The Official Olympic Hockey Thread

[Gaucho]

Well, there's good energy and bad energy, just like there's good art and bad art.

[Chefpatrick871]

Someone on TSN called Rick Nash an "energy player".

LOLOLOLOLOL they should be fired.

Maybe if the other players kill and eat him, thus his calories becoming energy for them.

[llipgh2]

Another day, another potential threat. I just can't shake the feeling something really horrible is going to happen during the Olympics.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/09/world/eur ... ?hpt=hp_t2

[Lt. Dish]

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/102 ... -questions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BONUS OLYMPICS QUESTION: Who's going to win men's hockey gold at the Sochi Games?

If the hockey gods had a sense of humor: Team USA loses a heartbreaker to Finland on a late goal by mysterious newcomer Böbbii Ryaan.

[pittsports87]

Bylsma has the more control over these Olympics than anyone. He has best player from both Canada and Russia on his NHL team. In the weeks leading up to the games he needs to begin sabotaging those teams by giving each of those guys 30+ minutes a game and making them work like dogs in practice. Tire them both out so they struggle during the tournament giving team USA an advantage. Gold or bust!

[columbia]

Bylsma hates foreigners.

[Staggy]

Anyone know when teams will start naming their captains?

[Beveridge]

Honorary Captain Team USA: Deryk Engelland

[llipgh2]

Disco is going to sneak Engo and Adams into Sochi in equipment bags.

[André]

1. What country is the odds on favorite?
2. What country has a sleeper team?
3. What country is going to overachieve?
4. What country is going to underachieve?
5. Who are the top 4 (Gold - Silver - Bronze - 4th)?
6. That worst team in the Olympics will be?

1: Canada
2: Well the big four are expected to be great so I'll say Czech Republic.
3: Finland. It's what they've done so far since the NHL paused for the Olympics.
4: Russia. Bottom six and defense won't cut it.
5: Canada, Usa, Sweden, Russia. That's the big four on paper. Has been and will be for a while it seems.
6: Not Switzerland. That's not going out on a limb at all, however.

[André]

Nothing new here (I'm sure most people have seen posted suggestions) but can't resist mentioning my suggestion for Canada 2.

St Louis - Giroux – Neal
Eberle - Thornton – Hall
Seguin - E. Staal – Skinner
Burns – Spezza – Couture
Little, Ladd, Nugent-Hopkins, Doan, Lucic, Mackinnon

Letang – Phaneuf
Seabrook – Garrison
Green – Campbell
Beauchemin, Giordano, Boyle

Fleury
Brodeur
Crawford
Bernier

Haven't given thought to composition. Those defensive pairings are all about offense, for example. Great fun looking at the sick depth, however.

[André]

And thanks Mikey287 for the Swe-prediction. They can be overlooked by american fans. I'm definitely picking them before Russia.

On paper my ranking is probably:

Canada
Sweden
USA
Russia
Czech Republic
Finland
Slovakia
Switzerland
Whatever

About Finland's goalie depth I agree it's great depth of course, but what does it matter? I've seen it mentioned as a big factor in predicting tournament success for them. They might have success, of course, but it won't be because of four good starters. You need one. Two is nice but not necessary unless you're unlucky. Having three our four doesn't matter whatsoever.

[columbia]

FWIW:

My upstairs neighbor is driving to Tampa today to work on viral video for Stamkos.
Something about him emerging from a zamboni and destroying a couple matryoshka dolls with some slappers....and announcing he'll be ready for the Olympics.

[mikey287]

Cool!

[columbia]

Code: Select all

Date 	Game 	Time (ET) 	Live TV
Wed, Feb. 12 	Czech Republic vs. Sweden 	12 p.m. 	USA
Wed, Feb. 12 	Latvia vs. Switzerland 	12 p.m. 	MSNBC
Thu, Feb. 13 	Finland vs. Austria 	3 a.m. 	NBCSN
Thu, Feb. 13 	Russia vs. Slovenia 	7:30 a.m. 	MSNBC
Thu, Feb. 13 	Slovakia vs. United States 	7:30 a.m. 	NBCSN
Thu, Feb. 13 	Canada vs. Norway 	12 p.m. 	USA
Fri, Feb. 14 	Czech Republic vs. Latvia 	3 a.m. 	MSNBC
Fri, Feb. 14 	Sweden vs. Switzerland 	7:30 a.m. 	NBCSN
Fri, Feb. 14 	Canada vs. Austria 	12 p.m. 	USA
Fri, Feb. 14 	Norway vs. Finland 	12 p.m. 	MSNBC
Sat, Feb. 15 	Slovakia vs. Slovenia 	3 a.m. 	MSNBC
Sat, Feb. 15 	United States vs. Russia 	7:30 a.m. 	NBCSN
Sat, Feb. 15 	Switzerland vs. Czech Republic 	12 p.m. 	NBCSN
Sat, Feb. 15 	Sweden vs. Latvia 	12 p.m. 	USA
Sun, Feb. 16 	Austria vs. Norway 	3 a.m. 	USA
Sun, Feb. 16 	Russia vs. Slovakia 	7:30 a.m. 	USA
Sun, Feb. 16 	Slovenia vs. United States 	7:30 a.m. 	NBCSN
Sun, Feb. 16 	Finland vs. Canada 	12 p.m. 	USA

http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2014/1/9/52 ... 2014-sochi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MRandall25]

My class schedule is not conducive to watching the games during the week

[columbia]

Nor is my work schedule.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

Nor is my sleep schedule.

[dodint]

Is having a DVR viewed as some kind of exotic technology here? I guess as an F1 fan I'm conditioned to time-shifting sporting events, but it seems like a no brainer. Watch whenever you want and you can skip NBC patting themselves on the back constantly with the self-promos by skipping the commercials. It's actually how I watch every Pens game, too. Which is why I almost never post in the GDT till after its over.

[llipgh2]

I can't watch sporting events on DVR. I have to know the real time outcome.

[dodint]

So you'd rather miss an entire game to watch another game since they're on at the same time on different networks?

In my case, it's most noticable here:

Sun, Feb. 16 Russia vs. Slovakia 7:30 a.m. USA
Sun, Feb. 16 Slovenia vs. United States 7:30 a.m. NBCSN

I intend to watch every Slovak, Czech, US, and probably Canadian game. With a DVR I can do that while going to work 40 hours a week and can still watch every game the day it happened with no commercials, it's basically the same way I watched World Juniors. I can tell already that my nights will consist of me getting home at 4:30pm and watching a wall of hockey for a few hours every night, and I'll do it with out Bob Costas going on about how awesome he is. It's great.

The only downside is I won't be able to lurk here during the day as much if I want to avoid spoilers. I get that you don't want to rush out and get a DVR if you don't have one already, I guess I'm just surprised how many people don't have them. You could do the same thing with VHS too if it really came to that.

[JoseCuervo]

So you'd rather miss an entire game to watch another game since they're on at the same time on different networks?

No. She'd rather not watch a game where the outcome was already determined.

If I told you the US beat Canada 3-1 for the gold medal, would you still watch the game? Sure, but it won't be near as exciting.

[dodint]

I'll assume you meant spolied rather than determined. Because if you're not watching certain games because you think you know how they'll turn out, why watch any of them.

I'm just used to time-shifting sporting events so I'm decent at not getting a game spoiled. You can watch an NFL game and not find out the score of a concurrent game if you're trying. I'll have to see how NBC handles these games. Basically if the announcers don't say it outright you can avoid spoiling Game B while watching Game A. And then when you're watching Game B you don't have to watch on the defensive because you already know. NBC was absolutely god awful at spoiling their own tape delays for the summer games so hopefully they'll learn from that. The bottom line for me is that actively watching with a DVR takes a little more effort, but ultimately I enjoy the experience better because I get to see more hockey in less time. Some people like to watch commercials, sit through intermissions, read the forum in real time, and twitter during live games because of the mystique of enjoying a live event, and thats great. I just take the other mentality of "If I haven't seen it, it's new to me!" If the medal games are on at a normal time I'll probably watch them live, or near-live by starting about 45 minutes late and catching up in the 3rd period.

To each their own.

[llipgh2]

So you'd rather miss an entire game to watch another game since they're on at the same time on different networks?

No. She'd rather not watch a game where the outcome was already determined.

If I told you the US beat Canada 3-1 for the gold medal, would you still watch the game? Sure, but it won't be near as exciting.

This.

And as you said, dodint, to each his/her own.

[JoseCuervo]

I'll assume you meant spolied rather than determined.

Just because you don't know something doesn't mean it didn't happen.