Sochi Olympics 2014

Waitsian

GvidoR wrote: »

Go team Latvia. :P

I'm cheering for Sweden. I grew up in Hamilton in the 70s and my Dad used take me to the Gardens to watch Borje Salming (amongst others of course - Sittler, Palmateer, McDonald, Turnbull to name just a few!). He was my first sporting hero. I've had a soft spot for Sweden ever since.

Paco Rodriguez

I'm shouting for Slovakia!!! Because my friends are Slovak.

I'm really looking forward to it!

smackbunnybaby

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

I'm shouting for Slovakia!!! Because my friends are Slovak.

I'm really looking forward to it!

Here is the squad! Plenty of NHL names. Though Visnovsky and Gaborik might not play...

G Peter Budaj
G Jaroslav Halák
G Ján Laco

D Ivan Baranka
D Zdeno Chára – C
D Dominik Graňák
D Martin Marinčin
D Andrej Meszároš
D Andrej Sekera
D Michal Sersen
D Ľubomír Višňovský

F Milan Bartovič
F Marián Gáborík
F Michal Handzuš
F Marcel Hossa
F Marián Hossa
F Tomáš Jurčo
F Tomáš Kopecký
F Tomáš Marcinko
F Michel Miklík
F Peter Ölvecký
F Richard Pánik
F Tomáš Surový
F Tomáš Tatar
F Tomáš Záborský

GvidoR

Marcel Hossa from Dinamo Riga is playing in the olympics too, awesome.

smackbunnybaby

GvidoR wrote: »

Go team Latvia. :P

Here is their squad. Can't say I know many of them...other than the young forward for Buffalo..

G

Edgars Masaļskis
Kristers Gudļevskis
Ervīns Muštukovs

D

Artūrs Kulda
Oskars Bārtulis
Ralfs Freibergs
Sandis Ozoliņš
Arvīds Reķis
Krišjānis Rēdlihs
Kristaps Sotnieks
Georgijs Pujacs

F

Jānis Sprukts
Kaspars Daugaviņš
Mārtiņš Karsums
Ronalds Ķēniņš
Miķelis Rēdlihs
Vitālijs Pavlovs
Armands Bērziņš
Lauris Dārziņš
Mārtiņš Cipulis
Juris Štāls
Miks Indrašis
Herberts Vasiļjevs
Zemgus Girgensons
Koba Jass

GvidoR

Daugaviņš played for Bruins and Senators.
Ozoliņš played for Sharks, Devils, Hurricanes...
Karsums played for Lightning
Girgensons playing for Sabres
Gudļevskis the goaltender is playing for Syracuse Crunch of AHL
Indrašis is one of team leaders in KHL

^ They're the best players of the list.

smackbunnybaby

Stamkos will not play at Olympics!

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/steven-stamkos-will-not-play-for-team-canada-at-2014-olympics/

COYW

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

Stamkos will not play at Olympics!

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/steven-stamkos-will-not-play-for-team-canada-at-2014-olympics/

Such a shame. I can't think of one hockey fan who wouldn't want to see a player of his calibre play at the Olympics. He'll be back on the ice for the Bolts after the break which is great for hockey fans in general but bad news if you have to play against him.

smackbunnybaby

Watching him and Crosby on the same line would have been so amazing.

Canada are now in an awful poistion of having to find a replacment, will it be Claude Giroux (probably) or Martin St. Louis?

COYW

smackbunnybaby wrote: »

Watching him and Crosby on the same line would have been so amazing.

Canada are now in an awful poistion of having to find a replacment, will it be Claude Giroux (probably) or Martin St. Louis?

I'd go for Claude Giroux out of those two. I think it would be a mistake for team Canada not to call him up, even at this late stage.

scottmcb04

think they announced earlier that st louis has been called up...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/martin-st-louis-to-replace-stamkos-on-team-canada/article16725085/

canada have left 2 of the top 15 points scorers in the nhl out of their olympic roster! (thornton and giroux)

*Henrik Sedin out for sweden

COYW

scottmcb04 wrote: »

think they announced earlier that st louis has been called up...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/martin-st-louis-to-replace-stamkos-on-team-canada/article16725085/

canada have left 2 of the top 15 points scorers in the nhl out of their olympic roster! (thornton and giroux)

Shocking that they would call in St. Louis ahead of Claude Giroux. St Louis is a fine hockey pro but Giroux is from the top shelf of the NHL.

Absoluvely

Switzerland (men) just beat Latvia 1 - 0 with the goal after 59:52 :eek:

Leaving it late

Official event webpage here.

GvidoR

Un-freakin-believable. I want to cry.

GvidoR

Crazy hockey today.

Finland 8 : 4 Austria
USA 7 : 1 Slovakia
Russia 5 : 2 Slovenia

PerrinV2

Hey guys,watching a bit the ice hockey at Sochi,don't know a whole lot about the sport.
Few questions though
How strong of a team have the usa/canada sent over for the games?
As in would the best players from the nfl be there?
Also how important is Gold to the likes of usa/canada/russia

scottmcb04

PerrinV2 wrote: »

Hey guys,watching a bit the ice hockey at Sochi,don't know a whole lot about the sport.
Few questions though
How strong of a team have the usa/canada sent over for the games?
As in would the best players from the nfl be there?
Also how important is Gold to the likes of usa/canada/russia

Yeah they have sent nearly there best teams over there, any of the really good players that have been left behind, were left behind because they are too small/slow for the bigger international ice(wider rink)

Home team obviously have the biggest want for it, russia and canada are massive hockey countries so they obviously want it... usa a bit less i would think, but it seems to be the crowning glory of the winter olympics(always the last event) so i would assume they all want it...

GvidoR

This the first time Slovenian team qualified for winter olympics.

Everyone wants the medals though, ofcourse. What kind of a team would it be if their motivational speech was something like: "Okay, let's go lose a bunch of games and get one of the last places!" ?

PerrinV2 wrote: »

As in would the best players from the nfl be there?

American football is not in the olympics. :P

Stheno

scottmcb04 wrote: »

Yeah they have sent nearly there best teams over there, any of the really good players that have been left behind, were left behind because they are too small/slow for the bigger international ice(wider rink)

Home team obviously have the biggest want for it, russia and canada are massive hockey countries so they obviously want it... usa a bit less i would think, but it seems to be the crowning glory of the winter olympics(always the last event) so i would assume they all want it...

I was working in Canada recently, they live and die by the ice hockey results! I became a massive fan while there, it's a super game

A lot of foreign players in the nfl though, they had a routine in the past few games I was there where they called out players attending the olympics and a fair few were non Canadian/US

scottmcb04

GvidoR wrote: »

Everyone wants the medals though, ofcourse. What kind of a team would it be if their motivational speech was something like: "Okay, let's go lose a bunch of games and get one of the last places!" ?

ha the last place playoff would be epic, 6 on 6 hockey, and a end scoreline of about 36-35...

PerrinV2

GvidoR wrote: »

This the first time Slovenian team qualified for winter olympics.

Everyone wants the medals though, ofcourse. What kind of a team would it be if their motivational speech was something like: "Okay, let's go lose a bunch of games and get one of the last places!" ?



American football is not in the olympics. :P

Well I meant I didn't know how serious the games were to Nhl(got it right this time) players,there was a time when NBA players were selected for the olympics,they elected not to go.

Stheno

PerrinV2 wrote: »

Well I meant I didn't know how serious the games were to Nhl(got it right this time) players,there was a time when NBA players were selected for the olympics,they elected not to go.

Definitely changed given my experience of being in Canada and them calling out international players prior to the beginning of the match, they called out six from each team every time I saw it.

Winter Olympics were huge in Canada

Izy

where are you guys watching the games??? streams???

PerrinV2

Izy wrote: »

where are you guys watching the games??? streams???

They're on bbc 2

carnie

The Russkis are on a mad one after the game against the Yanks

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/winter-olympics/9733708/Ice-hockey-controversy-reignites-cold-war

I do find it strange that an american ref was used for it.. Is this common practice with the IIHF?

GvidoR

Wow, Slovenia is going to quarterfinal... and this is their first time in olympics.

cena

I,m surprised england never have a hockey team playing in the games.

GvidoR

cena wrote: »

I,m surprised england never have a hockey team playing in the games.

They haven't qualified since 1952.

But, they did get a gold medal in 1936 and a bronze in 1924.

cena

GvidoR wrote: »

They haven't qualified since 1952.

But, they did get a gold medal in 1936 and a bronze in 1924.

With the hockey league over there surely they have good enough players to qualify. It is a petty really

GvidoR

cena wrote: »

With the hockey league over there surely they have good enough players to qualify. It is a petty really

Well, if they did, they would have qualified. They did play last year for a chance to play in Olympics, but they just didn't do well enough.