Men's Olympic hockey

[LittleHockeyFan]

Sweden/Finland at 7 am    eeeek?..

 

[Jalili]

Canada has needed to generate the majority of their offence from the blue line because they've only played teams who clog the middle and collapse on their goalie. It's hard to get to the middle of the ice and even harder to score from the outside against even a semi-competent goaltender. Plus in the Olympics hooking and holding don't seem to be penalties so it's even easier for teams that only defend, to defend.

Latvia didn't almost beat Canada. They got lucky on a set play and Price didn't play the breakway very well. Latvia may have been in the game on the scoreboard but they never really had a chance to win.

My observations are similar.

The Latvians relied on a number of equalizers to keep the game close. Piss poor ice quality, obstructing the hell out of Canada's players with near impunity from the refs, having all 5 skaters wait near the blueline to stifle offensive attacks, and then hope for their goalie to have the game of his lifetime.

That's how they came to within 1 goal of Canada.

You can't really resent them for it as they had no other chance of keeping the game close. But it still makes for piss poor quality hockey.

Knowing that this is likely the last time the NHL sends its players to the Olympics for a long time, I guess the silver lining is that it won't be that much of a loss anyway. The only game that's been genuinely entertaining was USA-Russia.

 

[bustaheims]

Filed under 'surprising stats':

@AndrewBerkshire

Ondrej Pavelec's SV% the last two years: .903 | Jonathan Quick's SV% the last two years: .906

Quick has been pretty ordinary since winning the Vezina, but, at the same time, the team in front of him has helped him out a lot. He's only faced ~25 shots per 60 minutes from the start of the 12/13 season.

 

[dappleganger]

I think I'll always like Ovechkin because of the way he plays the game but his interview after the loss to Finland made me like him more.

http://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x1cq0i0

Edit: Suitable for work now.

 

[L K]

Filed under 'surprising stats':

@AndrewBerkshire

Ondrej Pavelec's SV% the last two years: .903 | Jonathan Quick's SV% the last two years: .906

Quick has been pretty ordinary since winning the Vezina, but, at the same time, the team in front of him has helped him out a lot. He's only faced ~25 shots per 60 minutes from the start of the 12/13 season.

And on the flip side.  Winnipeg-Reimer, let's make a deal.

 

[L K]

I think I'll always like Ovechkin because of the way he plays the game but his interview after the loss to Finland made me like him more.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cq0i0_hdpvr2-20140219-1002-a_creation

Wait, you mean you can ask questions to a guy after a very emotional outcome and NOT be a complete jerk while doing it?

http://www.thestar.com/sports/sochi2014/skiing/2014/02/17/why_christin_coopers_nbc_interview_of_heartbroken_bode_miller_should_not_be_controversial_kelly.html

 

[AvroArrow]

I think I'll always like Ovechkin because of the way he plays the game but his interview after the loss to Finland made me like him more.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cq0i0_hdpvr2-20140219-1002-a_creation

Just for anyone else...  This link is NOT safe for work...

 

[mc]

I think I'll always like Ovechkin because of the way he plays the game but his interview after the loss to Finland made me like him more.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cq0i0_hdpvr2-20140219-1002-a_creation

Just for anyone else...  This link is NOT safe for work...

What's up with the related videos on the right side? All naked women. And to watch a 30 sec ad before a video? Come on.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Neat photo from Oshie's shootout heroics:

It's from an article that looks at why Oshie and Toews are so successful in the shootout:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/sochi-shootouts-whos-better-toews-oshie/

The conclusion shouldn't come as a surprise, the more moves you have the better, but there's some charts that show exactly where the two of them are shooting from and where they're shooting at.

 

[mc]

Neat photo from Oshie's shootout heroics:

It's from an article that looks at why Oshie and Toews are so successful in the shootout:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/sochi-shootouts-whos-better-toews-oshie/

The conclusion shouldn't come as a surprise, the more moves you have the better, but there's some charts that show exactly where the two of them are shooting from and where they're shooting at.

Well 6 on 1 the goalie has no chance 

 

[Redleaf]

I think I'll always like Ovechkin because of the way he plays the game but his interview after the loss to Finland made me like him more.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cq0i0_hdpvr2-20140219-1002-a_creation

Just for anyone else...  This link is NOT safe for work...

What's up with the related videos on the right side? All naked women. And to watch a 30 sec ad before a video? Come on.

I usually don't complain about such things. The 30 second video's too much though.

 

[pmrules]

I think I'll always like Ovechkin because of the way he plays the game but his interview after the loss to Finland made me like him more.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cq0i0_hdpvr2-20140219-1002-a_creation

Just for anyone else...  This link is NOT safe for work...

I know...it should be in the initial post...i was too late ...i shut it down immediately...not worth getting fired over.

 

[LittleHockeyFan]

I think I'll always like Ovechkin because of the way he plays the game but his interview after the loss to Finland made me like him more.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cq0i0_hdpvr2-20140219-1002-a_creation

Just for anyone else...  This link is NOT safe for work...

I added that to the initial post for anyone else

 

[hockeyfan1]

Tavares done for season.  Oh, this is terrible, maybe not so much for Team Canada but for the Islanders. 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/report-tavares-out-for-season-with-injury/

 

[AvroArrow]

I added that to the initial post for anyone else

Thanks LHF.

 

[Jalili]

Tavares done for season.  Oh, this is terrible, maybe not so much for Team Canada but for the Islanders. 

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/report-tavares-out-for-season-with-injury/

Not that it was related to the injury, but man was JT horribly misused by Babcock and co. I'm starting to get why so many Wings fans have soured on him.

It seems most likely that Duchene will get bumped up to 4th line center, but my guess is that most of JT's ice time goes to Crosby and Toews as Canada (hopefully) starts to shorten up its bench.

 

[dappleganger]

I think I'll always like Ovechkin because of the way he plays the game but his interview after the loss to Finland made me like him more.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1cq0i0_hdpvr2-20140219-1002-a_creation

Just for anyone else...  This link is NOT safe for work...

I know...it should be in the initial post...i was too late ...i shut it down immediately...not worth getting fired over.

Apologies. I was on my iPhone. I didn't see the links to other videos. I fixed the link.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Not that it was related to the injury, but man was JT horribly misused by Babcock and co. I'm starting to get why so many Wings fans have soured on him.

It seems most likely that Duchene will get bumped up to 4th line center, but my guess is that most of JT's ice time goes to Crosby and Toews as Canada (hopefully) starts to shorten up its bench.

If Babcock had Tavares on the top line like he should have been he wouldn't have been in that situation to get injured!

 

[TML fan]

It's angry gorilla time tomorrow

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Supposedly on a billboard in Chicago: