Olympics: Team USA 2022

[William H Bonney]

Few things sting like the fact that a certain game in Vancouver still remains the closest we've gotten to glory since 1980

We need an outsider to take over USAH IMO. Someone who's ruthless against the old boys network, living on bygone glories, and validating our federation's success on junior tournaments. I'm sick of USAH talking about the Miracle on Ice or the 1996 World Cup. They were amazing historic events but they were 42 and 26 years ago. They don't matter in this era. And frankly, the U18 and U20 success don't mean much if we can't translate them into senior level success, either.

It would be refreshing to have USAH head honchos accountable to success. No more of this we tried hard, the boys battled, etc. I want executives and coaches who expect to win gold every time and own the failures when it doesn't happen. We certainly won't win gold every time but that ruthless pursuit will demand a program under continual evaluation and improvement, or else heads will turn.

I want coaches and executives who will admit this tournament was a failure. Full stop. Instead, I'm sure we'll hear about how young this team was, they were so close to moving on, they have bright futures, they're proud of the effort the team put in, and blah blah blah. Hogwash. They failed.

 

[Dominance]

I really liked Team USA’s decision to load up pretty heavily on young college stars with legitimate NHL futures ahead of them - they actually made non-Canada games this tournament worth watching for me - and am pretty disappointed to see them bow out in this way. Shocked that Beniers didn’t get a chance in the shootout after the game he had; it seems like the vast majority of coaches simply cannot resist over-complicating things.

 

[canuck2010]

It wouldn't be a hockey tournament without the USAH QF choke to bow out of the tournament. By no means was this team the favorite but to not play for a medal as the #1 seed is a massive failure. That game was a slog for both teams. Congrats to Slovakia on the big win. Excited to see them restoring their great hockey tradition.

In the end, I think we made two glaring mistakes with the roster. We should have picked some more size. We sacrificed too much size for speed. There's big guys who skate well, too, but it was basically NHL ice and we struggled at times against the size of Slovakia and Germany. And we should have brought along an Attard and/or Lohrei to man the PP along with Sanderson. Our PPs continually died a slow death at the point and it cost us the game.

In short tournaments like this I don't think that an extra game together is a bad thing especially with teams that have just been thrown together. #1 seed is really meaningless. I think you might be right about the size issue as well, a little heft and reach might have been helpful.

 

[Pez68]

USA Hockey needs to develop better coaches. They all coach so regressively. That in the end was a coaching loss between the 5-on-3 and leaving Beniers on the bench in the shootout.

Yep.

 

[metalan2]

Another seventh place finish for team usa lol.

 

[Urbanskog]

Another seventh place finish for team usa lol.

As the highest-seeded team after the group stage, they will obviously finish fifth, not seventh.

 

[metalan2]

As the highest-seeded team after the group stage, they will obviously finish fifth, not seventh.

Oh yea.

My bad.

 

[tucker3434]

Wow, I hadn’t even started paying attention yet. What an anticlimactic finish for team USA.

 

[Northerner]

They tightened up in the last half of that third period - they were surprised they had not gotten another goal and didn't have a 2 goal lead. The rest is history. To people that say they were getting dominated, that just isn't true. They played pretty well considering there were a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds on the team. Mann was solid as heck. Oh well the Olympics only come along every 4 years and Russia used to win every Olympic Games there for decades. Of course America doesn't have a lot of Golds.

I do think the large size/physciality of the Slovaks somewhat rattled these college boys. Slovakia was a bunch of men.

 

[kingsfan28]

Where was the game on in the US? I looked yesterday to record it and didn't see it listed on the USA network, when its usually on in the early am.

 

[kingsfan28]

We need an outsider to take over USAH IMO. Someone who's ruthless against the old boys network, living on bygone glories, and validating our federation's success on junior tournaments. I'm sick of USAH talking about the Miracle on Ice or the 1996 World Cup. They were amazing historic events but they were 42 and 26 years ago. They don't matter in this era. And frankly, the U18 and U20 success don't mean much if we can't translate them into senior level success, either.

It would be refreshing to have USAH head honchos accountable to success. No more of this we tried hard, the boys battled, etc. I want executives and coaches who expect to win gold every time and own the failures when it doesn't happen. We certainly won't win gold every time but that ruthless pursuit will demand a program under continual evaluation and improvement, or else heads will turn.

I want coaches and executives who will admit this tournament was a failure. Full stop. Instead, I'm sure we'll hear about how young this team was, they were so close to moving on, they have bright futures, they're proud of the effort the team put in, and blah blah blah. Hogwash. They failed.

Dean Lombardi [among others] definitely fits your first paragraph.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Good thing you didn't pick the roster.

Good thing this QF campaign has left you satisfied.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Tough way to go out. That's all I'll say.

 

[PWiz30]

Man, I spaced on the game time and woke up to see the result on Twitter.

I have a really hard time second guessing the way the team was constructed when the NHL pulled out a month and a half before the tournament. Not using Beniers in the shootout is certainly a head scratcher though.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

In short tournaments like this I don't think that an extra game together is a bad thing especially with teams that have just been thrown together. #1 seed is really meaningless. I think you might be right about the size issue as well, a little heft and reach might have been helpful.

Losing Sanderson was a huge blow.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Good thing this QF campaign has left you satisfied.

Don't be a tool. US could have advanced just as well
as Slovakia.

Losing Sanderson was an enormous loss as he looked good against Canada before his injury.

They constructed their roster adequately and you can always quibble about 1\2 slots.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

We need an outsider to take over USAH IMO. Someone who's ruthless against the old boys network, living on bygone glories, and validating our federation's success on junior tournaments. I'm sick of USAH talking about the Miracle on Ice or the 1996 World Cup. They were amazing historic events but they were 42 and 26 years ago. They don't matter in this era. And frankly, the U18 and U20 success don't mean much if we can't translate them into senior level success, either.

It would be refreshing to have USAH head honchos accountable to success. No more of this we tried hard, the boys battled, etc. I want executives and coaches who expect to win gold every time and own the failures when it doesn't happen. We certainly won't win gold every time but that ruthless pursuit will demand a program under continual evaluation and improvement, or else heads will turn.

I want coaches and executives who will admit this tournament was a failure. Full stop. Instead, I'm sure we'll hear about how young this team was, they were so close to moving on, they have bright futures, they're proud of the effort the team put in, and blah blah blah. Hogwash. They failed.

Sounds great but how are you going to do that? USAH runs the sport in the US and you think the USOC will do something?

These particular Olympics was a crapshoot with how little time they had to prepare.

 

[DaGreatOne]

I really liked Team USA’s decision to load up pretty heavily on young college stars with legitimate NHL futures ahead of them - they actually made non-Canada games this tournament worth watching for me - and am pretty disappointed to see them bow out in this way. Shocked that Beniers didn’t get a chance in the shootout after the game he had; it seems like the vast majority of coaches simply cannot resist over-complicating things.

Yeah, why no Matty B????

 

[SoundAndFury]

Don't be a tool. US could have advanced just as well
as Slovakia.

Well, the guy kept bumping my month-old posts after every win because he felt somehow offended by my perfectly legitimate point so I think I'm at liberty to be a tool.

Yes, they could have advanced but in the end, they dropped out losing to a B-grade opposition, with all due respect to Slovakia. To the team that really only has 2 players of Lasch/Gunderson/Miele caliber. Well, turns out guys from the Slovak league are good enough to give a huge fight to NCAA kids as well. Which is what I and some others that don't have their head in the sand have been saying all along. If this truth is too much to handle, I guess I can be a tool about it.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

Rarely has a team exited the tournament with more gas left in the tank.

Well said. 46 freakin seconds for pete sake. Gotta give Slovakia credit though. They did not give up.

Nothing more to add about Bonneys comments in regards to the coaching. It never fails in ways US coaches can screw up good teams.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Well, the guy kept bumping my month-old posts after every win because he felt somehow offended by my perfectly legitimate point so I think I'm at liberty to be a tool.

Yes, they could have advanced but in the end, they dropped out losing to a B-grade opposition, with all due respect to Slovakia. To the team that really only has 2 players of Lasch/Gunderson/Miele caliber. Well, turns out guys from the Slovak league are good enough to give a huge fight to NCAA kids as well. Which is what I and some others that don't have their head in the sand have been saying all along. If this truth is too much to handle, I guess I can be a tool about it.

What is there to handle? US came with 5 teenagers
and at least 1 20 year old. They absolutely could have advanced and IMO would have with Sanderson in the lineup.

Think you are under rating Slovaks yourself but we will see.

 

[William H Bonney]

Sounds great but how are you going to do that? USAH runs the sport in the US and you think the USOC will do something?

These particular Olympics was a crapshoot with how little time they had to prepare.

I have no expectations that anything will change.

 

[SoundAndFury]

What is there to handle? US came with 5 teenagers
and at least 1 20 year old. They absolutely could have advanced and IMO would have with Sanderson in the lineup.

Think you are under rating Slovaks yourself but we will see.

I'm not arguing against any of your points. Mr. SanDogBrewin and his takes are a different story though. Or whichever guy was arguing this is basically a team with 8 NHL players on it, including those very teenagers you are talking about.

Regarding Slovaks, the European hockey ladder is well-established and they only have Cehlarik and Hrivik (arguably stretching it a bit in his case) at the top of it. They have lost not-so-close games to Sweden and Finland as well already so we will see and we might get surprised but facts are facts. And those came true to the fullest in the USA case.

 

[Marioesque]

I'm not arguing against any of your points. Mr. SanDogBrewin and his takes are a different story though. Or whichever guy was arguing this is basically a team with 8 NHL players on it, including those very teenagers you are talking about.

Regarding Slovaks, the European hockey ladder is well-established and they only have Cehlarik and Hrivik (arguably stretching it a bit in his case) at the top of it. They have lost not-so-close games to Sweden and Finland as well already so we will see and we might get surprised but facts are facts. And those came true to the fullest in the USA case.

The whole group was weak. Canada was worse than I thought, USA was a positive surprise with their wins. I only expected them to beat China.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

U.S. did fine. Maybe even overachieved a touch. Still, the game was there for the taking. Disappointing 3rd period.