OT: Winter Olympics Part II

[Brandel*]

Yeah and Latvia only lost 2-1, Finland 2-1, Norway 3-1... That's how every nearly every single Canadian game has been. It's not an acomplishment by any means whatsoever to lose to Canada 1-0. Absolutely nobody is going to look at it that way. They weren't "clearly outmatched" either. No idea where you pulled that from. Nobody had any idea who was going to win that match going into it. I'm willing to go ahead and say most fans thought Team USA were the favourite to win that game after the quarters.

Why are you dealing with some fictional circumstance when you don't need to look further than reality; the event that just took place. The individual talent US has compared to Finland is greater than the talent difference between Canada and US. US laid a complete egg against Finland, wasn't even a competition. That absolutely has to be on the coach to an extent.

 

[Frk It]

So if US and Canada had a rematch you'd bet a substantial amount of money that Canada would win, regardless of who is coaching each team?

Yup, absolutely.

We aren't going to see eye-to-eye on this though, which is fine. I view the entire thing much differently, that much we've established so far.

U.S. beating Canada would be a huge upset, no matter who is coaching, that's why Canada is 12-3-3 head-to head in Olympic hockey vs USA.

 

[odin1981]

Well now that the team I was pulling for has been out for awhile I am all aboard on the "abc" train. Though unfortunately if sweden wins we might have a griffins team + datsyuk against montreal.

 

[Nut Upstrom]

Yeah and Latvia only lost 2-1, Finland 2-1, Norway 3-1... That's how every nearly every single Canadian game has been. It's not an acomplishment by any means whatsoever to lose to Canada 1-0. Absolutely nobody is going to look at it that way. They weren't "clearly outmatched" either. No idea where you pulled that from. Nobody had any idea who was going to win that match going into it. I'm willing to go ahead and say most fans thought Team USA were the favourite to win that game after the quarters.

Why are you dealing with some fictional circumstance when you don't need to look further than reality; the event that just took place. The individual talent US has compared to Finland is greater than the talent difference between Canada and US. US laid a complete egg against Finland, wasn't even a competition. That absolutely has to be on the coach to an extent.

I thought the Americans played well against Canada; Quick was amazing and it was a highly competitive game. As a citizen of the US I was proud of the team after that game even though they lost, and I would have had no shame if they returned with a bronze medal.

However, after they dogged it for the majority of the bronze medal game my pride meter was on empty; I don't know who's to blame or what was going through their minds, but it didn't seem like representing their country to the best of their abilities was a priority. I'd hate to suggest that they were a team of entitled multimillionaires who stopped competing because a possible injury wasn't worth a bronze medal for their nation, or because they figured if they couldn't win gold who cares about anything else... I'd really hate to suggest that, but that certainly seems to be the case.
I didn't see any of Finland's millionaires dogging it, I would be extremely proud of that team were I a Finn, congrats to them, I wish Filppula had been able to play

 

[Henkka]

Scoring chance data I've collected for teams in Finals.

Canada (NOR, FIN, USA -games)

Goals + Assists + Scoring chances + Created chances + Screened shot = Total

1st line
C Crosby, 0+1+8+11+0 = 20
LW Kunitz, 0+0+7+2+3 = 12
RW Bergeron, 0+2+4+5+1 = 12

2nd line
C Getzlaf, 0+1+4+12+0 = 17
RW Perry, 0+0+4+7+7 = 18
LW Benn, 2+0+4+4+0 = 10

3rd line
RW Carter, 0+1+14+4+5 = 24
LW Marleau, 0+1+8+3+5 = 17
C Toews, 0+0+4+10+0 = 14

4th line
RW Sharp, 0+0+4+7+3 = 14
LW Nash, 0+0+7+2+0 = 9
C Duchene 0+0+1+3+1 = 5

13.forward St.Louis (0+0+3+0+1 = 4) has not played in two games

1.pair
LD Keith, 0+1+5+5+0 = 11
RD Weber, 1+1+4+5+0 = 11

2.pair
RD Pietrangelo, 0+0+9+3+0 = 12
LD Bouwmeester, 0+1+0+3+0 = 4

3.pair
RD Doughty, 3+1+8+4+0 = 16
LD Vlasic, 0+0+3+2+0 = 5

7th D Hamhuis (0+0+0+0+0 = 0) did not play vs. USA and not needed without in-game injuries

***

Sweden (CZE, SUI, SLO, FIN -games)

Goals + Assists + Scoring chances + Created chances + Screened shot = Total

1st line
LW Sedin, 1+2+11+11+1 = 26
RW Eriksson, 2+1+8+5+8 = 24
C Bäckström, 0+3+7+10+0 = 20

2nd line
LW Steen, 1+2+17+8+4 = 32
C Berglund, 1+1+12+2+2 = 18
RW Alfredsson, 1+1+8+6+1 = 17

3th line
LW Landeskog, 0+1+6+4+10 = 21
C Johansson, 0+0+3+3+0 = 6
RW Nyquist, 0+0+3+5+0 = 8
RW Silfverberg, 0+0+2+1+0 = 3

Gus and Silf both have played in this line in same games.

4th line
W Hagelin, 2+0+6+4+1 = 13
W Ji.Ericsson, 0+1+3+3+1 = 8
C Krüger, 0+0+1+4+0 = 5

1.pair
LD Kronwall, 0+2+3+3+0 = 8
RD Jo.Ericsson, 0+1+4+2 = 7

2.pair
RD Karlsson, 3+3+10+9+0 = 25 (on se kyllä niin ylivoimainen näissä paikkojen luomisessa + viimeistelemisessä. Doughtyn kanssa All-Starsiin.)
LD Edler, 0+0+2+2+0 = 4 (vasta 2 ottelua)

3.pair
LD Hjalmarsson, 0+0+2+3+0 = 5
RD Oduya, 0+1+1+0+0 = 2

7th D Ekman-Larsson, 0+2+2+0+0 = 4 did not play like Hamhuis in the semi-final


***

3rd line depth will be the difference. Sweden just isn't deep enough when Z and H-Sedin is missing.

Canada goes for Gold.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I thought the Americans played well against Canada; Quick was amazing and it was a highly competitive game. As a citizen of the US I was proud of the team after that game even though they lost, and I would have had no shame if they returned with a bronze medal.

However, after they dogged it for the majority of the bronze medal game my pride meter was on empty; I don't know who's to blame or what was going through their minds, but it didn't seem like representing their country to the best of their abilities was a priority. I'd hate to suggest that they were a team of entitled multimillionaires who stopped competing because a possible injury wasn't worth a bronze medal for their nation, or because they figured if they couldn't win gold who cares about anything else... I'd really hate to suggest that, but that certainly seems to be the case.
I didn't see any of Finland's millionaires dogging it, I would be extremely proud of that team were I a Finn, congrats to them, I wish Filppula had been able to play

That effort was terrible, it as strange to see how honest they all were about it too in the post-game. I said to a buddy it is almost like they cannot stomach the thought of watching the medals ceremony after the Gold game or something.

Gus taking advantage of his better role today, good chance, almost opened the scoring.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Babs comment on Alfie is pretty dumb.

 

[14ari13]

1st 10 min clearly Sweden

 

[14ari13]

Lundquist looks bad so far. Not good sing for Sweden

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Toews is such a beast, I know I am supposed to hate him because he plays for our second biggest rival and he was a clown during the lockout. But he is having another masterful Olympic tournament.

 

[Shoalzie]

The only Swedish line that has impressed me is Hagelin-Kruger-Nyquist...beautiful three man game in the Canada end. The water bugs might be the remedy for the Canada defense.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

Babs comment on Alfie is pretty dumb.

what did he say?

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

The only Swedish line that has impressed me is Hagelin-Kruger-Nyquist...beautiful three man game in the Canada end. The water bugs might be the remedy for the Canada defense.

Actually liked Fridays line where he replaced Silfverberg for the back half the game with Landeskog and Mojo, but yeah still no fault with his current line, think they have been Sweden's best line. They are struggling to clear the zone at times though, which they will eventually pa for if that continues.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

what did he say?

Showed Team Canada a video of him stapling someone in the Finland game and said look at how these guys will play for their country. Alfie never hits anyone I am his coach.

Basically the he never hits anyone I don't think is very true and has certainly not been true of Alfie in the playoffs, one of his most famous moments is basically ending Darcy Tucker's career on a vicious hit and he hits a lot in the post-season and some during the regular season. Isn't an area I have had an issue with at all.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

if canada gets its down low cycle game going and hit to hurt this game is over

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Nice to see Ovie will still show up and watch the Gold Medal game while having a beer. At least he isn't in hiding.

 

[14ari13]

Lundquist has stod out as the only bad player for Sweden, with 2 iffy/lucky save and one soft goal. He let also a soft goal vs Finland. He was supposed to be sewdens strength, so far he is their weakness.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Lundquist has stod out as the only bad player for Sweden, with 2 iffy/lucky save and one soft goal. He let also a soft goal vs Finland. He was supposed to be sewdens strength, so far he is their weakness.

This is fairly ridiculous and that soft goal (which is um... well I guess we all have opinions) is Berglund losing his guy, who was on like a minute shift and he still couldn't out muscle him or beat him with speed to the spot. A bang bang play in tight is not on Lundqvist. He has been Sweden's best player all tournament. Had the Bergeron shot not actually hit the post, yes that would have been a terrible goal. The soft goal against Finland was the only goal he allowed and he made several sharp saves in that game.

 

[Henkka]

Swedsh 1-2-3 lines had 0 scoring chances. 4th line had three, thanks to Hagelin and Nyquist. and defencemen had 2.

Canada started dominting after the 10 minutes.

Scoring chances:

SWE-CAN
0 -10min 4-3
10-20min 1-8

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Swedsh 1-2-3 lines had 0 scoring chances. 4th line had three, thanks to Hagelin and Nyquist. and defencemen had 2.

Canada started dominting after the 10 minutes.

Scoring chances:

SWE-CAN
0 -10min 4-3
10-20min 1-8

Not a great sign, this reminded me kind of how the USA game went. They opened up pretty well for about 10 minutes then got overwhelmed.

 

[14ari13]

This is fairly ridiculous and that soft goal (which is um... well I guess we all have opinions) is Berglund losing his guy, who was on like a minute shift and he still couldn't out muscle him or beat him with speed to the spot. A bang bang play in tight is not on Lundqvist. He has been Sweden's best player all tournament. Had the Bergeron shot not actually hit the post, yes that would have been a terrible goal. The soft goal against Finland was the only goal he allowed and he made several sharp saves in that game.

It is not a little soft goal, it is a very, very soft goal. It is a routine save, Teows is too close to him and it is very tight, it is almost impossible to score there, yet Lundquist found a way to let it in. Just before the goal I wanted to post he looked shakey. There were 2 very bad saves before the goal. He does not look confident.
Very soft goal IMO.

 

[14ari13]

Wow another shakey save by Lundquist.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

crazy how many of these would be goals in the nhl.

 

[iwtb*]

Total domination by Canada.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Terrible decision by Ericsson.