Olympic ice hockey thread

Tavares is out for the tournament.

 

Damn. Hope it's not any longer than that.

 

Various Twitter types twittering that Tavares will undergo an MRI but word out of Sochi is it doesn't look good.

 

Good column by Bruce Arthur on Latvia

http://www.canada.com/olympics/columns/canadas-escape-against-latvia-shows-anything-can-happen-at-the-olympics

Latvia has 17 indoor rinks, and no outdoor rinks, in its entire country. As Latvian coach Ted Nolan put it, “I think we have more rinks in my home town of Sault Ste. Marie.”

As the cliche goes, a goalie can win a game singlehandedly

 

Latvian goalie, and the whole team really, played very well to keep that game close. Would have been one of the great upsets in Olympic history if they could have pulled it off.

So, one way or the other, we'll get North America vs. Scandinavia for both gold and bronze.

Women's gold medal game is Thursday (noon ET, 9 am PT, NBC, live), between the US and Canada. Canada won the earlier meeting 3-2, partly on a disputed goal that appeared to have crossed the goal line after the whistle had blown. Two teams seem very evenly matched. When you get a rematch like this, between two evenly matched teams, I usually take the team that lost the first time. So I'll take the US women to win their first gold since 1998.

 

Canada's women haven't lost an Olympic hockey game in this century. If they win tomorrow, they'll improve to 20-0 since the 1998 gold medal game.

 

Looks like Harper and Obama have bet a case of beer on the outcome of each game (women's and men's) between the US and Canada. Really, guys, that's the best you can do?

 

Why is there no checking allowed for the women?

 

Been that way for as long as I can remember. I think it has to do with the risk of injury. In reality, how much checking there is sort of depends on the official in a particular game.

Sort of like women's basketball, the effect is there tends to be more emphasis on the skill parts of the game: passing, shooting, skating, stick-handling, etc.

 

Odds are Canada loses either way on that one.

 

Yeah, if Obama is offering Bud Light, Harper is likely to send it back.