Thursday Olympiad

Yinzers,

Let me start off by saying yours truly does not like to miss class. However, this morning I hit 'dismiss' rather than 'snooze' on my alarm clock and ended up sleeping through my 8:00am class. Believe it or not, a first in my four year scholastic career. What bites the most? It is a gym class that I enjoy...it's not like a mindless, pointless gen ed class. So I am a little frustrated this morning. Enough about that, there was some hockey played recently, wasn't there?

First off, this Olympiad's men's hockey tournament will be one of the toughest in years. History shows that the best teams are always Canada, Russia and Finland. This year, however, expect big things from other teams such as USA, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The depth of the field is amazing this year, although Canada is still by far the team to beat and is the most well-rounded crew. The most talented offensive team will be Russia with its finesse; the most talented defensive team will be the USA with their fisticuffs style play; the most technically sound team will be Finland with their stone-cold discipline; the dark horse will either be Sweden behind the goal tending of King Henrik Lundqvist or Czech/Slovakia due to a shock factor.


The tournament opened on Tuesday with a game between your team USA, including Pen's defenseman Brooks Orpik, and team Switzerland. Switzerland played surprisingly well compared to years past. On the whole, the Swiss did not play like cheese, but played very good team defense and got help from their goal tender Jonas Hiller of the Anaheim Ducks. Bobby Ryan, also of the Anaheim Ducks opened the scoring late in the first when he rifled a shot by his NHL team mate off a Swiss turnover. The second period was all USA. The stars and bars put two home in the second off the sticks of St. Louis' David Backes, who just undressed Jonas Hiller after blowing by the Swiss defense, and a power play goal from Pittsburgher andTampa Bay Lightning Ryan Malone on the power play with an assist to the Nashville Predators' Ryan Suter. Switzerland did put one home at 9:45 in the third period from Roman Wick on the power play with assists from Hnat Domenichelli and the New York Islanders' Mark Streit. The big difference in the play of the teams was the physical presence of the young team USA. Team democracy was throwing their weight around, especially our boy Brooks Orpik. If they can keep it up and keep out of the box, they may have a good chance to medal this year. Final for this one 3-1 USA. USA's next games are today at 3:00pm eastern time against Norway and Sunday at 7:30pm eastern against Canada.

Team Canada, a.k.a. team Cannonade, also took the ice on Tuesday. This one was fun to watch and "thanks for showing up Norway." Although there was no scoring in the first period, this game was all Canada. Canada's entire roster is NHL players, the only team that can say so in this tournament. Canada's second period goals: Calgary Flames' Jarome Iginla from Penguins' Sidney Crosby and the LA Kings' Drew Doughty; San Jose Sharks' Dany Heatley from Philthadelphia Flyers' Chris Pronger and fellow Shark Joe Thornton; Philthadelphia Flyers' Mike Richards from Boston Bruins' Patrice Bergeron and Nashville Predators' Shea Weber. The third period was no better for the Norwegians. Canada's third period goals: Anaheim Ducks' Ryan Getzlaf from fellow Duck Scott Niedermayer and Chicago Blackhawks' Jonathan Toews; Dany Heatley (2nd of the game) on the power play from fellow Sharks Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle; Jarome Iginla (2nd of the game) from Columbus Blue Jackets' Rich "Nashty" Nash and your Sidney Crosby; Anaheim Ducks' Corey Perry from Carolina Hurricanes' Eric Staal and San Jose Sharks' Dan Boyle; Jarome Iginla (hat trick) from Rick Nash and Sidney Crosby. When this game was all said and done, the final score was 8-0 with 15 different Canadians registering points. They are THAT good. Big controversy in net, however. Marty Brodeur wants to start every game, but time will be split between Vancouver Canucks' Roberto Luongo, Penguins' Marc-Andre Fleury and the Devils' Marty Brodeur. We'll see how that all plays out. Canada's next games are today at 7:30pm eastern time against Switzerland and Sunday at 7:30pm eastern time against USA.

This is an awkward picture, but get used to it for the next couple weeks. Russia opened up the tournament with the night cap against Latvia. Russia, the tourney's most entertaining offensive team, started early at 2:35 with a goal from Danis Zaripov from Washington Capitals' Sergei Fedorov and Atlanta Thrashers' Ilya Nikulin. Also scoring in the first: Nashville Predators' Alexander Radulov from Sergei Fedorov and Phoenix Coyotes' Dmitri Kalinin; Washington Capitals' Alexander Ovechkin from fellow Capital Alexander Semin. The only goal in the second period came off the stick of your Pengins' Evgeni Malkin on the power play with assists from Atlanta Thrashers' Maxim Afinogenov and New Jersey Devils' Ilya Kovalchuk. Third period goals: Latvia's Herberts Vasiljevis from Aleksandrs Nizivijs and Martins Cipulis; Alexander Ovechkin (2nd) from Detroit Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk; Danis Zaripov (2nd) from Sergei Zinoviev; Ilya Kovalchuk from your Evgeni Malkin and Columbus Blue Jackets' Fedor Tyutin; Latvia's Girts Ankipans from Janis Sprukts and Martins Karsums; Former Penguin Alexei Morozov from Montreal Canadiens' Andrei Markov. All said and done, Russia comes out on top 8-2. Russia's next games are tonight at midnight against Slovakia and Sunday at 3:00pm eastern time against the Czech Republic.


In other games, Finland topped Belarus 5-1. Goals for the game: FIN-Calgary Flames' Niklas Hagman (2), New York Rangers' Olli Jokinen, Ottawa Senators' Jarkko Ruutu, Detroit Red Wings' Valtteri Filppula; BLR-Montreal Canadiens' Sergei Kostitsyn.
Sweden defeated Germany 2-0. Goals came from Tampa Bay Lightning's Mattias Ohlund, Dallas Stars' Loui Eriksson.
Civil unrest as the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 3-1. Goals: CZK-New Jersey Devils' Patrik Elias, Jaromir "Jagoff" Jagr, Montreal Canadiens' Tomas Plekanec; SLV-New York Rangers' Marion Gaborik.


On the women's side, the USA and Canada just kill teams. That's all there is to say. I would love to go in depth, but it would take too long. Therefore, I'll just report scores. Robert Morris University's Brianne Mclaughlin is the netminder for the USA. So far in two games, team USA is 2-0 with a 12-1 win over China and a 13-0 win over Russia. Like I said, Canada is also rolling in women's hockey with two wins of their own. Canada opened up a can on Slovakia 18-0 with shots 64-9 in favor of the Canadians and a second win 10-1 over Switzerland. USA and Canada will no doubt be the gold medal game.
The ladies start their final tournament tomorrow, games TBA.

There's your hockey fix kids.

U-S-A,
B Brog