Olympic Hockey: USA beats Norway 6-1
Just a quick update since, surprisingly, there wasn't one earlier. Rafalski had 2 goals in the last 2 minutes and Jack Johnson had an assist. He deked 2 defenders back to back to get a shot off and Malone knocked in the rebound.
There are some other matchups tonight like Canada vs Switzerland which if Canada plays anything like they did against Norway it will be a blowout.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:28 PM ^
I've always wondered why Norway isn't much of a hockey country, when its two neighbors to the east (Sweden and Finland) are hotbeds.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:31 PM ^
Yeah, eat it you beautiful Norwegian women! USA, USA!
Who has the American Psycho avatar again?
February 18th, 2010 at 7:34 PM ^
USA gave Norway scoring chances because Norway was on a odd-man rush. If they continue to do it, it's not going to be a pretty game against Canada who has far better skilled players on the roster.
With that being said, it is a good performance by USA hockey so far considering that they're very young and inexperienced.
February 18th, 2010 at 7:49 PM ^
As much as I want the boys to win. I have a hard time seeing them beat this Canada team. They are just loaded. Just need to keep winning and build some steam to the medal round. I guess stranger things have happened, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:05 PM ^
Youth, energy, and enthusiasm can go a long way in Olympic Hockey. We already learned that at Lake Placid. Oh: a hot goalie helps, too.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:27 PM ^
Very true, and this wouldn't even be on the same radar of an upset as 1980. Go USA.
February 19th, 2010 at 8:29 AM ^
I am Canadian and looking at this team that Steve Yzerman selected I see many problems. For some reason he has gone away from what Canadian teams ususally thrive on and that is size.
If you watched any of the Swiss and Norway games you would have noticed that Canada didn't dominate the physical play in the game. In the Norway game is was relatively even, but in the Swiss game Canada got out hit. I can't even believe I am saying that......Canada got out hit!
I am not looking forward to this game against you Americans on Sunday, because previously the only team that could even come close to Canada in physicality was the USA and this year, I think you have more of it than us. IMHE, that does not bode well for Canada.
There are several guys on this team that I just have to shake my head at: Brendon Morrow, Eric Staal, Dan Boyle, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrooke, Patrice Bergereon, Marc-Andre Fleury (though he won't see any icetime). Honestly, that is almost half of this team made up by very questionable choices.
I hear people talking about how great this Canada team is. I honestly have to say, I don't see agree. I the top three teams in this tournament are USA, Russia and Canada in that order.
February 19th, 2010 at 12:09 PM ^
Eh, don't sell yourself short. I do think that Stamkos and St. Louis would have been better choices than Morrow and Bergereon, but all in all the Canadian team is solid.
Give these guys a few more days to mesh. When you have such finesse players like Crosby out there, everyone needs to be on the same page for the magic to start happening. I'd wait to see how the game against USA is this Sunday before being seriously concerned.
Brodeur needs to really step up his game. These past few years, in clutch situations he hasn't really performed all that well. I wouldn't be surprised to see Luongo play and potentially even Fleury. He certainly isn't the best goalie on the team, but Fleury is lights out in pressure situations. I think it'll be interesting to see how they manage the goalie situation on team Canada.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:35 PM ^
You could say the same about Canada really. Not as many young guys as USA but they have a few.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:28 PM ^
Well, we might get to play them twice, in which case I'd give the edge to Canada in the second game. The best chance of us getting gold lies with someone else knocking them off. But you never know, neither team is exactly a complete "team" at this point, so we'll see what happens.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:13 PM ^
Also Norway has a player, Olli Christof tollifson or something who's draft rights are owned by the redwings
February 18th, 2010 at 8:22 PM ^
He's been around for a few years. He was acquired from the Flyers in the Leino deal. They traded Leino to make room for Franzen who was coming back after missing 55 games due to a partial tear in his ACL.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:32 PM ^
That's right my bad. They were talking about him being a red wing and I had know idea what the were talking about. I had never heard of him before so I assumed we drafted him recently.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:22 PM ^
While I am happy this team is 2-0, they have to learn how to put 60 minutes of good, hard hockey together. They did enough to win these first two games, and while that is all that really matters, they will not get away with some of the mistakes against Canada. Anything can happen in a single hockey game. Ryan Miller has to be spectacular Sunday and the USA team cannot give up as many odd man rushes and needs to convert on the chances they get or else they will be destroyed Sunday night.
On that note though...screw it. LETS GO USA!!! let's see the US put all of Canada on suicide watch by beating them in the Olympics on their own ice...
February 18th, 2010 at 9:20 PM ^
In other news Canada and Switzerland are all tied up in the third and Crosby got nailed and is now bleeding from the nose. That brought a slight smile to
my face.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:27 PM ^
Canada-Switzerland is a great game.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:31 PM ^
Hiller just made two incredible saves off two of his teamates from the Ducks. This is a really exciting game
February 18th, 2010 at 9:34 PM ^
Norway isn't good at anything except making hot women and cross country skiing.
And nobody likes either one.
Amiright or amiright? Right? Right?
February 18th, 2010 at 9:36 PM ^
Are the MGoCanadians (clarkie, Yarmouth, ontarioblue, etc.) laying low this week getting ready to talk some serious smack with us yanks? This could be a fun week.
February 18th, 2010 at 10:30 PM ^
I'm also a redcoat
February 19th, 2010 at 8:43 AM ^
No smack talk from me dude. I think you Americans have our number this year. Seriously, I think we are the third best team at the olympics this year behind you and Russia.
The problem with Hockey right now is other countries have caught up in a certain way. Other countries top players can rival the skill of Canada's top players.
Where Canada is a step above is in their depth, but in this scenario it doesn't matter about depth. The top 24 players from the USA are very comparable to the top 24 players from Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Czech Republic etc.
After you get past that top 25 or so players from those other countries there is a significant drop off in talent level for the most part. In Canada you could find another 50 players that on any given day are as good as or better than most of the guys on this team (with the exception of S. Crosby).
In other sports at the olympics you can have numerous participants from the same country if they qualify. I think they should do something similar in hockey and have a qualification system that would allow for the best players in the world being represented at the olympics (rather than simply filling up spots with teams like Latvia, Germany etc).
This would likely lead to these baby seal countries not being represented and powers like USA, Russia and Canada getting multiple teams in. I think it would make for a better tournamnet IMHE.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:05 PM ^
I don't think that anyone is close to Canada depth-wise, even just for this tournament. A player like Chris Drury would never get a sniff of the Canadian team.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:38 PM ^
Hiller has been down right nasty this last period
February 18th, 2010 at 10:08 PM ^
and just like that the USA is now leading group A after the canucks only score 2 points with their shootout win over the Suise.