America: Gold- 9, Silver- 15, Bronze- 13, 37 Total Germany: Gold- 10, Silver- 13, Bronze- 7, 30 Total Canada: Gold- 14, Silver- 7, Bronze- 5, 26 Total
Pretty good Olympics, enjoyed it a lot. Good to see America showed the world we still have the big dick. I guess the one thing I'm going to be pissed about now is that there will be no Conan for a while.
USA 6, NORWAY 1 Don't let the final score fool you. The US didn't dominate this game. At least not as much as they should. You might think Norway is great at hockey, but they're not. One of their players is a carpenter. Yet this was a 3-1 game going into the 3rd.
Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist, as did Ryan Malone. Brian Raflaski had a pair of junktime goals in the last 3 minutes of the 3rd. Ryan Miller only had to stop 10 of the 11 shots he faced, but he did have an assist.
CANADA 3, SWITZERLAND 2 (SO) Canada should not need a shootout to beat Switzerland. The Swiss have 2 NHL players. Goalie Jonas Hiller and defenseman Mark Streit. That's it. Nevertheless, they stymied an All-Star team from Canada, and stole a point from the tournament favorites.
The Swiss have been the surprise of the tournament, thus far. They only lost 3-1 to the US, and they forced Canada into a shootout in their second game. They should beat Norway to round out their group play. And their sound defensive play could pose a problem to future contenders.
In the round-robin stage, teams are given 3 points for regulation wins, 2 points for OT wins, and 1 point for OT losses. So Canada only having 5 points is a major surprise. And Switzerland could finish the stage with 4 points, which is a significant achievement for a country that didn't even qualify for The Games 12 years ago.
SLOVAKIA 2, RUSSIA 1 (SO) What a great game. Once again, the best matchup of the night started at 12:30 AM Eastern Time, so many people missed this contest. Zdeno Chara and Alex Ovechkin battled all night long, and it was more physical than when the Caps play the Bruins. Alexei Morozov scored for the Russians in the 2nd, Marian Hossa scored for the Slovakians with about 10 minutes to go in the 3rd. The shootout went 7 rounds before Pavol Demitra beat Bryzgalov.
This was a huge win for the Slovakians, who had lost 3-1 to the Czech Republic the night before. Group B is now totally up for grabs.
Today's games: 3pm on MSNBC: Sweden vs. Belarus 8pm on CNBC: Czech Republic vs. Latvia 12am on MSNBC: Finland vs. Germany
USA had 14 medals already in these Winter Olympics. The next closest is Germany with 10. These Winter Olympics have been nothing short of fantastic. Last night was no exception.
USA took him 3 gold medals last night. Shaun White once again proved that he is the greatest snowboarder to ever step foot on this Earth. He blew everyone out, and even after he won it he went out again and pulled out a double McTwist 1260. Yea I have no idea what that is, but it was the most fucking impressive thing I had seen in a long time.
Lindsey Vonn had an up and down day for me. On the one hand she overcame a terrible injury to win gold, but on the other hand I found out she is married and my dreams have been crushed. Shani Davis also took home gold in the men's 1,000 meters speed skating. He also had to overcome injury to get this medal.
It has been flat out amazing for the US in these Winter Olympics, and I really hope that you all have been watching.
As much as I wish the NHL switched to European sized ice, thank God we still have North American style officiating. An automatic 10 minute misconduct just for knocking some guy in the head? And how soft did the refs call the Germany/Sweden game? Daniel Alfredsson draws a penalty by losing a shoving contest with a German. Lame.
FINLAND 5, BELARUS 1 The '06 Silver Medalists expectedly dominated Belarus, but compared to the other blowouts, this was one of the least impressive. But what does that matter? Only in goal differential (which is a tie-breaker). Finland went undefeated in the '06 Games until they met Sweden in the final, and their team is equally as "unimpressive" (in quotes, because it's relative compared to the other powerhouses in the tourney) as it was back then. Don't judge this team until they play Germany on Friday.
SWEDEN 2, GERMANY 0 Sweden won Gold in '06. Sweden is the #3 team. Germany was 10th in the '06 Olympics. Germany is ranked 12th in the world. As a German fan, I'm satisfied with a 2-0 loss. Especially since Sweden's first goal should have been waved off for a blatant goaltender's interference.
To be fair to the Swedes, they looked extremely rusty (except for Alfredsson). The number of offsides they had testified to this. They hardly ever put together the lengthy, pretty, passing plays they're capable of. This will probably be their worst performance of the tournament.
But look out for Germany. Finland, I'm talking to you. This team won't score much, but they can play defense. And it's not a boring, backfoot kind of defense like we saw from the Swiss, or from past German teams. It's a slightly more aggressive defense that could frustrate contending teams.
CZECH REPUBLIC 3, SLOVAKIA 1 Jaromir Jagr returned to North American ice with a goal and an assist, and Tomas Vokoun stopped 34 of 35 shots faced, propelling the Czechs to a victory in the first legitimately competetive matchup of the tournament. Marian Gaborik scored the lone Slovakian goal.
David Krejci was -1 for the Czechs, and Zdeno Chara registered 4 penalty minutes.
Today's games: 3pm on USA: USA vs. Norway 8pm on CNBC: Canada vs. Switzerland 12:30am on CNBC: Russia vs. Slovakia
Tough draw for the Slovakians, having to face the Czechs and Russians on back to back nights.
Some expected results yesterday, as three giants crushed three underdogs. I have to say that I miss the wider European ice surface typically seen in Olympic games. I don't know why, after spending billions to ready their city, Vancouver couldn't temporarily remove two or three rows of seats to make for a wider ice surface in the Canucks' rink.
U.S.A. 3, SWITZERLAND 1 I gave the Swiss a chance in this one, as the US players are either too inexperienced, or too old, with very few falling optimally in between. The Swiss also have Jonas Hiller, who helped propel the Ducks past the Sharks in last year's playoffs.
But the US's depth and talent was apparent in the 2nd period. The Swiss were in a defensive trapping style, which frustrated the Americans' attack (especially on NHL width ice, ironically giving an advantage to a European team). The Swiss had some nice chances, but lacked the skillset to properly aim the puck. They looked like a bunch of Michael Ryders, in other words.
The US will advance to the Elimination Round, but not much farther. They're simply not good enough to score or to prevent talented teams from scoring on them.
CANADA 8, NORWAY 0 The only surprise here is that the game was 0-0 after the 1st period. Jarome Iginla scored a hat-trick, and Dany Heatley scored twice. Crosby had 3 assists, and the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron had an assist.
What I noticed most came after the game. While the Canadian fans celebrated a bit too much (Norway has 0 NHLers and hasn't even qualified for the Olympics since 1994), the Canadian players calmly and cooly congratulated each other. It was as if they were already past this 8-0 win and preparing for their meeting with Switzerland on Thursday. Pretty remarkable considering for 75% of the team, this is their first Olympics.
This is a team deadset on a mission.
RUSSIA 8, LATVIA 2 Ovechkin scored twice, as did KHLer Danis Zaripov. Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist, as did Malkin. This team is loaded with talent, perhaps a bit moreso than the Canadians. They too are on a mission. Canada may be the favorite on home ice, but Russia is the #1 ranked team in the world (IIHF), and hasn't won Gold since they were the "Unified Team" (just after breakup of the USSR) in '92. If Canada is hungry for Gold, Russia is starving for it.
Today's games: 3pm on MSNBC: Finland vs. Belarus 8pm on CNBC: Sweden vs. Germany 12:30am on CNBC: Czech Republic vs. Slovakia
I have to admit I am into the Olympics this year. When else can you watch random sports you don't care about in the least, but for reason feel the need to root hardcore for America anyways.
So far America is up 3 medals on Germany, but there are so many left it really doesn't matter. Bode Miller got his first Olympic medal (bronze), it was good to see that he wasn't drunk this time, and could actually complete a race.
After a really sad start to the Olympics I think they have been very good, but has anyone seen the video of that guy dying. I did, and I kind of wish I didn't he really had a terrible last couple mins of life, flying into a poll at over 100 MPH.
So what events do I like. Anything like the bobsled, luge, skeleton, ect. Hockey is going to be great, but the US in Men's has no shot (way too young). Snowboarding, and skiing are always good, except for the long jump...that gets really old.
Anyways, be sure to check back in as I will make an effort to keep up with the Olympic events, and how the US is going.
Here's the men's hockey TV schedule. This is all based on my cable provider, and all the times are Eastern, so some local adjustments might be necessary. The really good games are denoted with a star*
Date - Time - Channel - Game Tue 2/16 - 3pm - USA - USA vs. Switzerland Tue 2/16 - 8pm - CNBC - Canada vs. Norway
Wed 2/17 - 12:30am - CNBC - Russia vs. Latvia Wed 2/17 - 3pm - MSNBC - Finland vs. Belarus Wed 2/17 - 8pm - CNBC - Sweden vs. Germany
Thu 2/18 - 12:30am - CNBC - Czech Rep. vs. Slovakia* Thu 2/18 - 3pm - USA - USA vs. Norway Thu 2/18 - 8pm - CNBC - Canada vs. Norway
Fri 2/19 - 12:30am - CNBC - Russia vs. Slovakia* Fri 2/19 - 3pm - MSNBC - Sweden vs. Belarus Fri 2/19 - 8pm - CNBC - Czech Rep. vs. Latvia
Sat 2/20 - 12am - MSNBC - Finland vs. Germany Sat 2/20 - 3pm - MSNBC - Norway vs. Switzerland Sat 2/20 - 7:30pm - MSNBC - Slovakia vs. Latvia
Sun 2/21 - 12am - MSNBC - Belarus vs. Germany Sun 2/21 - 3pm - NBC - Russia vs. Czech Rep.* Sun 2/21 - 7pm - MSNBC - USA vs. Canada*
Mon 2/22 - 12am - MSNBC - Sweden vs. Finland*
The elimination round commences Thursday February 23rd.
I can't wait for the Winter Games and for Olympic Hockey. I also can't wait for the curling, either.
The format for hockey this year is as follows: 12 teams, divided into groups of 4 teams. The preliminary round consists of round-robin play within each group. After that, all 12 teams will be ranked 1st thru 12th. The top 4 teams will receive a bye to the quarterfinals. The remaining 8 teams will be put into 4 one-game playoffs, with the winners of those games advancing to the quarterfinals. Then it's a normal, single-elimination tournament.
Team USA: All 23 players on the roster are in the NHL, which is nice. But there's not too much star power at forward. Phil Kessel and Ryan Malone are up there, but there's a lot of solid, not great guys. USA's advantage could be their depth with so many NHLers, and that should get them through the early stages of the tournament. They also have three solid goalies in Tim Thomas, Ryan Miller, and Jon Quick.
Équipe Canada (Team Canada): Canada boasts some serious star power. They also have al l23 roster spots occupied by NHL players. Just some of their big name players: Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Martin Brodeur, and Roberto Luongo. Their blue-line is a bit on the old side, with Pronger and Niedermayer still back there, so they could be susceptible to some of the faster European sides.
Eisgenossen (Switzerland) Only 2 NHL players on this team, but one of them might be a big difference maker. Jonas Hiller of the Ducks propelled his team past the Sharks in last seasons' playoffs, he also helped for a 7 game series with Detroit. The other NHLer is Mark Streit of the Islanders. The Swiss are young and can skate, so they could pose a problem. Don't be shocked if they score some early upsets before being filtered out of the tournament.
Isbjørnene/The Polar Bears (Norway): Norway isn't known for their hockey prowess, and it's an achievement for them just to get to Vancouver. Ole Kristian Tollefsen is the only representative from the NHL on the roster. 11 players come from the Swedish League. Norway is young, inexperienced, and not too talented. They'll lose all 3 of their round-robin games, then be easily ousted in the elimination stage.
Big Red Machine (Russia): The Russkies haven't won Gold since 1992, but before then, they were THE dominant for in the Olympics. There's some serious talent on their roster, with guys like Alexander Semin, Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk, Kovalchuk, Afinogenov, and evgeni Nabokov in net. But the Russians might lack some depth. 9 players aren't from the NHL, although Russia's KHL is probably the 2nd best league in the world. Sergei Fedorov is one of those KHL representatives.
Czech Republic: The 1998 Gold medal winners remain strong, but I don't think they're strong enough to contend. Guys like David Krejci and Tomas Kaberle can make plays, but the Czech lack both depth and firepower. It will be fun to once again watch Jaromir Jagr play. He's the only player from that '98 team who is on the roster for '10.
Slovakia: Jaroslav Halak of the Canadiens is capable of blistering hot streaks. He'll have 6' 9" Zdeno Chara helping him out in front, and guys like Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik scoring goals. The Slovaks do lack some depth, so expect fireworks in early rounds, followed by eventual disappointment.
Latvia: You should just call this team Dinamo Riga, because 15 of the 23 roster spots are occupied by players from that particular Latvian team in the KHL. There's also 2 NHL and 2 AHL representatives. But Latvia should compete with Norway for biggest pushover of the tournament.
Tre Kronor/Three Crowns (Sweden): The reigning Gold medal winners still have some serious talent on their side. Zetterberg, the Sedin twins, Holmstrom, Backstrom, Alfredsson, and Lidstrom all return. Henrik Lundqvist can be a wall in net. Sweden's speed can get them past teams like Canada, and their puck-skills are uncanny.
Leijonat/The Lions (Finland): Finland and Sweden were close to even in the '06 Olympics, and the Finns return 14 players from that squad. They don't have the same fire-starting names as the Swedes, but they have more depth. They might also be the most motivated team in the tournament. Finland has never won Gold in this event.
White Russians (Belarus): The Kostitsyn brothers are Belarussian, they along with Ruslan Salei of the Avalanche are the only NHLers on the team. They'll do better than Latvia or Norway, but much not better.
Deutsche Eishockey-Nationalmannschaft (Germany): German hockey has progressively improved over the years, and the Krauts now have 6 NHL players on their roster, including some pretty good ones like Marco Sturm, Dennis Seidenburg and Christian Ehroff. They can make it to the quarterfinals with a decent draw, and could threaten some of the big boys in the tournament.
Prediction: USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany advance to the quarterfinals. Finland and Russia will make deep runs, and whenever these two teams meet, the winner of that game will win the Gold.
I say Russia will win gold, Canada silver, Finland bronze
6 Bruins were named to Olympic squads, and will be participating in the 2010 Games starting February 22nd in Vancouver.
Tim Thomas was famously announced to the US team, and will be vying with Ryan Malone of the Sabres and Jonathan Quick of the Kings for playing time. This is Thomas' first Olympics.
Marco Sturm will be one of 6 NHLers on the German squad. This will be his 3rd time representing Deutschland in the Olympics.
Patrice Bergeron was graciously added to the Canadian roster, which is one of the biggest honors for players from the North. This is the first time Bergeron's been an Olympian.
David Krejci was named to the Czech team. Krejci had never represented his country in any competition such as this, although he was named to the Czech World Championship squad in '08.
And rounding out the list, Zdeno Chara and newly acquired Miroslav Satan will be on the Slovakian team. Chara's father was an Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler. This will be the second time he's been an Olympian. This will be Satan's 4th trip to the Games.
So your 2016 Summer Olympics host city is Rio De Janeiro and I couldn't be happier. The global community's love affair with Obama had to end sooner or later and it was nice to see the IOC not get bullied around or pressured into picking Chicago.
It will be the first time the Olympics are held in South America which is really surprising and disappointing if you ask me. It's safe to say they were overdue.
The only downside is having to wait 7 more years and suffer through the 2012 Summer Games in London before we get there. London's only slightly more desireable than Chicago and I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect of Jim Lampley or Bob Costas taking us on virtual tours of The Big Smoke. On the other hand, Jim Lampley being detained by the Peelers for boxing his wife again could make for quite the interesting side story.
"Marc Savard, tanned from a summer off and still thick in the sweet spot of his game on the links, stepped off the driving range prior to the Boston Bruins Foundation Golf Tournament to address a nagging issue: how Team Canada left him off the Olympic orientation camp roster.
"I was pretty upset about it," Savard said. "I feel that I had a chance to at least go to the camp. I didn't really come out and say anything. I had a lot of calls for a couple weeks after that. It's something I didn't want to talk about. I was pretty mad about it. I've had to prove myself over and over again. I'm hoping to get off to a good start. I still haven't counted myself out, so I guess that's all that matters (Boston.com)."
I am not the biggest Marc Savard fan in the world (I think he is a little soft), but he should have at least been invited to the Team Canada camp. He is always putting up good points every year, and really makes everyone around him better. The good news for Bruins fans is that this could fire him up to have an even bigger year then he did last year...hopefully he uses this all as motivation.
"China's national table tennis team will give Olympic medalist Wang Hao counselling after he reportedly got into a fight with a security guard for trying to stop him from urinating outside a karaoke club. Local media reports last week quoted witnesses as saying that the two-time Olympic singles silver medallist had emerged drunk from a karaoke club on Thursday and come to blows with the security guard when he tried to urinate outside the building. "I am the famous Wang Hao! I am the world champion! Does it matter if I beat you?" shouted the 24-year-old, according to a witness quoted by the papers (ESPN)."
Wow this is one of the greatest strories I have ever read. There are just so many reasons that this is funny. 1. Lets start with the obvious, the guys name is Wang, and he a penis related incident. 2. Wang was drunk and outside a karaoke bar. Stereotypes at their finest. I picture this is what it was like inside that bar...
3. "I am the famous Wang Hao!"...I would pay at least 20 bucks to hear an intoxicated Asian guy yell that." 4. Last, its just always funny getting caught pissing, like who hasn't done that? Do they really need to make a big deal out of it.
Misty May and Kerri Walsh wrapped up their second consecutive gold tonight and it was nothing short of amazing. Perhaps I'll have some more on this in the morning but the night cannot end without commenting on the post-match interview conducted by NBC's Heather Cox.
In an age when so many musicians, celebrities and athletes are quick to put down the US and more specifically, the US Government, it was refreshing to see Misty & Kerri go out of their way to thank the President. Instead of the mind numbing shout-outs to baby-momma's, illegitimate kids and entourage pals we are forced to uncomfortably sit through after touchdowns, home runs and Grammy's we actually got to witness a couple of world class, two time gold medal athletes paying tribute to what matters - Country.
Let's not confuse the issue either; this is not about support for a President, Government or political party. I have no idea which way Misty or Kerri voted in the past two elections, nor should I. Both were simply honored to play for the greatest country on earth and could not hide the pride they felt in bringing home the gold again. Good for them and hopefully it will rub off on some other high profile athletes we love to cheer for (looking at you, Lebron).
Again team USA whooped the shit out of another pathetic country. Today victim, Australia. The first quarter was relatively even then like always, USA blew them out of the water for the rest of the game. They decided to go small and their speed and 3 point shooting in the second half put the nail in the coffin. 6 players for the USA were in double figures led by Kobe 23, Lebron 16, and Melo 15 and star player for the Aussies Andrew Bogut left the game in the second half with a tweeked ankle.
