Olympics: Team Canada - Nagano 1998

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OttawaRoughRiderFan*

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Dominik Hasek.

Yup. As usual Rabid Ranger sums it up nicely.

Mr Hasek was the best goalie I EVER saw. When he was on his game you could not beat him with a stick. Jagr was great but Hasek was King.
 

OttawaRoughRiderFan*

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Being completely unfamiliar and unprepared for the shootout was pretty significant. Hasek was obviously brilliant but Canadian shooters have come a long way since 94, and 98 Olympics. I'd argue what was once an achilles heel off Canadian hockey has turned into somewhat of a strength.



Great point!!!!
 

OttawaRoughRiderFan*

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Don't take anything away from the Czechs -- Hasek was ridiculous in that game, and in his prime was a guy that can single handedly win games for any team, which he did there. It was Hasek and Jagr that won that tournament for them.


Hurt like hell at the time but in hindsight, I think it was (one of) the best thing that ever happened to Hockey in Canada.

Agree on Hasek. I want to say a Canadian goalie was the best ever but, thru the 90's, he was unbeatable and the best I ever saw.
 

OttawaRoughRiderFan*

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I said that Hasek and Jagr won that on their own, and I stand by that.

I agree with half of that statement. I think Jagr said it best (I am paraphrasing) when he said that once the Czechs went up 1-0 in the Gold Medal game (against Russia) he knew it was over because he knew Hasek would not be beat.

He broke my heart but he (Hasek) was THE BEST!!!
 

OttawaRoughRiderFan*

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To put Hasek's dominance in perspective...

As you all know, I spent the late 90's working as one of the TOP Porn Stars in all of Europe. Anyway, after the 98 Olympics, we had a term for guys who, all by themselves, could handle scenes with Teams of (20+) Woman. Because of our ability to SINGLE handedly take on a whole team (of woman) we were called "Hasek's".

I, of course, was the Number 1 Hasek from 98 until 2004 when I retired - I made millions!!!

(* And, if any of you believe one word of this... :) *)

GO CANADA GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In 12 hours I will be at the HBC, with my unpleasant, moody girlfriend, watching Canada start their run for GOLD!!!!
 

zorz

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http://www.hockeynut.com/olympics/czeros.html


is this team really better than Canada's?

I don't know most of the Czechs, I'm too young.


I'd put most of the heavy on Hasek.

Yeah I believe it's the best team on the tournament - not the same thing as the most talented team. But still, also those unknown guys on the team were great, they just didn't play so much of NHL, so they were not so famous around the world, but great players.
 

canuck2010

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They deserved to beat Canada on that day. They played a better team game and of course they had Hasek playing lights out. Mark Crawford in my opinion was a poor coach and could anybody have come up with a worst lineup in the shootout.

I thought our roster selections sucked from day one as well.

That being said though how many Czech players would have even made Team Canada?
 

David McConnor

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Anything can happen with a small enough sample size. There's nothing mindboggling about a great team losing to a lesser team in a single game of hockey. If the capacity was available for the Olympics to use 7-game series for their medal rounds instead of one-and-dones then '98 probably would have been a different story for Team Canada. Don't overanalyze with nonsense like "they just weren't very good" or "this is what happens when you give Lindros the C".
 

Rob

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I remember the overreaction to their loss here at home. Some in the sports media were almost giddy that Canada lost. Blaming "Canadian style" hockey. Suddently Canadians "had no skill".

These were certainly the darkest years for Canadian hockey. After winning the WJC 5 years in a row we couldn't win that tournament anymore.
 

Rob

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The 98 version of team Canada had Bobby Clarke's greasy fingerprints all over it. It was a reactionary move to name him GM because of the 96 World Cup loss to the US.

Excellent point. This team was put together to beat the US. While successful in that department they weren't focused enough on the Euros.

Siting injuries is always considered excuse making which if fair enough. But not have Karyia and then losing Sakic really cost them.
 

member 30781

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Dumbass play by play guys. ''Czechoslovakia up 1-0'' :shakehead

Also the shootout moves by Canada was laughable. Some of those shots had no chance of going in. All Hasek had to do move with them.


And Ivan Hlinka, RIP.

I suck at goalie and even I could've made those saves, seriously. They were a joke.
 

Rob

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I suck at goalie and even I could've made those saves, seriously. They were a joke.

The best move was by Lindros and he hit the post. All the others were really pathetic. I know why Crawford picked Bourque but picking off targets during the skills competition is a lot different than scoring on a breakaway. Shanahan saved the worst for last.
 

PoutineSp00nZ

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Crawford goes with Borque over Gretzky in the shootout. Hasek was the best player in the world at that point in time.

Good for the Czechs but tough for Canadians. I remember Shanahan crying after the game and apologizing to Canada for not scoring in the shootout.
 

TheDevilMadeMe

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+1.

Canada just could not solve the Dominator. If I remember, Linden's goal to tie was off a deflection. Hasek played lights out.

Typical Canadian excuse. Whenever Team Canada loses, it's always because the game was stolen by the opposing goaltender.

The Czech Republic outshot Canada, and while outshooting a team doesn't necessarily mean you were better, it's pretty definitive proof that Canada didn't exactly dominate play.
 

PoutineSp00nZ

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Typical Canadian excuse. Whenever Team Canada loses, it's always because the game was stolen by the opposing goaltender.

The Czech Republic outshot Canada, and while outshooting a team doesn't necessarily mean you were better, it's pretty definitive proof that Canada didn't exactly dominate play.

Don't generalize. That's what they do in Russia.
 

RandV

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I'm not sure what the OP is talking about... did he only look at a few of the top players and assume it was one of the best Canadian teams? Now Canada should always have a strong team on paper, but considering that Gretzky was no longer one of the best players in the game and Lemieux, Sakic, and Kariya were sitting out, it would be more accurate to describe this team as one of the worst teams of professionals Canada has ever sent. This was a time in the NHL when Canadian talent seemed to be on the decline. In the NHL that year we only had 3 players in the top 10 in scoring. For goals, there were 4 50 goal scorers, but none of them Canadian, and only 2 in the top ten there as well. We were in a slump at the WJC as well I believe, and journalists were having fun talking about the demise of Canadian hockey.

For the team itself, while we had a few of the best players in the game still (Roy, Bourque, Lindros, Gretzky, Yzerman), the team was severely lacking in talented wingers. Too many grinders and not enough talented finishers to play beside those great centers, really it was the Americans that looked like the best all around team. It was also the first Olympics so under IIHF rules, previous best on best tournaments many of these guys played in were under NHL rules.

Also, lots of people have been saying stuff like this...

Dumbass play by play guys. ''Czechoslovakia up 1-0'' :shakehead

Also the shootout moves by Canada was laughable. Some of those shots had no chance of going in. All Hasek had to do move with them.


And Ivan Hlinka, RIP.

But keep in mind shootouts back then were different than today. Beside the obvious fact that there were no shootouts in the NHL for players to get good at for the time, the biggest piece missing is that in todays shootout they give the ice a scrape before it starts to give players a fresher surface to play with. In Nagano I forget the exact details but the shootout was being held imediately after a lengthy playing time (a full 20 minute OT period or a 20 minute 3rd period + 10 minute OT back to back?) and the ice was extremelt choppy. Dangling likely wasn't going to work, especially when you have two world class goalies on top of that. Reichel's shot was the best way to score a goal there.
 

tony d

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Picking Rob Zamuner. Not using Gretzky in the shootout. Hasek was at his best. Lots of reasons. Canada seemed on it's way to winning that tournament though.
 

Canuck21t

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Dumbass play by play guys. ''Czechoslovakia up 1-0'' :shakehead

Also the shootout moves by Canada was laughable. Some of those shots had no chance of going in. All Hasek had to do move with them.


And Ivan Hlinka, RIP.
It's not that they said Czechoslovakia the whole tournament. We and the play by play guys knew it was the Czech Republic, but sometime it would slip and the mouth would automatically revert back to Czechoslovakia. After all, the separation was only 4 years before.

And yes, the shootout moves by the Canadians were laughable because we were not used to that. I dreaded the shootout every time because I knew Canada was going to suck. Forward to today and we're as good as any other country now.

I remember the overreaction to their loss here at home. Some in the sports media were almost giddy that Canada lost. Blaming "Canadian style" hockey. Suddently Canadians "had no skill".

These were certainly the darkest years for Canadian hockey. After winning the WJC 5 years in a row we couldn't win that tournament anymore.
It wasn't overreaction, but a valid concern. I remember that we were in a very bad state in the end of the '90s. Everyone thought that we were losing it and other countries were going to surpass us. I remember having so many online fights defending our hockey but let's not kid ourself, we were indeed bad then. Look at the NHL individual stats of the '90s and you'll notice that most of the top players were Euros.

I'm not sure what the OP is talking about... did he only look at a few of the top players and assume it was one of the best Canadian teams? Now Canada should always have a strong team on paper, but considering that Gretzky was no longer one of the best players in the game and Lemieux, Sakic, and Kariya were sitting out, it would be more accurate to describe this team as one of the worst teams of professionals Canada has ever sent. This was a time in the NHL when Canadian talent seemed to be on the decline. In the NHL that year we only had 3 players in the top 10 in scoring. For goals, there were 4 50 goal scorers, but none of them Canadian, and only 2 in the top ten there as well. We were in a slump at the WJC as well I believe, and journalists were having fun talking about the demise of Canadian hockey.
You sir seems to be the only one with a memory or simply because you're this old :laugh:.

The WJC was in fact the only thing positive about our hockey in the '90s beside goaltending. We won from 1993 to 1997 so I wouldn't say we were in a slump, but I remember how in those days I thought the Europeans were so much more skilled than us. We were successful because we were hard workers and mostly because our goaltending was vastly superior. When it came to skating and hand coordination, I thought we were highly lacking.

I think the American win at the World Cup '96 and our poor performance at the '98 Olympics were the best thing that could happen to Hockey Canada. The problem was our development. We were concentrating too much on the system and on winning games and didn't teach and spend enough time on skills practice. For once, we as a nation did something about it. We stopped and looked at the Euros and took some good things from them and applied it to our system. It paid off. We didn't win the WJC for the next 7 years after 1997, but I thought we were getting better and better with our skills. I knew we were on the right path the first time I saw Heatley, then Spezza and Bouwmeester.

For the team itself, while we had a few of the best players in the game still (Roy, Bourque, Lindros, Gretzky, Yzerman), the team was severely lacking in talented wingers. Too many grinders and not enough talented finishers to play beside those great centers, really it was the Americans that looked like the best all around team. It was also the first Olympics so under IIHF rules, previous best on best tournaments many of these guys played in were under NHL rules.
It explains everything when you see the name Rob Zamuner.
 
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