Olympic Hockey Thread

[Kontiki]

Canada hangs on for a 3-2 win.

[SpencerH]

How can a team look brilliant for one period and then play like a minor league team. Pathetic! Russia will embarass them tomorrow.

[SpencerH]

Just wanted to mention how strange it is to hear russians speaking english with a Canadian accent. Weird!

[Flubber]

Originally posted by SpencerH
Given the way the Canada-Czech game has gone, one would have to wonder if Canada is laying-back.

I doubt it-- If everything is clicking great, maybe but when you have sucked, you really would want to get your game going

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
And the Slovaks don't want to meet the Czecks, so both teams might want to lose tonight

It does get silly with the permutations. The problem with the Slovaks losing is that if they do that, then:

1. If Russia wins . . . . the Slovaks take 3rd and get the Swiss

2. If Russia does not win . . . the Slovaks will be 2nd and get Canada

I suspect the uncertainty will be enough that they will just play their game and see what happens. Unlike Sweden, neither Slovakia nor Russia are certain of 3rd if they lose.

While I am guessing the Slovaks would like the Swiss matchup, I have no idea if the would have any particular preference as between Canada and the Czechs. Both were highly rated and underperforming.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by SpencerH
How can a team look brilliant for one period and then play like a minor league team. Pathetic! Russia will embarass them tomorrow.

In the first period, they were playing to win, then they started playing not to lose.

Brodeur Incredible saves, up and down in split seconds to stop the shots. And the defence was there to stop ay shots that tricked by (excellent save by McCabe). If it wasn't for Brodeur, the Canadians would have lost big time.

[Flubber]

Oh and can anyone defend McCabe after that one??

I looked at TSN and in the comments to a story on the game (McCabe is not really mentioned in the story) there were 18 comments that were variations of "McCabe sucks" or "bench McCabe"-- Only one comment was even neutral on McCabe and was along the lines of "they win or lose as a team".

Its not just Asher spouting off with some rhetoric. McCabe has not been good and probably should suffer an "injury" so that the reserve D-man can dress.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
Another game, another set of stupid penalties by the slow McCabe...

I didn't realize there were so many Czech fans in Calgary, or is it the American part of you that can't understand hockey.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Tingkai


I didn't realize there were so many Czech fans in Calgary, or is it the American part of you that can't understand hockey.

Tingkai

Are Bob Cole and Harry Neale suffering from the same inability to "understand hockey"? .. . They have been some of McCabe's harshest critics

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Flubber
Oh and can anyone defend McCabe after that one??

I looked at TSN and in the comments to a story on the game (McCabe is not really mentioned in the story) there were 18 comments that were variations of "McCabe sucks" or "bench McCabe"-- Only one comment was even neutral on McCabe and was along the lines of "they win or lose as a team".

Its not just Asher spouting off with some rhetoric. McCabe has not been good and probably should suffer an "injury" so that the reserve D-man can dress.

Yeah, and all those anti-McCabe types all complain that Phaneuf didn't get picked.

And here is a typical anti-McCabe rant from the comments on TSN: "We LOST the 2nd and 3rd period because of McCabe & Quinn"

Talk about stupid. Somehow its his fault that the entire team, except Brodeur shifted into second. Does anyone believe that McCabe has that much control over Team Canada?

If there is any defencemen who deserves criticism, it's Blake who takes a penalty when the Canadians are short-handed. Now that was a bumb penalty.

Now McCabe yanking the helmet off the czech was a penalty, but still great to see it.

The tripping penalty was bogus. The Czech bodychecks McCabe, knocking him down and the Czech trips over McCabe. No way is that a penalty.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Flubber



Tingkai

Are Bob Cole and Harry Neale suffering from the same inability to "understand hockey"? .. . They have been some of McCabe's harshest critics

Yeah, but they're probably making valid criticism. Asher doen't understand the difference between a penalty and a dumb penalty. And Asher is constantly siding with the refs when they penalize the Canadians, never questioning whether the refs made a bad call. Sorry, Asher ain't no Cole or Neale.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Tingkai


Yeah, but they're probably making valid criticism. Asher doen't understand the difference between a penalty and a dumb penalty. And Asher is constantly siding with the refs when they penalize the Canadians, never questioning whether the refs made a bad call. Sorry, Asher ain't no Cole or Neale.

Well , I'm not talking about Asher. My opinions are on McCabe and he is just bad in this event IMHO. and yes I had hoped Phaneuf would be on the team as I have witnessed how good he is. But thats water under the bridge.

I'm now concerned with the team we have now and IMHO, Canada is better off if Mccabe does not see the ice again. If there is a way to get Boyle playing, I would do that ( Are the reserves in Torino and practing with the team?)

oh and to save you the trouble, I ain't no Cole or Neale either but I have watched and played a lot of hockey.

[Tingkai]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying McCabe has been steller. His play has been average compared to most of the other defencemen.

But benching McCabe would be the worst thing Team Canada could do. It would make him the scapegoat and take the blame off all the other players who have been making stupid mistakes and not playing hard.

Look at the way the team came out in the second period. Why in the world would anyone blame one player for the team's failure?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying McCabe has been steller. His play has been average compared to most of the other defencemen.

But benching McCabe would be the worst thing Team Canada could do. It would make him the scapegoat and take the blame off all the other players who have been making stupid mistakes and not playing hard.

Look at the way the team came out in the second period. Why in the world would anyone one blame one player for the team's failure?

I don't "blame McCabe" for the fact that the whole team has not been great. I don't care about blame at all. I just want to put the best possible players on the ice.

IMHO Mccabe has been the worst of an admittedly not so great lot-- I get butterflies every time I see him take the ice . . . will he cough up the puck? Take a penalty? (whether good or bad, he takes a lot of penalties for a guy that is not very punishing physically) or just be on while a goal is scored?

I just don't trust him on the ice at all. Now you are right that he should not be "blamed"- he's the SEVENTH defenseman for cripes sake !! Say nothing and sit him down . . I just thought that given some of Pronger's troubles, getting Boyle dressed might give them another option on the power play

[Kontiki]

Here's a good take on the D situation from the Globe and Mail's Eric Duhatschek (in response to a reader's question):

As for the matter of Canada's defensive play, of the seven guys playing defence in this tournament, Jay Bouwmeester can really skate, Wade Redden is pretty good on his feet and the rest probably fall into the category "contain" guys nowadays, except for Bryan McCabe who looks totally lost out there and probably won't see much ice time the rest of the way. But what can you do? The one player that might make a difference, Scott Niedermayer, is out with an injury. Just about every team in the tournament is missing one or two key players that might make a difference between victory and defeat; the nature of hockey is to try to overcome those losses. I've heard people suggest that Canada needs Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames on defence. Phaneuf is in the midst of an outstanding rookie season for Calgary, but his game is about playing the body and shooting the puck; he is more Scott Stevens than Scott Niedermayer; I'm not sure if his presence here would make much of a difference. What seemed to be lacking in the pair of weekend losses was that the team seemed too spread out; the gaps were too wide. By that I simply mean they hadn't adjusted well to the larger international ice surface and found themselves too far apart on the ice; and thus, forced the defencemen to make longer passes than necessary, which often haven't worked. They need to get back to what worked so well over the final three games in 2002 — forwards coming back deeper in the defensive zone; and then having the defencemen make a series of short passes to work the puck up the ice, instead of attempting the longer, 20-plus foot passes that haven't worked here at all. I know a lot of people want to put this mediocre start on the defencemen; I'm not sure if they're getting enough help from their forwards; or they weren't in weekend play. They were better against the Czechs today. Not perfect, but better.