Sochi 2014 Olympics

[theyoungest]

Kramer complained about back pain. But he was generous in defeat, and he rightly said that he's never ridden such a time on sea level.

Bokko, Skobrev, or Pedersen could have won a bronze medal, but alas. That's what you get when you have no balls.

 

[maltiv]

Kramer complained about back pain. But he was generous in defeat, and he rightly said that he's never ridden such a time on sea level.

Bokko, Skobrev, or Pedersen could have won a bronze medal, but alas. That's what you get when you have no balls.

Don't be ridiculous, no one can beat the Dutch here.

I guess no one has ever been close to dominating a particular event in the same fashion as the dutch have dominated ice skating this olympics. Too bad it turned out they have done 0 blood tests this year, else they would have at least a slight bit of credibility

 

[Pentacycle]

Another clean sweap by the Dutch on the 10km, but suprisingly no gold for Kramer! What a time by Bergsma!

Bergsma was incredible. Didn't he go to Tenerife recently?

 

[Amsterhammer]

Bergsma was indeed, awesome! Kramer was generous in his praise despite the fact that he must be as sick as a pig about failing in his 'mission'.

Let's just put it down to all the zuivel and peanut butter sandwiches for now, shall we?

Edit - one more medal than the Russians and Yanks now.

 

[Sciatic]

Was disappointed for Kramer. I was there in the stands for the 10,000 in Vancouver, and hoped he could make up for that disappointment. Of course, he's got 2 golds from the 5,000, so that's pretty cool.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Don't be ridiculous, no one can beat the Dutch here.

I guess no one has ever been close to dominating a particular event in the same fashion as the dutch have dominated ice skating this olympics. Too bad it turned out they have done 0 blood tests this year, else they would have at least a slight bit of credibility

Correction, the dutch ADA had done 0 blood tests in 2012, because of lack of money.
All the Dutch speed skaters had WADA and ISU blood testing, especially the top skaters...

I already told you in PCM Daily forum. But you don't want to read it.

 

[ferryman]

I'm really enjoying watching the Scottish women's curling team Go Eve (and that blue eyed lass that the camera men obviously love)

Being flippant here

 

[del1962]

I'm really enjoying watching the Scottish women's curling team Go Eve (and that blue eyed lass that the camera men obviously love)

Being flippant here

They must be Scotland's most succesful team in all sports

 

[ferryman]

They must be Scotland's most succesful team in all sports

Certainly the best on the eye And yeah cheap shot by me

 

[Pricey_sky]

Certainly the best on the eye And yeah cheap shot by me

The Russian curling team were full of absolute stunners, Don't get me wrong the British girls are very nice but I really wished they played all 9 games against the host nation!

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Watta great one timer by Ilja Kovalchuck. Must have been like 120 mph right under the upper goal post. Wow!

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

$hit... 1-1
Seems to get to be a very exciting match.

 

[theyoungest]

Don't be ridiculous, no one can beat the Dutch here.

I guess no one has ever been close to dominating a particular event in the same fashion as the dutch have dominated ice skating this olympics. Too bad it turned out they have done 0 blood tests this year, else they would have at least a slight bit of credibility

This is nonsense, as already explained by Dekker_T above. The grapes are sour up in Norway. Maybe Mr. Pedersen should look at the (drop in) performance of his own athletes first... what the hell has Bokko been doing these last 4 or 5 years?

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Teemu Selanne scored... 2-1 FIN.
Now good old Selanne does a Horner, at age 44.
No, no, just kidding.
Like NFL QBs, hockey players have a profession where high quality skill is required. Endurance (which should slip dramatically after peaking at age 28-30) isn´t as important as skating technique, shooting skills and understanding of the game ("being at the right place at the right time", anticipation). Especially since hockey players do relative short shifts on the ice.
So while most of us people are rightfully highly suspect (to say the least) of "endurance beast" Horner, there is nothing wrong when old superstars like Selanne or Jagr have a last hurrah at this olympics.
It´s not unseen in hockey that skilled players can perform well into their high 40s (see also Gordie Howe for example), while Horner was a lone extreme outlier in the long history of cycling...

So. 1st period gone. Great game so far.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Teemu Selanne scored... 2-1 FIN.
Now good old Selanne does a Horner, at age 44.

Wait, what? I haven't been following the NHL in over 10 years (and didn't really follow the Olympic hockey games themselves except for the scores), Teemu Selanne is still around?

Anyhoo, YESSS, Finland!

Oh man, I'd love to see Putin's face right now. (Sadly, I bet if he could he'd send the entire Russian squad to a gulag.)

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

I was surprised too that the likes of Selanne, Jagr and Ozolinsh for example are still around.
Like you I stopped follow hockey when the 1-0 scores and defense took the upper hand. It got so absurd that the by far best team (Red Wings) got "checked out" early of the playoffs almost every year.

This game was another great example of defense wins almost always. Russia tried hard, had almost double as much shots as FIN. But there was no real scoring chance since all "short in front of goal" situations were pretty much neutralized by FIN bodies and goalie pads.
As long as the goals arn´t made bigger and wider, hockey will never again gain popularity outside of Canada.
The neanderthals of NHL and international hockey could learn much from the NFL if they just would have a look at how excitement is made by rule changes...
We are lucky to be NFL fans since we don´t waste (too much) time anymore with dull low scoring hockey or soccer games...

 

[Amsterhammer]

Oh man, I'd love to see Putin's face right now. (Sadly, I bet if he could he'd send the entire Russian squad to a gulag.)

 

[roundabout]

Trust me, Foxxy, even the short shifts are very tough despite adding up to about 20 minutes per game

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Sure, you must be super fit. But the big BUT is: Endurance isn´t the deciding factor in hockey like it is with GT riders...

So far; USA & CAN lead their games. Anyway, I root for CZE in the US-game...

As the veteran posters of the NFL thread know; teams I root for always come up short. So congrats in advance for Team USA reaching the quarter finals.

 

[purcell]

I was surprised too that the likes of Selanne, Jagr and Ozolinsh for example are still around.
Like you I stopped follow hockey when the 1-0 scores and defense took the upper hand. It got so absurd that the by far best team (Red Wings) got "checked out" early of the playoffs almost every year.

This game was another great example of defense wins almost always. Russia tried hard, had almost double as much shots as FIN. But there was no real scoring chance since all "short in front of goal" situations were pretty much neutralized by FIN bodies and goalie pads.
As long as the goals arn´t made bigger and wider, hockey will never again gain popularity outside of Canada.
The neanderthals of NHL and international hockey could learn much from the NFL if they just would have a look at how excitement is made by rule changes...
We are lucky to be NFL fans since we don´t waste (too much) time anymore with dull low scoring hockey or soccer games...

This is an absolutely ridiculous statement, that is the only comment I will make on it.

 

[purcell]

The Sweden / Finland semi will be a barn burner I think. will probably be the best game of the tourney.

The US does not have an easy run to try and get to the semis, Czech Republic will be a very hard game.

I do not believe Canada will even take a medal away from this tournament. They can't score. If you can't score, it's tough to win a game. Canadians are doing the same thing as Russia did, they are thinking too much and playing nervously. Afraid to make a mistake. The US team are playing loose and it makes a huge difference.

I expect the final will be Sweden / Czech.

 

[purcell]

Three of the guys on Team Canada go to the same gym I do and I see them there frequently.

If you think these guys don't have endurance you are dreaming.

The level of fitness is extraordinary and from watching them doing their workouts I can tell you for a fact that the level of strength, and sheer anaerobic endurance is one a completely different level.

Shea Weber is a freak of nature in his own right. What he does when he goes into the gym would just leave you shaking your head in utter disbelief.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

This CAN-Latvia game is a perfect example where hockey fails. Canada is far better in every aspect of the game, yet it took them 54 (!!!) shots to break a 1-1 tie late in the 3rd (at this time Latvia had 13).
Everybody likes upsets, but in a normal game (with wider goals), the better team would have rightfully have the game in the pocket with a score of something like 7-1...
Although Purcell might not like it, but that is the hard truth.
BTW, I have rooted hard for Latvia, so it was only a matter of time when CAN scores.
To underline the above statements, it needed a one timer from one of the hardest NHL shooters (Weber) to break the tie!

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Three of the guys on Team Canada go to the same gym I do and I see them there frequently.

If you think these guys don't have endurance you are dreaming.

The level of fitness is extraordinary and from watching them doing their workouts I can tell you for a fact that the level of strength, and sheer anaerobic endurance is one a completely different level.

Shea Weber is a freak of nature in his own right. What he does when he goes into the gym would just leave you shaking your head in utter disbelief.

It seems you didn´t got any of my points. I blame it on my grammar.
So lets try again IOW:
In road cycling, endurance is the do or die trick for you to win any tour or not. OTOH, in any technically difficult sport the deciding factor is talent/skill.
That does not take away the importance of endurance. You would not believe how much fitness training (swimming, running, cycling, next to hours of hours of billard practise) top snooker pros do. Yes, you heard right: Guys who play a high end skill game of billards at standstill tables.
But is endurance the deciding factor in billards? Of course not... Is it in hockey? Of course not (unless one day an obese sumo ringer would get an NHL goalie contract).
I hope I expressed it good enough this time.

Edit:
I´ll root for Team USA* (vs CAN), since they are due. They havn´t won a big tournament since 1980. It´s just time for them...
In the other game I root for FIN, since I like their defensive approach. Even tough it´s dull, but that´s how hockey games are won: Defense wins championships.

* Sorry for all US fans, but you know what that means.
Teams I root for never win...

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

To get further to the point of how much overall low scoring (as direct result of outdated rules) hurts good/better teams, I did "a quick and dirty stats" of NHL hockey*.
In the period of high NHL scoring** (all seasons between 1972/73 and 1993/94 = 22 seasons) 14 of 22 champions led their conference in winning percentage. Another three champions finished the regular season 2nd. Only 5 champions finished 3rd or lower (1x3, 3x4, 1x5).
In the other (low scoring) 71 NHL seasons since 1920, the outcome was basically random. For further details, have a look here; http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?p=785619&highlight=cardinals#post785619
Sometimes it leads to total absurd endings like in the 2011/12 season when the LA Kings won the Stanley Cup as 8th (!!!) and therefore last qualifier in their conference.

Conclusion:
If any of you guys root for Sweden, USA, Canada or Suomi, don´t be too sad if your team loses a 0-1 thriller when out-shooting the opponent by 20+ shots. Unless the rules are changed and pay tribute to evolution (bigger, taller and faster players/goalies), hockey games are mostly decided by random chance instead of better skill/talent. Today Canada (roughly 600.000 players. Link: http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/countries/canada.html) almost fell victim to a way lower talented team of Latvia (roughly 4.500 players; http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/countries/latvia.html), something that could have never happened in the great days of hockey.

(* = I looked at NHL hockey stats b/c of bigger sample size compared to IIHF world hockey championships, and because of easier to find statistics. I think that is no problem since most players in the olympic hockey tournament come from NHL rosters anyway.)
(** = at least 5 consecutive seasons of 6.4 or more goals per game to get a large enough sample size in any given time period)