This Olympic hockey is exciting, but nerve wracking. Losing to the United States in the hockey arena stings to be sure, but the tournament is not over. Unlike the war of 1812, we couldn't come out on top. I thought we played a good game, with some isolated mistakes. Ryan Miller played a fantastic game and didn't give an inch. Martin Brodeur was not himself and the coaching staff should be considering making a change for the next game. You had Brodeur trying to be Happy Gilmore on the 2nd goal, Pronger and Boyle doing the "lost boys" on the 3rd goal, then Marty getting beat between the legs again on the 4th goal. Drew Doughty might be the best defenseman on the team, and I am not impressed with Chris Pronger.
To Ryan Kesler and the excessive gang tackle celebration on an empty net goal in the round robin can come back to haunt you, in front of the thousands of Vancouver fans who pay your salary nonetheless! The good news is that Canada gets to play an extra game now, and they need more chemistry. I have been very impressed with the Heatley-Marleau-Thornton line, the only line that really appears to have chemistry.
If you were coach of Team Canada, who would you start for the first elimination game against Germany? Brodeur or Luongo?
Why was Brodeur dancing all around and not hugging the net like Miller? Yes, he should be changed with someone more agile. What a disappointment for Canada the game turned out to be.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to view this as a passing-of-the-torch Olympics.
ReplyDeleteLuuuuuu
Better hope Germany's goal tender is not hot or we might be finished.
ReplyDeleteSo they gave Brodeur one last kick at the can.
ReplyDeleteAll is not lost.
But they better dig deep like Pizza Phil did in '72 and get their act together.
I really couldn't care. These are a bunch of professional players, bring on the junior players, professionals do not belong in the Olympics.
ReplyDeleteHunter, you don't think the best athletes should compete in the Olympics?
ReplyDeleteI am watching the game a second time, and I would like to say that Jonathon Toews is a fantastic hockey player. Duncan Keith also. Iginla looks slow and ineffective, and Corey Perry should not be on the team. Where is Vinny LeCavalier?
The US Goalie did his job and we made a few mistakes we did not recover from.
ReplyDeleteWe took several penalties in the third that help with the momentum.
For most of the game we played well, but the puck bounce went well. Good on our allies to the south for win.
Let's hope our Men's team will reduce their mistakes and keep up their good work at both ends.
At least we have the Women's Hockey Team!
Let me be the first to start blaming the management. It should not be a recently retired player who still has friends playing in the NHL that gets to pick the team.
ReplyDeleteNiedmeyer, Pronger and Brodeur all played in Nagano and are all well past their best before dates.
Mike Babcock seems lost and can't keep a line (other than the Shark line) together for more than two shifts.
Lots of hard workers with great fundamentals except closing the deal. The Yanks, in contrast, have very few fundamentally sound players but a good number that know what to do with the puck in the other team's end. (Although Rafalski isn't typically a scoring machine).
The team is built for winning an 84 game season, not for a tournament that is now three straight elimination games with a rested Russia in game number 2.
By the way, Vinny's big year is in the past and he is probably the number three guy on Tampa that I would want for this tournment.
And don't crap on Iginla. He has scored 3 of the 13 goals, triple Crosby's total and has played with a concussion since the cheap shot in the Swiss game.
We need a turnaround like we had in '72 - where have you gone JP Parise? Oh that's right, populating Team USA.
Before the start of the Olympics the experts claimed it was a weak team.
ReplyDeleteSo no big surprise, again Canada falls way short of it's expected medal claim.
What is most bothersome is that Ontario for all it's size and population is only a minor factor in the Olympics. Definitely a sign of all it's stupid social engineering. My nephew's high school has only three sports left; volleyball, basketball and soccer.
Wonder how many schools even have sports today, looking at the size of the fat ass students.