Hockey- Team Canada

[Law]

Well it looks like that time is just about upon us again. I can't wait till the hockey starts up. Looks like we have a pretty good shot at repeating.

GO CANADA GO

[Go_Leafs_Go]

Yup the Olympics have officially started, so hears 2 the Canuks kicking some international ass. Not just hockey but everything else as well.

[Law]

Yup the Olympics have officially started, so hears 2 the Canuks kicking some international ass. Not just hockey but everything else as well.

I second the everything/everyone else too, wouldn't want to forget about the rest of "Team Canada"

[Big Johnny69]

Well is anyone else questioning our medal chances? Just seems like the players aren't playing with enough desperation. Its not like they have a season to work out the kinks. Its only a two week tourney and right now Canada is not looking sharp. One period does not a good game make. But on the other hand the Slovaks and Finns are looking real good. Good solid team hockey. The medal round should be interesting, looks like Canada will be in tough in the quarterfinals. Think they need a real strong game Tues against the Czechs to get ready for the medal round or it could be home early for the Canadians.

[DavidY]

Personally, I think that Canada has been relying on their talent, rather than their work ethic. Coaching has been poor too.....team is not making the necessary adjustments. The only way that they will win a game while playing this way is to have the goalie stand on his head....which hasn't happened yet. Or play the game hard for a full 60 minutes. Guess that they are hoping to turn it on or off as needed.....it's been off for the past two games except for a period or so.

Dave

[EDSGOLF]

I guess the team concept is still more important that superstar individuals. Boggles my mind how they can lose 2 back to back games.

[jonf]

doens't matter how good a goalie plays if you can't score a single goal. absolutely terrible hockey. that being said, they played like crap in salt lake, but came through with the gold. They definitely have the talent to win, they just need to make it happen

[davevandyk]

Ya that was another game where they got totally outplayed. I am sick of them saying, that it doesn't matter until the quarters, if they have no momentum going into the medal round, then they have no chance.

[LobWedge]

Full marks to the Finns (or should I say the Swedes in Finn jerseys). They played a smart, physical, defensive game and capitalized on the Canadian's sloppy play. Selanne played like he was 10 years younger.

Canada's 2 best players were Draper and Luongo. Unfortunately, a great checking forward is no good if his teamates can't cash in for him, and as Jim Hughson and Greg Millen were saying during the US - Sweden game, it doesn't matter what country you play for, every team has a world-class goaltender now. Valiant efforts for sure, but about 23 players short of a win today.

[Big Johnny69]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! What a poor representation of Canadian hockey. Wished they would have should that much desperation throughout the whole tourney that they showed today in the last 5 minutes. The defence was slow and the forwards couldn't score. There will be an outcry where has our dominance gone. But in reality this team just didn't play with enough urgency in a short tournament. Every team they played wanted it more, they only beat the Italians and Germans because of such a large gap in talent. And got lucky against the Czechs. And if it wasn't for Brodeur, most of their games would have been much more lopsided losses. Oh well, there's always 2010 in Vancouver.

And on a side note, Pronger has been just awful in this tourney!!!!

[beefstuf]

How depressing.....penalties killed us. Oh ya thanks Pronger....for nothing

[jonf]

Nagano all over again....what did Pronger do, exactly? i know he got that last penalty, but it was a goal otherwise

[Big Johnny69]

He was terrible in everygame. To quote Terry Jones, a writer for the Sun, about Pronger's game yesterday "who elevated his game to acceptable from awful." You could tell his foot was hurting him. He was too slow, and thus took many needless penalties.

And can you believe this crap Hrudey and MacLean were throwing out after the game. Blaming the big ice and the lockout on the poor performance. C'mon, alot of these guys played during the lockout in Europe (Thornton, St.Louis, Nash) to name a few. Really Canada just did play up to their skill level. Why? Who knows. Its over now for them, hopefully Hockey Canada can find a better coaching to staff that can better motivate these guys. They just never seemed to be playing with any emotion. Too bad, now I have no reason to watch the rest of the hockey tourney. My Olympics are now over.

[jonf]

Ya, okay..Pronger played bad, but so did everyone...Singling out one player when the whole team played like three year olds isn't fair. But saying they play like three year olds is too kind, because 3 year olds actually TRY. We would have been better off sending our world junior team. They at least play Canadian hockey. We got out hit today by the Russians...THE RUSSIANS...that is wrong. If we had gone out playing good Canadian hockey, it would be one thing, but we didn't even play our game...absolutely terrible.

My Olympics aren't over though...Although we lost today, it was really nice to see that everyone else is picking up the slack. Most people won't even notice that we won 2 golds and 2 silver today, which is a really good haul, no matter where you're from. I hate that the hockey team lost, but I just hope it doesn't take away from the great Olympics that many of our other athletes are having.

[Law]

Dissapointing result for sure. Is Brodeur suppose to score the goals too? I mean come on. Where is the offence? $100M and we can't even medal. Luckily we earned some medals today so the sting isn't so bad. Still have a gold medal match in curling to look forward to.

[Big Johnny69]

Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of every member of the Canadian Olympic team that put forth their best effort and took home a medal. I'm just mainly a hockey fan. I'll check in from time to time to see how we are doing but I won't make time to watch the games anymore.

And I have to agree with your 3 year old analogy. Very comical, but very true. And I didn't mean to single out Pronger, but with him taking that penalty late in the game it just reminded me how poorly he played. And I only brought up his name because it seemed like he was on for every goal or was taking a penalty at a bad time.

[Big Johnny69]

Still have a gold medal match in curling to look forward to.

Man, you are hardcore. I only watch curling if I have trouble falling asleep, but of course I turn the volume down or off. HURRY HARD!

[davevandyk]

CONGRATS BERTUZZI!!!!! You blew it for Canada, when you shouldn't have been on the team to begin with. What a dumb and useless penalty, as he has been known for!!

He is too slow, and is no good for the big ice surface. Same goes for Thornton, they just didn't have the speed out there, where Staal and Spezza would have really made a difference.

[Big Johnny69]

Staal yes, Spezza no. He's not much of a better skater than TB or JT. I didn't see the penalty TB took, but one penalty does not a tourney make. These guys were terrible from the get-go. They just never got into this tourney. Didn't do that Maple Leaf on their jersey proud. If they at least put up a fight this would be easier to take.

And in Bertuzzi's defence, he was one of, if not the best, Canadian player in the first three games. He worked hard but had no support.

[jonf]

I would take Thornton over Spezza or Staal any day. Bertuzzi actually looked like he was drunk out there. Every time he touched the puck or tried to hit someone his knees got all wobbly and he fell over. And I am being completely serious...the guy looked like someone had switched his gatorade for absinth.

[beefstuf]

I wuold take Spezza over Bert any day. He clearly cannot contain his personal emotions and has anger mangement problems. If you cannot keep up with the play retalitory penalties are not the way to slow things down.

The other thing that is frustrating is know that Gagne had a bruised knee and than playing him anyways.....scratch him and call in Staal. He was hammered by Kasp and that was a nice hit. If his knee wasn't already injured he may not have been out for the game.

Pronger turned the puck over a lot. Not soo much the penalty he took with a 1-0 score and 1 minute to go. If you cannot move the puck forward and get picked you are screwed, so lets hold him and take a penalty. That sums up his entire performance in this tournament. We should have lost by 3 or 4 in todays game.

Serves us right, I understand loyalty is one thing and that sure made Roenick proud of us Canadians, but lets think wins. If you wanted to be loyal bring over Shanahan instead. All I can say is I am so disappointed in this tourny.

Go Sens Go!!!

[davevandyk]

Sorry, love Bert as much as the next guy, but put him on a International ice and i thought he looked like a pile, no matter what the announcers said. He is a gritty player, and you can't be gritty on an international ice, and under international rules.

[jonf]

I think that's just where Canada's problem was. They assumed that you can't be gritty on international ice, so they didn't even try. You can play gritty, as long as you play clean. I would rather have physically punished the Russians and taken a few extra penalties...it might have cost us some goals, but once we get hitting, most teams just start to cower. It certainly would have helped on the offensive end...our forecheck was non-existent

[covanant]

The only way to beat a team with that much speed and fire power is
to play mean and gritty.
Problem is..like Gretzky once said,the world loves to hate us.
And that showed a little from the officiating.(not an excuse however)
Still,pretty imbarresing

[TA 845]

It was a brutal effort from a team lacking in desire, it didn't seem that there was any pride wearing the Maple Leaf on their chests... it all starts from the top, not to say Gretzky should be replaced but with all the distractions from before the games with "sideshow Rick", stale coaching & players who would rather be on a warm sunny vacation (it seemed that way to me) rather than playing for Canada, I would say there should be some major changes for the next World Cup event. My $0.02!

[LobWedge]

I wonder if we've seen the last of the NHL-ers at the Olympics...

[covanant]

I cant understand how nhl team insurance companies even alow it?
Look at Hasek.

[LBH]

97.9 million dollars in salaries and these guys can't score in 11 of their last 12 periods???? There's only one word for this: pathetic!!!!

Out with Pat Quinn and the entire coaching/executive staff.... I've seen and heard enough of Kris Draper, Shane Doan, Todd Bertuzzi, Chris Pronger and Robyn Regher to make me puke whenever I hear their names... Those guys sucked!!!

And can somebody explain to me why Turco didn't play at all. I understand Brodeur played well in the last two games but Turco is the BEST Canadian goalie this year in the NHL. Period! Somehow it seems Team Canada just doesn't want the best players on the ice.

Can't wait for 2010 to get the gold back and see Staal, Spezza, Crosby etc... I'll be there for sure!

[jonf]

97.9 million dollars in salaries and these guys can't score in 11 of their last 12 periods???? There's only one word for this: pathetic!!!!

Out with Pat Quinn and the entire coaching/executive staff.... I've seen and heard enough of Kris Draper, Shane Doan, Todd Bertuzzi, Chris Pronger and Robyn Regher to make me puke whenever I hear their names... Those guys sucked!!!

And can somebody explain to me why Turco didn't play at all. I understand Brodeur played well in the last two games but Turco is the BEST Canadian goalie this year in the NHL. Period! Somehow it seems Team Canada just doesn't want the best players on the ice.

Can't wait for 2010 to get the gold back and see Staal, Spezza, Crosby etc... I'll be there for sure!

Did you even watch the game today? Robyn Regehr was the best defenceman out there, and Doan and Draper were pretty much the only guys actually forechecking, and did a great job killing a tonne of penalties against a dynamite powerplay. Doan was the best player out there for Canada, apart from Brodeur. (notice I have no argument with your take on Bertuzzi - he could be great, but has to learn how to TRY, and not down a 2-4 before the game)

Turco didn't play because Brodeur is the best canadian goalie around, and he played like it today. The goal by Ovechkin was absolutely perfectly placed - absolutely incredible..and unstoppable.

I too am looking forward to seeing Staal and Crosby in 2010. Spezza i'm not so sure. He gets a tonne of points, but I spend far more time yelling at him for terrible defence and absolutely stupid behind the back passes than actually cheering for him. I say bring in the Sutter brothers next time around. Darryl can pick the team, Brent can coach it. If anyone knows how to bring a team together quick, it's him.

I just hope next time around that they take people on merit. Don't take Crosby because he's Crosby, take him because he earns it.

[Golfbum]

FREE VACATION IN ITALY
PRICELESS
$100 million dollar team and we managed to beat the Italians and the Germans. WOW