Olympic Hockey Thread

[Asher]

As for your edit -- actually I believe there is some truth to that. People in Toronto -- which for whatever reason contains a huge majority of sports writers and critics -- don't see Phaneuf play enough. You have very clearly demonstrated here that you've no idea what Phaneuf is about or how he plays (how can you say he's not a sniper? Have you seriously not seen how many people he's injured with his shot and how many PPGs he has?).

[Tingkai]

Yup, all that pressure from Quinn and the good folks of Toronto. That's why Team Canada is loaded with Maple Leafs.

[Asher]

That's why they needed the token Maple Leaf.

I think it's a major failure on behalf of Gretsky in picking this team. Bouwmeester has no reason to be on this team, at all.

Canada would've been better served with a Phaneuf/Regehr tandem -- two punishing players who are very smart in their defensive zone coverage. It's an ideal tandem, a "stay at home" defenseman in Regehr and an all-arounder in Phaneuf...

[Tingkai]

Well, you know better than Gretzky et al.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Well, you know better than Gretzky et al.

I think he's too conservative for his own good.

Bouwmeester instead of Phaneuf is simply mind-bogglingly retarded. There is no explanation.

[Asher]

You're a fan of Hockey News aren't you, Tingkai?

Mike Brophy has said several times now he considers Phaneuf a strong candidate for Norris this year, along with Lidstrom, Pronger, and Niedermeyer.

He has also said, repeatedly, Phaneuf should've been on the Olympic roster.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Doan plays a different role than Stall. Doan is a checker. Stall isn't.

McCabe got in because he earned the spot.

Phaneuf didn't because he's not good enough, except for people in Calgary who apparently think he's the second coming of Orr. The rest of us know better.

No wait, the reason Phaneuf didn't make the team was because them damn eastern Canadians and them damn Liberal media are out to screw the West again.

Nope its obvious that the exec went with "experience" all the way. Players like Crosbie and Phaneuf would be on the squad if they looked only at performance this season and would absolutely be tehre if they were looking at all at grooming the future leaders

I have seen a lot of Phaneuf and he already IS a dominating type of defenceman at times. His shot is a bullet and he dominates defensively. His plus/minus was likely hurt when his regular partner got hurt and he was paired sometimes with Marchment.

I don't say Phaneuf "deserves" to be on the team more than any one else. Answering that depends on the criteria you use and experience can be a criteria. But if Phaneuf were there, I would lay my last nickel that he would be a positive factor . . I would bet there would be some point where he would lay out one of his signature big hits that would have all the teams buzzing. Frankly, anyone that says otehrwise could not have seen the man play.

Oh and I still remember the world juniors where he personally laid a big time hurt on Ovechkin and malken-- destroyed them both.

Second coming of Orr ?? Nope-- A rugged defenceman in the mold of Scott Stevens with more offensive upside -- YES

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Well, you know better than Gretzky et al.

I don't think anyone here would claim that . . but Gretzky et al have pretty much just gone with the same team as last time. I can't say its a bad decision but there are several notables that are having stellar years-- better than some/many of the team members.

The Hockey Canada braintrust obviously put a lot of stock in experience-- I hope that faith pays off

All that said, I would have loved to see Crosbie, Phaneuf and Stall at the Olympics. Any one of them could have been a HUGE contributor

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Flubber
Oh and I still remember the world juniors where he personally laid a big time hurt on Ovechkin and malken-- destroyed them both.

You mean the one where the Canadian hit the Russian who then flew off and took out another Russian. Two years ago?

That was definitely a classic.

I'm not saying that Pheneuf won't become a great defencemen, I'm just saying that McCabe has proven his abilities and earned a spot on the team.

As for picking players, going with players who have experience makes sense. You need to know the guys are going to deliver the results.

Besides, with the surplus of Canadian talent, there's also a question of earning a place on Team Canada. And a final consideration is if someone if in their prime, give them the honor of playing for Canada. Guys like Crosby, Stall and Pheneuf are young and will have their chances. A guy like McCabe is in his prime, but in four years, maybe not.

[Tingkai]

So I'm watching the women's Finn vs Swiss game. It's like watching peewee hockey. They're all so short.

[Pekka]

TIngkai, it was a horrible game too. I thought our team had developed in the last year.. seems .. well.. NOT! I hate to see a womens team, national team, in a shape like that. You know, where individual skills are still in the level of juniors, not talking about 16 year olds, I'm talking about .. 13 and 14 year olds, and where there team play and movements as a team on the ice is close to 15 year olds game.

Then add ALL the fumbles, that are greater than the succeeded plays, I don't see how this is gender related. GEnder related is strength and to some extend speed.

Oh well. Horrible hockey, I'd rather watch juniors play. Them 14 year olds. They play better. Not the national team, just some regular team.

Of course US and Canada are good so.. you can watch them play. But not Finland or any other team.

[Pekka]

I'm so angry at our leadership though.. They've proven to be incompetent. First off, they lose all these great players, because they have no relationship to teams what so ever, unlike the last leadership that was FIRED after world cup, our biggest success in history.

Now, we had ice for training, only 10 players showed up. Why? The rest are around the world in airports, trying to get there. Would it have been so impossible to gather players into one place first and get a charter out, like team Canada? I guess so, because they are idiots adn can't figure out anything, our leaders that is. Idiots! 'yeah get your butt here and we will reimburse your tickets'.. yeah.. what ever.

[Minute Mirage]

Funny thing about Finland's women hockey team, I've actually played against one of the players, Emma Laaksonen. She used to play in a boys' hockey club in juniors and our teams played each other quite often.

[Sikander]

Good luck to all, I'll be cheering for Kazakhstan.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Asher
As for your edit -- actually I believe there is some truth to that. People in Toronto -- which for whatever reason contains a huge majority of sports writers and critics -- don't see Phaneuf play enough. You have very clearly demonstrated here that you've no idea what Phaneuf is about or how he plays (how can you say he's not a sniper? Have you seriously not seen how many people he's injured with his shot and how many PPGs he has?).

Oh give me a break. Spare me the Western whine.

Here's a new flash: Hockey writers travel around the country covering league games. The hockey writers in Toronto are not all born and bred here. There are guys like Eric Duhatschek, who worked for years out west (in his case, at the Calgary Herald). These guys know hockey.

And I can say he's not a sniper because of his lack of accuracy. I't not talking about how hard he shoots.