Official 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics - Men's Hockey thread

[TheGreatBarryB]

I'm a NFL and baseball fan but never got into Ice Hockey.
Got to say though I enjoyed the IH on the Olympics, might make more of an effort to watch NHL when it's on.

 

[jimmy_clement#8]

Ron Wilson's probably right, the USA were brilliant this tournemant.

The Canadians did hit the post twice in the space of about ten minutes, but I felt that the United States almost deserved to win come OT.

From Miller making that great right pad save in the 3rd, the USA had all the play. It just took a bit of genius from Crosby and Iginla to win it.

Great tournemant but, really great competition. Canada got their gold, the USA and Slovakia punched above their weight (although the USA are here, they didn't overacheive), the Russians choked, and we were able to watch names Forsberg, Jagr, Palffy once again.

And even though Canada are Olympic champions, I can only but agree with Wilson, I thought the USA deserved something a bit shinier than Silver. But that's hockey.

Thankyou Vancouver 2010, you were hyped up, but you lived up to it, and some.

 

[Crosby87]

Change to the avatar shortly, I think.

 

[Drummond]

Ron Wilson is a gun.

Crosby, of all the freaking people, had to be the OT winner. Unbelievable.

Anyway, well done America, awesome effort. Erik Johnson, you son are a STAR.

 

[Lethal]

Didn't get to watch OT till after work this arvo. Held off going to work as long as possible this morning and had my hand on the front door waiting the the 3rd period to finish as Parise scored that goal.

 

[scottyjc]

did anyone think the refs missed some offside calls against the states, one in the second and one in the third?

 

[hot dogs]

well what can you say other than this was another one of those occassions that the script couldn't have been written any better (from a canadians pov). I was thinking at the start of OT that it would be typical if crosby scored the match winner. what a game really couldn't have asked for much from it.

i would also like to say i was very impressed with Win's coverage i got to see alot more hockey than i was expecting.

 

[Crosby87]

Yeah, more coverage than I expected. Know of a few people its converted to the sport (at least for now).

 

[jimmy_clement#8]

Back up C87's comments, I know of a few people who really got into the hockey, and of a couple looking to see what the NHL is about now as a result.

 

[R_n_B]

I'm a NFL and baseball fan but never got into Ice Hockey.
Got to say though I enjoyed the IH on the Olympics, might make more of an effort to watch NHL when it's on.

Please do!

-------

The gold medal game was awesome! As what has been said, it was almost perfectly scripted: game tying goal in the last minute and Crosby getting the game winner for Canada in fronmt of the home crowd!

The hockey I've watched during these olympics is the most I've been able to watch in years (since we used to have Optus vision!) and I've missed it BAD! Disappointed that I didn't get to see Forsberg though. The last period of the Canada v Slovakia game was amazing, I was on the edge of the couch enthralled in the game.

From the limited amount of hockey I did see, gotta say I love watching Nash, Parise and Dustin Brown play. Kane looks bloody fast! Was it Kane that caught Crosby on that breakaway in the third? Oh and Dan Boyle can make a sweet pass! I was also surprised at the effort he made along the boards in the other team's defensive zone at one stage during the tournament (think it was against the Slovaks?)

Finally, I wanna give kudos to channel 9 for the coverage they gave the hockey. They realized the important aspects of hockey and the tournament (i.e. who Gretzky was, the popularity of Crosby and hockey in Canada, the importance of the US v CAN game before the finals). Hopefully the coverage has raised enough eyebrows that the sport gets noticed more and maybe Ten's ONE sport channel can start televising some games ... hopefully? The wide screen and HD is gold for watching a hockey game ... come on ch10!!!

 

[TheStinger]

Who is the best clutch player in the game?

This guy...
<------------------

 

[jimmy_clement#8]

This sorta sums it all up for me, the whole experience, not just the physical hockey fixtures.

Catching a bit of the closing ceremony now, and John Furlong, the head of the Vancouver Olympic Commitee I suppose, in his speech about halfway thru said:

"Alexandre, your first Gold Medal gave us all permission to feel like and behave like champions. Our last one will be remembered for generations."

The reception that last sentence got was immense. Usually you get an applause after each point but this got the most rowdy response, cheering, standing ovation, the works.

He then had to acknowledge the crowd, and stepped away from the podium, giving the audience's actions even more weight, really turning it into one poignant, patriotic moment, that really conveys how the Canadian way of life does indeed turn on the perils of their hockey team.

And then the icing on the very emotional cake, was a "Louuuu" chant from BC Place.

Bugger the nordic stuff, and any other events, this was a hockey tournemant, glorified as some sort of carnival the Greeks apparently evented last millenium.

For Canada didn't win the medal tally with 14 golds, they won the tally with one gold.

 

[Faz 2000]

I love that people like to talk down Sid's tournament... "oh, he was just lucky!".

Yeh, funny how he always seems to be lucky when it freakin' matters most!

No, he didn't dominate, the tournament wasn't "his". But when you look at it, there were several hundred players who did NOT score the OT Gold Medal-winning goal, and one that did and, shoot, guess who it was.