Here we mourn the losses of our beloved Olympic Men's Hockey teams
 

From the creme de la creme to crap ... yay Canada & US. Sorry, not impressed.

Your thoughts?

Re: Here we mourn the loss of our beloved Olympic Men's Hockey teams
 

Uh, let's just say that if we were playing for money on NHL 2006 right now, I'd probably take Sweden or the Czech Republic - so I guess it's not a total surprise.

After the loss to the Swiss, I didn't have much confidence in Team Canada. I had a little bit and was hoping they could pull it out, but I was wrong.

It's sad day in Canada.

first off maybe if we ignore them they will go away...or at least find another board that wont get shut down again

secondly the US hockey program is a disappointment, 1-4-1 in the Olympics is sad for any US program we should be no worse than the 2nd or 3rd best team in the world year after year. This country has more than enough resources to make that happen, but yet we can never do it.

sorry, I like posting on here.

US Hockey will never be greater than four or five. And no, we don't have the resources. 3/4 of the US doesn't stay iced over and snowy like the hockey power nations.

C'mon man, 80% of the NHL is made up of foreigners.

Furthermore, the US doesnt give a rats about hockey. It is second tier compared with baseball, football, basketball, golf, nascar......


Hockey is all some countries have.

The problem is the rest of the world is getting better and we're not improving our hockey programs to stay on top.

Secondly (and this is a personal opinion) you can't have Pat Quinn as the head coach. When he's the head coach he coaches them like they're the maple leafs and we all know how well they play!

The only thing is the relative size difference (which is at least 10fold) between the US and the other nations - and while the % foreigners in the US is going up, it's still primarily a North American league.

I agree though, youth hockey programs pretty much eat ass in the states - I grew up in a cold-weather climate, and we couldn't even field one team for every high school, some were combined . . .

Honestly....I'm more concerned with how we represent in Baseball and Basketball (American sports) than Hockey ( commie sport) in the Olympics. I'm really stoked for the WBC this spring.

As one of the biggest baseball nerds on the Earth, I'm def down for the WBC - but so many players are begging out, it'll be about 80% of what I want it to be. That's all we have, though - no baseball in the Olympics at least through 2012 . . .

Do you agree with the thought that removing baseball and softball from the olympics is an attempt by the old guard europeans to remove sports that are dominated by New World countries? I have a feeling that if Euro basketball leagues were akin to US soccer, basketball would be out as well.

I thought a part of it was that Major League Baseball wouldn't release their big stars to take part in the summer games (much the same problems occurring with the WBC). I could be wrong on that, though.

Does anyone think there would have been a difference if either the Canadian or US team had the opportunity to play together as a real team prior to the Olympics? With the NHL schedule and weather complications, some of these guys got to Torino a day or two before their first game. I don't think that's enough time to get a team going, even if they are supposed to be the top players in each country.

Is it worth it to have NHL players on your Olympic team? Or is this just a failed experiment and time to revert back to your top juniors instead?

Uh, check the rosters for the actual best teams . . . while playing together may have helped the Swiss, it probably didn't help the actual good teams.

This may be a factor, but in a more subtle fashion - I think it's tough to field enough teams to have a real competition . . . look at the dreck in the WBC, then compare that to World Cup qualifying rounds. This removes the onus to actively promote the sport via the Olympics, especially when so many established 'suits' don't care at all about them.

FWIW, softball might be back in 2012.

-RC
--Double-posts are the new black

I was Production Manager for the Baseball venue at Fulton County Stadium during the Atlanta Olympics.

You just ain't lived until you've seen the Netherlands play Poland.

The WBC is going to be fun...I have seen the rosters for the US and we have a very strong team...however, the south american teams will destroy us. Playing college baseball myself...it amazes me at how much higher a level the dominicans and puerto ricans play on.

I bet you mean central american . . . Argentina sucks.

Even then, with the strict pitch counts, only the Dominican might have any edge over the US - check the online books, but I'd prob take the US at the current odds to win the whole thing.

So since Manny supposedly withdrew, do you think he'll actually show up at spring training?

He is supposed to report March 3.......the Red Sox claim he is doing a strength and conditoning camp in florida

He's actually supposed to report March 1st. But with Manny, what he's supposed to do and what he actually does aren't always the same thing!

Stop being such a Masshole.

He'll be there, he'll do what he does every year (.300/.400/.550, 40, 140), blah blah blah, you sound like that fuck shaughnessey.

When was the last time Manny just didn't show up? Seriously. He's asked to be traded, he's been weird, he's flown by himself, and he's jogged out grounders - but he's NEVER not shown up, and NEVER not performed. Masshole, dude - don't do it.

I guess if that means hitting .320 with 40 HR and 135 RBI isn't what you are supposed to do.

Which is what makes him so entertaining to watch and read about. He was the only person on the sox besides Ortiz (or is it Mo Vaughn) that had me worried last year in the first round.

Plus its a good time to use the term vorp

After being very involved with the World Jrs this year & spending time with the players (media relations), my vote is for the Olympic teams revert back to having the best junior players ... let the NHL players focus on their careers & give the juniors the chance to step up.

My $.02.

I, for one, want the Olympics to be about the true amateurs, to the greatest extent possible ... call me an idealist, whatever ... I believe in the vision that de Coubertin had back in 1896.

I love you, Rob.

He'll be there eventually, and he'll end up with his usual MVP season. At this point, with him, I don't think it matters.