SDavis35

I was saying today that I see Switzerland playing upset to someone... guess who it's going to be?

Yet the Slovaks nearly ousted Canada and other medal favourites last Olympics. I think the Americans have a better team than they did in Vancouver, but I didn't think it was THAT much better.

Stunner by the Americans. I thought the Slovaks were better than the Slovenians. Maybe it's a statement game for USA, but Slovaks can't get their act together. Russians are struggling on the other hand. 2-1 over Slovenia.

I don't know anything about the international rulebook, but by my ideal rules, the goal should not have counted. I do however think Canada played well enough to win, and I'm sure in the first two periods there were controversial calls both ways. Besides, it's only the round-robin. It's the gold medal game that counts, and that is still 0-0.

One of my favourite non-wings players... too bad I can't say the same. I'll have some pride for the Canadians, but I like to watch how the Wings' players do in these tournaments. I won't be cheering for the USA unless they have Howard in net though.

of the (up to) 7 games the USA will play; 4 are elimination. Miller will likely be the #1, Quick #2, Howard doesn't have the starpower of the other two and will likely play only if Miller or Quick fail to play well.

We certainly have potential. You never know what can happen if you ride a hot goaltender and have goals from unlikely sources. We've played many one-goal games this year, especially without Zetterberg or Datsyuk (or both in some cases), but we lost the majority of those. If we get bounces in our favour during playoffs, we might pull out an upset, or more.

I've never been less excited about my team winning a championship. Worst part was that I called it right after the slovakia game.

Is there a link to what each division looks like? (ie. Canada, Finland, Austria, Norway = Division A)

Paragraph #2: Tampa Bay Lightning doctors said they couldn't clear him to play after examining his most recent CT scan and will re-evaluate his condition again in two to three weeks. If they won't even be evaluating him for 2-3 weeks, there's no way the doctors would clear him before the end of the tournament on February 23rd. I would love to see Stamkos playing on the Olympic stage but he can't jeopardize his entire career just because he wants to play now. Yzerman of all people knows what that would be like to have a leg injury hampering your skills don't you think?

I'm not saying allow cheapshots. I'm saying a small hook that is totally inconsequential to the game is not a call needed. If I had my way with the official rule book, hooks would require to actually affect the play. ie. pulling the stick = hook, or grabbing the jersey=hold. You can't expect the refs to be perfect, but some of the penalties out there don't even affect the play anymore. Dangerous hits and all contact to the head should be penalties. Diving should be a call that no ref is afraid to make.

I think it's like baseball and the pitchers, Howard I believe was in goal for the winning goal so he gets the win. Neither gets a shutout.

Vancouver: 3 Shots on Goal in the third period, great shutdown by the Wings to hold that lead. I knew Lack was a real solid goaltender, but man did he have a great game. Hoping the dizzy spell for Gustavsson isn't too serious.

The Wings were 2/3 on the PP, the fact they didn't kill their penalties is why they lost. Washington was 3 for 6. That last call was brutal, and I think OT penalties should be limited only to automatic calls like slashing or delay of game, with few exceptions. The way Washington was flopping all over the place is where my issue lies, the refs call what they see and more and more players and diving and flopping to the ice so they get the call. I've also seen some players dive into the boards for the sake of getting the call. It sickens me, and I can't blame the refs, it's the players finding every tiny advantage they can get. If Refs started to catch on, they would be calling more dives and hopefully that fixes the issue.

Injuries and quality of opponents. When healthy we aren't even talking about missing the playoffs with this roster. Unfortunately I can't put us in with the elite teams (Boston/Chicago/Pittsburgh) but we are good and fun to watch.

6-5-2 Over the month of January. I think we did okay. We're still in the hunt and if we can find a way to get a solid win streak together, mixed with figuring out how to not blow the lead, we'll be in the playoffs no doubt.

For some reason I was going to object, but then I realized I was thinking of Alain Vigneault and not Dave Tippett. Although I think Hitchcock deserves consideration as well.

Feel bad for Sammy, but he just didn't do enough to merit a roster spot.

I get the Cleary hate... well kind of anyway, but what is wrong with having Bertuzzi as a big body? Keep him around for the rest of the year, he's not as detrimental as LGW makes him out to be. When the contract ends late June, let him retire as a Wing. Cleary should not come back and Samuelsson likely wont. In my opinion, our guys need to get stronger on the puck and learn how to finish. Then we'll be back near the top of division where we belong.

14-3. That is all.

Not all plays, just all goals. Toronto should be able to call in and say "hey! don't drop the puck, we think that's not a goal." I get goalie interference/incidental contact since that's Referee discretion, but something like this... should be considered dead as it was out of play. Brad May's no-goal from a few years back could've been reviewed as well but the rules said not allowed.

Tonight's the night... 14-3!

I remember a time in the early 2000s where Montreal had a ton of injuries for a few years... I think it's just one of those cyclical things. Someday we will find that it's no longer us losing 10 guys to injury at a time, it'll be the Sharks, or the Ducks.

I'm not sure I agree that they worked harder. They had more skill in their lineup, but equal effort.

You're right... the Red Wings didn't put out any effort deserving of luck in the past two games whatsoever.