Monday, February 27, 2006
Final Olympic Mutterings
I know I was mad as a disturbed hornet at how badly Canada tanked in Torino, but let's get a little perspective here. Canada rocks!
I've heard and read way too much pissing and moaning about how crappy the Olympics turned out simply because our men's hockey team sucked a big chestnut.
OK, is that not a huge insult to the other athletes (Hello, Ms. Klassen and her 5 medals!) who performed bravely and did well? 24 medals and a lot of near-misses (4th place finishes) gave Canada its best result ever. We were only one medal behind the grand old USA which has 10x the population of our fine country (we believe in quality over quantity). Oh, and we kicked Sweden's ass, Russia's ass, and Norway's ass.
How did Japan end up with only one medal?
How much do women's figure skaters suck now? If you fall twice, you win a silver medal?
And...what is up with the "RUSSIAN FEDERATION" crap? It's RUSSIA. This isn't the days of the CIS, bubs.
Anyway, back to my main point... those same blubbering Molson Canadian drinking morons (you know the ones that whine on those call-in radio shows) need an extra helping of pablum this morning. Without a men's hockey medal, these people think our Olympic effort was just in vain.
How utterly simple and thick-headed.
Let's celebrate our country's fine achievements and look forward to 2010. Since Vancouver and the province of BC is going to go way over budget to host this 2-week party for the rich, we might as well celebrate in style.
---
I watched the last two periods of the Sweden/Finland game from my hotel room, and you'd be amazed that I didn't pull a Keith Tkachuk and start tossing chairs everywhere. I had a sinking feeling that Sweden would win and they did. Congrats to them, and it's been a LONG time coming.
I had already given up on the men's tournament, and the final game was actually entertaining. Canada's players and coaches should take notes from Team Finland on how to get the most from your talent, and it's amazing how good Sweden can be when they don't get absolute atrocious goaltending.
As CasonBlog mentioned in my comments, Team Sweden deserves major kudos for sticking with their traditional uniforms and rejecting the Nike crap the other teams were wearing.
Nike, stay the hell out of hockey! You might know basketball, but you don't know hockey, and your 'jerseys' suck ass.
BTW, how ugly has Mats Sundin turned? When he was drafted, he was actually a pretty fine looking Swedish lad. Now? He looks like the older cousin of Gollum.
---
My hockey pool suffered big time this tournament. Jagr's groin is back to being shredded like pizza cheese and now Pavol Demitra is out anywhere from a month to two months after taking Milan Jurcina's shot to the head.
Here's a picture of Pavol, who seems a bit too happy. What kind of medicine are they giving him? Medical Marijuana?
---
Canucks fans are doubly-pissed at the Olympics. Jovocop was already out, now Ohlund and Salo are injured and not with minor little bruises.
Bryan Allen is now the #1 defenseman, which means open season on Alex Auld.
Nolan Baumgartner - Bryan Allen
Steve McCarthy - Kevin Bieksa
Tomas Mojzis - Wade Brookbank
Add Bertuzzi's suspect play and Naslund's injury woes to the mix and you get a team that is going to have to fight hard just to keep a playoff spot.
Shut up Calgary, I can hear your laughing!
---
Intuitively, the new IIHF senior men's rankings make no sense. Sweden #1? Huh?? They won one gold medal and little else the past decade. Canada has won a hell of a lot, and you'd expect them to still be #1 despite a crappy Olympics performance.
Of course, the IIHF doesn't count the World Cup, which is just dumb. If you are doing a world rankings without taking into account of the major international tournaments, that what is the use?
Top 15:
1. Sweden 4030
2. Canada 3940
3. Czech R. 3930
4. Slovakia 3805
5. Finland 3765
6. Russia 3725
7. USA 3575
8. Switzerland 3525
9. Latvia 3335
10. Germany 3270
11. Kazakhstan 3100
12. Austria 3045
13. Belarus 3035
14. Ukraine 3015
15. Denmark 2990
Oh, and the IIHF Awards
Directorate Awards, men's Olympic Tournament
Best Goalie: Antero Niittymaki (FIN)
Best Defenceman: Kenny Jonsson (SWE)
Best Forward: Teemu Selanne (FIN)
Olympic Tournament MVP: Antero Niittymaki (FIN)
Media All-Star Team
Goal: Antero Niittymaki (FIN)
Defence: Nicklas Lidstrom (SWE), Kimmo Timonen (FIN)
Forward: Teemu Selanne (FIN), Saku Koivu (FIN), Alexander Ovechkin (RUS)
I've heard and read way too much pissing and moaning about how crappy the Olympics turned out simply because our men's hockey team sucked a big chestnut.
OK, is that not a huge insult to the other athletes (Hello, Ms. Klassen and her 5 medals!) who performed bravely and did well? 24 medals and a lot of near-misses (4th place finishes) gave Canada its best result ever. We were only one medal behind the grand old USA which has 10x the population of our fine country (we believe in quality over quantity). Oh, and we kicked Sweden's ass, Russia's ass, and Norway's ass.
How did Japan end up with only one medal?
How much do women's figure skaters suck now? If you fall twice, you win a silver medal?
And...what is up with the "RUSSIAN FEDERATION" crap? It's RUSSIA. This isn't the days of the CIS, bubs.
Anyway, back to my main point... those same blubbering Molson Canadian drinking morons (you know the ones that whine on those call-in radio shows) need an extra helping of pablum this morning. Without a men's hockey medal, these people think our Olympic effort was just in vain.
How utterly simple and thick-headed.
Let's celebrate our country's fine achievements and look forward to 2010. Since Vancouver and the province of BC is going to go way over budget to host this 2-week party for the rich, we might as well celebrate in style.
---
I watched the last two periods of the Sweden/Finland game from my hotel room, and you'd be amazed that I didn't pull a Keith Tkachuk and start tossing chairs everywhere. I had a sinking feeling that Sweden would win and they did. Congrats to them, and it's been a LONG time coming.
I had already given up on the men's tournament, and the final game was actually entertaining. Canada's players and coaches should take notes from Team Finland on how to get the most from your talent, and it's amazing how good Sweden can be when they don't get absolute atrocious goaltending.
As CasonBlog mentioned in my comments, Team Sweden deserves major kudos for sticking with their traditional uniforms and rejecting the Nike crap the other teams were wearing.
Nike, stay the hell out of hockey! You might know basketball, but you don't know hockey, and your 'jerseys' suck ass.
BTW, how ugly has Mats Sundin turned? When he was drafted, he was actually a pretty fine looking Swedish lad. Now? He looks like the older cousin of Gollum.
---
My hockey pool suffered big time this tournament. Jagr's groin is back to being shredded like pizza cheese and now Pavol Demitra is out anywhere from a month to two months after taking Milan Jurcina's shot to the head.
Here's a picture of Pavol, who seems a bit too happy. What kind of medicine are they giving him? Medical Marijuana?
---
Canucks fans are doubly-pissed at the Olympics. Jovocop was already out, now Ohlund and Salo are injured and not with minor little bruises.
Bryan Allen is now the #1 defenseman, which means open season on Alex Auld.
Nolan Baumgartner - Bryan Allen
Steve McCarthy - Kevin Bieksa
Tomas Mojzis - Wade Brookbank
Add Bertuzzi's suspect play and Naslund's injury woes to the mix and you get a team that is going to have to fight hard just to keep a playoff spot.
Shut up Calgary, I can hear your laughing!
---
Intuitively, the new IIHF senior men's rankings make no sense. Sweden #1? Huh?? They won one gold medal and little else the past decade. Canada has won a hell of a lot, and you'd expect them to still be #1 despite a crappy Olympics performance.
Of course, the IIHF doesn't count the World Cup, which is just dumb. If you are doing a world rankings without taking into account of the major international tournaments, that what is the use?
Top 15:
1. Sweden 4030
2. Canada 3940
3. Czech R. 3930
4. Slovakia 3805
5. Finland 3765
6. Russia 3725
7. USA 3575
8. Switzerland 3525
9. Latvia 3335
10. Germany 3270
11. Kazakhstan 3100
12. Austria 3045
13. Belarus 3035
14. Ukraine 3015
15. Denmark 2990
Oh, and the IIHF Awards
Directorate Awards, men's Olympic Tournament
Best Goalie: Antero Niittymaki (FIN)
Best Defenceman: Kenny Jonsson (SWE)
Best Forward: Teemu Selanne (FIN)
Olympic Tournament MVP: Antero Niittymaki (FIN)
Media All-Star Team
Goal: Antero Niittymaki (FIN)
Defence: Nicklas Lidstrom (SWE), Kimmo Timonen (FIN)
Forward: Teemu Selanne (FIN), Saku Koivu (FIN), Alexander Ovechkin (RUS)
Comments:
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I hope Nike learns something from the fact that the team who rejected their crap-ass jerseys actually won the gold. But then again, the cynic in me says that Nike probably doesn't give two sheds about such stuff... *rolls her eyes*
I don't understand what it means when Kenny Jonsson is named the best defenceman in the Olympic tournament, but is not good enough to make the tournament all star team.
Its possible because different people vote for the different awards - but it all seems so inconsistent.
Its possible because different people vote for the different awards - but it all seems so inconsistent.
Holy cow do the LA Kings have the worst injury luck in history! Hopefully it's not rubbing off on Vancouver.
# posted by 
: 10:54 am
: 10:54 am
From my WJC experience, the media vote for their set of awards and the IIHF Directorate and other assorted bigwigs vote for their own set of awards. Thus, you get two differing sets of awards.
How strange that Jonsson retires from NHL hockey and then kicks ass in the Olympics. Of course, all that money and he can't get rid of the acne problem he has.
How strange that Jonsson retires from NHL hockey and then kicks ass in the Olympics. Of course, all that money and he can't get rid of the acne problem he has.
"Of course, the IIHF doesn't count the World Cup, which is just dumb. If you are doing a world rankings without taking into account of the major international tournaments, that what is the use?"
You're wrong there, Jes. The World Cup does not have all IIHF affiliated nations competing and thus it would mean an uneven playing field where it comes to points to be gained, whereas in World Championships and Olympics all national teams have got a chance to earn points.
"How strange that Jonsson retires from NHL hockey and then kicks ass in the Olympics. Of course, all that money and he can't get rid of the acne problem he has."
Jonsson only retired from the NHL because of family reasons. He's back in Sweden now with his wife, kids and family which is quite important to him. I can't get into too much details on the family issue since I don't want to make these things public, but in my opinion they are very valid.
The move was certainly not done for the money as he earns about a couple of week's salary back home inthe Swedish 2nd division.
Finally. All-Star roster is indeed made up by the media, including myself, whereas the MVP's are selected by the "men in Armani's" That explains the difference in names that there's often.
_j-
You're wrong there, Jes. The World Cup does not have all IIHF affiliated nations competing and thus it would mean an uneven playing field where it comes to points to be gained, whereas in World Championships and Olympics all national teams have got a chance to earn points.
"How strange that Jonsson retires from NHL hockey and then kicks ass in the Olympics. Of course, all that money and he can't get rid of the acne problem he has."
Jonsson only retired from the NHL because of family reasons. He's back in Sweden now with his wife, kids and family which is quite important to him. I can't get into too much details on the family issue since I don't want to make these things public, but in my opinion they are very valid.
The move was certainly not done for the money as he earns about a couple of week's salary back home inthe Swedish 2nd division.
Finally. All-Star roster is indeed made up by the media, including myself, whereas the MVP's are selected by the "men in Armani's" That explains the difference in names that there's often.
_j-
# posted by : 2:09 pm
: 2:09 pm
Dagestan, Chechnya, Karelia, Sakha, Bashkort, Tatar, etc., are all republics that aren't in Russia, but are in the Russian Federation.
# posted by : 10:26 pm
: 10:26 pm
More to the World Cup thing, another reason you can't include it in the rankings is that since it isn't IIHF, there is nothing to stop Pavol Demitra or Marian Hossa from representing the United States. There was talk of Sergei Fedorov and Zigmund Palffy playing for USA in the 1996 World Cup.
# posted by : 11:56 am
: 11:56 am
World Cup.
It's an invitation tournament that has nothing to do with the IIHF.
You telling me that you'd accept an invite tourament including only Spain, Portugal, Belguim, and The Netherlands as a IIHF ranking competition?
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It's an invitation tournament that has nothing to do with the IIHF.
You telling me that you'd accept an invite tourament including only Spain, Portugal, Belguim, and The Netherlands as a IIHF ranking competition?
# posted by : 5:43 am
: 5:43 am << Home
