Canada Wins Hockey Gold in Convincing Fashion

There are only two Winter Olympic sports I genuinely care about: hockey and curling. Canada won gold in both sports, both genders. I guess it's nice that Canada has something to be proud of, but seeing groups of Canadians happy just irritates me for some reason.

At the same time I'm happy for Patrice Bergeron and Claude Julien. I'm also happy that Loui Eriksson won silver and Tuukka Rask won bronze. Five Boston Bruins players went to Sochi to play for five teams, and three of them will return with medals.

Canada beat Sweden 3-0 to win gold in men's ice hockey. Sweden was lacking Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Backstrom. Already an underdog, losing those two centers made the task of beating Canada almost impossible.

The Canadians brought their "eh" game (not my joke). They saved their best hockey for the elimination rounds. Their win over Sweden was almost flawless. Jonathan Toews put them up 1-0 with a deflection between Henrik Lundqvist's legs. The goal was a byproduct of puck possession and Toews' ability to get position in front of the net. All game long, Lundqvist had to deal with bodies on top of him.

Sidney Crosby scored Canada's second goal. Jonathan Ericsson tried to carry the puck through three Canadian players instead of dumping it into the corner. Crosby stole it from Ericsson then beat Lundqvist on a breakaway.

Chris Kunitz sealed the deal in the 3rd.

Canada's control of this game is demonstrated by shots on goal. The Swedes only got 9 shots on Carey Price in the 2nd period, and only 4 in the 3rd. That's an amazing stat, only 4 shots on goal in a period. Price stopped all shots he saw and extended his shutout streak to over 160 minutes. The Latvians were the last team to score on him.

Canada was the best team in this tournament. Their roster was built the best, their coaches were by far the best, they played the best. This team didn't just win based on their talent, of which they had quite a bit, they won with effort, teamwork, execution, and passion.

This might be the last Olympics with NHL players, which would be a shame. This tournament provided some compelling storylines, from Canada's success to Russian and American disappointment. Finland winning bronze is a good story, as were the quarterfinal appearances of Latvia and Slovenia.

I really hope Olympic hockey remains a showcase of the game at its finest, and not just another international tournament that only clinically diagnosed hockey addicts care about.

Photo Credit:
Martin Rose/Getty

Canada Outplays USA, Wins 1-0

When the Team USA roster was announced, there were criticisms that it didn't have enough offensive firepower. Those critics, sadly, were proven right as Canada shut out Team USA 1-0. Canada will now play for the gold against Sweden on Sunday, and the US will play Finland for bronze Saturday.

The argument defending USA's roster choices was that guys like Phil Kessel and Patrick Kane would do the scoring. The team lacked offensive depth, but had powerful offense at the top. Kessel had a good Olympics. Patrick Kane failed to score a goal. Team USA needed Kane in this game and he didn't deliver.

The US got 30 shots on goal, but only a handful truly challenged Carey Price. Most possessions were one and done. Most shots hit Price right in the maple leaf.

Give lots of credit to Canada's layered defense, a testament to assistant coach Claude Julien, whose layered defense has been a staple of the Boston Bruins' success for several years.

While Canada's layered defense remained strong, Team USA allowed a goal because of defensive mistakes. Ryan Callahan got careless and didn't cover his man (Jay Bouwmeester) on the point, and didn't cover his space in that part of the ice. An open Bouwmeester threatened to shoot, which Jonathan Quick had to respect, and an opportunistic Jamie Benn slipped into the space vacated by Callahan, and tipped Bouwmeester's shot-pass into an open net.

Phil Kessel's game was a microcosm of USA's game as a whole. He had a few chances on breakaways, using his speed. But after the initial shot there wasn't enough support to maintain pressure on Price. Kessel also had a number of giveaways and passes intercepted in the neutral zone. So did Ryan Suter. So did Kevin Shattenkirk. Too many USA possessions ended before they made it through the neutral zone.

Kessel's play in this game is exactly why I'm glad he's no longer a Bruin.

While Canada's defense reminded me of the Bruins, Team USA's power play also, unfortunately, reminded me of the Bruins. There wasn't any movement away from the puck, which put the onus of creating passing lanes on the puck carrier. So the puck carrier was forced to protect the puck AND move around enough to get his 4 teammates open. That's just not good.

The ice sheet is 100 feet wide, and Team USA only used the 10 feet along the boards when they had a power play. This was exactly what Canada wanted.

Canada won the battles behind the net, in front of the net, along the boards. It's not that the US didn't have enough talent to beat Canada. The US didn't have execution. Jonathan Quick played a great game, good enough to neutralize any talent edge Canada had. The US wasted 3 power play opportunities, didn't support the puck, didn't take care of the puck in the neutral zone.

Just a bad game. And I'm disappointed in this team. Had they played great and lost, I'd be content with a bronze. They didn't play great, most didn't play good.

Go Sweden.

Olympic Hockey: Latvia Upsets Switzerland

Latvia and Slovenia among the final 8 teams at the Olympics. How great is that? In 2010 Latvia finished 12th in the Olympics. Slovenia didn't even qualify. Latvia advanced the the quarterfinals by beating Switzerland 3-1.

Who is Daniel Alfredsson? A great NHL player who is an icon in Ottawa and currently plays for the Red Wings. He's won an Olympic gold medal and will probably be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Who is Lauris Darzins? Let me look him up because before today I had no idea...

(Doing legitimate research)

He's a 29 year old winger from Riga, Latvia. He currently plays in the KHL. He played as a kid in a Finnish league. He was drafted in the 9th round of the 2003 NHL Draft by Nashville. He played juniors in Canada's Western Hockey League. He was never signed by Nashville. He returned to Europe to briefly play in the Finnish SM-Liiga, then the Czech Extraliga. He played in Belarus, then Dinamo Riga (Latvian KHL team), and he's still in the KHL playing for a team in Russia.

So he's not Daniel Alfredsson, who has over 1,000 NHL points. Why the comparison then?

Before this game, Alfredsson was the only player in these Olympics to score against Switzerland. In this game, Latvia's Darzins scored twice.

I could go on a tangent about Darzins because Nashville expressed interest in signing him a few years ago, but like many other European players, he'd rather be an established player in the KHL near home than struggle to even get a shot at making the NHL thousands of miles away. This is a trend in European hockey the last few years, and it's hurting NHL roster depth. The star Europeans play in the NHL, the depth guys would rather make more money in the KHL then slog through the AHL ranks.

Back to the game...

Switzerland, similar to other Germanic teams like Austria and Germany, plays well when the games goes according to plan. Switzerland plays to a script. They play very well in 0-0, 1-0 games. However they struggle to improvise when the game deviates from that script. They don't know how to react when, for instance, they fall behind 2-0.

That's what happened against Latvia. Oskars Bartulis beat Jonas Hiller thanks to a screen to put Latvia up 1-0. Lauris Darzins made it 2-0 with some exquisite patience by both himself and Mikelis Redlihs, who set him up. Darzins added an empty-netter.

Martin Pluss scored for Switzerland in the 2nd period, only the third goal scored by the Swiss in the tournament.

Latvia's reward is to play Canada, who collectively sighed with relief once they realized they wouldn't have to face Jonas Hiller.

It will be tough for the Latvians to beat Canada, but they should be proud of how well they've played in this tournament, with only one NHL player on their roster.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey

Olympic Hockey: Czech Republic vs. Slovakia Recap (Winner to Play USA)

The 3rd period of this game was on of the most exciting in the Olympic tournament as the Slovaks almost came back from a 4 goal deficit. However the hole was too deep for Slovakia to pull themselves out of. The Czechs won 5-3 and will play The United States Wednesday at noon (Eastern) on USA Network.

The CR was up 4-0 late in the 2nd when Marian Hossa gave the Slovaks some momentum. Hossa's line would factor in all three Slovak goals, with Zdeno Chara not getting an official assist, but affecting the game just by his sheer presence.

Hossa scored again 7:21 into the 3rd, then Tomas Surovy scored 91 seconds later. Andrej Sekera and Michal Handzus each had two assists.

The remaining 11 minutes of the 3rd period were a back and forth frenzy of opportunities for both teams. Goalie Jan Laco kept the Slovaks within one goal while on the other end Ondrej Pavelec protected the Czech lead.

With 53 seconds left Andrej Meszaros committed a blatant slashing penalty to put the Slovaks a man down. The Slovaks were able to move the puck into the offensive zone to pull their goalie, but almost immediately the Czechs won possession back, and Tomas Plekanec scored the empty net goal to seal the Czech victory.

The Slovaks never played up to their ability in this tournament until the last 21 minutes of this game. Their best players - Marian Hossa, Zdeno Chara, Michal Handzus - are all a little on the old side. Chara and Handzus both turn 37 in March, and Hossa is 35. There are only a few guys on the Slovak roster who are in the prime of their hockey careers and also have top-level ability.

The Czechs, on the other hand, have a well balanced blend of experienced guys (Jaromir Jagr, Patrick Elias), and guys in the groove of their career (David Krejci, Tomas Plekanec), along with some talented young NHLers (Martin Hanzal).

They're going to be a tough opponent for the US. Hopefully that exciting 3rd period wore them down a little bit.

Czech Republic vs. USA Wednesday at noon (Eastern) on USA Network.

Photo Credit:
Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

Olympic Hockey: Norway vs. Russia Recap

One story surrounding this game has been that the Russian team isn't playing to its potential. Some have suggested that there is division on the roster due to the mixture of NHL and KHL players. Russian media outlets are questioning where the "Big Red Machine" is. But I think these stories about Russia not playing well are exaggerated, even imagined.

Russia has played very well. Under NHL rules, they would have beaten the US in that epic game Saturday morning. And they were still just one shot or one save away from winning. The US needed 8 shootout rounds to beat them, and the US is a damn good team.

Russia beat Norway 4-0 and potentially quieted those doubters, at least for one day.

The game was closer than the score suggests. It was 2-0 before Norway pulled their goalie. It was 0-0 after the first period until Alexander Radulov was credited with a goal that bounced off a Norwegian skate and into the net. Pavel Datsyuk got the assist. Datsyuk tallied three assists in the game. Radulov also scored an empty-netter in the 3rd and had an assist. Ilya Kovalchuk scored late in the 2nd. Alexei Tereshenchenko scored with 40 seconds left in the 3rd.

All 4 of Russia's goals were scored by KHLers. Datsyuk and Vladimir Tarasenko were the only NHLers with assists.

Norway played a conservative game, trying to make everything difficult for Russia. That strategy is always a double edged sword because it makes offense hard to generate. You purposely reduce the number of offensive chances you'll get, and a team that lacks talent (relative to Russia) like Norway should play for as many offensive opportunities as possible, and hope Russia makes defensive mistakes (which they tend to do), and pray that Russia doesn't finish its offensive chances.

In hindsight, it's easy for me to say that. Norway played a great game against a great team in front of a hostile crowd. Had Norway managed to score first, maybe the supposed tension and rifts on Team Russia would have expressed themselves on the ice. Maybe a sour crowd would have made those tensions worse. Russia does seem like a team that doesn't handle adversity well.

And Russia will likely face adversity when they play against Finland in the quarterfinals.

Photo Credit:
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Austria vs. Slovenia Recap

Before 2014, Slovenia had never won a game in Olympic competition. They hadn't even qualified for the Olympics. Now they've won two games and they're in the quarterfinals after beating Austria 4-0. Yet another reason to love Olympic hockey.

Austria played with no emotion, until near the end of the game when the only emotion they showed was frustration. They could have come into this game relaxed and loose. Or they could have played with an intense aggressiveness. Either would have been better than the clinical and sterile game they tried to play.

Austria featured three NHL players, including Thomas Vanek. Slovenia has only one NHL player (Anze Kopitar). There's only one pro hockey team in Slovenia, and it plays in Austria's league. There are only 7 hockey rinks in Slovenia. Norfolk County in Massachusetts has more rinks than that.

Most of the Austrian team plays in the Austrian league, while the Slovenian team is comprised of players who play in leagues across Europe. There are representatives from the French Ligue Magnus, the German DEL, the Swedish HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden's second highest league), Austria's EBEL, the KHL, two Czech leagues, and the Slovak Extraliga.

Maybe that diversity is why the Slovenian national team is able to play above its talent level. They play with pride for their country. They're fighters. They're willing to play anywhere and everywhere just to play the game.

It might also help that 13 players come from the same town (Jesenice)

Anze Kopitar (NHL) scored Slovenia's first goal on the power play, then Jan Urbas (Germany's DEL) scored a shorthanded goal. Sabahudin Kovacevic (Russia's Supreme Hockey League, which is a step below the KHL), scored Slovenia's third goal. Jan Mursak (KHL) scored an empty-netter. Mursak also had an assist. Marcel Rodman (DEL) had two assists. Goalie Robert Kristan (Slovak Extraliga) stopped all 30 shots he faced.

Slovenia advance to play top-seeded Sweden. I don't think Slovenia will win, but they won't be eliminated without a fight.

I really do like this team. They just need to get better uniforms.

Photo Credit:
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

USA vs. Russia Demonstrates Why NHL Players Should Play in Olympics

I wanted to wake up for the 7:30am start of US vs. Russia Saturday morning. Just in case I didn't, I set my DVR to record the game. I'm glad I did because I slept through most of it. And when I woke up, Facebook and Twitter were ablaze with patriotism and the word "Oshie." There were 530,000+ tweets with the word "Oshie" in them on Saturday.

When was the last time that such a thing has ever happened for hockey? When was the last time that the entire country focused on a hockey game, the way a city focuses on a Stanley Cup game? The game was even featured on SportsCenter, on NBA All-Star weekend, and we know how rare it is for SportsCenter to feature hockey.

That's the power of Olympic hockey. You get the best players in the world, you put medals, prestige, and pride on the line, and then you play 60 minutes of great hockey. Or more.

And just a few words to Russian players like Alex Ovechkin complaining about their disallowed goal when the net got dislodged: It's your country, your Olympics, your rink, your net, your moorings. Either build stronger nets, or build stronger character and accept the result and move on with your life.

The NHL doesn't make any money off the Olympics. Not directly. The NHL teams stop playing, and NHL players risk injury only a few weeks before the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The NHL doesn't get a dime from ticket sales or TV advertising, even though everyone is watching the League's players play.

By the way, the injury risk argument is lame. The NHL plays 4,920 regular season games every 4 years, along with 60 playoff series. There are 30 Olympic hockey games every 4 years. You can't schedule 82 regular season games then argue that an athlete playing 6-7 more is an unacceptable risk.

The way the NHL should view Olympic hockey is like a really popular and convincing infomercial. It's free advertising. The NHL spends huge amounts of money trying to promote the game, particularly to kids. The Olympics do that for free. And do so with more success.

How many kids out there saw TJ Oshie on Saturday then wanted to develop shooting moves like him? How many young goalies out there saw Jonathan Quick in net and wanted to learn how to stop shots like him?

Before the Olympics only a handful of people knew who TJ Oshie was. The Olympics turned him into a star. And the NHL desperately lacks famous star player, particularly American star players.

The NHL needs to realize that hockey is a regional, niche sport. It has a cult following. Which is a polite way of saying that it doesn't have broad appeal but the relatively small number of fans it has are fanatics.

The Olympics don't convert millions of new fans, just like the World Cup doesn't create armies of new soccer fans when the US does well. However, the Olympics do recruit a number new followers to the cult. More kids will want to play, will ask their parents to take them to a game, will watch highlights online. They'll want a TJ Oshie shirt for their birthday. And guess what, NHL, you get money from that. And when more people play hockey, more people watch hockey. You make money from that too, NHL.

So instead of focusing on the short term buck, and the immediate revenue you don't make from the Olympics, think of them as free advertising/recruiting for your game/cult.

Look at it like this. If NBC Sports had said to the NHL "We're going to promote the game of hockey for hours and hours in the next few weeks. We'll use NBC, NBC Sports, CNBC, MSNBC, USA. We'll put the women's finals on NBC. We'll put USA on NBC Sports and Canada on USA. We'll show Sweden and Finland and the Czech Republic and Switzerland and Russia and Slovakia. We'll promote the game of hockey for free, we'll get countries riled up, we'll stir national pride, we'll make everyone wake up at 7:30am on a Saturday just to watch hockey, and all we want in return is 6-7 games from NHL players...

The NHL would be dumb not to take that deal.

The NHL will be dumb not to take that deal.

Photo Credit:
Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Olympic Hockey Elimination Round Matchups

For the US to advance to the gold medal game, they'll have to get through some quality competition. They will face the winner of the Slovakia/Czech Republic game, then most likely play Canada in the semifinals. However they won't have to play Sweden, Russia, or Finland until the gold medal game.

Here's a quick preview of the opening round of the elimination stage, which will be played on Tuesday (starting at 3:00am), all times are Eastern:

Austria vs. Slovenia - winner faces Sweden
3:00am - NBC Sports
Each team won a game in the group stages. Austria beat Norway (so did everyone else). Slovenia beat Slovakia, and gave all their opponents a respectable fight. I think Slovenia wins this one before being crushed by the Swedes in the quarterfinals.

Russia vs. Norway - winner faces Finland
7:00am - NBC Sports
Norway lost all 3 of their games and only scored 3 goals. The Russians were a few bounces from winning their group. Russia wins this game, then I think they'll beat the Finns to advance to the semis against Sweden.

Switzerland vs. Latvia - winner faces Canada
12:00pm - MSNBC
The Swiss should scare everyone in this tournament. They won two games 1-0 in the group stage and lost to Sweden 1-0. They've allowed a single goal, thanks in no small part to goalie Jonas Hiller (who didn't play in the game against Sweden, so he has yet to allow a goal). They should beat Latvia (again), and give Canada a run for their money. I want to be bold/stupid and pick them to beat Canada, but I don't think they'll score more than a goal against the Canadians, which won't be enough

Slovakia vs. Czech Republic - winner faces USA
12:00pm - NBC Sports
Both teams should be disappointed with their group stage performances. Both were in tough groups. But Slovakia shouldn't be losing to Slovenia. The Czechs have 18 NHL players, the Slovaks have 12. Jaroslav Halak might be able to carry his Slovakian teammates, but I can't pick against the Czechs, who have been playing much better hockey in this tournament than their Slovakian rivals.

And of course, Team USA will defeat whoever they face in the quarterfinals.

So this sets up semifinal matchups of Sweden/Russia and Canada/USA, with a Europe vs. North America gold medal game. I think Sweden is playing great, has great scorers,  fantastic speed, and amazing goaltending. I think they beat Russia, the US narrowly beats Canada, and why not pick Team USA to win the gold.

America. Fuck yeah.

Bruins Leave St. Louis with a Point

The Bruins played a better game, but the Blues made better plays. And the B's could have and maybe should have won.

Leaving St. Louis with a point is an achievement. Especially after being down 2-0 in the 3rd period. St. Louis was 17-4-2 against Eastern Conference opponents coming into this game. And the Bruins were without captain Zdeno Chara, who's in Sochi to carry Slovakia's flag for the Olympic opening ceremonies. That's got to be a pretty special moment in the life of an athlete.

Alexander Steen scored the Blues' first goal, and it was legit, and a good demonstration of why he's scored 28 this season. However the Bruins should have been on the power play after Loui Eriksson's teeth were "pushed in" (as Claude Julien described after the game) by a high stick. There was a lot of blood, but no penalty. The Bruins should have been given a 5-on-3 power play for about half a minute (the non-call occurred when the Bruins were already on a power play). Instead play continued and the next stoppage was Steen's goal.

And those are all the blues I'm going to sing about that non-call.

The Bruins showed strong determination throughout the game. That's why they were able to score twice in the 3rd period. They stuck to the way they'd been playing in the 2 prior periods. David Krejci scored his 13th, Brad Marchand his 18th. In his last 25 games, Marchand has scored 14 goals. He scored 4 goals in the first 31 games of the season. I think he's moved on from the loss of Tyler Seguin, on and off the ice.

In overtime Jarome Iginla nearly won the game. He showed a Hall of Fame scorer's patience. He was in the crease with an open net in front of him, Jaroslav Halak on the far post. Iginla had to handle a pass with his skate to settle it, and showed great instincts by not kicking it in. He knew he had plenty of time to receive the pass, settle the puck, and tap it in with the blade of his stick, and that Halak didn't have enough time to move from post to post to stop him. However, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo had enough time to skate over and extend the blade of his stick between the puck and the net, and broke the play up. Give credit to Pietrangelo for the game-saving play.

That play didn't make SportsCenter. None of the plays did because this game wasn't good enough for SportsCenter.

One more game until the Olympic break. The Senators play the B's Saturday afternoon at the Garden. The B's will go into the break with a nice lead in the division, the second best record in the conference, and a near win against the third best team in the West. Not bad. Most of the roster will rest, Chara (Slovakia), Krejci (Czech Republic), Rask (Finland), Bergeron (Canada), Eriksson (Sweden), and Julien (Canada) will work. That means key players like Lucic, Iginla, Marchand, and Boychuk can recharge their batteries for the stretch run.

Photo Credit:
Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

Team USA Hockey Invites 48 Players to Camp

Tim Thomas was not one of the 6 goalies invited to Team USA's camp. Jonathan Quick, Jimmy Howard, Ryan Miller, Cory Schneider, Craig Anderson, and 20-year old Josh Gibson were the netminders invited. Gibson was the MVP of the 2013 World Juniors, leading the US to a gold medal.

No Bruins were invited. Which isn't much of a surprise since Torey Krug was the only American on their roster last year. Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and Milan Lucic were invited to Canada's camp. Claude Julien will be an assistant coach for Team Canada.

Two players from Massachusetts will participate in the US's camp: the aforementioned Cory Schneider from Marblehead, and Keith Yandle from Boston.

Other New England natives involved will be Jonathan Quick from Milford, CT (he also went to UMass), defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk from Greenwich, CT (also went to BU, also has the best last name ever), and forward Max Pacioretty from New Canaan, CT. That's right, the Montreal Canadiens are more American than the Boston Bruins. The Habs have two invitees to the camp.

As you'd expect, there are some great players on the team. The question is will they be great enough to match the likes of Canada and Russia. With Quick and/or Miller in net, anything is possible. Then there's some talented forwards like Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane, Dustin Brown, and Bobby Ryan that will be relied on for the scoring.

Unfortunately, the US's talent isn't as deep as Canada's (Bergeron, Crosby, Toews, Sharp, Green, Subban, Weber, Letang, Nash, St. Louis, Stamkos, Staal, Staal, and Staal) nor is it as strong at the top as Russia's (Malkin, Datsyuk, and Ovechkin).

So goaltending will have to be the difference for the US to win. Relatively speaking, Canada's goaltending isn't that good. They invited Corey Crawford, Roberto Luongo, Braden Holtby, Carey Price, and Mike Smith. Russia, on the other hand, has Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky.

Then there's Sweden, who will have Henrik Lundqvist. And Finland will probably start Tuukka Rask or Antti Niemi.

So Canada has the most talented skaters, but some questionable goaltenders. Russia has a goalie, and some studs, then a lot of guys you've never heard of. USA has goaltending, and some solid players, but not the firepower that Canada has. And Finland gets to choose between a Vezina finalist (Niemi) and a Conn Smythe contender (Rask).

Plus there's Sweden, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

This should be a good tournament.

Full Team USA invitees

SO CLOSE...

I had a feeling during the 3rd period. A good, warm, comforting feeling. As Canada hit the post twice in the opening minute, as Sidney Crosby bungled a free and clear breakaway, I felt like the US was being helped, Angels in the Outfield style. Then Zach Parise seemed to confirm this feeling, tapping in a rebound to tie the game with 24 seconds left.

But reality set in. The US had expended all their fuel in a desperate 3rd period, and had nothing left in the tank for overtime. Sidney Crosby got the goal, and will get the glory, but it was only a matter of time before some Canadian beat Ryan Miller, who was as exhausted and spent as Brian Rafalski, and Ryan Suter. I'm having trouble finding a box score with Time On Ice listed, but Raflaski and Suter easily contributed 30 minutes in this game.

As I said, Crosby will get the glory. He has such a boring, vacant personality. He makes Bill Belichick look like Chad Ochocinco. He should really do volunteer work at insomnia clinics and help those people get to sleep.

He's so individually overrated in what is a consummate team sport. And how much do our Northerly neighbors wash his balls? If he were caught raping ducks, the Canadian branches of PETA would laud him as an animal lover. Canadian history books would record him as a civil rights leader who pioneered inter-species unions.

Not to take away from Canada, who won this Gold Medal fair and square, but they nearly lost to Switzerland. They were 1-1 against the US. If not for their 7-3 toppling of Russia, the luster from their Gold Medal would really diminish. And they executed all of this mediocrity on their home soil, on a North American sized rink.

So I guess what I'm saying is that Canada barely limped away with what they were supposed to leisurely stroll away with. They needed overtime to beat a country that features hockey as its 4th sport at best. But if I were Canadian, I'd probably be celebrating it too. What else is there to celebrate up there? 3 more months of winter?



Now to the game. The US shot itself in the foot a few times. That's to be expected from such a young team, in such a big game. The first Canadian goal came from a silly Erik Johnson giveaway in front of Ryan Miller's net. And then there were the countless Offsides calls that stopped US rushes in their tracks.

But there's a great deal to look forward to in 2014. Patrick Kane is 22. Ryan Kesler is 25. Ryan Suter is 25. Zach Parise is 25. Bobby Ryan is 22. Phil Kessel is a douche. The US finished 8th in the 2006 Olympics. They've won Silver in 2010. And they'll once again contend for Gold in '14.

CANADA WINS WOMEN'S HOCKEY GOLD, THEN DRINKS BEER AND GETS IN TROUBLE

The International Olympic Committee is going to "investigate" the postgame celebration of the Canadian women's hockey team. After beating the US 2-0 and winning the Gold Medal, some members of the team celebrated on the ice by drinking beer and smoking cigars.

Who cares? How sensitive are we in sports today? If you're up by too many points, you're supposed to ease off. If you win, there are restrictions on how you can celebrate.

The Canadians did nothing to disrespect their opponent or the game. They were happy to win, and in their exuberance and jubilation, somebody opened up some beers. Do we expect these girls to say "No, I don't want free beer right now. It'd be inappropriate."

There weren't even any fans left in the arena. Just a few photographers and bitter Olympic officials who wanted to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Had they burnt the American flag, then I'd say their celebration went too far. But this is utter nonsense. They're kids, having the time of their life, let them have a beer and a cigar.

OLYMPIC HOCKEY ROUNDUP: DAY 9

Very interesting day/night of hockey. One game surprisingly close, another surprisingly distant, and a third a surprise result.

USA 2, SWITZERLAND 0

The Swiss held on for 42 minutes and 8 seconds, staving off a relentless US attack. Jonas Hiller was on his game, so were the posts and crossbar. But Zach Parise broke the deadlock on the 3rd, essentially ending the game. The Swiss just weren't going to score. Parise added an emptynetter to make it 2-0. The US outshot the Swiss 44 to 19.

CANADA 7, RUSSIA 3

The scoring started 141 seconds in, and didn't slow down until halfway thru the 2nd. Russia's weakness was their defense. I thought guys like Ovechkin and Datsyuk could keep the puck in Canada's end enough to limit the exposure of that weakness. Incorrect. Corey Perry scored 2 goals, Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and 2 assists, as did Dan Boyle.

FINLAND 2, CZECH REPUBLIC 0

This was a duel between Mikka Kiprusoff and Tomas Vokoun. But the Finns were able to slip one by Vokoun 53 minutes into the game. Kiprusoff's teammate with the Calgary Flames - Niklas Hagmen, scored the goal. Valtteri Filppula added the emptynetter.

SLOVAKIA 4, SWEDEN 3

A shocking result. The Slovaks barely got by lowly Norway. Then they defeat the '06 Gold Medal winners. Sweden never even had a lead in this game, and twice found themselves down by 2 goals. Captain Zdeno Chara had an assist. Marian Hossa had 3 assists. Pavol Demitra scored a goal and had 2 assists. The Slovakians have now beaten Sweden AND Russia. They started slow but not they're rolling.

Semifinals are Friday. The US plays Finland at 3. Canada plays Slovakia at 9:30.

OLYMPIC HOCKEY PREVIEW: QUALIFICATION ROUND*

So, we have seeds 5 thru 12 playing off against each other, with 4 teams advancing to the quarterfinals. I have no qualms with the way this tournament has been formatted, but they didn't do anything to make it easy to explain.

Here are the games Tuesday, and my little previews/predictions. In parenthesis, you'll see who the winner of each game will play in the quarterfinals.

3pm - USA Network: Belarus vs. Switzerland (winner vs. USA)

A pair of scrappy teams with only a few NHLers. This game provides the best matchup of Tuesday's action (not surprisingly, it's the 8th seed vs. the 9th seed). Switzerland has impressed me a great deal. Not only has Jonas Hiller been excellent, but the Swiss have executed a watertight defensive gameplan. They lost to the US 3-1, took Canada to a shootout before losing in 4 rounds, and then beat Norway.

Belarus fought hard against #2 seeded Sweden (say that 3 times fast), but I don't think they have the firepower to overcome Hiller or the Swiss' stifling defensive play.

Switzerland 3, Belarus 1

8pm - CNBC: Canada vs. Germany (winner vs. Russia)

Both teams have disappointed me, but the Canadians hockey team might be the biggest Olympic disappointment in the history of the Winter Games... so far.

I expected more from a German side with 7 NHL players. I remember in '98 when the Germans had 0 NHLers on their squad. But they've lost their identity. They're trying to be like Finland when they should play more like Switzerland. Will they figure this out? Yes. Will it matter? No.

Canada rolls over Germany as if it were curling, 7-0.

10pm - CNBC: Latvia vs. Czech Republic (winner vs. Finland)

The only team worse than Germany is Latvia. These teams met in group play, with the Czechs finishing on top 5-2. Latvia scored half their goals in that game. The Czechs will cruise in this one, 6-1.

12am - CNBC: Norway vs. Slovakia (winner vs. Sweden)

The Slovaks lost to the Czechs, then beat the mighty Russians, and crushed the lowly Latvians. It's hard to really gauge how they're playing.

Norway lost all their games, but they did take Switzerland to overtime. They're big, they don't have anything to lose. Canada and the US simply outclassed the Norwegians, but I don't think Slovakia has the talent to do the same thing. I'm picking an upset here, with the Norwegians winning 3-2 in OT.

So when I'm right, the quarterfinals will be:
USA vs. Switzerland
Canada vs. Russia (juicy)
Czech Republic vs. Finland
Norway vs. Sweden

You know what, the US's route to the Gold Medal Game could be Switzerland then Finland or Czech Republic. They won't have to face Sweden, Canada, or Russia unless it's for the Gold (which means a Silver when they lose). Not too shabby a bracket for the USA.

OLYMPIC HOCKEY ROUNDUP: DAY 6

What an excellent showcase day for the sport of hockey. The Czechs, Russians, Americans, Canadians, Finns, and Swedes all took the ice. All three games to determine Group winners and receivers of that coveted bye to the quarterfinals.

RUSSIA 4, CZECH REPUBLIC 2

If Crosby and Ovechkin are the Peyton Manning and Tom Brady of the NHL, Evgeni Malkin is the Drew Brees. He doesn't get as much hype, but he delivers almost as much on the ice. He scored twice, with an assist on the game-sealing emptynetter. Oh yeah, the Ruskies have Alexander Ovechkin who had two assists. And another slightly underappreciated quality player in Pavel Datsyuk, who had a goal and an assist. Evgeni Nabokov remains undefeated as Russia wins Group B.

U.S.A. 5, CANADA 3

Four words to describe this contest: Sixty minute highlight reel. Every second of this was sheer genius. This was as hard fought as the Norway/Switzerland match over the weekend, but only on a much higher stratosphere of talent.

Ryan Miller made 42 saves in this game. He stayed poised under blizzards of pressure, and looked chill even when in desperation mode. He's Team USA's biggest weapon, as he's arguably the best goalie in the tournament.

Brian Rafalski had the big night on the score sheet with 2 goals and an assist.

Sidney Crosby had a goal, but was -3 on the night. Too bad.



The US's goals were a bit on the "lucky" side, but in hockey, good luck tends to follow guys who put themselves in good positions. The US was smart with the puck, and strong without the puck. They fought for every millimeter of ice with a zealous determination. They had an underdog's attitude with a starving dog's tenacity, and emerged as top dogs, winning Group A and going undefeated in the preliminary round.



SWEDEN 3, FINLAND 0

Watch out for the Swedes, the other undefeated team in preliminary play. They started off a bit slow, but now they're really rolling. 25 year old Loui Eriksson of the Dallas Stars scored a pair of power play goals, and Nicklas Backstrom had a goal with 2 assists as the Swedes dominated their rematch of the '06 Gold Medal Game.



As an American, it's difficult not to be proudly optimistic this morning, but the watching utterly stacked teams like Sweden fills me with dread. Thankfully, the US can only meet Sweden in the Gold Medal Game.

Now on to the Elimination Stage.

The late goals the US netted against Norway, as well as Ryan Kesler's empty-netter helped give the US the #1 seed thanks to goal differential (+9, Sweden's was +7). The US won Group A, Russia won Group B, and Sweden won Group C. Finland finished with 6 points and a better GD (goal differential) than the Czechs, so Finland also earned a bye to the quarterfinals. Here are the full standings from the Group Stage:

1. USA
2. Sweden
3. Russia
4. Finland
----------------
5. Czech Republic
6. Canada
7. Slovakia
8. Switzerland
9. Belarus
10. Norway
11. Germany
12. Latvia

Here's the schedule for Tuesday (Eastern start time - network - game):

3pm - USA - Belarus vs. Switzerland (winner plays USA)
8pm - CNBC - Canada vs. Germany (winner plays Russia)
10pm - CNBC - Latvia vs. Czech Republic (winner plays Finland)
12am - CNBC - Norway vs. Slovakia (winner plays Sweden)

We'll have a preview of these games tomorrow.

OLYMPIC HOCKEY ROUNDUP: DAY 3

We're finally getting some exciting games...

USA 6, NORWAY 1

Don't let the final score fool you. The US didn't dominate this game. At least not as much as they should. You might think Norway is great at hockey, but they're not. One of their players is a carpenter. Yet this was a 3-1 game going into the 3rd.

Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist, as did Ryan Malone. Brian Raflaski had a pair of junktime goals in the last 3 minutes of the 3rd. Ryan Miller only had to stop 10 of the 11 shots he faced, but he did have an assist.

CANADA 3, SWITZERLAND 2 (SO)

Canada should not need a shootout to beat Switzerland. The Swiss have 2 NHL players. Goalie Jonas Hiller and defenseman Mark Streit. That's it. Nevertheless, they stymied an All-Star team from Canada, and stole a point from the tournament favorites.

The Swiss have been the surprise of the tournament, thus far. They only lost 3-1 to the US, and they forced Canada into a shootout in their second game. They should beat Norway to round out their group play. And their sound defensive play could pose a problem to future contenders.

In the round-robin stage, teams are given 3 points for regulation wins, 2 points for OT wins, and 1 point for OT losses. So Canada only having 5 points is a major surprise. And Switzerland could finish the stage with 4 points, which is a significant achievement for a country that didn't even qualify for The Games 12 years ago.

SLOVAKIA 2, RUSSIA 1 (SO)

What a great game. Once again, the best matchup of the night started at 12:30 AM Eastern Time, so many people missed this contest. Zdeno Chara and Alex Ovechkin battled all night long, and it was more physical than when the Caps play the Bruins. Alexei Morozov scored for the Russians in the 2nd, Marian Hossa scored for the Slovakians with about 10 minutes to go in the 3rd. The shootout went 7 rounds before Pavol Demitra beat Bryzgalov.

This was a huge win for the Slovakians, who had lost 3-1 to the Czech Republic the night before. Group B is now totally up for grabs.

Today's games:
3pm on MSNBC: Sweden vs. Belarus
8pm on CNBC: Czech Republic vs. Latvia
12am on MSNBC: Finland vs. Germany