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2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

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  • #61
    Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

    For those who didn't read the attached article:

    Kenyan Wilson Kipsang won this year's Berlin Marathon in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 23 seconds — an average of 4:42 per mile. It was easily the fastest marathon time ever recorded, an incredible feat for another powerful Kenyan runner.

    But perhaps equally remarkable was that his fellow Kenyans also came in second, third, fourth and fifth place in this major international race. On the women's side, Kenyans placed first, second and fourth.

    Two weeks later in Chicago, Kenyan runner Dennis Kimetto broke the course record there — after only having run for four years. Next in line behind him? Three more Kenyans.

    "If you look at it statistically, it sort of becomes laughable," says David Epstein, senior editor at Sports Illustrated and author of the new book The Sports Gene.

    He says that while we tend to think of Kenyans as really good distance runners, all these runners are actually from the same tribe of Kenyans known as the Kalenjin. They number around 5 million, making them a small minority, even in Kenya, yet they dominate most of the world's long-distance races.

    "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."


    So because other countries take running seriously but they get seriously beat than it is ok because of international interest?



    UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA WOMEN'S HOCKEY



    WCHA Regular Season Champions:
    WCHA Playoff Champions:
    NCAA Tournament Appearances: 2012
    NCAA Championships:


    http://www.leaderpost.com/sports/Reg...005/story.html

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    • #62
      Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

      Originally posted by northhockey View Post
      So because other countries take running seriously but they get seriously beat than it is ok because of international interest?
      Yeah, taking small sample sizes allows you to prove anything. Let's look back at the Olympics of the recent past.

      2012 Men's Marathon: Gold - Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda); Silver - Abel Kirui (Kenya); Bronze - Wilson Kiprotich (Kenya)
      2008 Men's Marathon: Gold - Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya); Silver - Jaouad Gharib (Morocco); Tsegay Kebede (Ethiopia)
      2004 Men's Marathon: Gold - Stefano Baldidni (Italy); Silver - Mebrahtom Keflezighi (USA); Vanderlei de Lima (Brazil)
      2000 Men's Marathon: Gold - Gezahegne Abera (Ethiopia); Erick Wainaina (Kenya); Tesfaye Tola (Ethiopia)
      1996 Men's Marathon: Gold - Josia Thugwane (South Africa); Lee Bong-Ju (South Korea); Bronze - Erick Wainaina (Kenya)

      If you think that looks anything like what women's hockey has, or says that the sport has been dominated by athletes from one or two countries, you're lying to yourself. If you dig in a little deeper and look at the times what you find is that most of them have been pretty close races.

      If women's hockey fans are determined to feel like the world just has it in for them I suppose I can't stop you but no one is going to be impressed by the pity party. If you want it in the Olympics, then the national sports federations are going to have to step up to keep it there.

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      • #63
        Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

        And the commentators in the game just gave an example of what can't continue if women's hockey is going to remain an Olympic sport. The U.S. and Canadian teams have been centralized for six months. The Swiss team, one of the top four in the world, has been together for a total of 40 days over the last year. And it isn't just the players that are part time. Their coach has a full time job as an operations manager in a factory. The sport isn't sustainable with that sort of disparity between the top two teams and everyone else.

        The age of part time athletes in the Olympics is over.

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        • #64
          Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

          Originally posted by Veritas View Post
          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.
          Poor Comparison. I happen to be very knowledgable on two of the three sports you cited.

          Running is a universal sport, and the Marathon is one of the marquee events of the Olympics. While runners from central and north africa have dominated this sport since the mid-eighties, it involves runners from many countries. In addition the sport has a long and storied history in many countries, including the USA. Inclusion of that sport in the Olympics is a given.

          While the Dutch have dominated the speedskating sport in the longer distances most of the time in the last 40 years, there are many other countries strong in the event, specially the shorter events. Countries like Norway and Russia have a storied history in the sport. The most decorated women in the sport are Lydia Skoblikova, who was involved with the opening ceremonies, from Russia and Claudia Pechstein from Germany. The most decorated skaters amongst the men are Ballangrud, a Norwegian and Thunburg, a Fin. Bottom line is that it is not a sport supper dominated by one or two countries, far from it. (Having said that, the Dutch just swept another event in Sochi)
          Last edited by OnMAA; 02-10-2014, 10:42 AM.

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          • #65
            Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

            Originally posted by Veritas View Post
            Unrelated question - what is with the 2008 WCHA championship. What happened??? Did not see anything about it online.
            In the 2007-2008 season, Minn-Duluth has Iya Gavrilova playing for them from the beginning of the season until the end of January. At that point she was kept off the ice because it had been discovered that she had played 'professionally' in Russia prior. After about a year, the NCAA finally ruled that Duluth had to vacate any wins Gavrilova had been involved in, and in turn vacate their WCHA regular season championship. Duluth was allowed to "keep" their WCHA tourney championship and NCAA championship (because they achieved those without Gavrilova participating). Gavrilova had 41 points in 26 games before being held off the ice.

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            • #66
              Originally posted by Eeyore View Post
              And the commentators in the game just gave an example of what can't continue if women's hockey is going to remain an Olympic sport. The U.S. and Canadian teams have been centralized for six months. The Swiss team, one of the top four in the world, has been together for a total of 40 days over the last year. And it isn't just the players that are part time. Their coach has a full time job as an operations manager in a factory. The sport isn't sustainable with that sort of disparity between the top two teams and everyone else.

              The age of part time athletes in the Olympics is over.
              Really good point.
              Grant Salzano, Boston College '10
              Writer Emeritus, BC Interruption
              Twitter: @Salzano14


              Click here for the BC Interruption Pairwise, KRACH, and GRaNT Calculators

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              • #67
                Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

                During Sunday's broadcast it was reported that Germany is threatening to pull financial support for their women's team if they don't finish at least sixth in the tournament. Most of the European countries seem to expect to get something out of a program into which they've invested very little.
                "... And lose, and start again at your beginnings
                And never breathe a word about your loss;" -- Rudyard Kipling

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                • #68
                  Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

                  Raty still shutting out Canada after two.

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                  • #69
                    Originally posted by OnMAA View Post
                    Raty still shutting out Canada after two.
                    1-0 Agosta on PP
                    ...and whadaya know, it's another freshman...

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      Originally posted by Cali View Post
                      1-0 Agosta on PP
                      2-0 Hefford with a great effort and shot.
                      ...and whadaya know, it's another freshman...

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        Originally posted by Cali View Post
                        2-0 Hefford with a great effort and shot.
                        3-0 Johnston on a great feed from Hefford. That should do it.
                        ...and whadaya know, it's another freshman...

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                        • #72
                          Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

                          Originally posted by Cali View Post
                          3-0 Johnston on a great feed from Hefford. That should do it.
                          Yup two games in and Canada and USA already placed in the semis.

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

                            Originally posted by OnMAA View Post
                            Poor Comparison. I happen to be very knowledgable on two of the three sports you cited.

                            Running is a universal sport, and the Marathon is one of the marquee events of the Olympics. While runners from central and north africa have dominated this sport since the mid-eighties, it involves runners from many countries. In addition the sport has a long and storied history in many countries, including the USA. Inclusion of that sport in the Olympics is a given.

                            While the Dutch have dominated the speedskating sport in the longer distances most of the time in the last 40 years, there are many other countries strong in the event, specially the shorter events. Countries like Norway and Russia have a storied history in the sport. The most decorated women in the sport are Lydia Skoblikova, who was involved with the opening ceremonies, from Russia and Claudia Pechstein from Germany. The most decorated skaters amongst the men are Ballangrud, a Norwegian and Thunburg, a Fin. Bottom line is that it is not a sport supper dominated by one or two countries, far from it. (Having said that, the Dutch just swept another event in Sochi)
                            Difference is also that Hockey is a team sport - 1 or 2 elite athletes may not be enough to effectively compete for a medal.

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                            • #74
                              Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

                              It's not too soon to get up for the game I hope...

                              http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=10430777

                              USA!!
                              Minnesota Hockey

                              Comment


                              • #75
                                Originally posted by OnMAA View Post
                                Poor Comparison. I happen to be very knowledgable on two of the three sports you cited.

                                Running is a universal sport, and the Marathon is one of the marquee events of the Olympics. While runners from central and north africa have dominated this sport since the mid-eighties, it involves runners from many countries. In addition the sport has a long and storied history in many countries, including the USA. Inclusion of that sport in the Olympics is a given.

                                While the Dutch have dominated the speedskating sport in the longer distances most of the time in the last 40 years, there are many other countries strong in the event, specially the shorter events. Countries like Norway and Russia have a storied history in the sport. The most decorated women in the sport are Lydia Skoblikova, who was involved with the opening ceremonies, from Russia and Claudia Pechstein from Germany. The most decorated skaters amongst the men are Ballangrud, a Norwegian and Thunburg, a Fin. Bottom line is that it is not a sport supper dominated by one or two countries, far from it. (Having said that, the Dutch just swept another event in Sochi)
                                The difference lies not in the result itself, but the margin of victory. If the speed skater, Nordic skier, etc. were lapping the field on the way to victory there would be a hue and cry. Win by a decent time and not many will complain.

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