2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

[ARM]

1st, 2nd and 3rd stars of the Switzerland vs Canada game go to Florence Schelling. ...
She simply turned in a tremendous performance.

She did. The disclaimer would be that both of the first two goals that she allowed were a touch soft. Early in the game she was making all of the difficult saves, but she gave up two I'm sure she'd like to have back.

[Blackbeard]

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

On Ouellette's being named captain for Team Canada...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...ticle16406812/

[driventoit]

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

On snow leopards:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/sp...ef=todayspaper


On what snow leopards eat:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/sp...ef=todayspaper

[Skate79]

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

If U.S. & Finland are 1st & 4th in their 4-team pool (or 2nd & 3rd in their pool), then they would play again in the semifinals if the team in the bottom half of the pool wins its quarterfinal - the top half of the pool gets quarterfinal byes. Otherwise they could meet in the gold medal game if they both win semifinals or bronze medal game if they both lose semifinals.

So if you want to maximize the success of Finland & USA, the key is for them to finish 1st & 3rd or 2nd & 4th in the pool then - most likely that means Finland beating Switzerland and U.S. beating Canada.

The U.S.-Canada first game is rather significant, because a win likely means the winner avoiding having to face Raty in a semifinal elimination game.

After watching the US-Finland game last night, it was clear to me that the US has top end speed that Finland just can't match. Yes, Raty is world class and she is very capable of stealing a game. But her D gives her no breathing room - they keep sagging back and that is a prescription for disaster against either the US or Canada. The Finns were gassed by the middle of the second period. You can't beat a team with elite speed by sitting back and waiting for breaks. Not going to happen.

I get that an upset can happen (Turin anyone?) but the US seems dialed in and unless Vetter has a meltdown, I don't see them slipping up. The medal round, well, that's a whole different story.

[robertearle]

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

(not to start a whole 'thing', but...)

During the broadcast of the Russia-Germany game, the announcer Kenny Albert said something about Russian player Iya Gavrilova (I forget exactly how he phrased it) being part of an NCAA championship for Duluth (which is debatable on its own).

It got me wondering...when we tally up the number of players at the Olympics from this school or that school, does Duluth claim Gavrilova as one of their own, or would they rather not mention her/it?

[brookyone]

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

http://dfm.twincities.com/article/ol...68882c3c7267b5

http://dfm.twincities.com/article/ra...ff5c573b023214

Räty.

[Blackbeard]

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

Russia vs Germany and Japan vs Sweden were two extremely entertaining hockey games which have to be positive for the growth of the women's game. Both games were truly remarkable albeit for different reasons. If you didn't see them I strongly recommend watching them if you get the opportunity.

High marks to Cassie Campbell for tossing political correctness out the window and letting her informed opinion all hang out in her colour commentary during those two games.

Quite refreshing.

Actually, her last remarkable comment was the sixth time (yes, I've been counting) since these games began (and it's only been a couple of days) that I have been very surprised, maybe even shocked, to hear brutally honest comments in Canadian coverage, not only with respect to hockey, that I don't think would have been heard a couple of games back. All the power to them...keep up the good work.

Couldn't find an article on the topic to post here but at one point she was discussing the extremely controversial situation with Team Sweden in which a new assistant coach was hired who appears to have usurped power from the head coach. According to the story, he, the assistant coach, chose not to include Sweden's Women's Hockey League's highest scorer on the Olympic Team citing that she was not fit enough. He apparently gave up on her after "they" had worked with her for four years and weren't happy with the outcome. He also chose not to include Elin Holmlov citing that she gets injured too often. He was apparently coaching their U18 team, not sure in which capacity, and has decided to go with younger blood with a view to the future...he basically read them the riot act, because of their lack of success over the last number of years, in an effort to change that record.

His decisions caused such an uproar in Sweden (which is a good thing since it means people there are paying attention and care) that a press conference had to be called for him to explain his decisions. This part is interesting...the head coach didn't attend that press conference!

I've always felt that the behind the scenes stories are often as interesting as the actual games themselves and certainly heighten one's appreciation of the final viewable product. The story above is an example of that as is the one of Erika Grahm, a forward on Team Sweden, who not that long ago was apparently paralyzed from the waist down and it was thought that she may never walk again, never mind skate and play hockey...but here she is, not only playing, but playing on the highest stage possible. Truly amazing.

This is all that I could find on the story...you have to scroll down to read a very brief description of her ordeal.

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/athlete-erika-grahm

[Blackbeard]

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

A recent assessment of Team Canada..."it's a mess".

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/02/05...ahead-of-sochi

[ARM]

… does Duluth claim Gavrilova as one of their own, or would they rather not mention her/it?

Yes they claim her. This link is titled, "Asserholt, Gavrilova Day Two Heroes in Sochi":
http://www.umdbulldogs.com/news/2014/2/8/WHOCKEY_0208141019.aspx

[robertearle]

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

Yes they claim her. This link is titled, "Asserholt, Gavrilova Day Two Heroes in Sochi":
http://www.umdbulldogs.com/news/2014...208141019.aspx

In the meantime, I looked at their website; and on the page where they list all their championships, they have an asterisk next to 2008 for 'WCHA regular season champs', but they don't mention what the asterisk is for.

So I guess I shouldn't be surprised...

http://www.umdbulldogs.com/sports/20...x?path=whockey

[CrazyDave]

In the meantime, I looked at their website; and on the page where they list all their championships, they have an asterisk next to 2008 for 'WCHA regular season champs', but they don't mention what the asterisk is for.

So I guess I shouldn't be surprised...

http://www.umdbulldogs.com/sports/20...x?path=whockey

What's the point of vacating a title if you're still going to claim it? That's just not right.

[Veritas]

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

I fail to understand the talk of dropping womens hockey because of US-Camada dominance. Will the summer Olympics drop the marathon due to dominance by Kenyans and Tanzanians. Will long track speed skating be droppeddue to too many Dutch medals. Maybe drop cross country skiing due to Norwegian and Swedish dominance. Some nations excel at some sports and some nations excel at others.

Unrelated question - what is with the 2008 WCHA championship. What happened??? Did not see anything about it online.

(Apology for lack of apostrophes - the key on my laptop is broken)

[Golden Tuuk]

I fail to understand the talk of dropping womens hockey because of US-Camada dominance. Will the summer Olympics drop the marathon due to dominance by Kenyans and Tanzanians. Will long track speed skating be droppeddue to too many Dutch medals. Maybe drop cross country skiing due to Norwegian and Swedish dominance.

Poor comparisons. There have been eight women's Olympic marathons, the winners have come form six different countries. The skiing had so many different countries represented I didn't want to count. So whatever.

If nothing changes, no one else comes close, I could see the Olympics taking a look at some changes.

[northhockey]

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

Poor comparisons. There have been eight women's Olympic marathons, the winners have come form six different countries. The skiing had so many different countries represented I didn't want to count. So whatever.

If nothing changes, no one else comes close, I could see the Olympics taking a look at some changes.

It shouldn't matter whether its a team or individual sport. Kenya has dominated the art of running for years and there is no talk of change...

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2...s-best-runners



"There are 17 American men in history who have run under 2:10 in the marathon," Epstein says. "There were 32 Kalenjin who did it in October of 2011."

[Eeyore]

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

It isn't just that only two teams have won the gold. It's that the gap between them and everyone else is enormous. And then there's another big gap between #6 and #7 (and maybe after #3, too). A couple of scores were close in the first round of games, one in each pool, but the play wasn't. That Japan lost by only one was something of a miracle given how they struggled to generate any offense.

Above and beyond the competition, though, is the resource level. If the German team doesn't finish at least sixth (and I don't see that happening), they lose their funding. The commitment by Sweden is way down, too. I get the sense that it's waning a bit in Finland but don't have anything to base that on. Russia put a lot into their team but who knows whether that lasts beyond being the host.

Women's hockey cannot survive as an Olympic sport if there's only three countries taking it seriously. If the Germans and the Swedes keep pulling back, it's done. And I have a hard time saying that the IOC would be wrong in dumping it if there isn't more commitment to it. They could devote the space women's hockey takes up to sports that the world actually supports.