Olympic Hockey

[Bear55]

Not happy about the NHL pulling the plug, if they are going to do I say let the kids battle it out. Skip the world jrs every 4 years and send them to battle for gold, all the best under 20 players in the world, very fun and unpredictable hockey.

[OnAFly]

Problem there is that none of the other countries will do that. We'll have our Junior team against Russia's KHL'ers. There will be a slaughter.

[CaptainMusky]

I don't have a problem if the NHL decides to no longer allow players in Olympics but the trouble is as many have stated countries like Russia would still have "pros" so a distinct advantage for them.

I do think our development programs have come a long ways since the 80 Olympics so it wouldn't necessarily be a scenario like that playing out again.

[solbes]

I kinda like Bear's idea about competetion between the U20 kids.

KHL vs European pro's vs US kids in juniors/college will not be a very level playing field. It would make a medal that much more impressive, if we could manage it.

[Bear55]

Back to the Olympics, Sweden with an easy win and Finland just knocked our Russia 3-1. Granlund and Selanne with a G and A each.

[SkunkedAgain]

Back to the Olympics, Sweden with an easy win and Finland just knocked our Russia 3-1. Granlund and Selanne with a G and A each.

That sucks. I really wanted to see another USA v Russia game

[Bear55]

A USA/Russia rematch might have actually motivated them but they had to get there first. With this loss Russia has pretty much cemented their reputation as a top 2 talent but as fragile as broken glass. A shootout loss crushed them, they needed a shootout win to get past Slovakia. Had it been the US or Canada that lost in a shootout you can bet they would be coming our twice as hard the next game. Just have to shake your head, same thing happened in 2010, I think Canada destroyed them by 5 goals.

[OnAFly]

Russia is Russia these days. Tons of talent, can't play as a team.

Remember guys, one bad game and your done. Lets not carp the bed today

[harvey lee]

I would think Russia would want to close the place down after that loss. One can have a whole team of stars but if they do not play as a team, then they are nothing.

Good to see Russia out.

[gunner55]

I didn't see the whole game but I'm with you Harvey.Even the annoucers said they seen a noticable lack of effort after they fell behind 3-0.

[BartmanMN]

Granlund continues to be the stud of Finland.

Granny, Pommers, and Parise hopefully when they return.

[CaptainMusky]

There were comments by many Russians that if the Men's Hockey Team wins the ONLY gold medal in the olympics that is all that matters and if the Mens hockey team doesnt win gold that is all that matters.

Pretty devastating for them I think, but sad at the same time.

They have a ton of excellent winter athletes and put all the importance on Hockey where they apparently have a bunch of premadonnas that cannot handle the pressure.

[Bear55]

1-0 Nice quick goal by USA, no reason to give the Czechs hope.

[Bear55]

1-1 I think Suter accidentally put it in.

[Bear55]

Wow great game so far, Brown and Backes to make it 3-1 now but the Czechs are flying out there and good chances on both ends. I think Suter has two helpers so far.

[PierBridge]

Good guys playing great and up 4 to 1 with 9 left 2nd period. USA USA USA USA....

Canada and Larivia still tied up at 1 although Canada has really turned up the heat here. 6 minutes left 2nd period.

[fishing tech]

Canada 1-1 after 2. 4-1 USA

[Bear55]

Nice to see Parise finally pot one. Just switched over to the Canada game in time to see them take a 2-1 lead, was hoping for a epic upset, still some time left.

[fishing tech]

5-2 USA 2-1 Canada

[solbes]

Come on Latvia!

EDIT: Too much to hope for Russians and Canadians to both lose. Huge props to the Latvian goalie though, 52 saves!

[SkunkedAgain]

The Canada/Latvia game was a heck of a lot more exciting than our game versus the Czechs. A few of the Latvians got roughed up in that one down the stretch but still took Canada to the wire.

[Bear55]

Woohoo can't wait for Friday!!! Bring on Canada, should be an amazing game. I've never been to Finland but with all the Wild connections and my love of Sauna's I might as well adopt them as my 2nd country.

[yakfisher]

The Canucks haven't been able to come together up front and I think they'll have a real tough time getting enough scoring from the blue line to beat the US. Let's hope they didn't have a fire lit today with another close call.

[Jarrod32]

A bit of trivia...while the USA/Canada semi-final is a rematch of the 2010 gold medal game, the other semi-final between Sweden and Finland is a rematch of the 2006 gold medal game.

Tre Kronor!

[yakfisher]

Big battles between countries that harbor a lot of hockey resentment towards one another trying to get to the gold medal game. Friday should be awesome! Go Wild!