Day Two (Six): Czechoslavkia
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 17, 2010 11:14 AM MST
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PrintConsider this the open Olympic thread. Want to leave some thoughts about a Canadian gold medal winner? This is the place. But I'm mostly going to write about hockey.
The Olympic hockey tournament continues today with Group C getting in on the beatdown action and a very important game between the Czechs and Slovaks. Apparently Marian Gaborik isn't going to play in this game or their game tomorrow against the Russians. Good break for those two teams and especially for the Russians who will get the Slovaks on a short 24-hour turnaround tomorrow.
Sweden takes on Germany in their first game of the tournament and will likely be going for a five goal margin or better to make sure they stay on track for first overall. Anything less than five will mean the pressure will really be on to lay a beating on the Belarussians later on. Finland will be trying to do exactly that when they take on a Belarussian team missing it's two best forwards (Grabovski, A. Kostitsyn).
Both Canada and Russia covered their +5 minimum yesterday to put the pressure on the Swedes and Finns today. Canada especially really laid down the gauntlet by going +8 in their opener and the Russians did a good job trying to keep pace in an 8-2 victory over Latvia. The Americans looked very good against the Swiss, winning 3-1 and playing a very physical style including an awesome power move by David Backes in the second period that resulted in the second American goal. But the Swiss generated quite a few good scoring opportunites and made that American defense look pretty beatable for a team with more talent.
Schedule:
Finland v. Belarus 1:00 p.m. MST
Sweden v. Germany 5:30 p.m. MST
Czech Republic v. Slovakia 10:00 p.m. MST
Overall Standings:
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Jesus, it’s crash city at the downhill today. I’m counting seven DNFs, and there’s still ladies yet to go.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
The Swedish girl who feel at the end of her run got some huge air leading to her DNF. Too bad because she was in line for silver. The commentator on that was hilarious. The poor girl is lying on the ground getting medical attention and after the replay he says, “That was awesome!” and sort of realized it was a terrible thing to say after he said it. But he still couldn’t fully hide his excitement.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 17, 2010 2:45 PM MST up reply actions
I wasn’t paying much attention (at work), but if it’s the one I’m thinking of, she got some friggin’ air before tumbling into the fences. I mean, it was spectacular.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
Those commentators were terrible. It seems like they pack a booth with three of these “experts” and collectively they never realize there’s a time to just STFU. You don’t need to fill every moment with words, when there are microphones all over the damn course.
The one funny line was when they said that women ski jumpers got into the Games after all.
The course was deadly. The fourth Canadian girl wasn’t even allowed by her coaches to race cuz they were “saving her for another day”. A few others dropped out as well I believe, not to mention a few that no doubt wished they had. Same thing happened yesterday with the snowboard cross course, some of the competitors were afraid of it and at least a couple DNS. And we already saw what happened on the sliding course. Maybe they need to back off a little when setting these courses.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 17, 2010 10:49 PM MST up reply actions
The one funny line was when they said that women ski jumpers got into the Games after all.
That’s horrible. But kind of funny. But really, kind of horrible.
Okay, I laughed.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
The women’s snow cross seemed a little more pathetic somehow. It just looked like they weren’t very good at snowboarding. A true “I’ll make you girls look awful” from the course designer. The downhill run actually looked crazy hard and most of the falls were out-of-control spectacular instead of sad.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 17, 2010 11:58 PM MST up reply actions
Maelle seemed to love the course designer, and felt that it played to her strengths.
Home snow advantage? ;)
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
They were even wiping out on the cross country course.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
The Finns were only up 3-1 after two but off the first faceoff they just made it 4-1. I wonder if they’re going to run away with it or if Belarus can keep it close.
I didn’t get to watch the Finns – they only gave up 12 shots, so was it as bad as you say?
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Oh, it wasn’t bad from the Finns perspective other than the lack of goals. I think Belarus had four shots through two periods. The Finns just weren’t able to cash except on the PP. It was one-sided though for sure.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 17, 2010 7:45 PM MST up reply actions
Finns might be the team in that group
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
I’m watching the Germans play Sweden right now. The Germans are doing a lot better than I expected. The shots are 5-5 and the Swedes have taken 2 penalties to Germany’s 1 as we approach the end of the first period. I think these guys can likely beat Switzerland. They just need to hope that they can get (at least) the 9th spot and that Slovakia doesn’t tank.
2-0 Sweden after two now and the Swedes looked quite a bit better this period. The three power plays sure helped with that (and got them their first goal). They look really good on the PP so far today and just okay at EV. That’s been the big difference in this one for sure as the Germans haven’t been able to generate anything when up a man. They also tend to shoot from bad spots, not confident at all one-on-one and so they pull up and shoot instead of taking the puck wide to get it deep and hope for a better opportunity.
The refs are calling a really tight game and don’t like the use of pushing for defense which they called as holding a couple of times. The worst was Enstrom’s penalty because it looked to me like he was the one getting held as the German forward went down.
The Swedes and Germans finish up with a 2-0 scoreline. A really good game for the Germans. I saw them load up one line quite a bit and that trio was pretty good together. I was really impressed with the rest of the German team. When you the Sedins or Alfredsson-Backstrom out there against guys from the DEL you expect total crushification and if just wasn’t happening for the most part. The Germans were only outshot 25-21 in the game and I’d bet they did better than break even at EV. Really impressive effort. I bet these guys make the quarterfinals.
As for the Swedes, this has to be a disappointment. They were likely expecting a win at minimum and this puts them in a real hole to catch Canada and Russia if they all win all three games. Douglas Murray is a pretty fun player to watch. He stepped up with a couple of really big hits, one in the second and another in the third. I’d like to see him play against some of the aggressive American forwards. That could be really entertaining.
I’d be happy to see Murray put Backes right through the wall.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 17, 2010 10:44 PM MST up reply actions
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