Archive for February, 2010

Turn your head and Nabokov.  Now I know why San Jose chokes in the playoffs year in and year out.  When it comes to big games, Evgeni Nabokov is just plain terrible. In the two game’s he’d played, he was awesome. You couldn’t ask for anything more from him. In this game, all you could ask of him was to leave early. But no, the stubborn, and unprepared, Russian coach didn’t make any changes when there was still a chance.  I don’t care how early it was in the game, but a 2-0 deficit and a team playing nonchalantly needed [...]

Through a series of unfortunate events, Canada meets Russia a few rounds too early. As I’ve said before, there are other worthy teams that have more than a legitimate chance.  However, these two feature the most stars, and would make for the best final matchup.  Instead, each team was upset in the round robin, and the seeding system has paired them together a bit early.  Now, only one will have a chance for any medal. Both fanbases are cautiously optimistic, because each teams seems to have clicked after the last game that each played. However, the talent level is so [...]

Mike Richards – A standout player on the Flyers and in the NHL overall, but not on this national team.  Richards had one goal in the first game, and has registered 0 points since then.  He hasn’t gotten a ton of minutes, and a quick experiment playing with Crosby yielded no results.  As the level of competition for Canada got tougher, the entire team struggled, so it’s not just him.  However, like everyone else there, he was selected for a reason.  While he’s more than capable of being a scorer, that’s not his role here.  He does not have to [...]

What a great Sunday this should be! We have three straight blockbuster games lined up.  Russia-Czech Republic, USA-Canada, and Finland-Sweden. Game 1: Jaromir Jagr has been playing out of his mind, and proving on almost every shift that he left the NHL because he wanted to, not because he couldn’t play.  He’s just as strong, and just as smart as always.  He remains a threat to take over any game.  However, Russia contains more than enough firepower to counteract that.  But they’ll have to get through the left wing lock first.  The Czechs used it to perfection in the ’98 [...]

As of this writing, half of the teams have played 2 games. And right now, there are two pervading themes to this tournament: the favorites have not pulled away from the pack, and goaltending rules.  Case in point: Canada needed a shootout to beat Switzerland, and Russia lost in a shootout to Slovakia.  Meanwhile, the US has taken advantage of Canada’s stumble and sits atop their group. I haven’t been able to watch every game, so here’s a quick review of what I have seen: Jonas Hiller is incredible. I don’t see many Ducks games, so the Giguere trade shocked [...]

There are plenty of popular events at the Winter Olympics, but only one of those sports actually has a significant following: ice hockey. So while I am a little biased because I love hockey, I think this is the most important event, and many people in the host country would agree.  Honestly, how many people would tune into curling on a regular basis, and how many people watch figure skating every time it’s on tv? Answer: very, very few people care about those “sports”.  Also, it’s the only competition in which teams literally go head to head, as opposed to [...]

Four seconds into the game, Laperriere fought O’Byrne, dropping the bigger man (4″ height advantage) with a clean hook.  The knockout punch was just a precursor of how the game would go. The Flyers played inspired hockey from the get-go, taking a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Leading the way were Briere, Carter and Richards.  In the second, Montreal got one back before a shorthanded breakaway goal from Betts, and Briere’s second extended the lead.Gomez cut the lead to 5-2, before Briere went on a breakaway and was tripped up.  He iced the penalty shot, completing the hat trick [...]

In the last two games, it was the Flyers that had to crawl back from a deficit to win games. This time, they took a lead and had to hold onto it. A mad scramble near the end of the first period lead to a goal after Carter poked the puck and it trickled in. Then, early in the second period, Carter let go a decent slapshot from the point that snuck through Carey Price’s pads.  Two minutes later, Matt Carle took a shot from the point that hit a Canadien and went in.  The Flyers played smothering defense, and seemed in [...]