USA vs Sweden

[tucker rocky]

...in men's olympic hockey.

[Joe]

what about it?

[Bearcat729]

And here I thought this was about the Womens Curling match earlier today....

[tucker rocky]

1-0 Sweden, at the moment.
Lots of action, though missed ops for US.

[tucker rocky]

Tied 1-1.

[Coder]

Good game. Quick turnarounds, nice shooting, wide open defense on both ends. Alfredsson looks good, nice backhand.

[tucker rocky]

Basically an NHL match, but olympic format.

[tucker rocky]

USA now on a 5 on 3 PP.

[Logan]

I'm rooting for everyone in this game. I love Lundqvist (Ranger fan), and I'm an American. Honestly, I think I'm rooting harder for Sweden.

[ice4277]

Score on a frigging 5 on 3 just once in this tourney please.

[tucker rocky]

Ought to be an interesting 3rd period.

[Coder]

Terrible powerplay by the US... Swedish commentators are not happy with the referee.. saying he's inconsistant.

[Coder]

35-16 in faceoffs... and 2-1 in the game. Nice goal.

[Coder]

7-0 shots in the third period.. what are the US players doing out there? Eating hot dogs?

[tucker rocky]

Another wasted PP by USA.

[Coder]

Zetterberg has been good defensively, but leaving a lot to be desired offensively. That goes for the entire Swedish team by the way.

[Coder]

Chelios looked old there.. helmet off, sitting on the bench with 12 seconds left of the game..

[mauchow]

oh, well

[Coder]

Best period was first, by far.. second and third looked slow, tighter defense, not at all as entertaining as the first one.

[miked]

I thought most of these guys retired a while ago...

[Tekneek]

So, US is most likely through to the next round. Even if they lose to Russia and Latvia wins, the goal differential is very much in their favor. A poor showing overall by the US team, IMO.

[MizzouRah]

So, US is most likely through to the next round. Even if they lose to Russia and Latvia wins, the goal differential is very much in their favor. A poor showing overall by the US team, IMO.
Pretty much my thoughts on the USA men's hockey team.

[mooreadamc]

Their result was expected though. They have alot of older players and alot of great young players coming up (Juniors and College). I think the middle ground is lacking quite a bit with the exception of a guy like Erik Cole and Rick Dipietro.

[ice4277]

They just don't have anybody who looks capable of putting the puck in the back of the net, and the goaltending is not strong enough to pull off a victory on its own.

At this point, I don't see them getting past the quarterfinals.

[DeToxRox]

The USA simply put was not expected to medal and if they somehow did, it'd have been miraculous.

They missed the boat not taking Ryan Miller, the best USA goalie out there right now. There, unfortunatley, was problem one.

Problem two is all the most highly touted USA talent is not in the NHL right now; Robbie Schremp, Bobby Ryan, Phil Kessel, Jack Johnson, Erik Johnson, etc. While there are pieces in place, the USA's best chance this year was to treat it as a developmental year and add a guy like Scremp or Jack Johnson to the team, much like Russia did with Evgeni Malkin.

The United States in 2010 will have one of the tournaments younger teams, with some guys with experience back such as Gomez, Gionata, Leopold, Liles, DiPietro, Cole, etc. The only difference is they'll be loaded with young, unproven Olympic talent.

Their best best now is to load up their World Cup team for 2008 with the young kids, and let them gain international experience, and hope it carries over to the 2010 games, because Canada could have one of the scarier teams ever assembled by then (Crosby and Staal come to mind as guys who'll be there). If they don't, and they keep clinging on to guys who haven't won Gold, they're just setting themselves up for more failure.

It's all about developing the program now.

And since I'm bored, my predicted 2010 USA Team would probably look like this ..

GOALIES

Ryan Miller
Rick DiPietro
Al Montoya

DEFENSE

Jordan Leopold
John-Michael Liles
Ryan Suter
Jack Johnson
Paul Martin
Mathieu Schenider
Brian Rafalski
Erik Johnson *
Ryan Whitney *

FORWARDS

Brian Gionta
Scott Gomez
Erik Cole
Dustan Brown
Phil Kessel
Robbie Schremp
Bobby Ryan
Patrick O'Sullivan
Zack Parise
Chris Drury
Ryan Malone

I threw out a lot of young kids, but if not 2010, 2014 has a good possibility of having all then showing up. Anyways, just me killing time and I am sure I'll add/subtract guys to it but for now, thats what I got.

[Tekneek]

I agree Don Waddell made some critical mistakes with the roster. With any luck, he won't be asked back. And if Atlanta doesn't make the playoffs, he might lose that job too.

[Chubby]

DiPietro is terrible.

[RPI-Fan]

DiPietro is terrible.

?????

[Galaxy]

The USA simply put was not expected to medal and if they somehow did, it'd have been miraculous.

They missed the boat not taking Ryan Miller, the best USA goalie out there right now. There, unfortunatley, was problem one.

Problem two is all the most highly touted USA talent is not in the NHL right now; Robbie Schremp, Bobby Ryan, Phil Kessel, Jack Johnson, Erik Johnson, etc. While there are pieces in place, the USA's best chance this year was to treat it as a developmental year and add a guy like Scremp or Jack Johnson to the team, much like Russia did with Evgeni Malkin.

The United States in 2010 will have one of the tournaments younger teams, with some guys with experience back such as Gomez, Gionata, Leopold, Liles, DiPietro, Cole, etc. The only difference is they'll be loaded with young, unproven Olympic talent.

Their best best now is to load up their World Cup team for 2008 with the young kids, and let them gain international experience, and hope it carries over to the 2010 games, because Canada could have one of the scarier teams ever assembled by then (Crosby and Staal come to mind as guys who'll be there). If they don't, and they keep clinging on to guys who haven't won Gold, they're just setting themselves up for more failure.

It's all about developing the program now.

And since I'm bored, my predicted 2010 USA Team would probably look like this ..

GOALIES

Ryan Miller
Rick DiPietro
Al Montoya

DEFENSE

Jordan Leopold
John-Michael Liles
Ryan Suter
Jack Johnson
Paul Martin
Mathieu Schenider
Brian Rafalski
Erik Johnson *
Ryan Whitney *

FORWARDS

Brian Gionta
Scott Gomez
Erik Cole
Dustan Brown
Phil Kessel
Robbie Schremp
Bobby Ryan
Patrick O'Sullivan
Zack Parise
Chris Drury
Ryan Malone

I threw out a lot of young kids, but if not 2010, 2014 has a good possibility of having all then showing up. Anyways, just me killing time and I am sure I'll add/subtract guys to it but for now, thats what I got.

Don't forget the "World Cup of Hockey" tournament or whatever it is called between then and 2010. The problem with the Olympics is it too "thrown together". Teams might be lucky to get one day together of practice before going out and playing 5 games in 8 days, plus the playoffs. Plus, you got teams like the weaker talented Latavia, Switzerland, who have non-NHL guys rested.

[sovereignstar]

Don't forget the "World Cup of Hockey" tournament or whatever it is called between then and 2010.

Did you actually read his post? :)

[Galaxy]

Did you actually read his post? :)

Miss it. I hit the post button before I posted everything.

[DeToxRox]

Don't forget the "World Cup of Hockey" tournament or whatever it is called between then and 2010. The problem with the Olympics is it too "thrown together". Teams might be lucky to get one day together of practice before going out and playing 5 games in 8 days, plus the playoffs. Plus, you got teams like the weaker talented Latavia, Switzerland, who have non-NHL guys rested.

Yup. The USA has to take FULL ADVANTAGE of the World Cup of Hockey. They are on verge of something special with the kids they have that could lace em up in 2010 and beyond, but not if they don't start developing that now.

It's time to bring in a guy like Mike Richter to overhaul the team. The guy was the poster boy for United States hockey, so let him work his magic. Keep someone who's been there in charge and roll with it. They need a shot to the arm and I think Richters the guy to supply it.

[Tekneek]

It's time to bring in a guy like Mike Richter to overhaul the team. The guy was the poster boy for United States hockey, so let him work his magic. Keep someone who's been there in charge and roll with it. They need a shot to the arm and I think Richters the guy to supply it.

Why Richter? I'm not entirely sold that on-the-ice performance qualifies anyone for coaching/management by default. What makes him the guy?

[DeToxRox]

Why Richter? I'm not entirely sold that on-the-ice performance qualifies anyone for coaching/management by default. What makes him the guy?

I'm biased as a goalie, but generally goalies make the best coaches (biased I know) because they are much more in tune with the game. Richter has shown he knows what it takes to win, he's been there and he's the most recgonizable person associated with United States hockey, and he feels perhaps the most passionate about it.

Put that all together and you have a guy who's going to put everything he has into it, and that's what we need. We need an architecht of this team who is going to go take chances for the greater good of the program.

[ice4277]

We need an architecht of this team who is going to go take chances for the greater good of the program.
Well, I think part of the problem may be that, if you try to take a chance, and it fails, you've got four years before you can make up for it. I think most guys in that situation are going to go for the safer choices, like they did this year with some of the older guys.

[Simms]

Things may change between now and then, obviously, but according to the league and the Players Association, there are no plans at the moment to have a World Cup in 2008.

[Simms]

Linkage for those who may doubt me. :)

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=155254&hubname=nhl

[Draft Dodger]

Things may change between now and then, obviously, but according to the league and the Players Association, there are no plans at the moment to have a World Cup in 2008.

thank you. I was wondering when someone was going to point that out.

[DeToxRox]

A shame. I had heard grumblngs about that but just brushed them off. If that is the case however, they'll have to use these young kids in the World Championships. They aren't on NHL clubs, so they need not worry about missing the playoffs. It'll give them experience, just not against the top players.

[Draft Dodger]

so, who won the game?

[Tekneek]

World Cup in 96...Next World Cup in 2004... We aren't due for another one until 2012, right?

[Tekneek]

so, who won the game?

Sweden 2 - USA 1