Olympic Hockey Thread

[joncha]

Jarkko Ruutu

[Lawrence of Arabia]

they had to conduct the interview in english with the swiss guy who scored two goals against canada, cuz he's actually canadian . . .

[Pekka]

Yeah, sweet victory, 4-2!!!

And both goals were PP goals, one was 5-3 and one was 5-4 and both were brilliant art work of Zidlichky(?).

The hit Ruutu gave was mostly unfortunate. He came to deliver a hard hit, and just before the hit happened, Jagr turned a bit and was in bad position and BOOM. Very unfortuante, I hope he is OK and I'm sure he is.

I do feel it wasn't Ruutu's fault, but I also feel the penalty was appropriate, I mean you don't have to do it on purpose to get penalized, had he done that on purpose, then justified penalty would be that plus missing a game or two on top of that.

Like Selänne said.. if you wear helmet from 60s, you'll get your head bleeding like that. Also, if Jagr thinks he's like Gretzky, that no one can hit them, then even though he is an icon and true legend, he should get a reality check. At least Ruutu (and Nemo) won't give you respect for that ... and did you see what happened after that, Straka thought he was Spiderman and jumped on Ruutu but didn't want any piece of him fighting. So he's a sissy.

Anyway, I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!

But yeah, very unfortunate accident. If you know Ruutu, you'd know he was ashamed of that. Normally he woudl have laughed and smiled and took a bow for the booing audience and protest the shower call But he did none of that so I guess he accepted that this was justified penalty and that even though he didn't mean to do it, it was unfortunate that Jagr had to go. What can I say, keep your head up and wear real helmets next time.

[Pekka]

Some people seem to be clueless too, I see all boards just crying what an animal Ruutu is for trying to kill Jagr. Anyone who knwos anything about hockey knows that Ruutu came in for a clean hard hit, and Jagr himself looked down and movied into akward position. It's not the hitters fault if the hit itself is clean which it was. Jagr was in bad position, and he wouldn't have charged in him being in that position, he moved into it just before the hit. Wearing 60s helmet. Darwinism. THis is hockey, not pillow fight. Keep your head up or cry to someone else who cares.

[Datajack Franit]

booooo evil assrapers from Finland

[Pekka]

Anyway, even TSN.ca is reportying the hit wrong. He didn't have his elbow up. It was a CLEAN hit. It resulted into an accident though. It wasn't boarding, it wasn't charging, it wasn't to the back of Jagr. Like I said, if you think you're such a superstar to bob your head down like that, you have it coming sooner or later.

The fact is, it's making waves only because the player who got it was Jagr, and the player who delivered the hit was Ruutu. If it was the other way around, everyone would be crying that Ruutu himself was at fault to dodge like that, and Jagr delivered a clean hit.

You can watch the video after and after again, it's clean. The result is bad. But clean hits sometimes result into bad, and that doesn't make them dirty.

But yes, Ruutu is a dirty player. This was just a coincidence. Because it wasn't a dirty play. And those who cry that he smiled afterwards, he smiled to Straka who jumped on him thinking he's a spiderman. Ruutu just got up and smiled at him, and delivering the message of him being a sissy for not fighting him. And the reason is clear, Straka would be still picking his teeth off the ice, the sissy he is. Ruutu would have dropped him like a fly. He was smiling to that. Not because Jagr got hurt.

[Pekka]

http://www.saunalahti.fi/kholtta/J.Ruutu.mpg

There it is. Look at it. He doesn't go to the back of Jagr, he doesn't have his elbows high, he doesn't get of his feet, that, ladies and gentleman is not a dirty hit.

Look at it carefully, about 1 meter away from hit Jagr DUCKS!!!!! This is not disgusting hit, this is Darwinism at a physical game. The hype is it was Jagr and the hitter was Ruutu.

Jagr is next to the board, he isn't digging back to ice when Ruutu is coming for him, it's just what happened split second before the hit by Jagr that caused this, and him wearing a toy on his head.

You can love or hate Ruutu, but by no means is that hit dirty. The result is.

And he had a small cut on his head. Whoopdidoo. He's ok now. He had a cut. Caused by his own move. People who say this was Ruutu trying to kill Jagr are all freaking idiots who should change to another sport. It was accidential after goiong for a clean hit.

Then you ask why did he have to hit Jagr? BECAUSE IT'S HOCKEY! There was a delayed penalty coming in. So? Czechs with 6 men on ice, Jagr close to the point with the puck, you're Ruutu, havign speed, see the big guy next to the board. What do you do, stop and go home? NO! You finish the hit!

There's huge overreaction going on and it's because it was Jagrs nuts that got roasted by Ruutu.

Ruutu is God.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Pekka
Flubber, give some credit to the Swiss team, it makes them tactically solid to close the game down after leading 2-0. What, you expect a weaker time, considrably weaker team to keep the game open after a start like that? heck no. These games come and goes, we've had similar games too in the past, losing like that, but the fact is, if you can't score, you can't win, and it's difficult to score when someone is onyl defending, but that's no excuse for professionals not to win the game.
.

Pekka-- I have difficulty seeing where I didn't gove credit to the Swiss team-- my earlier comment was they played a "textbook game with stellar goaltending"

The bottom line is that many teams have goaltending good enough to steal a game and this was an example. canada sis not score and did not "deserve" to win despite outplaying the Swiss by a wide margin. In addition the canadians had more powerplays than the Swiss and still couldn't score ( and I honestly didnt believe some of the garbage called)

I'm disappointed and a bit worried about canada's inability to finish though

[Pekka]

I didn't say you didn't give credit I said, they deserve credit, I mean that was my message.

[Flubber]

Oh and the Swiss have a reasonable chance to finish first or second in Pool A now. They only have Germany and Italy left so a 4-1 standing is possible . . although who knows with this event??

Finland should finish first if they beat or tie Canada but of course I am predicting Canada to bounce back to defeat Finland. Since Finland should win their other game, it looks like they will at WORST be 4-1 as well and they would have better tiebreaks in a two way tie with the Swiss . . . I'm not sure about a three way with Swiss and Canadians.


So Finland looks good to take first seed unless Canada can run the table the rest of the way or there are upsets

[notyoueither]

Good on the Swiss. It's better to have a poor game (that wakes the Canucks up to the fact that gold isn't their's just for showing up) at this point than later.

It's gotta feel good to be a Swiss hockey player ATM.

Switzerland!

[Flubber]

The inconsistency of the "B" pool continued though -- Sweden beat Latvia as expected but the US and Slovakia both looked good -- I actuially expected the Slovaks to win by a wider margin. Then the Kazaks only lose 1-0 to Russia but in fairness the Kazak goalie did stop 49 shots so the score is a little flattering to the Kazaks

[Pekka]

Right but you will have no problems against weaker teams no more.. I mean at this point, it's getting personal and about your integrity as a professional (after one upset). I would put my money on Canada for the rest of the games in these first rounds.

Unfortunately, that includes tomorrows game.

I mean, if your offense can create good chances, then maybe we have a shot, because I think there are some holes in the defense, I mean you do have players such as McCabe .. So, and our first line has been extremely powerful this far so I don't see how they can't score tomorrow.

At the end I think it's all about how Canada's offense gets working. If it fails, we will win. If it plays at normal level, Canada wins.

Should be a good game though. I hope it's a tight game with lots of great plays.

[Pekka]

I would also like to point out your overrated estimations of some teams. We have not lost a single game except for Canada in WC finals. It was the only loss we had, we had NO problems with ANY team, in fact I think we bet the Czechs 5-0 or 6-0 in the opener, beat the Swedes, beat everybody, US in the semis, no problems, the only team that gave us problems was Canada and we lost that game too.

And since that, no problems.. no problems Even though having 9 players replaced in the last seconds. Canda will prolly win us tomorrow but I'd say there are some big screw ups in the hockey fans eyes if they still think some of these overrated teams should rank as high as they should. Just looking at the stats should lift us couple of notches higher. The fact is that the only team that is weaker than us on PAPER is Slovakia from the big 7. But when it comes to these games, the only one stronger I see being Canada, Russia and Sweden. The rest, no problem. The game today? Exhibit A. I said it all along too! IN YOUR FACES!

[Datajack Franit]

http://www.saunalahti.fi/kholtta/J.Ruutu.mpg

Pekka, why do you look for hockey videos on a gay sauna website?