Canada declares war on Switzerland

[Drake Tungsten]

America is most likely going down. It's really hard to beat a good team twice on their home ice.

[Guynemer]

What the hell do you know about hockey, Drake?



(You're right.)

[Asher]

Bobby Lou is 5-0 this tournament.

My thought is that Canada would lose not because of Bobby Lou, but because they can't crack Miller.

That's going to be my prediction, 3-2 for the Americans.

His record is not the point, which is about the team infront of him.

His goaltending has not been spectacular. In fact, I think goaltending has been Canada's #1 weakness all tournament. Look at the stats, not that they mean anything to you. Canada's played very well most of the time, but even in the wins the goaltending have been pretty ordinary...which does not cut it in this kind of tournament where hot goalies win games.

[Drake Tungsten]

What the hell do you know about hockey, Drake?

While I admittedly don't know or care much about hockey, I do know sports and it's hard to beat a good team in their place in any of them. You can generally steal one, but any more than that is really hard.

[Asher]

While Canada is playing at home, technically the USA has the 'home ice advantage' due to their superior record (they get last change).

[Drake Tungsten]

I know that the U.S. is technically going to be the home team, but the crowd is going to be hyped up and 100% pro-Canadian. It's going to be really tough.

[Asher]

Canada now has 11 gold medals. 2 shy of the all-time record set by the USSR in 1976.
Still more potential golds to come.

[Asher]

Nevermind. Canada now has 12 gold medals.

1 shy of the all-time record...

[-Jrabbit]

They started slow and had a couple disappointments, but my hat's off to Canada. Some great performances that "owned the podium."

[Drake Tungsten]

"Owned the podium" my ass. They demonstrated poor sportsmanship in not allowing other countries' athletes to train at the Olympic sites and are still going to finish a distant third in the medal count.

[Asher]

"Owned the podium" my ass. They demonstrated poor sportsmanship in not allowing other countries' athletes to train at the Olympic sites and are still going to finish a distant third in the medal count.

Other athletes were allowed to train at the Olympic sites in advance of the games. They were even given more time and practices at the facilities than they had at previous games like Turin.

Where the American media is repeatedly getting confused is the part that forbade foreign teams from practicing at the same facilities as Canadian teams over the past four years. A lot of the teams (particularly speedskating) practiced together for years, usually in Canada. The "Own the Podium" program poured a lot of money into 'competitive edges' for Canadian athletes and it was thought that others training with them could also benefit from them. I don't think it was that big of a deal, but they did...as a result, the Americans (like Shani Davis) had to find somewhere else to train.

But they were all very familiar with the facilities. And given much more opportunity to practice than the guidelines established by the IOC.

FWIW, the IOC officially ranks medals by gold, not total. Bronze is not equal to Gold, no matter what you Americans tell yourselves.

And also, Canada does, in fact, own those podiums. Bought the materials and built them ourselves. Suck it.

[Flubber]

"Owned the podium" my ass. They demonstrated poor sportsmanship in not allowing other countries' athletes to train at the Olympic sites .

Everything I have seen has indicated that Canada has followed the example of prior hosts (and all applicable rules) in allowing access to sites. It just seems weird that people complain if Canada tries to take the same host advantage that all the other recent hosts took for themsleves

[Drake Tungsten]

Other athletes were allowed to train at the Olympic sites in advance of the games. They were even given more time and practices at the facilities than they had at previous games like Turin.

Bull****. I've seen comparisons of the amount of time American athletes were allowed to train in Vancouver pre-Olympics and the amount of time Canadian athletes were allowed to train in Salt Lake City pre-Olympics and the difference is enormous. Face it, Canada tried everything it could (including ignoring the spirit of fair competition and years of training cooperation with the United States) to finish at the top of the medal count, but is still eating America's dust. I hope ya'll think third-place in the medal count is worth the hit that Canada's international reputation has taken...

[Asher]

Bull****. I've seen comparisons of the amount of time American athletes were allowed to train in Vancouver pre-Olympics and the amount of time Canadian athletes were allowed to train in Salt Lake City pre-Olympics and the difference is enormous.

Where?

Face it, Canada tried everything it could (including ignoring the spirit of fair competition and years of training cooperation with the United States) to finish at the top of the medal count, but is still eating America's dust. I hope ya'll think third-place in the medal count is worth the hit that Canada's international reputation has taken...

Gold is what matters, not silver and bronze. The phrase isn't "We're #3", is it?

Incidentally, the USA is #3 when ranked by Golds. Apparently you do have a lot of athletes that are good but not the best, but you don't get an award for that.

[Drake Tungsten]

Everything I have seen has indicated that Canada has followed the example of prior hosts (and all applicable rules) in allowing access to sites. It just seems weird that people complain if Canada tries to take the same host advantage that all the other recent hosts took for themsleves

Own the Podium - 2010, or À nous le podium en 2010! in French, is a Canadian sport technical program launched in January 2005 to prepare Canada to become the top winter sporting nation in the world by the 2010 Winter Olympics. The main aspect of the scheme which has caused controversy is the priority of Canadian competitors in conducting practice runs of events, particularly at the Whistler Slide Centre, over competitors from other countries. Newspapers in the United Kingdom were quick to blame the program for the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luge athlete from Georgia who died on the opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Several of the country's former Olympians have criticized the program as unsportsmanlike, while others note that program organizers seem oblivious to principles of good sportsmanship enshrined by the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerns_and_controversies_over_the_2010_Winter_Olympics

In the lust for gold, Canadians have learned to play not so nicely-nicely anymore.

We WILL own the podium here, damn it. ...

If you can't always beat 'em in the rink, on the hills and 'round the skating oval, then limit training access to those Winter Games venues and watch the opposition go boo-hoo bonkers.

"Nobody's ever done this before, shut down the facilities," complains Tucker Fredericks, a sprint specialist on the U.S. speed skating team. "I think it's kind of shady, to be honest. We didn't do anything like that back in Salt Lake City. Canadians were totally welcome to train on the Olympic ice there.

"But I also don't really care."

Except he does, clearly, and so do other members of the American squad that arrived here on Feb. 2, specifically to acclimatize themselves to the spectacular Richmond Oval, built expressly for the 2010 Games and competition-ready three years ago. Yet the Yanks managed to squeeze in just a two-week training camp here last July while most other long-blade skaters from around the globe got no more exposure to the facility's idiosyncrasies – sea-level slowish, reportedly – than one world single-distances championships.

Near exclusivity with venues has been a blatant home-country tactic, a significant edge that's been honed over competitors and not just in speed skating – there have been complaints from just about every winter menu discipline. Further, Canadians have hardly bothered to deny the accusation, considering any strategic angle fair game.

"We, like all the sports, have limited the access on purpose," Brent Morrice, team leader of the Canadian ski jump contingent, admitted Sunday. "We gave the access to the other teams as much as we needed to and no more than that.

http://olympics.thestar.com/2010/article/761972--dimanno-home-ice-advantage-indeed

Canada not cheating by limiting access to Olympic venues prior to Games

WHISTLER, B.C. - Aksel Lund Svindal has spent plenty of time training with the Canadian alpine ski team over the years.

But late last month, the reigning overall World Cup champion from Norway could only stand on the outside the fence and watch the Canadian team practise on the downhill course that will be used for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

At least Svindal had company. Austria's Michael Walchhofer, the World Cup downhill champion, also was barred from training on the Whistler course.

Max Gartner, Alpine Canada's chief athletics officer, makes no apologies for hanging out the Canadians only sign.

"There are a lot of resources getting spent on making this training possible,'' said Gartner. "We told all the other teams . . . we cannot have anybody train with us.

"This is a Canadian advantage we are not going to give away.''

Erik Guay, one of the Canadian skiers looking to win Olympic gold next February, has no problem with limiting access.

"I think a lot of the time Canadians can be too nice,'' the Mont-Tremblant, Que., native said in a recent interview. "If you look at any other nation, they would be doing the same thing.

"We're not letting anyone come and train on the hill. I think that's important. It will give us the advantage for once. We never really have the advantage. I think we will at home.''

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=8935.html