VM1138

Kris Draper has 4 Stanley Cups. That is all.

NA hockey also has a much larger talent pool to pull from. It has nothing to do with an inherent style of play being better. But when you have millions of extra talent to find excellent players, your teams are going to be considerably better.

The key differences: Canada has Crosby now. Everyone has put so much into him that being forced to realize he's not God's gift to hockey would cause the Canadian hockey foundations to crumble. That and they supposedly have the best team ever assembled (on paper) and they're struggling against a supposedly inferior, inexperienced USA hockey team. But yeah, I've noticed A LOT more non-hockey fans getting excited about the tournament. They're even watching Swedish, Finnish, etc. games. I don't know why.

Babcock isn't the one buckling under the pressure. Half the Canadians are players who have histories of disappearing under pressure or being unable to finish consistently. Their leader is a known cry-baby who doesn't inspire anyone on his teams. They're also huge egos who have been told it's theirs to lose. Compare that with a young American hockey team who has yet to win much, who were told they couldn't do anything and who have a good work ethic and attitude. It's not Babcock. It's his team.

I have to work during this game, and somehow I think the score is going to be hard to escape from since I work in public. I hope USA wins. I honestly have my doubts that they can, but they're the harder working team. At the very least it shouldn't be a massacre. USA has the best defense of any team Canada has had to play, and probably the second best defense in the tournament. But how awesome would it be to defeat Canada to make up for that '02 loss? It would suck for hockey if Crosby wins the Gold.

The thing I notice is that the guys in Olympic hockey do a lot of things that are a bit cheaper than in the NHL because they know there won't be any fights. Fights belong in the NHL period.

Eurotrash is a derogatory term for pretentious Europeans who dress in ugly clothes. I don't see the relevance to hockey, but tihs Euro baiting is making me sick. I'm so tired of hearing about "soft Euros" when it's become painfully clear that is no longer true.

And maybe a chance to keep Rafalski going hot when the NHL starts back up again.

Sweden? USA? I'll admit that the Russia meltdown was surprising, but you really think after beating a team with no chemistry and no defense that you'll easily beat a USA team with excellent chemistry, a better work ethic than Canada, and a hot goalie, or perhaps the extremely talented Swedes? Canada beat the Russians, but it's not over yet.

Not watching the game right now but wanted to post some positive energy for Russia.

? It's still broadcasting. And the Swiss are much better than I thought. I hope USA can go for the Gold, but they're clearly not winning purely on skill. They're workign hard but the Swiss really shut down any really good chances for a lot of the game.

I really like Olympic hockey. It's just...different. Let's go USA!

Silverlight sucks. I had it once, got rid of it, and now won't re-download it just to watch a video. I'll wait for it to spread.

Canada will have every single possible advantage thrown their way but I have to believe that good will overcome.

Any team with the likes of Datsyuk and Ovechkin will always overcome the wickedness of a team with the likes of Crosby and Pronger. Red Army Super Go Time! (Until you face USA)

I think a German victory might just be the greatest upset in recent memory. Everybody not Canadian put your positive energy to Germany!

Not according to the NBC announcers who repeatedly state that he's amazing at every single aspect of the game (their words, not mine, from the USA Canada game).

Michigan is God's gift to USA hockey.

I'm confused. Why would Dombrowski and Holland answer to Wilson? Would they even be involved at all with building a new stadium? I guess that muts be some internal bureacratic chain of command thing but I don't see the relevance. I hope they don't share the Palace. The Wings need to be in Detroit. A state of the art arena could be cool but I keep praying they won't give it a corporate name or create really awful sight-lines for the affordable tickets. I love the Joe in that it allows most everyone a good view, close enough to really see the action on the ice. And I hope they don't share an arena, doesn't that create bad ice? If anyone deserves an arena named after him it's Illitch for saving Detroit sports (especially if he buys the Pistons) and keeping what's left of the city alive. I'd rather have a new place called the Illitch Arena over something like Little Caesars Arena.

But they would have to go farther than the Wings and that is downright distasteful. Although I think the hate is mostly aimed at Hawks fans. Whereas Wings fans seem to HATE teams like Anaheim and Pittsburgh, I don't think the Hawks have earned that right yet. THey're a great team and games against them are great, but I don't think there's that INTENSE rivalry again yet.

Ryan Miller is no longer a "maybe great someday" goalie and he is now the real thing in my eyes. Miller is elite.

Or DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! Overall I like Doc, every announcer has some annoying gimmicks and he has less than most others. And he seems to know the game.

I watched once in 2002 and it sucked so bad I never watched again.

So USA plays Switzerland or Belarus for sure? Wow, that should be the easiest matchup, though Hiller could play lights out.

Canada is just overconfident and cocky. You see Crosby out there and you can tell he thinks that the rest of the team is screwing this up for him. You see half the team are playmakers and the snipers are all hogging the puck. And you have Brodeur in net on a bad night. Don't forget, Canada looked dangerous last night if not for Brodeur and their defense. But USA was just too hard working. They gelled well and chased down every loose puck. You could tell they wanted to send a message. You don't need a bunch of big name stars to play good hockey. Although I was surprised by how awful both team's defense was. I don't think I've seen as many odd man rushes since an All Star game.