# Olympic Hockey Poll



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

OK, putting aside national pride, lets get the hockey experts picks here


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## Rumble_b (Feb 14, 2006)

Canada for sure. But if for some reason they blow it, it will be Russia.


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## dodgechargerfan (Mar 22, 2006)

Agreed. The Canadian hockey teams are in pretty good shape overall
They'll have a couple of challenging games but if they stay focused and healthy, they should do well.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

methinks this may not be the most unbiased audience for the poll :food-smiley-004:
I've got them: Can / Swe / Rus / Fin / USA


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## aC2rs (Jul 9, 2007)

I think Canada will do it


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## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

theres hockey at the olympics?


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Canada's odds are quite good. Last night there were some defensive scrambles that looked sloppy. Once they get more familiar with each other, they should be able to beat a *real* threat. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

puckhead said:


> methinks this may not be the most unbiased audience for the poll :food-smiley-004:
> I've got them: Can / Swe / Rus / Fin / USA


USA is listed pretty low there. Is that wishful thinking or do you figure the talent level merits it


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

GuitarsCanada said:


> USA is listed pretty low there. Is that wishful thinking or do you figure the talent level merits it


honestly, aside from goaltending I don't think they have a very good team.
Defense is OK, but they won't get a heck of a lot of ofense from the back end.
Forwards have too many plumbers, not enough game-changers.
Their wins against the top nations will need to be ugly, and perhaps lucky.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

speaking of olympic hockey, this is pretty freakin' funny
(some nsfw lyrics)

[video=youtube;H8NRnlUU8gI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8NRnlUU8gI[/video]


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

So I thought it would be fun to temporarily pad Russia by 17 votes. Not one person questioned it, I guess Russia winning does concern us all.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

Jeff Flowerday said:


> So I thought it would be fun to temporarily pad Russia by 17 votes. Not one person questioned it, I guess Russia winning does concern us all.


I noticed that... assumed someone had written a vote-robot.


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

I will vote after i watch them play Canada or US..is that to late?


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Okay, so we're a bunch of homers, can you blame us?

That Hiller could eventually steal a game for the Swiss.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

I think the womens team will for sure as A: they are awesome! and B: Have some of the other teams ever even played? It's been scary watching some of those games!


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

nkjanssen said:


> You guys still think Canada's going to take it?


yup. Hiller stole that point for thre Swiss. 45 shots isn't bad.
even still, it is a wake up call for Canada, as they weren't as intense as they ought to have been.
Crosby was trying to be too cute all game, Getzlaf looked lost for the 2nd straight game.
They'll get sronger as we go on, I am confident of that.
now they need to beat the US to get the bye. Sunday will be a great game.

I was lucky enough to be at yesterday's game, btw. What an amazing atmosphere!
I also met Shani Davis (US gold medalist - speed skating) later on, what a super nice guy. 
and man, that medal was heavy.

Russia got knocked down a peg last nighty too, remember.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Anybody want to change their vote now?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Miller was amazing. The rest of the USA team played okay. The Canadian team played well, indeed better than the American team for much of the game, but unfortunately Miller is part of the American team.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit if the Yanks took gold. We forget too quickly just how many great players come from other countries these days and have just as much professional experience playing against our players. That's the difference between men's and women's Olympic hockey. None of these foreign teams has ever played against our women's team, or at least not very often. In contrast, all of the players on the men's American team have faced our players dozens of times under professional conditions.

I think when you pit professional players against other professional players of comparable experience, you can't simply turn to a national history to predict the sporting outcome. I wish it weren't so, but it is gonna take more than Sid and Danny to bring down Miller.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

puckhead said:


> Hiller stole that point for thre Swiss. 45 shots isn't bad.


OK, make that "Miller stole that three-points for the US. 45 shots isn't bad"

I am, however concerned that for the second straight game, Brodeur has been the 2nd best goalie in the ice.
Oh well, scenic route to the finals. Germany on Tuesday, (hopefully) Russia on Wednesday! 

The last three gold medalists I can recall all dropped a game on their way.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

Way to hang in there puckhead. I only watch hockey when it matters - the Olympics - so I am certainly not well versed in the finer points of the game. That being said. Canada's going to win. Just because. You can take that to the bank!


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

although my opinion on the US's finishing spot has changed.
they have earned themselves a very favourable draw through the bracket
http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/vancouver/bracket/ice_hockey

and one of Can/Swe/Rus will be very disappointed.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

now THAT's the Team Canada I was waiting to see!!

:smilie_flagge17:


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

What I find all so odd about this is that many of these people playing for different countries play on the same NHL team as each other. Crosby plays for us, Malkin and Gonchar for them. Thornton, Heatley, and Boyle play for us, and Nabokov for them. babcock coaches us, but one of his prime players, Datsyuk, plays for them. What a bizarre set of emotions must be floating around out there on the ice.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

mhammer said:


> What I find all so odd about this is that many of these people playing for different countries play on the same NHL team as each other. Crosby plays for us, Malkin and Gonchar for them. Thornton, Heatley, and Boyle play for us, and Nabokov for them. babcock coaches us, but one of his prime players, Datsyuk, plays for them. What a bizarre set of emotions must be floating around out there on the ice.


Well these guys are _professionals_ I'm sure they are very focused on the job at hand. And as for the Canadian team, it really must be inspiring to play at a venue with so much red and white? Or daunting I supposed from another point of view. I'm glad they pulled Brodeur though, hope the "rookie" can hang on!


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

So I finally voted for Canada, after watching both Russia and Sweden lose last night. USA Finland and Czechs are a tossup for the silver/bronze. We'll crush the Czechs, USA should beat Finns. USA cannot play the same game they played against us before and win, I think.....tho Luongo has to play better than he has so far.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

keto said:


> So I finally voted for Canada, after watching both Russia and Sweden lose last night. USA Finland and Czechs are a tossup for the silver/bronze. *We'll crush the Czechs*, USA should beat Finns. USA cannot play the same game they played against us before and win, I think.....tho Luongo has to play better than he has so far.


We play the Slovaks. Man, they were fast last night against the Swedes. Where has that Pavol Demitra been for _my _team?
I'm still not sold on the US team, that game v. Finland could be a toss-up.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Czechs = Slovaks, please pardon my semantics


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

If Canada can own the boards like that in the next two games, gold shouldn't be too far-fetched. Though I'm glad Brodeur sat this game out, Bobby Lou didn't inspire that much confidence. Canada just brought a rocket-launcher to a gunfight and was able to outscore and outcheck Russia. I'll have to see a couple highlight-reel saves before I really start believing. I think there was one pretty good save, but that was balanced-out by the shot from the point that Luongo didn't see or stop. The whole point of putting Luongo in was that a big butterfly goalie would be able to stop those shots that he can't see through traffic. Oh well.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

hollowbody said:


> If Canada can own the boards like that in the next two games, gold shouldn't be too far-fetched. Though I'm glad Brodeur sat this game out, Bobby Lou didn't inspire that much confidence. Canada just brought a rocket-launcher to a gunfight and was able to outscore and outcheck Russia. I'll have to see a couple highlight-reel saves before I really start believing. I think there was one pretty good save, but that was balanced-out by the shot from the point that Luongo didn't see or stop. The whole point of putting Luongo in was that a big butterfly goalie would be able to stop those shots that he can't see through traffic. Oh well.


Luongo 1.67 GAA, 92.42 save%
Brodeur 2.90 GAA, 86.67 save%

Lou made some big saves at important times. 
He definitely wasn't as busy as I had feared he would be.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

They can't be too high from the win either next game, or look to the Gold medal game.

If they keep their heads they should win, but a solid defensive effort will be needed.


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## Chito (Feb 17, 2006)

fraser said:


> theres hockey at the olympics?


there's olympics in hockey?


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

I'd like to officially say that I underestimated the US team going into the tourney.
they are just laying the boots to the Fins.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

man, that was too close...the had it wrapped up @3-0, got complacent & BAM in the last few minutes


they better up their game against the US, or else we're gonna get steamrollered


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

bolero said:


> man, that was too close...the had it wrapped up @3-0, got complacent & BAM in the last few minutes
> 
> 
> they better up their game against the US, or else we're gonna get steamrollered


Yeah they did, but blew a 2 goal lead.

On the other hand you could look at it this way.

They didn't play their best and still won.
Imagine that team with more time to gel...


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