Which country will come out on top in the Canada vs. USA hockey game?

[arildno]

Oh, does the hockey game involve brandishing the hard sticks of young, aggressive males?

I had no idea, when is the next match?

 

[Borek]

Actually females show their sticks too:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey-schedule-results/

 

[arildno]

Actually females show their sticks too:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey-schedule-results/

That's unnatural..

 

[zomgwtf]

LOL arildno and Borek.

 

[arildno]

LOL arildno and Borek.

Lol??

As in that Millie Small tune?

 

[MATLABdude]

Actually females show their sticks too:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey-schedule-results/

I don't know if women's hockey will remain an Olympic sport since the Canadians (and to a slightly lesser extent, the Americans) can win at will. There was an outcry recently at the Olympics when the Canadian team beat up on the Slovaks 18-0, but the same Slovak team had destroyed Belarus 82-0 in a game the year prior.

I don't think I've been able to score that high even on NHL 2007!

 

[Borg]

I don't know if women's hockey will remain an Olympic sport since the Canadians (and to a slightly lesser extent, the Americans) can win at will. There was an outcry recently at the Olympics when the Canadian team beat up on the Slovaks 18-0, but the same Slovak team had destroyed Belarus 82-0 in a game the year prior.

I don't think I've been able to score that high even on NHL 2007!

82-0? More than one goal per minute? That's barely enough time to have the center ice faceoff, skate to the goal, and shoot it in the net. Did Belarus pull their goalie for the entire game?

 

[MotoH]

82-0? More than one goal per minute? That's barely enough time to have the center ice faceoff, skate to the goal, and shoot it in the net. Did Belarus pull their goalie for the entire game?

It is a lot of skating, but it can happen. 2 goals within 5 seconds of each other has happened before.

Bad goaltending and a bad team!

 

[GeorginaS]

It is a lot of skating, but it can happen. 2 goals within 5 seconds of each other has happened before.

Bad goaltending and a bad team!

That's kind of an understatement, no?

Okay, Thursday 3:30 PST Women's Olympic hockey gold medal round, Canada vs. US. I guess I'm leaving work early on Thursday. I got to watch the Canadian Women's National Hockey Team play an exhibition game locally prior to the Olympics. Oh wow are they impressive to see live and in colour.

So. Canada vs. USA (Hockey) again!

 

[zomgwtf]

They actually beat bulgaria not belarus.

 

[Borg]

It is a lot of skating, but it can happen. 2 goals within 5 seconds of each other has happened before.

Bad goaltending and a bad team!

Yes, I've seen that before. I've never heard of it going on for anything close to 60 minutes though.

 

[Borek]

Take it easy, 60 minutes at 5 sec per goal gives 720:0, we are talking about 82:0 only.

 

[Borg]

Take it easy, 60 minutes at 5 sec per goal gives 720:0, we are talking about 82:0 only.

Of course when you put it that way, it's much better.

I had to look this up. How embarrassing.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3577150"

The second paragraph states that this isn't even the record. Thailand lost 92-0 to South Korea in the 1998 Asia-Oceania U18 Championship.

 

[BobG]

82-0? More than one goal per minute? That's barely enough time to have the center ice faceoff, skate to the goal, and shoot it in the net. Did Belarus pull their goalie for the entire game?

No, but, ironically, Slovakia could have. Slovakia outshot Bulgaria 139-0.

Scores like that are why you need fighting in hockey. You didn't have a fight break out in that game until there were only about 10 seconds left in the game - and that in response to a brutal hit from behind by a Slovakian player.

"What the Slovaks did to us was kind-of an insulting mockery, and is not at all sportsmanlike", the Chair of the Bulgarian Hockey Federation Dobromir Krustev commented after the game.

That was an Olympic qualifying tournament and Bulgaria might have been demoralized by time of the Slovakia game. They had lost their earlier games 30-1, 39-0, and 41-0.

Supposedly, there were only 37 spectators for that game. How often do you see more goals than spectators? http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=96794

Back when I coached a division 4 girl's soccer team, we lost to the best girl's team in the state in an indoor game 21-0. I thought that was pretty bad. Fortunately, they moved over to the boy's division the next session. They beat a division 4 boy's team 22-0. Their coach was really ticked. He felt the referee was letting the girls get away with overly physical play just because they were girls. And I was supposed to keep from laughing when all I could think of us was, "They beat you worse than they beat us! They beat you worse than they beat us! They beat you worse than they beat us!"

 

[zomgwtf]

Well Canada faces Russia tomorrow. To be honest this game is MORE important than vs. Team USA. Most Canadians don't really care about beating Team USA other than we get to brag... but most Americans don't really care much for hockey anyways or they pull the 'it's your sport' card. (Funny how they beat us and MANY are talking loads of trash).

But Russia on the other hand has had a HUGE rivalry with Canada in hockey and they love it just as much as we do . Hopefully we get a rematch against America after though.As an aside anyone here watch the Slovakia v. Norway game? What happened to Bartecko was definitely scary, the entire time I was just thinking I hope he will be ok.

 

[MATLABdude]

It ain't pretty, but videos from the 82-0 Slovakian slaughter of Bulgaria:
http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog...dence-of-Slovakia-s-82-0-slaug?urn=nhl,107581

I'd heard that the Bulgarian goaltender was some 16-year old with good reflexes that they found a set of goaltending equipment for. Apparently, there are only 30 something women hockey players in the entire country!

Maybe they can take some pointers from the Russians and send some of their female players over there?

Speaking of Russians, it's too bad that whoever loses tomorrow between the Canadian and Russian men has no shot at a medal, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Go Canada! (The Russkis can have Sochi)

 

[GeorginaS]

Canada vs. Russia in men's hockey is always epic, isn't it? Anyone who remembers the Canada/Russia series in the 70s can attest to that.

 

[zomgwtf]

yup it's always a great game. Even if the teams end up playing horribly the intensity is awesome.

I'm going to assume no body saw the hit on Bartecko?
Here it is:


It's pretty 'graphic' just to warn you. This also shows the original hit... very scary, from what I've read however (like 20minutes after the event) is that Barteko was stiched up on the side and didn't need to go to the hospital. He had a concussion though.

 

[BobG]

Speaking of Russians, it's too bad that whoever loses tomorrow between the Canadian and Russian men has no shot at a medal, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. Go Canada! (The Russkis can have Sochi)

No kidding! USA's victory over Canada completely blasted the bracket. The three best teams (Canada, Russia, & Sweden) all sit on the same side of the bracket, while Finland is set to win their second consecutive silver (unless the US upsets them, too).

 

[zomgwtf]

No kidding! USA's victory over Canada completely blasted the bracket. The three best teams (Canada, Russia, & Sweden) all sit on the same side of the bracket, while Finland is set to win their second consecutive silver (unless the US upsets them, too).

I hope that the Americans beat Finland. I would love Canada to come out on top of this AND face USA again.

 

[BobG]

I hope that the Americans beat Finland. I would love Canada to come out on top of this AND face USA again.

The question is whether the USA and Switzerland both played incredible games when they played Canada (Switzerland took them to overtime), or whether Canada just might not be as good a team on ice as they are on paper, or whether Canada just wasn't all that inspired by round robin play when every single team advances to the knock-out phase.

 

[turbo]

USA vs Switzerland is under way, and it is an exciting game! 49 seconds to go in the 2nd period, and still 0-0.

Last-second goal by the US was ruled no goal. Puck was not through the posts at the buzzer. EEEK!

 

[turbo]

USA scores with 17:52 left in the 3rd on a power play. Very BUSY! Hiller has made all the saves, but one slipped by him when the US got multiple shots on goal.

 

[turbo]

Yay! Empty-net goal for the us against 6 Swiss attackers with only 11 seconds left. I really want to see a US-Canada matchup again.

 

[BobG]

Wow, the Canada-Russia game got off to a stunning start. 6-1! Russia's got it back to 7-3 at the end of the 2nd, but I think Canada's got this one.

 

[zomgwtf]

Wow, the Canada-Russia game got off to a stunning start. 6-1! Russia's got it back to 7-3 at the end of the 2nd, but I think Canada's got this one.

This game has been brilliant for both sides... Mostly Team Canada though. Lol.

 

[turbo]

Wow, the Canada-Russia game got off to a stunning start. 6-1! Russia's got it back to 7-3 at the end of the 2nd, but I think Canada's got this one.

bizarro - world? Canada is up 7 - 3 over Russia in the 3rd with less than 3 min left. ?

 

[zomgwtf]

bizarro - world? Canada is up 7 - 3 over Russia in the 3rd with less than 3 min left. ?

How's it bizarro world? Canada didn't need to score any more goals lol. If you're talking about how Canada beat them by so much then that's to be expected considering Canada is the better team in this match up.

America just got a random upset win through their good goalie and our goalie who was making too many poor decisions.

 

[turbo]

Canada did well. I expected them to bury Russia, not get an advantage and hold them off. There is no Soviet Bloc any more, and the Russians don't have the the nationalistic pride to match the spirit of other eastern Europeans.

 

[gravenewworld]

Team Sweden is better than Russia, you aren't out of the woods yet my Canadian friends. USA still has the best defense in the olympics and a better goal tender than Russia.

 

[hamster143]

Canada did well. I expected them to bury Russia, not get an advantage and hold them off. There is no Soviet Bloc any more, and the Russians don't have the the nationalistic pride to match the spirit of other eastern Europeans.

It's not that they don't have the nationalistic pride ... it's just that good Russian hockey players tend to lose it quickly. Take a look at the Russian roster. 14 out of 23 players play for North American clubs for a living.

Which is also the case for many other teams. The only teams that don't consist primarily of emigrants are USA, Switzerland, Latvia, Belarus, and Germany. (It's interesting that almost half of Team Norway plays for Swedish clubs, but most of Team Sweden plays for North American clubs). Some smaller countries can be excused (it's tough for Finland to field an all-domestic team, since the country itself is tiny, only 5 million, and it's not part of any bigger hockey league), but Russia is the second largest country in the tournament, with a strong domestic hockey league, and when it sends an olympic team that consists primarily of sell-outs who chose to emigrate because of NHL clubs' better pay, it's hard to expect good teamwork and nationalistic pride.

 

[zomgwtf]

Team Sweden is better than Russia, you aren't out of the woods yet my Canadian friends. USA still has the best defense in the olympics and a better goal tender than Russia.

This statement is only partially true. Team Sweden may be better than Russia is right now... That's the only truth to it. (not that it particularly matters. should have waited for this game to finish. slovakia is not a team to underestimate)

Do you even watch hockey?

You should back up your statement on why you think Miller is a better goaltender than Nabokov. http://www.nhl.com/ice/app Check out the stats yourself. Even Ilya is comparable to Miller with 6 shut outs a .920 SV% and they are pretty even W-L. Some backing up on why USAs defense is the best would be nice too...

Here I went through the stats on defense for you just comparing Canada and USA:
The only way to see about USAs defense is through the olympics stats... Americas defense is +19 vs Canadas defense of +26... Canadas defense has no players playing negatively and only 2 players at or under +2... America has 1 player in the negative and they have 4 players playing at or under +2. Team USA defense has 11 pts with only 3 players with points. Team Canada has 24pts with all players having pts... I do not see how you can make the statement that USA has the best defense when it is clear they don't.

You can even compare shots on net between Canada and Russia vs. Canada and USA. 42-28 and 45-23 respectively.

 

[gravenewworld]

This statement is only partially true. Team Sweden may be better than Russia is right now... That's the only truth to it. (not that it particularly matters. should have waited for this game to finish. slovakia is not a team to underestimate)

Do you even watch hockey?

You should back up your statement on why you think Miller is a better goaltender than Nabokov. http://www.nhl.com/ice/app Check out the stats yourself. Even Ilya is comparable to Miller with 6 shut outs a .920 SV% and they are pretty even W-L. Some backing up on why USAs defense is the best would be nice too...

The real question is, do YOU even watch hockey? Or are you one of these stat buffs that only judges players by their stats alone? Sorry, there are no statistics to measure things like "clutch performances", defensive awareness, or back checking abilities. Nabokov is extremely overrated, ask lots of San Jose Sharks fans. He can NEVER come up clutch when the Sharks need it the most, hence the 1st rd exits the Sharks have had in the NHL playoffs as number 1 seeds multiple times. Nabokov hides his mediocrity every year through his W/L record and GAA, which are both functions of how good your team is. Look at Nabokov's Sv%, he's fluctuated since 2003 from anywhere from top 10 in the NHL, to anywhere in the 30s. He's hardly the consistent goaltender that he is made out to be. Ryan Miller still has career Sv% better than Nabokov, however, I will concede that he still has much more to prove. He needs to win when it matters the most, in the playoffs. He's still young though. Most goaltenders don't reach their prime until they are in their 30s. Ryan Millers is approaching his peak. He's also proven thus far that he can come up clutch when he is needed (see USA v Canada). Bryzlagov is a good goalie, however, he wasn't Russia's no. 1 goaltender. Russia should have went with him instead of Nabokov.

Some backing up on why USAs defense is the best would be nice too...

Here I went through the stats on defense for you just comparing Canada and USA:
The only way to see about USAs defense is through the olympics stats... Americas defense is +19 vs Canadas defense of +26... Canadas defense has no players playing negatively and only 2 players at or under +2... America has 1 player in the negative and they have 4 players playing at or under +2. Team USA defense has 11 pts with only 3 players with points. Team Canada has 24pts with all players having pts... I do not see how you can make the statement that USA has the best defense when it is clear they don't.

You can even compare shots on net between Canada and Russia vs. Canada and USA. 42-28 and 45-23 respectively.

Once again, stats don't tell the whole story. Of course Canada's defense is going to look better stat wise in the +/- category when their offense is winning games with scores like 7-3 while the US is only winning games 2-0. Like I said before, stats on websites don't measure things like defensive awareness, number of hits, and number of blocked shots which are all more important IMO for defensemen than scoring goals and putting up lots of assists. You can only know this if you actually watch a lot of hockey, not just by looking at statistics. A defensemen's job should be defense first, scoring second. Don't get me wrong, Canada has good defensemen like Seabrook and Pronger, but they also have a lot of offensive oriented defensemen, which IMO is overrated. It is a fallacy to say which defense is better than which based on offensive oriented stats like +/- and pts scored by defensemen. The real value of defensemen come from how well they block shots, hit, and don't turn over the puck. I played hockey. Guys who can block a ton of shots and get in the way of passing lanes are going to stifle a team much more than a defensemen who can score a goal or an assist every once in a while. Team USA had what, 25+ blocked shots against Switzerland? That is outstanding. It makes it difficult to to assess how well defenses are doing because no website keeps track of hits, blocked shots, and turn overs for the olympics.


Look at the NJ Devils. In stat categories like +/-, A, G their defensemen appear to be nothing special. But that's because those categories are less important for defensemen. The NJ Devils routinely make the playoffs and basically had a dynasty going with mediocre offense and stifling defenses. They don't need to score a ton of points in order win. Stat wise their defensemen are always nothing special, but they are good because they clog up shooting and passing lanes, don't turn the puck over often, block lots of shots, and have very good back checking. Stat buffs mistakenly overlook abilities such as these when judging players.

 

[GeorginaS]

I was going to say that, plethora of available stats notwithstanding, hockey tends not to be a "stats" kind of game. They're either on or they're not.

I wish I could find it, but someone reported an editorial cartoon in their newspaper that featured Mike Babcock addressing the assembled men's hockey team and saying, "Play like girls today."

With that in mind, Canada v. US women's hockey coming up today. A lot of people around here are pretty excited about it.

 

[zomgwtf]

I do watch plenty of hockey actually I was raised playing it and continue to enjoy it. You can find EVERYTHING out about looking at the stats depending on what you want to look at. You said that Miller is a better goalie than Nabokov... why do you say that? It's just your OPINION. Nabokov is far from being a goaltender uncomparable to Miller. Same goes with you saying USA has the best defense. You don't think that +/- (which is based on EFFECTIVENESS WHILE IN PLAY) matters because you say it doesn't account for other factors... ok... true... that's EXACTLY why I talk about shots on goal.
You are WAY overrating Team USA. They are decent and competitive, not the best.

And I do agree that Bryzlagov is a good goalie, probably more worthy of a start in the match against Canada... but that's far from saying that Nabokov isn't comparable to Miller. (i.e. Miller is hands down the better goaltender)