Cern

Uh, what? Did you watch ANY of the 2006 Olympics? I don't know of a single person here 'spewing statistics' after how those games turned out. In fact, the statistics don't suggest ANY kind of Canadian 'dominance' in Olympic hockey - you can check the historical medal count for yourself. There's maybe some confidence brought on by the home field advantage and obviously getting a medal is expected, but you've got some pretty strange sources if you think anyone is rationally coronating Canada the gold out of hand - I for one haven't taken it for granted since 1998. The Canada-bashing with regard to olympic hockey is based off a 'dominance' that dosen't actually exist, it's always been a far more even playing field then you're caring to admit. In any case, the comparison to the US and basketball isn't accurate. There are a decent handful of countries with strong, legitimate hockey legacies. Olympic basketball is one of the most ridiculously unbalanced events in the Games (now probably THE most unbalanced event now with baseball being scratched).

And so lilja4mvp proves himself to be a COMPLETE moron...

Does Don Cherry even make TV appearances in the States in the first place? I know he did for a short while but I thought he stopped doing it.

Even if you buy into the whole 'B Team' thing, I'd hardly call Canada's team this year 'handicapped'...

So the OP being just as much of an ungraceful, xenophobic moron as Don Cherry is is supposed to somehow prove him wrong? Um, okay. I never have and never will understand the logic some people have with regard to Cherry. Since when has simply ignoring him been so phenomenally difficult that people are apparently left with no other possible choice but to act in as much poor taste as he does in order to 'counter' what he says? He's on-air for a whopping FIVE MINUTES every week, just change the freaking channel if he pisses you off that much. Believe me, I ended up much better for doing exactly that.

Nah, not you in particular, just the trends of this thread in general. Some of the s*** I've read in here sounds like something I'd expect on 4chan, not a forum that's supposedly intended for semi-serious discussion. I'm not touching this place with a ten-foot pole come the Olympics, if the s***-throwing in here has been any indication of things to come.

Is that really so far-fetched? The moronic goalie debate/*player* is lazy and he sucks threads have been doing that for years now, this is merely putting it on an international rather than an NHL scale.

Don Cherry is nothing more than a conveniant 'in' for what this thread was ultimately made for.

Which is fine (and obviously true), but given how dependent Detroit has been on non-American talent for a lot of their success the course of the last 15 or so years I would have expected a lot more tact from Red Wings fans with respect to international hockey. I'm not saying don't be patriotic or don't support your home team, but from some of the things I've been reading from certain individuals on here they make it out like Canada's entire hockey legacy has been rendered completely irrelevant on the back of a single tournament game. Honestly? Some of the posts in here make me embarrassed to be a fan of a team that's been as diverse as Detroit's, and that includes a lot of this Canadian excuse-mongering. I thought we were supposed to be classier than this.

Fair enough, my apologies. You quoted the reply to my post, which made it seem like you were talking about me

Maybe you should learn to actually read what I write, moron. Here's a clue for you to get you started - I didn't say a single goddamn word about 'b teams' or 'a teams'.

I don't give a s*** what they say, nor am I condoning whatever it is they are saying. What I *do* give a s*** about is how after a single tournament win this entire board is flooding with this anti-Canada crap. You guys had a golden opportunity to prove yourselves to be the better man after whining non-stop for the last five years about Canada's hockey dominance and guess what, you completely and utterly blew it. You weren't graceful in defeat back then, you sure as hell aren't graceful in victory now. You're exactly the same as the people you've been complaining about.

The hypocrisy here is unbelievable. The Canadian fans have been ripped as arrogant after the last five years (which is certainly true). Now the US barely wins it once after completely s***ting the bed in the 3rd and now they're being just as arrogant as the people they've been criticizing for years. Here's an idea; instead of being a xenophobic moron, be a good example and be graceful in victory/defeat. I'm no fan of Don Cherry either, but this is really ridiculous. By the way, Canada lost because the Hockey Gods were punishing us for allowing that Pepsi-sponsored 'Eh oh Canada go' bulls*** to ever see the light of day. Frankly I don't blame the Hockey Gods for doing so one bit.

I. LOVE. DARREN. HELM. I. LOVE. JIMMY. HOWARD (#237 of things I thought I'd never, ever say this season)

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK. Canada couldn't backcheck worth s***.

Any stream avaliable? ATDHE and Justintv is giving me nothing

I've been looking at injury reports and Ericsson has been listed as 'out indefinately' I didn't realise he was banged up so seriously

Coming into this season the two players by far I felt held the most potential of completely crashing and burning were Howard and Bertuzzi, and both of them are starting to make me eat crow. Coming into this season the two players by far I felt held the most potential of breaking out bigwere Filpulla and Leino, and both so far have been complete disappointments (for different reasons, of course) It's like I'm watching the Bizarro Red Wings.

The EPL *needs* those ads because the amount of tv advertising during soccer broadcasts in England (And Europe in general) is a fraction of what there is for North American leagues. It's not like the NHL is going to remove TV timeouts (or drop ticket prices) if they compensated with jersey advertisements, it would just be yet more commercialisation on top of what is already thoroughly oversaturated as-is. Besides, you build a very slippery slope if you accept it; would you seriously be okay if an advertiser decided to change the Wing's team colours or logo to reflect their interests? Or to essentially eliminate the logo altogether to make room for advertizing space? Or to officially include a product directly into the team name (imagine seeing the 'Little Ceasar's Detroit Red Wings' engraved on the Stanley Cup, or Marty Brodeur winning the Miller Genuine Draft (formerly Vezina) Trophy)? All have happened in European leagues of all kinds; I'm sure the people who first greenlighted it started out saying that it would never become that drastic too. Or maybe fans there are happy to sell out decades of their clubs' history for a quick paycheck, but I'm sure not. f***, we have events like the Winter Classic specifically to celebrate that kind of heritage, allowing those sorts of modifications goes completely against one of the League's major selling points. Implying that any European hockey league is successful in any kind of global sense compared to the NHL is hilarious btw.

I'll be honest, I don't think we're gonna win this one. Our second line is Leino-Abdelkader-Miller ffs.

This. If the NHL has to resort to putting ads on jerseys, it's essentially telling the world it has failed as a major-market league.

BC Place has a roof, though they're modifying it to make it retractable for when the Whitecaps enter the MLS in 2011 (I think). McMahon Stadium in Calgary could work too. It's a bit on the small side but since the ends are open I would think installing temporary seating would be a possibility. Olympic Stadium is (occasionally) used for the Montreal Allouettes - the Eastern Final game was hosted there this year.

I've thrown this idea around for a while (although unfortunately now it's moot since the Bruins are in this year's WC): Carolina @ Boston, Hurricanes wearing Whalers jerseys for their vintage throwback. It's win-win - You revive a classic hockey rivalry in a special setting, and you bring in some involvement (and hopefully viewership) from the sunshine area without having to do something retarded like hosting the WC on Miami Beach.

lol wut? Toronto, Montreal, and Edmonton all have huge outdoor stadiums. Once BC Place gets its retractable roof installed Vancouver can be added to that list too. If Wrigley Field - a 40 000-seat stadium - is good enough for hosting the Winter Classic, why is a 60 000-seat stadium in Canada suddenly unviable? Let's face it, the cries of 'you're making the event less special!' is thoroughly falling on deaf ears in the NHL, it's becoming increasingly futile to use it as an argument. The European season-opener games used to be an exclusive, special event; now they seem increasingly intent on moving towards eventually having the entire league play 1/4 of their season across the Atlantic. The 'special' Habs centennial was overcelebrated into the ******* ground too. Guess what? It makes the League a s***load of money, so they don't care. Having two WCs is merely an extension of what has already been a thoroughly precedented trend.

We lost 1-0? Seriously? What's most fustrating is that with all the injuries, there's not really much of anything that can be done to shake up the team in a significant way until some of them return.