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Official Olympic 2010 Hockey Thread of dreams and failures

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darkwings

Banned
[KoRp]Jazzman said:
They needed a leader on that team who had been involved in Olympic Hockey, Drury while terrible this year has always been know as a strong captain.

he has? Rangers has not made any progress since he was made captain. Even Jagr achieved better success as captain.
 

Socreges

Banned
Luongo has been the better goalie recently, probably since October. But I still think they'll go with Brodeur and make it his job to lose.
 
Socreges said:
Luongo has been the better goalie recently, probably since October. But I still think they'll go with Brodeur and make it his job to lose.
I agree and I have a feeling he will lose it.
 

Spl1nter

Member
Anyone who wonders why Mike Green isnt on the roster simply has to look at Doughty's stats. 43 points and a lot better then Green Defensively. 3 of the top 5 scoring dmen are on the team canada. 5 of the Canadian D are in the Top 10 for points on D. Hell Kieth is only 5 points back of Green.
 

Socreges

Banned
Spl1nter said:
Anyone who wonders why Mike Green isnt on the roster simply has to look at Doughty's stats. 43 points and a lot better then Green Defensively. 3 of the top 5 scoring dmen are on the team canada. 5 of the Canadian D are in the Top 10 for points on D. Hell Kieth is only 5 points back of Green.
Plus, at least part of the reason why Green excels is that he plays on such an offensive juggernaut and also on its PP. Removed from that context, he might be just as good offensively as many of the guys that made the team, not to mention being an alleged liability in his own zone.
 

Entropia

No One Remembers
Luongo will shed many, many tears when Canada is destroyed by the Motherland.

On a side note, if one of the current three goaltenders was injured it's unlike Cam Ward would be able to replace any of them as he's having some back issues. :(
 
Great OP!

This is going to be so fun to watch. I'm from the USA, but my kids are from Russia (my 9-year-old son plays hockey) and we're Jackets fans so we'll be cheering Nash on team Canada.

Let's do this!!!
 

Socreges

Banned
I'd just like to tell all of my good American friends here that I'll be at the USA vs. Switzerland game on Tuesday. You'll be able to pick me out very easily. I'll be the guy cheering hardest for the Swiss. :D


darkwings said:
praise the lord, Johan Franzen has been added to the swedish team! :D
We can only pray that he's not in game-shape. Franzen is an incredible player when he's hot. So effective and clutch.
 

darkwings

Banned
bishoptl said:
what is this oogy boogy language i don't even

swedish :p


anyway, roughly translated.

Jagr: "Forsberg shouldnt play olympics, you cant play two games and then be injured for three."

Forsberg answers: "I dont really understand what his point is as I am not injured right now"
 

R_GILL

I'm tanking for Kabanov!
It will be interesting if any team can stop Russias top two lines.

Ovechkin - Malkin - Semin
Kovalchuk - Datszuk - Radulov

That is just insane.

Hopefully this iteration of Canada has much better chemistry then 2006. At least this time they took players use to playing with each other with the Sharks line, Keith-Seabrooke, Perry-Getzlaf.
 

darkwings

Banned
R_GILL said:
It will be interesting if any team can stop Russias top two lines.

Ovechkin - Malkin - Semin
Kovalchuk - Datszuk - Radulov

That is just insane.

then they dont really have a 3rd and 4th line, but they wont need it. Ovechkin will play his usual 25-30 min a game.
 

Socreges

Banned
R_GILL said:
It will be interesting if any team can stop Russias top two lines.

Ovechkin - Malkin - Semin
Kovalchuk - Datszuk - Radulov

That is just insane.

Hopefully this iteration of Canada has much better chemistry then 2006. At least this time they took players use to playing with each other with the Sharks line, Keith-Seabrooke, Perry-Getzlaf.
Niedermayer - Pronger, too. People forget about that one.

As for the forwards, you could similarly ask if any team could stop our four lines. We'll be consistently rolling great talent and guys responsible at both ends of the ice. Agreed, though, that there's something about the Ovechkin-Malkin-Semin line that makes me shit my pants at the thought.

darkwings said:
then they dont really have a 3rd and 4th line, but they wont need it. Ovechkin will play his usual 25-30 min a game.
While injecting steroids in between shifts.
 

darkwings

Banned
Socreges said:
Niedermayer - Pronger, too. People forget about that one.

As for the forwards, you could similarly ask if any team could stop our four lines. We'll be consistently rolling great talent and guys responsible at both ends of the ice. Agreed, though, that there's something very intimidating about the Ovechkin-Malkin-Semin line.

While injecting steroids in between shifts.

Canada has the best depth, Russia the best top.

Sweden has something like this now:

Eriksson-backstrom-alfy
sedin-sedin-franzen
forsberg-zetterberg-weinhandl
 

R_GILL

I'm tanking for Kabanov!
Socreges said:
Niedermayer - Pronger, too. People forget about that one.

As for the forwards, you could similarly ask if any team could stop our four lines. We'll be consistently rolling great talent and guys responsible at both ends of the ice. Agreed, though, that there's something about the Ovechkin-Malkin-Semin line that makes me shit my pants at the thought.

In a 7 game series, Canada with its ridiculous depth would be the easy favorite. But in a 1 game knock out tournament nothing scares me more then Russia's top two lines. No lead is safe when they can just keep throwing those two lines out there.

Nieds and Pronger really look old this year, I think in the end Keith and Seabrook will have to do most of the heavy lifting.
 

Socreges

Banned
R_GILL said:
Nieds and Pronger really look old this year, I think in the end Keith and Seabrook will have to do most of the heavy lifting.
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see which gets more ice time. Probably the latter. But I was just mentioning either way how having those two as a pairing will work very well since they've already played together so much in the past.
 

darkwings

Banned
Socreges said:
They may never play each other, dude. Look at the table/format.

the olympic format sucks this time. No team will miss the playoffs, really?! The group play doesnt seem that important.
 

Socreges

Banned
darkwings said:
the olympic format sucks this time. No team will miss the playoffs, really?! The group play doesnt seem that important.
You probably don't understand the format. Look at it a bit differently.

In 2006, there were two groups. Two teams from each were eliminated and the rest went straight to the quarters. So, four teams didn't make it. For these Olympics, the NHL requested that there be fewer games. The solution was to divide the teams into three groups and have fewer preliminary games. But now you've got a problem in determining which 8 teams make it to the quarters. So they added a playoff round that has D5-D12 face off while the top teams get a bye. Success in group play is thus a huge incentive since you are guaranteed to go straight to the quarters and get one more day off.

The only problem I have with this format is that there's now less hockey. But at least that means each game is more meaningful. Suffering two losses, for example, is deadly. In 2006 it meant Canada had to face a very good team right away (Russia). Now it would mean they'd have to play an extra game than the top four teams and face one of them in the quarters.
 

xbhaskarx

Member
So I don't follow ice hockey at all, and I thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how many names from each team I recognized. Keep in mind I'm in the US and don't watch the sport at all, so basically this means I only know the names from ESPN Sportscenter, which I can only assume roughly correlates to skill... it probably also heavily favors goal scorers and goalies.

Canada roster:
* Martin Brodeur, 37 (New Jersey Devils)
* Marc-Andre Fleury, 25 (Pittsburgh Penguins)
* Scott Niedermayer, 36 (Anaheim Ducks)
* Chris Pronger, 35 (Philadelphia Flyers)
* Sidney Crosby, 21 (Pittsburgh Penguins)
* Jarome Iginla, 32 (Calgary Flames)
* Joe Thornton, 30 (San Jose Sharks)
* Patrick Marleau, 30 (San Jose Sharks)
* Dany Heatley, 29 (San Jose Sharks)
* Eric Staal, 25 (Carolina Hurricanes)

Russia roster:
Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose)
Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh)
Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit)
Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta)
Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh)
Alexander Ovechkin (Washington)

Swedish roster:
30 GK Lundqvist Henrik New York Rangers
5 D Lidström Nicklas Detroit Red Wings
21 F Forsberg Peter MODO Hockey
40 F Zetterberg Henrik Detroit Red Wings
96 F Holmström Tomas Detroit Red Wings

USA roster:
NONE!
Even though they all play in the NHL, I don't recognize any of the names. Either their names are not memorable or they're not very good, I don't know enough to know which one it is.

Finnish roster:
Niklas Bäckström, Minnesota Wild
Mikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames
Saku Koivu, Anaheim Ducks
Teemu Selänne, Anaheim Ducks

Czech Rep roster:
Tomas Vokoun, Florida
Patrik Elias (C), New Jersey
Jaromir Jagr (A), Omsk

Slovak roster:
Marián Hossa (Chicago Blackhawks/NHL)

So that's
Canada 10
Russia 7
Sweden 5
Finland 4
Czech 3
Slovakia 1
USA 0

Based on this completely ignorant and unscientific analysis, I predict Canada will beat Russia in the finals.
 

Firestorm

Member
Eaten By A Grue said:
USA doesn't have enough people named Ryan either in first or last name on the team.

U-S-A A-OK!
The best Ryan on your team:

* Ryan Kesler, 25 (Vancouver Canucks)

He's more on "home ice" than any of Team Canada save Luongo :lol
 

darkwings

Banned
nhl.com predict the winners

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=517731&navid=DL|NHL|home


John Dellapina: Sweden
Dan Rosen: Canada
Shawn P. Roarke: Russia
 
I gotta say, Patrice Bergeron is the only WTF pick on Team Canada's roster that really stands out to me. I could think of at least five forwards I'd take over him - despite his chemistry with Crosby in the past.

For those of you saying Morrow doesn't belong there - you guys CLEARLY didn't watch the Western Conference Finals (Stars VS Wings) in 2008 where Morrow literally destroyed any player that moved along the boards.

Morrow's there to bang and crash better than any other player on that roster. He's great for energy, character and is a really gritty go-to guy.
 

sefskillz

shitting in the alley outside your window
Luckyman said:
The Olympics are not best of seven. Pretty much any decent country can win if they run good.
yup, a goalie gets hot and makes a run and thats it... and miller's been great this year. USA USA USA
 

darkwings

Banned
Luckyman said:
The Olympics are not best of seven. Pretty much any decent country can win if they run good.

of course, thats why belarus won over sweden in 2002, but they wouldnt beat sweden in a best of 7.
 
darkwings said:
of course, thats why belarus won over sweden in 2002, but they wouldnt beat sweden in a best of 7.

Oh thanks. Rip up old wounds why don't you. I had managed to forget that stain on Swedish hockey pride :(

Belarus deserved the win. Bastards.
 
Wow...I don't know what to make of the way Semin is looking at Fedorov:

main_original.jpg
 
Canada should be incredibly confident. They have a great team.

Cold-Steel said:
I gotta say, Patrice Bergeron is the only WTF pick on Team Canada's roster that really stands out to me. I could think of at least five forwards I'd take over him - despite his chemistry with Crosby in the past.

For those of you saying Morrow doesn't belong there - you guys CLEARLY didn't watch the Western Conference Finals (Stars VS Wings) in 2008 where Morrow literally destroyed any player that moved along the boards.

Morrow's there to bang and crash better than any other player on that roster. He's great for energy, character and is a really gritty go-to guy.

Bergeron is a great pick actually. Hes been Boston's best player this season and he's very reliable. Really cant go wrong. I think Canada shouldve chose Fisher over Morrow. Similar players, except Fish has been on a mission this season. He's extremely clutch too.
 

Smash88

Banned
I gotta say that I honestly don't believe Canada will win gold, no matter how much I want them to. I just don't see it. The team is overall lackluster, aside from some of the sure-in superstars. The defence looks like a slow piece of a crap. The offense has some hot and cold guys, some of which don't look too confident going into the Olympics. I mean I just don't see it happening this time. They didn't pick up some key offensive and defensive players that would've went better than what there is now.

I feel that Canada is easily going to be outskated defensively. While the offensive talent could've been a bit stronger, with some other key picks.

Look at these lines:

Nash-Crosby-Bergeron
Staal-Getzlaf-Perry
Marleau-Thornton-Heatley
Morrow-Toews-Iginla

Tell me you don't see the stupidity in this? The first line? Bergeron is not a 1st liner, especially in the Olympics.

Don't get me started on the D:

Boyle-Pronger
Keith-Seabrook
Weber-Niedermayer

Seriously? The defensemen not only aren't even of high caliber, as some of the players they could've picked, but they are older and slower. We aren't trying to intimidate the other players we are trying to shut them down and get highly talented offense D-men with fast and agile players that can do both. With these picks I don't see it.

Maybe in 4 years Canada, maybe in 4 years.
 
Smash88 said:
I gotta say that I honestly don't believe Canada will win gold, no matter how much I want them to. I just don't see it. The team is overall lackluster, aside from some of the sure-in superstars. The defence looks like a slow piece of a crap. The offense has some hot and cold guys, some of which don't look too confident going into the Olympics. I mean I just don't see it happening this time. They didn't pick up some key offensive and defensive players that would've went better than what there is now.

I feel that Canada is easily going to be outskated defensively. While the offensive talent could've been a bit stronger, with some other key picks.

Look at these lines:

Nash-Crosby-Bergeron
Staal-Getzlaf-Perry
Marleau-Thornton-Heatley
Morrow-Toews-Iginla

Tell me you don't see the stupidity in this? The first line? Bergeron is not a 1st liner, especially in the Olympics.

Don't get me started on the D:

Boyle-Pronger
Keith-Seabrook
Weber-Niedermayer

Seriously? The defensemen not only aren't even of high caliber, as some of the players they could've picked, but they are older and slower. We aren't trying to intimidate the other players we are trying to shut them down and get highly talented offense D-men with fast and agile players that can do both. With these picks I don't see it.

Maybe in 4 years Canada, maybe in 4 years.

So much wrong in this post I dont even know where to start. You dont understand how key guys like Niedermeyer are. Best defence in the tourny.
 

Smash88

Banned
Buba Big Guns said:
So much wrong in this post I dont even know where to start. You dont understand how key guys like Niedermeyer are. Best defence in the tourny.

His performance this season says hi. He might be a great leader, but his performance is not there as it once used to be.

The defence might look amazing on paper, but on the ice is another story.
 
Umm hes playing great, as usual. What the hell are you on about old? Weber = 24, Seabrook = 24, Keith = 26, and Doughty whos having an amazing year is fucking 20. This IS the best defence Canada could possibly have. Slow my ass.
 

Smash88

Banned
Buba Big Guns said:
Umm hes playing great, as usual. What the hell are you on about old? Weber = 24, Seabrook = 24, Keith = 26, and Doughty whos having an amazing year is fucking 20. This IS the best defence Canada could possibly have. Slow my ass.

They aren't playing Doughty....(for now at least)

They could've picked better D as well. Seabrook? Come on. :lol

I have nothing against Weber. Keith, meh.

I guess we will see later today. ;)
 
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