USA women vs Russia

[Vladifan 680]

Maybe it's the Russian goalie who looks like she might be 14. Maybe it's the hustle and focus of the USA women. For whatever reasons, team is lookin' REAL good right now.

Also just saw a shot of Babcock and Stevie in the walkway. Also lookin' good!

GO, USA women.

EDIT: 9-0, with five PP goals.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Vladifan

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

Canada and USA are the only two teams in women's hockey.

[Vladifan 680]

Canada and USA are the only two teams in women's hockey.

And that will indeed be a helluva game.

[Guest zackmorris]

I think it's safe to say that hockey for women hasn't really caught on anywhere outside of NA lol

[Konnan511 1,736]

That has to be the most depressing thing penatly I have ever seen: 2:00 for Body Checking....

[Konnan511 1,736]

So what I gathered is that the Chinese Women's Ice Hockey program is further along than the Russian Women's Ice Hockey program...sad....

[Guest Lidstromboli]

I've seen people saying China's goalie wasn't too bad. Didn't get to see the game, is it true?

[Vladifan 680]

So what I gathered is that the Chinese Women's Ice Hockey program is further along than the Russian Women's Ice Hockey program...sad....

That was/is a surprise. I assumed (and you know what they say about that word...) that the Russian women would be pretty good. But it's now 12-0 at the end of the 2nd period. Pitiful!

What was interesting (really!) about watching them play the Chinese women - they never went after them, as in hitting, heavy forechecking, etc.). It's like they knew they would not have to come even close to doing that. In that sense this game is more fun to watch.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Vladifan

[RedWings Gone Wild 6]

Canada and USA are the only two teams in women's hockey.

Sweden is okay too, but other than that the competition is pretty brutal.

[Hockeymom1960 5,107]

The ladies are doing great!!!!

GO USA!!!

[lfd250 1]

Russian goalie is 16 and the coach is letter hang.

[Electrophile 3,554]

If there's only two countries that can field competitive teams, why is this an Olympic sport?

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

As I said two days ago, they shouldn't have women's hockey in the Olympics.

There's only 2 good teams and it isn't fair to the competition. It's just a pretense to give Canada or the U.S. the gold. What's the point of even making it an Olympic event if there's so little competition?

Pathetic event.

Edited February 17, 2010 by GMRwings1983

[Theophany 110]

True story, I played pickup hockey with Hilary Knight growing up for like 5-8 years.

[creedie 2]

As I said two days ago, they shouldn't have women's hockey in the Olympics.

There's only 2 good teams and it isn't fair to the competition. It's just a pretense to give Canada or the U.S. the gold. What's the point of even making it an Olympic event if there's so little competition?

Pathetic event.

Isn't that the reason why they have done away with Softball?

[Guest zackmorris]

I played in a coed ball hockey league years ago, just for fun in the offseason. So we played a team with a female in goal and she wasn't too bad. I couldn't see much as I was the goalie on the other side but someone mentioned after the game that she was the Canadian women's goalie. I always thought that was pretty cool.

[Electrophile 3,554]

Isn't that the reason why they have done away with Softball?

I believe so, yes. It just wasn't globally competitive and therefore needed to be eliminated.

[Guest zackmorris]

As I said two days ago, they shouldn't have women's hockey in the Olympics.

There's only 2 good teams and it isn't fair to the competition. It's just a pretense to give Canada or the U.S. the gold. What's the point of even making it an Olympic event if there's so little competition?

Pathetic event.

The only negatives are short term.

Long term, this can hopefully boost interest in hockey for women of all ages, and ultimately increase interest in everyone worldwide. Somewhere later down the line hopefully there will be many other competitive countries.

And who knows, someone may pull of an upset and when they do, that'll launch interest into the stratosphere.

Edited February 17, 2010 by zackmorris

[Vladifan 680]

To those who say they shouldn't be playing: I think it reflects on women's sports in general. It's taken decades for women to be recognized for having the skill to play at upper levels in anything. Even our beloved and reliable government came through with support for women who choose to strive to be the best in their given sport because they knew they should be given the chance. They've already kicked women's softball out of the Olympics - just when other teams were beginning to field really good and trained players.

There was surely a time when at least American women (as opposed to Canadian women) didn't play hockey, let alone understand it. Now they do and they're damn good at it. With support and time, other countries will realize that ALL athletes should have monetary, logistic and physical support. So it's not happening right now. I don't think that's the point. Point is, other countries - even where women are not treated as well as in America - WILL start fielding teams that have the training and talent, and I DO NOT WANT to see another woman's sport tanked because there's just not enough parity right now. And where's the competition going to come from if they don't get to play at the upper levels? Who's going to give a s***? Hell, it wasn't even happening in men's pro basketball in the Olympics a few years back. We knocked everybody on their asses because we only played our pros. And it was BORing. And now there is parity.

So please. A little patience? A little perspective?

Edited February 17, 2010 by Vladifan

[Guest Lidstromboli]

i still don't understand why there isn't checking in women's hockey

[Electrophile 3,554]

The point is, it's not competitive now. That's not saying it won't ever be in the future, but that right now it makes zero sense to have a sport where only two countries are actually fielding teams capable of medaling. It's embarrassing to watch.

I'm not anti-woman, seeing as I'm a chick......but I don't think we have to absolutely do every sport the men do just to show that it's physically possible. I'm sure there's a woman out there who can do the pommel horse, but should that be added to ladies' gymnastics? Maybe there's a guy out there who can do a terrific Bielmann spin, but should that be a judged move in mens' singles? The US and Canada are the only countries right now that can put teams on the ice in women's ice hockey that are capable of winning medals. That is not enough to warrant inclusion at the Olympics. Eliminate it and re-instate it when there's more parity.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

This would be like making football an Olympic sport at the Summer games.

Yeah, it might makes things competitive in 100 years, but the U.S. would dominate all the other countries easily.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

In terms of "running up the score" in large margin games that seems to get some in a tizzy...

While I'm not going to throw the kitchen sink at them in games like this, if their defense still can't stop me, I'm not going to purposefully not score/attempt to score. USA or Canada shouldn't be ashamed in winning as big as they did the past two games.

Two years ago I went to a football game where I went to school and they were playing a I-AA school. All but a guaranteed win as long as they didn't miss the game or the other team just didn't play the game of their lives. We were up 42-7 at halftime, and then after the 1st series going up 49-7 in the 3rd quarter, pretty much all the starters got pulled from the game. We scored even more with backups and won the game 67-7.

In both examples, I'm not going to throw my superstars at an overmatched opponent if a game is all but settled already but if they can't even stop my scrubs or even my top players just screwing around, I'm not going to feel guilty about continually scoring.

[Guest zackmorris]

This would be like making football an Olympic sport at the Summer games.

Yeah, it might makes things competitive in 100 years, but the U.S. would dominate all the other countries easily.

I get that but it's still not a reason to keep the sport out.

Also football might be a bad example. That seems to be a truly American game and no one else seems interested in developing talent.

[Vladifan 680]

The point is, it's not competitive now. That's not saying it won't ever be in the future, but that right now it makes zero sense to have a sport where only two countries are actually fielding teams capable of medaling. It's embarrassing to watch.

I'm not anti-woman, seeing as I'm a chick......but I don't think we have to absolutely do every sport the men do just to show that it's physically possible. I'm sure there's a woman out there who can do the pommel horse, but should that be added to ladies' gymnastics? Maybe there's a guy out there who can do a terrific Bielmann spin, but should that be a judged move in mens' singles? The US and Canada are the only countries right now that can put teams on the ice in women's ice hockey that are capable of winning medals. That is not enough to warrant inclusion at the Olympics. Eliminate it and re-instate it when there's more parity.

First off, I want to apologize for my last sentence in my post. It came off as condescending and uppity and I didn't mean it that way. Sorry 'bout that.

I don't think women should have the chance to play every sport either. At least at the top levels. But if there are enough women who are talented enough to field at least two teams, that's where it should start.

If you eliminate women's hockey, what do you think has to/should happen before it gets reinstated? There won't be any parity until other countries feel inclined to field teams. And they won't field teams until there's a need for it. And there won't be a need for it if they're not competing at an upper level where the world is watching. I see no other way for it to be reinstated if they drop it.

I'm thinking we won't be changing each other's minds but it was nice visiting with you again.