2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

[Goon]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

I sat down with Coach Idalski yesterday and this is what he had to say.

One More, that I posted over on SBN... I have to say UND Women's coach Brian Idalski is a good interview.

[Goon]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

With the refs, for example, there’s no doubt the officiating has been horrible. But it’s been horrible because the refs are inexperience at this level, not because they are women. Women refs have been pushed in way over their heads since the sport first appeared in the Olympics b.c. people felt women ought to be officiating women’s games...

I think in college for instance, the Women's WCHA officials have been brutal, but it's almost like it's become accepted and expected. The refs in the Olympics haven't been any better. No idea why? I wonder if they're getting the proper training?

[OneTimer]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

So, you're mostly looking at male, DIII coaches (with Plumer who recently made the switch to DI). Ok. I don't think I'd pick my Olympic team's coach based on "family background." That really has nothing to do with anything.

Respectfully, with no sense of confrontation here, in this case the Dineen family background does make a big difference. They are a legendary New England hockey family for several generations.

[OnMAA]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Simply do a line by line yearly comparison of the HockeyDB resume of Dineen vs Stone and my point should be clear. Dineen has played in nearly 1200 NHL games before he even started coaching.

WHile I'm not posting to dispute your overall opinion, would like to point out that a "good player" or "player experience" does not necessarily make for a good coach.

The intense amount of work for details, video, practices, bench time, player management an NHL coach coach does in one season far exceeds what ANY collegiate coach does.

You sure about that ?. NHL has more team staff to do this stuff, but that does not mean the Head Coach does more than his/her college counterpart. You could even argue that a college coach with less staff at his/her disposal does more of it themselves.

[OneTimer]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

I created a new thread for this sub topic. I apologize for cluttering up this thread here.

[ARM]

He is a decisive advantage for Team Canada.

I think that is TBD. Does he have more experience with hockey at all levels? Yes. Where he is at a disadvantage is with experience with the 21 players on the rosters of the US and Canada. He inherited a team that was on a winning streak versus the US and looked to be much the better team. Once he took over, his team lost the rest of the head-to-head pre-Olympic exhibitions. I'm not blaming him, because clearly it would take some time to come up to speed with his new team and gain an understanding of his opponents. He has admitted as much in interviews. Now his team has won a game. Does that mean that he is fully up to speed and knows everything there is to know about both teams? I would think he is still learning. He started at a disadvantage, I'm sure that has decreased to a large extent, but it isn't a foregone conclusion that he now has an advantage over another coach that has known some of these players for a decade or more. You may be correct, but it isn't as simple as pointing at a resume.

[OneTimer]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

You sure about that ?. NHL has more team staff to do this stuff, but that does not mean the Head Coach does more than his/her college counterpart. You could even argue that a college coach with less staff at his/her disposal does more of it themselves.

I am very, very, very sure about this.

[ARM]

The refs in the Olympics haven't been any better.

The Olympic refs have been far worse. The WCHA refs are at least familiar with the game they are officiating. The Olympic refs are in over their heads. The ref who was doing the Swiss/Finland game and put five Finnish skaters on the ice even though Finland had a penalty on the clock was an NCAA ref for some time, but I haven't seen her recently.

[Hux]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

They have another obstacle that they have to overcome that most other teams don't. During the Sweden - Japan game Cassie Campbell explained that in a discussion with Carla McLeod (asst. coach Team Japan) McLeod told her that at a team meeting Mcleod asked who believed that they would actually win a game or two (or something to that effect) and not a single player raised her hand.

Maybe more importantly, McLeod was explaining that her players have to overcome a cultural barrier/obstacle in that it is frowned upon in Japan for females to be competitive!! Talk about trying to overcome a stacked deck.

They just deserve that much more respect...because after all, isn't this game really about the empowerment of women?

Which reminds me, as difficult as this may be to believe...and I got this from a high profile Finish player and it certainly shocked me at the time...a similar barrier exists in Finland where, apparently, women playing hockey is also seriously frowned upon.

Given the paucity of rinks in many of these countries I think you can lay money down that a lot of it has to do with trying to ensure little (and big) Mikey gets ice time. In one of my neighboring towns they have no girls town program despite having a plethora of girls who play. The reason given was "they are welcome to play with the boys." The unstated reason that was told to me by a former board member was "we don't want to give up ice to girls teams. Let them go to another town, or a club program if they want to play only with girls."


Unrelated: Anyone else find themselves walking around singing the Underdog theme song the past few days? Can't get it out of my head thanks to the commercial.

[Hux]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Russia up 2-0 in the second on Sweden. Sweden unable to generate much in the way of offense, let alone scoring chances.

[Hux]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Russia 2
Sweden 1 after two.

Sweden picks up the pace and notches a late goal to cut the lead in half.

[ARM]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Referee two zones behind the play calls a phantom hook on Sweden with 5 1/2 to go. She then awards a Russian goal on a play where the linesman called offside, and it takes her two minutes to figure it out. Only AJ was more confused.

[hockey13]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Respectfully, with no sense of confrontation here, in this case the Dineen family background does make a big difference. They are a legendary New England hockey family for several generations.

I hear you. No disrespect to KD or his family. My personal take is that I've seen exceptional people come out of family with no experience, and I've found the opposite to be true. So, if I personally were putting together a list of +/- for a coach, I wouldn't include the success/failure or experience of their forebears. But, that's what makes horse racing...

Fair enough.

[hockey13]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

I think that is TBD. Does he have more experience with hockey at all levels? Yes. Where he is at a disadvantage is with experience with the 21 players on the rosters of the US and Canada. He inherited a team that was on a winning streak versus the US and looked to be much the better team. Once he took over, his team lost the rest of the head-to-head pre-Olympic exhibitions. I'm not blaming him, because clearly it would take some time to come up to speed with his new team and gain an understanding of his opponents. He has admitted as much in interviews. Now his team has won a game. Does that mean that he is fully up to speed and knows everything there is to know about both teams? I would think he is still learning. He started at a disadvantage, I'm sure that has decreased to a large extent, but it isn't a foregone conclusion that he now has an advantage over another coach that has known some of these players for a decade or more. You may be correct, but it isn't as simple as pointing at a resume.

Hopefully we'll get good officiating the next time these two teams meet, and all we'll need to talk about is who coached the better game.

[OnMAA]

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Hopefully we'll get good officiating the next time these two teams meet, and all we'll need to talk about is who coached the better game.

Given the other thread, maybe we may not wanna talk about that either.