about. As for my proximity to the arena, I'm a good 20 minutes or so from it. Nice! It's funny to hear all the East Valley folks whine... Like those of us west of the 17 haven't been driving a long time to everything forever.

Ha, all you valley folks have it easy. It takes 1 1/2 hours to get there from Prescott! We're in the middle of nowhere.

Edit**: Nevermind, it's too late, game just ended.

What a week of hockey. Just think if Nagy wasn't injured, Slovakia would unstoppable.

iLikebeer · Feb 19, 2006, 06:15 PM

LOL, I'm cheering for Canada, but what were they thinking hiring Gretzky as their coach? He can't even get the Coyotes to the playoffs with the talent they have and they give him a chance at a once every 4 years event!? 2 tough losses in a row. Ouch!

tikki · Feb 19, 2006, 06:18 PM

Canada lost again? Holy crap. I've been watching nascar since the USA embarassment.

iLikebeer · Feb 19, 2006, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by tikki

Canada lost again? Holy crap. I've been watching nascar since the USA embarassment.

Um, lol, er, sorry....USA lost again too. But Switzerland is looking pretty sharp!

Got to watch the German/Suiss game with my German friend this morning, German people are pretty optimistic people I must say. 1st Swiss goal, "dammit! game's over, we lose! let's go smoke."

I hope this Olympics makes people realize Gretzky is a horrible coach and he ends up retiring. He was a great player, but he's just destroying all the teams he coaches. He'll always be a legend for his on ice abilities; but if he keeps it up, he'll also be remembered as the horrible coach that wouldn't give up because he was remembered for other things. He needs to just be an owner or a manager.

And how about Ovechkin!!!

drmbb2 · Feb 19, 2006, 08:33 PM

I could well see Finland taking gold - they have just been superb. Canada just has not been there the last two games.

Agasthya · Feb 19, 2006, 08:56 PM

Pat Quinn is a ****ing dumbass. Bryan McCabe is the biggest defensive liability ever. Chris Pronger seems to not know the cross checking rules of the tournament.

This is terrible.

Eug Wanker · Feb 19, 2006, 09:01 PM

Originally Posted by iLikebeer

LOL, I'm cheering for Canada, but what were they thinking hiring Gretzky as their coach? He can't even get the Coyotes to the playoffs with the talent they have and they give him a chance at a once every 4 years event!? 2 tough losses in a row. Ouch!

Originally Posted by iLikebeer

I hope this Olympics makes people realize Gretzky is a horrible coach and he ends up retiring. He was a great player, but he's just destroying all the teams he coaches.

Uh... Gretzky is not the coach. Pat Quinn is the coach.

Anyways, it's interesting to see that the two countries in the lead so far are Finland and Slovakia.

Agasthya · Feb 20, 2006, 12:05 AM

It just amazes me that with the big lineup that Canada has, Quinn has them playing pretty much a perimeter game. Also, it is extremely frustrating that Shane Doan is getting more ice time than Dany Heatley. Heater should be on the top line with Gagne and Thornton. That would be magic.

Eug Wanker · Feb 21, 2006, 12:46 AM

I know this is the men's Olympic hockey thread, but I still want to say w00t! for the Canadian women's team.

I never knew that Hayley Wickenheiser played in the Finnish men's pro hockey league. (She played for a team owned by Teemu Selanne.)

P.S. What ever happened to Manon Rheaume?

P.P.S. I just learned the hard way that Hayley Wickenheiser's website is NOT hayleywickenheiser.com. That's some midget pr0n site.

Judge_Fire · Feb 21, 2006, 05:47 AM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

I never knew that Hayley Wickenheiser played in the Finnish men's pro hockey league. (She played for a team owned by Teemu Selanne.)

She impressed people with her skills, but the coach chickened and kept her on the bench mostly. Hence her quote about 'learning patience' in Finland...

J

tae667 · Feb 21, 2006, 08:33 AM

She didn't play in the premium league.

Go Finland

Eug Wanker · Feb 21, 2006, 11:44 AM

Originally Posted by tae667

She didn't play in the premium league.

What league did she play in, and how does the Finnish system work? Would the Finnish premium league be comparable to say the Canadian Hockey League (CHL)? If so, at what level was the league she played in?

Team Canada for women's hockey used to play against non-pro teenage male hockey teams here.

It kind of reminds me of when I used to play soccer. The women's 18 and under provincial soccer team used to play against the boys' 14 and under local teams. We were very happy male adolescents to play against them I must say...

By the way, the men's Chinese national hockey team came to visit many years ago and they matched them up against the local university team, which beat them something like 17-0. I suggested they be matched up against some high school teams, but everyone said that was a bad idea. I guess it's better to lose badly against a university team than to lose to a high school team.

tae667 · Feb 21, 2006, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

What league did she play in, and how does the Finnish system work?

First there is closed league SM-liiga. Wikipedia link. Then there is Mestis. Wikipedia link. Finally there is Suomi-sarja and that was already wikipedia link.

Oh, and just to piss other Finns off, I'll say GO TPS!

Eug Wanker · Feb 21, 2006, 05:16 PM

OK, so Hayley Wickenheiser played in the 2nd tier (but not 3rd tier) Finnish men's league. What did you Finns think of her? Just wondering.

Anyways, nice to see Canada win again, this time against the Czechs, 3-2. They still need to play better to get gold though. Several teams are strong this year, especially the Finns.

Agasthya · Feb 21, 2006, 05:22 PM

Oh, in case anyone had any lingering doubts about the goal scored by Rick Nash in the SUI game...

Monique · Feb 21, 2006, 05:45 PM

Sweden is going to win the gold.