Olympics - All around discussion

[Lord of Oop North]

That wasn't booing. That was like, what the Cameron Crazies do at Duke games during free throws.

Ah. Sounded like booing, but my hearing is not what it used to be.

[BLU-RAY]

1) WTF, you get to repeat shooters after three? That seems weird.

2) WTF, you're Mike Babcock and you get to lead with three shooters and you go... Crosby/Toews/Getzlaf? No Iginla/Marleau/Heatley? Is Getz really that good at shootouts?

[kairparavel]

It was more like a Canadian crowd hexing boo vs a malicious with ill intent boo.

(Do you buy that?)

[Lord of Oop North]

I'll buy it. Although I'm not a fan of booing in any sense during Olympic play.

[Lord O' Bones]

overly fancy passing

I don't even have to ask to know that the HTML line is involved here.

And Hiller is a goalie that can take over games.

YES! Swiss-Canada game goes to overtime! Hiller has been simply amazing so far. Have my fingers crossed for Swiss over here :wideeyed: .

This however, is still unexpected. What the hell Canada? Trying to give us the group?

(We'll take it, thanks!)

[Thor85]

This however, is still unexpected. What the hell Canada? Trying to give us the group?

(We'll take it, thanks!)

I'm a Slav first, Canadian second. As long as Russia (or Czech Republic if something goes horribly wrong) wins gold in the end, I'll be one happy Slav :P.

[Jaime L]

There's few things funnier than the outfits male figure skaters willingly choose to wear. I like the one dressed like a sparkly bellhop.

ETA: Shocker that he's performing to Phantom of the Opera.

[Demonblade]

There's few things funnier than the outfits male figure skaters willingly choose to wear. I like the one dressed like a sparkly bellhop.

ETA: Shocker that he's performing to Phantom of the Opera.

Yeah I flipped back to the channel right when some guy was sitting there wearing a crown of roses. I actually appreciate the athleticism involved in being able to do the things these guys do but taking the sport seriously is tough when they wear silly shit like that.

[Quoth]

Yeah I flipped back to the channel right when some guy was sitting there wearing a crown of roses. I actually appreciate the athleticism involved in being able to do the things these guys do but taking the sport seriously is tough when they wear silly shit like that.

Totally agree. The skills involved are fully eclipsed by the bizarre fashion show. And, happily, I believe I have the perfect solution. The Winter games already have one sport that blends two skill sets, the Biathalon. I propose combining some additional sports for the benefit of both. While Curling has its own odd fascination, imagine combining that sport with men's figure skating. Having the competitions conducted on the same ice would be awesome. Imagine the suspense of watching the jumps and spins performed while dodging the rocks. Now we're talkin'.

[snake]

Slovakia beat Russia! :stunned:

I stayed up till 4 AM watching this. Great game and the shootout was tense. First big upset of the tourney. Congrats Slovakia and Halak.

[Thor85]

Slovakia beat Russia! :stunned:

I stayed up till 4 AM watching this. Great game and the shootout was tense. First big upset of the tourney. Congrats Slovakia and Halak.

Whaaaat?! :shocked: Maybe NOW the Habs will finally appreciate what a fine goalie they've got with Jaro Halak.

[adamsputnik]

Slovakia beat Russia! :stunned:

I stayed up till 4 AM watching this. Great game and the shootout was tense. First big upset of the tourney. Congrats Slovakia and Halak.

Thor should be happy one way or another with that result.

On the figure skating, I too find it amusing. Fortunately I'm not commentating on public TV, but the host down in Australia got in a bit of hot water by making some remarks about their outfits yesterday (and how the skaters 'got them out of the closet').

[blasted_saber]

1) WTF, you get to repeat shooters after three? That seems weird.

2) WTF, you're Mike Babcock and you get to lead with three shooters and you go... Crosby/Toews/Getzlaf? No Iginla/Marleau/Heatley? Is Getz really that good at shootouts?

Repeating is allowed in International play. Toews had three shots (and scored them all) in a 2007 World Jr game.

As tot he selections; Crosby is.....Crosby. Hes currently leading (tied?) for the NHL goal lead. And he won the shootout for us, so I dont see how you can argue that. Toews is a shootout master, and Getzlaf was chosen because he plays with Hillier (a double edged sword....) and thought he knew how to beat him.

[elmis]

Two golds and one silver last night. Finally the Norwegians are comming out of the starting blocks! :D

[Demonblade]

Nobody from North America gets to complain about the rules at these Olympics because the most obvious concession given to us here on North America is that they're keeping the rink size to the NHL standards, not the usual wider European size.

[Andriy Czarchenko]

Totally agree. The skills involved are fully eclipsed by the bizarre fashion show. And, happily, I believe I have the perfect solution. The Winter games already have one two sports that blends two skill sets, the Biathalon and Nordic Combined. I propose combining some additional sports for the benefit of both. While Curling has its own odd fascination, imagine combining that sport with men's figure skating. Having the competitions conducted on the same ice would be awesome. Imagine the suspense of watching the jumps and spins performed while dodging the rocks. Now we're talkin'.

Fixed. :spank:

[The Wedge]

Nobody from North America gets to complain about the rules at these Olympics because the most obvious concession given to us here on North America is that they're keeping the rink size to the NHL standards, not the usual wider European size.

I didn't realize that. That's crazy. One of the charms of Olympic hockey is getting to see more wide open play. Why are they not going with the wider rink?

What's next? The London games where basketball starts playing with the NBA lane and three point arc. <_<

[kairparavel]

I didn't realize that. That's crazy. One of the charms of Olympic hockey is getting to see more wide open play. Why are they not going with the wider rink?

What's next? The London games where basketball starts playing with the NBA lane and three point arc. <_<

It would have been too costly to renovate GM Place to accommodate the international ice surface, (we need wiggle room to fly in snow, yanno? :) ) so VANOC and the IIHF struck a deal to allow the games to be played on NHL regulation ice.

I love the wide open play on the international ice surface. I remember playing on it in a tournament once and just the room behind the nets was incredible.

[Thor85]

I love the wide open play on the international ice surface. I remember playing on it in a tournament once and just the room behind the nets was incredible.

I don't think Canadian and American players could handle the bigger rink. Their stamina is not exactly equal to that of most Scandinavian and Eastern European players :P. "Big Baby" Crosby's nostril would clog up. Besides team Canada's loss at the last Olympics showed just what advantage the wider European rink gives to Europeans.

[blasted_saber]

I don't think Canadian and American players could handle the bigger rink. Their stamina is not exactly equal to that of most Scandinavian and Eastern European players :P. "Big Baby" Crosby's nostril would clog up. Besides team Canada's loss at the last Olympics showed just what advantage the wider European rink gives to Europeans.

Except the Salt Lake rink was big ice, and Canada won Gold there.

This isnt the first time that the IIHF has allowed tournaments to be played on small ice. And its really a moot point anyway, most of the players int he tournament play on NHL sized rinks, cause they're NHL players or have played on small ice at some time(Canada, US, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech, and Slovakia). And those who don't,arent going to make it really far in the tournament barring a gigantic upset.