Day Eight (Twelve): A Chance to be Embarassed
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 23, 2010 12:03 PM MST
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PrintConsider this the open Olympic thread where we pout about hockey disappointments and cheer on non-hockey victories! I know the big news from yesterday is the gold medal in the ice dance but I never have been able to sit through an entire ice dance event so it's hard for me to get excited about that. But yeah! Good for them! But my favourite event yesterday was the cross country "team" sprint. That sport looks like death. Guys falling over at the end because they're just beat. The "team" is two guys running wind sprints. Stop and go all day with the semis and finals only a couple of hours apart. You end up skiing over seven kilometers broken up into six smaller packages. You ski a kilometer, then your partner, then back to you and so on. And they call it a sprint! Canada finished fourth on the men's side but it was a great fourth. Best finish ever for the Canadian men, one of those fourth place finishes where it's all, "Wow! That's awesome!" And it's an exciting sport! So a hearty congratulations to Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw. I'll be pulling for them to win a medal in the team relay on Wednesday morning.
As for the hockey, I posted the draw yesterday and it's a toughie for the Canadians. The first and easiest step comes today against Germany. While the Germans aren't pushovers (I thought they looked very good against Sweden, the eighth best team in the tournament), today will likely be a convincing win for the Canadians. If the Germans do lose, the eleventh place finish in the tournament is going to be hugely disappointing. That loss to Belarus in the last game of the round robin really hurt them. On the bright side, the only way for them to do worse than 11th overall is with a Latvia win over the Czechs. And that isn't going to happen. It's been a tough tournament for the Latvians who will end the tournament with a loss to Russia, a loss to Slovakia and two losses to the Czechs. They never played another "also-ran" and will finish last despite probably not being the worst team in the tournament. The Slovaks play Norway tonight and should have an easy win before a very tough quarterfinal game against the Swedes. I've been really impressed with the Slovakians so far, moreso than the Finns and they should give the Swedes a good game in the quarters. This is it for most of the players on that team and they know it. Everyone is going to be selling out. Finally, the most competitive game of the day, Belarus and Switzerland, will likely come down to the kind of day Jonas Hiller is having. With an off-day, Belarus has a chance (as they showed against Germany), but on a good day, the Swiss should be moving on. Avoiding Russia, Sweden and Canada in the quarters or semis is basically the perfect draw for the Swiss. I know I'll be cheering for Hnat Domenichelli to catch lightning in a bottle against the Americans.
Schedule:
Switzerland v. Belarus 1:00 p.m. MST
Canada v. Germany 5:30 p.m. MST
Czech Republic v. Latvia 8:00 p.m. MST
Slovakia v. Norway 10:00 p.m. MST
Bruce also asked for a look at the overall standings after the conclusion of the round robin, so here they are:
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Thanks for posting the standings. Interesting that Canada was barely ahead of Slovakia in goal differential. Give up another empty netter to the Yanks and we’re playing Norway today, then Sweden and likely Russia in reverse order, so no big difference. But dropping that single point to the Swiss wound up hurting Canada just as bad as losing to the Americans did.
Under the Bettman (mentally) unbalanced points system, there would have been a four-way tie for fourth with 4 points each, with Canada squeaking through on pool placement over Slovakia, goal differential over Czech Republic, and goals for over Finland. But screw Bettman and his messes, I think it’s much fairer this way. Canada blew a point to the Swiss, and it cost them.
While the Germans aren’t pushovers (I thought they looked very good against Sweden, the eighth best team in the tournament), today will likely be a convincing win for the Canadians.
Am I misreading this? Surely you don’t mean the Swedes. Are you saying you think the Germans are about the 8th best team in the tournament, despite their standing?
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
The fans cried long and hard when the OTL point was first introduced, when it had that RT column in it. They complained that it was too hard to follow, and that was when the last 2 columns were each a value of 1 point (i.e. 40-25-10-7, meaning 45 wins, 25 losses, 10 ties and 7 regulation ties).
Jumping to the 4 tiered standings with values of 3-2-0-1 is going to be even worse for the average fan.
I think it’s way simpler and intuitively easy to grasp. 3 points up for grabs every night, 3 and 0 or 2 and 1. Your team’s best interests are well-defined at all times. It’s the unnaturalness of the Bettman “system” that gave – gives – people trouble.
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 23, 2010 2:19 PM MST up reply actions
Yes, I meant the Germans looked like the eighth best team in the tournament. Obviously not as strong in goal as the Swiss but they played Sweden pretty close to even in terms of flow of play.
As for the standings, that lost point against the Swiss cost them the fourth seed which would have looked mighty nice given the draw. With that one change the 1-4-5-8 draw becomes US, Canada, Finland and Belarus. That’s miles better than their current draw.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 23, 2010 1:50 PM MST up reply actions
Olympics
I know the big news from yesterday is the gold medal in the ice dance but I never have been able to sit through an entire ice dance event so it’s hard for me to get excited about that.
I know I’m in the minority in this forum, but I love ice dancing and all disciplines of figure skating, which is not so much pure sport as out on the boundaries where athletics meet the arts. But they add a welcome dose of music, drama, and dance to the forum. Moreover the spirit of competition drives them to create and to perform.
I’ve followed the sport fairly closely since 1964 Innsbruck, and while Canada has had all sorts of success at the World Championships, this was the first time in 50 years that Canadians assumed the top step of the podium, alone and without controversy. Of course Salé and Pelletier were eventually awarded co-gold in 2002 Salt Lake City, but the night itself was spoiled by highly-controversial judging that left the Canadians on the second step, just like Brian Orser, Liz Manley, and Elvis Stojko before them.
Whereas last night and all this week there was no doubt as to which performers were top of the class. Virtue and Moir built an already-commanding 2.6-point lead to nearly 6 points, which is roughly equivalent to winning a hockey game by 6 goals. A blowout.
Theirs was a transcendent performance, in which every element from costume to choice of music to program to delivery of same exuded elegance, grace, and dare I say purity in a sport which is too often prone to excess.
I also take special pleasure in Canada winning in one of the two Winter Olympic medal events (pairs figure skating being the other) where men and women compete together, and as equal partners. Gender equality is certainly widespread in other sports, but is reliant on segregation of the competitions.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and primary shareholder of Zorg Industries
"Never be ashamed of who you are" -- Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
As a pro wrestling fan, I’m very comfortable with athletics and theatre merging :) And I actually don’t mind pairs or indivudal figure skating. But ice dancing is… I don’t know… the strength elements and jumping elements just aren’t as impressive. It just isn’t… exciting?
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 23, 2010 3:04 PM MST up reply actions
Personal tastes, of course. The Adagio generally isn’t the most exciting movement of the symphony, but it is often my favourite.
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 23, 2010 3:17 PM MST up reply actions
I love symphony music. Exciting was the wrong word. I don’t know, the event just isn’t compelling to me.
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 23, 2010 5:25 PM MST up reply actions
2-1 Czechs with 8 minutes to go! Come on Latvia!
by Scott Reynolds on Feb 23, 2010 10:09 PM MST reply actions
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