The Official Olympics Hockey Thread

[axwel3221]

Canadian Women 18 : 0 Slovakian Women

Was just about to post that. Also Slovaks are losing by 18 goals after 2 periods in their second match

[Jypfan92]

lehtinen and peltonen just doesn't belong to fin lineup. experience and leadership sure but too much int. big game losses in the past and they are just not what they used to be. maybe lehtinen can't handle it anymore he's injured all the time.
peltonen usually thrives in big games but j.jokinen would been more valuable add to scoring poor lineup.

Stop that crying cause of JJ, respect our head coach's selections. Our team is good and we win gold

[ReggieDunlop]

lehtinen and peltonen just doesn't belong to fin lineup. experience and leadership sure but too much int. big game losses in the past and they are just not what they used to be. maybe lehtinen can't handle it anymore he's injured all the time.
peltonen usually thrives in big games but j.jokinen would been more valuable add to scoring poor lineup.

Stop that crying cause of JJ, respect our head coach's selections. Our team is good and we win gold

if everything is going to be good jalonen will be a hero but if not, then even you will cry about jj staying home.

[visualdarkness]

Canadian Women 18 : 0 Slovakian Women

Karma:
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3577150

[Jypfan92]

lehtinen and peltonen just doesn't belong to fin lineup. experience and leadership sure but too much int. big game losses in the past and they are just not what they used to be. maybe lehtinen can't handle it anymore he's injured all the time.
peltonen usually thrives in big games but j.jokinen would been more valuable add to scoring poor lineup.

Stop that crying cause of JJ, respect our head coach's selections. Our team is good and we win gold

if everything is going to be good jalonen will be a hero but if not, then even you will cry about jj staying home.

Nope. I cried when i heard that JJ isn't in team, but after that i realized, that it's stupid to cry cause Jalonen choose best team as possible.

[CeeBee]

Canadian Women 18 : 0 Slovakian Women

Karma:
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3577150

Good thing it was Slovakia and not Bulgaria that Canada was playing then.
Hopefully the level of competion in womens hockey keeps improving or it will fade away as an Olympic sport which would be a shame.

[IceTimer]

lehtinen and peltonen just doesn't belong to fin lineup. experience and leadership sure but too much int. big game losses in the past and they are just not what they used to be. maybe lehtinen can't handle it anymore he's injured all the time.
peltonen usually thrives in big games but j.jokinen would been more valuable add to scoring poor lineup.

I think that any of the top European nations who decided to go with players playing in Europe in favor of better NHL players was a mistake, the players playing in the NHL are already playing on NHL ice, which is what will be needed in this tournament, players coming from europe will have to adjust to the smaller ice and the tougher closer style of play right away, which will be difficult for them.

[Jypfan92]

Mostly it depends on player. Some player don't have any difference, someone playes poorly in other rink.

[joehelmer]

Personally I don't think it's just a bad thing choosing players playing in Europe in favor of NHL players, the European nations play in tournaments all year long and use to choose players that play well together. And many of those has been playing on NHL or AHL level and may be use to play at smaller rinks.

Sure, the NHL players use to be the stars, but I think that the players playing in Europe isn't that bad of a complement.
Canada is big favorites thanks to all their stars and that they host nation, but will Canada play as a team or as individuals?
I think teams like Sweden is more of a team than USA and Canada, but only time will tell which team is going to be better.

[philou21]

I can agree with you, i don't think there's any ''favorite'' in any tournament because you don't know how a person will react or play. Yes Canada have alot of superstar, but who know's if a random guy, who have good skills and everything, will just sit down on is butt and do nothing. I like the fact that the European country take some players from their leagues. There's alot of good players out there, it's not because you don't play in the NHL that you suck, there's talent everywhere.

[joehelmer]

The American ladies leads with 5-0 after the first period, now we will see if they win with 18 goals as Canada did yesterday.

[visualdarkness]

Don't forget the fact the countries like Canada have all types of role-players in the NHL, that's not the fact with European countries. If you got 10 defenders in in NHL and 9 of them are offensive ones, will you just bring them in and hope for the best? No, you need chemistry and start looking in the European leagues for the perfect ones for the job.

As joehelmer said, European coaches have the chance of building and finding chemistry between players under the whole season under the Euro tour. If a player shows he got the skill and dedication while working well with the coach, he'll got a chance of grabbing a spot on the team instead of high risk NHLers.

[Jypfan92]

I think it's better to choose good player from Europe who has played much in his team instead of 4th line NHL-player

[joehelmer]

I agree with Jypfan92 on that. But a mystery is why Alex Edler isn't in the Swedish team.

In a interview with the Swedish coach, Bengt-Åke Gustavsson, he said that he is working with four different power play formations. I wonder who will play most in PP.

[visualdarkness]

In a interview with the Swedish coach, Bengt-Åke Gustavsson, he said that he is working with four different power play formations. I wonder who will play most in PP.

Heard that too. It feels like he really wants to go with the hot hands at the games and not risk being stuck with one or two cold PPs'. You never know what BÅG is planning, he's a great coach in that aspect.

[batdad]

Sorry Euros..I do not agree. The NHL is the number one league in the world. I will reserve judgement until I see the Czech and Slovak game live, but it will be very interesting to see how guys like Jagr do with the speed and pace of the game on the NHL ice surface. They will have to adapt. Not sure that they can.

Plus..the guys playing the role positions on NHL teams from Euro countries are used to their role, and used to NHL ice. Also...they are better players for the most part. Jagr (if he does well) may be the rare exception.

Sorry...but the KHL Russians (MOrozov and the like)and Czechs, the Elite league swedes (Possible exception FOrsberg) ARE NOT as good at the game of hockey as the guys over here. Samuelsson is better than Weinhandl for example. Edler is better than Maguns Jocrapsson....period. Noone can tell me Peltonen is better than even one single Finn in the NHL. It is a political move...and it will cost most, if not all of the Euro teams that had guys they could have taken from the NHL.

THe Euros for the most part are not in the NHL because they are not good enough. So what could honestly make anyone think they are good enough for Olympics other than misplaced national pride.

When Canada went with lesser like players because they were
1 used to a system or
2. used to that role

They lost. Sorry...the Euro teams that have done this will pay a price too. Some (Slovakia, Switzerland) have no option..they have not enough in the NHL. Noone can tell me that Alexei Morozov is a better hockey player than Alexei Kovalev. Noone can tell me Morozov can do any job better than Kovalev..pp, pk, even strength...nothing.

Noone can tell me Magjo can do anything better than Edler.
Noone can tell me Weinhandl can do anything better than Samuelsson.

The Swedes are lucky that they have managed to get Franzen in...but they should have got him in for Weinhandl instead of having to replace the injured Holmstrom.

You bring your BEST to the games. Not the guys who are the favorites of the political system.

But of course..now when your country loses you can blame it on how you did not bring your best players./..

[visualdarkness]

When Canada went with lesser like players because they were
1 used to a system or
2. used to that role

They lost. Sorry...the Euro teams that have done this will pay a price too. Some (Slovakia, Switzerland) have no option..they have not enough in the NHL. Noone can tell me that Alexei Morozov is a better hockey player than Alexei Kovalev. Noone can tell me Morozov can do any job better than Kovalev..pp, pk, even strength...nothing.

Sweden went with "the strongest team available" once, remember the quarterfinal against Belarus? Swedish hockey players are brought up very differently NA ones. Here we focus a lot less on the superstar and more on the collective.

Though this year Sweden lacks some player types that they usually builds the tactics around, lets see how it works out without them.

Samuelsson is better than Weinhandel.

Weinhandel got a good record with the national team under Bengt-Åke's coaching, he's the proven clutch scorer that we need (Samuelsson isn't with the national team).

[IceTimer]

Personally I don't think it's just a bad thing choosing players playing in Europe in favor of NHL players, the European nations play in tournaments all year long and use to choose players that play well together. And many of those has been playing on NHL or AHL level and may be use to play at smaller rinks.

Sure, the NHL players use to be the stars, but I think that the players playing in Europe isn't that bad of a complement.
Canada is big favorites thanks to all their stars and that they host nation, but will Canada play as a team or as individuals?
I think teams like Sweden is more of a team than USA and Canada, but only time will tell which team is going to be better.

Well of course you would say that Sweden is more like a team, you are Swedish, but it's simply not even close to true, Canada is pretty good at playing as a team, as are the US, it's the Russians who are usually the question if they can play like a team or individuals.

[IceTimer]

I can agree with you, i don't think there's any ''favorite'' in any tournament because you don't know how a person will react or play. Yes Canada have alot of superstar, but who know's if a random guy, who have good skills and everything, will just sit down on is butt and do nothing. I like the fact that the European country take some players from their leagues. There's alot of good players out there, it's not because you don't play in the NHL that you suck, there's talent everywhere.

Are you honestly going to tell me that Zaripov, Morozov and Zinovjev are better than Frolov, or Blaťák is better than Spacek, or that Peltonen, Kapanen and Immonen are better than Jussi Jokinen, or that Weinhandl is better than Mikael Samuelsson, or that M. Johansson is better than Alex. Edler.

[joehelmer]

I think teams like Sweden is more of a team than USA and Canada, but only time will tell which team is going to be better.

Well of course you would say that Sweden is more like a team, you are Swedish, but it's simply not even close to true, Canada is pretty good at playing as a team, as are the US, it's the Russians who are usually the question if they can play like a team or individuals.

And you're Canadian so you say that Canada play good as a team. But the Euro teams got players from European leagues who's more used to play together. Sure, Sweden got some very good players that's been left out of the team, Edler, Franzén and Samuelsson is just some examples on that. But I think Sweden got a good team and I think that a line consisting of the Sedins and Weinhandl will do pretty good, at least they use to do so when playing together. And if Forsberg is healthy his line can dominate in the offensive zone especially in PP. I would love to see a line of Forsberg, Alfredson and someone else, maybe Zetterberg or Franzén.

But as I said "only time will tell which team that will perform best in tournament. Canada is big favorites, with Russia and USA not too far behind, but Sweden is in a good fourth together with Finland and Czech.

[visualdarkness]

Well of course you would say that Sweden is more like a team, you are Swedish, but it's simply not even close to true, Canada is pretty good at playing as a team, as are the US, it's the Russians who are usually the question if they can play like a team or individuals.

I agree with you here. NA teams are great collectives or else your crash bang style would result in turnover after turnover, but I think I also understand what he meant to say. Euro leagues (except Russia) lacks the economy to create that top end superstar level that NA got, therefore teams tend to choose cheaper role players for the things they need to fix rather than adding a top notch player.

This creates a very different attitude when selecting players for the national teams, where you build the team more like a puzzle with the focus on loyalty and chemistry rather than bringing the "best" players.

You can't neglect the success European countries have with this type of selection of team. Canada and USA got loads of world-stars to choose from, STILL European countries with less than 1/10 of the active players manages to win gold. You have to be somewhat impressed with that!

Country Players % of Population
Canada 499,695 1.50%
United States 465,975 0.15%
Czech Republic 97,102 0.95%
Russia 84,720 0.06%
Germany 68,800 0.06%
Finland 61,684 1.18%
Sweden 60,374 0.67%
Switzerland 24,705 0.33%
Japan 21,027 0.02%
France 17,133 0.03%
Austria 10,378 0.13%
Slovakia 8,671 0.16%

[IceTimer]

Don't forget the fact the countries like Canada have all types of role-players in the NHL, that's not the fact with European countries. If you got 10 defenders in in NHL and 9 of them are offensive ones, will you just bring them in and hope for the best? No, you need chemistry and start looking in the European leagues for the perfect ones for the job.

As joehelmer said, European coaches have the chance of building and finding chemistry between players under the whole season under the Euro tour. If a player shows he got the skill and dedication while working well with the coach, he'll got a chance of grabbing a spot on the team instead of high risk NHLers.

How are the NHLers high risk, there is some chemistry because at least the NHL see each other and are playing in the same league, the NHLers on the teams aren't maybe very familiar with the players playing in europe since they haven't seen them in awhile and so aren't familiar with their style of play. The ice surface might not be that big of a deal, but the quality of player could be.

[IceTimer]

I think teams like Sweden is more of a team than USA and Canada, but only time will tell which team is going to be better.

Well of course you would say that Sweden is more like a team, you are Swedish, but it's simply not even close to true, Canada is pretty good at playing as a team, as are the US, it's the Russians who are usually the question if they can play like a team or individuals.

And you're Canadian so you say that Canada play good as a team. But the Euro teams got players from European leagues who's more used to play together. Sure, Sweden got some very good players that's been left out of the team, Edler, Franzén and Samuelsson is just some examples on that. But I think Sweden got a good team and I think that a line consisting of the Sedins and Weinhandl will do pretty good, at least they use to do so when playing together. And if Forsberg is healthy his line can dominate in the offensive zone especially in PP. I would love to see a line of Forsberg, Alfredson and someone else, maybe Zetterberg or Franzén.

But as I said "only time will tell which team that will perform best in tournament. Canada is big favorites, with Russia and USA not too far behind, but Sweden is in a good fourth together with Finland and Czech.

I did not say just Canada plays like a team, I said the US too, and other nations like Finland and Czech. Rep.

I would say that Russia are the favorites to win as they are ranked #1 right now and have dominated lately.

[visualdarkness]

How are the NHLers high risk, there is some chemistry because at least the NHL see each other and are playing in the same league, the NHLers on the teams aren't maybe very familiar with the players playing in europe since they haven't seen them in awhile and so aren't familiar with their style of play. The ice surface might not be that big of a deal, but the quality of player could be.

Sedin-Sedin-Weinhandel = Proven
These three players are all in great shape and always perform when put together on a line, don't fix what's not broken.
Magnus Johansson who developed a bit to late and time closed the gap for to go the NHL.
He brings much needed leadership and experience.

Magnus Johanssons record:
World Championships
Bronze 2002 Sweden
Silver 2003 Sweden
Gold 2006 Sweden


I think NA people underestimate the giant step needed for players to take to move to NA with their families. Here in Sweden many players are used to staying at one or two Swedish pro-club for the whole career as trading practically don't exist here in Sweden. NHL also don't get nearly as much attention as national leagues here, so the young players here often dream more about Elitserien and the national team than NHL. Therefore talented players often stay at home (or in Europe).

[philou21]

I can agree with you, i don't think there's any ''favorite'' in any tournament because you don't know how a person will react or play. Yes Canada have alot of superstar, but who know's if a random guy, who have good skills and everything, will just sit down on is butt and do nothing. I like the fact that the European country take some players from their leagues. There's alot of good players out there, it's not because you don't play in the NHL that you suck, there's talent everywhere.

Are you honestly going to tell me that Zaripov, Morozov and Zinovjev are better than Frolov, or Blaťák is better than Spacek, or that Peltonen, Kapanen and Immonen are better than Jussi Jokinen, or that Weinhandl is better than Mikael Samuelsson, or that M. Johansson is better than Alex. Edler.

First of all, stop copying Batdad, you can't be like him.

Second, i'm speaking more about the moral or the willing to play of a player. Every defensemen in Czech are better than Spacek right now, he sucks bad this season i can tell you. There's surprise everywhere, Fernando Pisani was a big part of the Oilers in the playoff when they reach the cup final, but does he have done something since? No.....so you can't tell this, every player can be a surprise even if they don't have as much talent as other players.