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2014 Olympic hockey; men & women
Topic Started: Jan 2 2014, 12:35 AM (1,929 Views)
americafutbol10
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http://olympics.usahockey.com/page/show/1067902-roster

http://olympics.usahockey.com/page/show/86...key-team-roster

Right after the Winter Classic in Michigan, USA hockey announced its men's & women's hockey rosters for the Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.

No huge surprises & I do like the team's mix of youth and experience but there are questions about the health of Ryan Callahan & Zach Parise, not to mention the production of some selected players this season in the NHL. My main issue was the selection of Jimmy Howard as the 3rd USA goalie...he's not having his best year & thought Ben Bishop of Tampa Bay or Cory Schneider of New Jersey were much more deserving of the selection. I also thought D Erik Johnson of Colorado should've been selected.

I still feel that Team USA should be strong enough to contend for a medal in Sochi.

Don't know the women's team, as well, but Julie Chu is back...one of the best-known female players on Team USA...and a fun note is Phil Kessel of the men's team has a sister, Amanda, who was selected for the women's team! Not sure but this might be the second time that a brother-sister play for the USA at the same Olympics...the only other time might be the Granatos, Cammi & Tony!

Can't wait for the Olympics in Sochi to start, especially hockey...GO USA :)
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hobbes
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We must have different definitions of surprises. The ommission of Bobby Ryan has been a massive story up here and resulted in a flurry of apologies today.

And leaving off both Erik and Jack Johnson and Keith Yandle from the defence, while bringing in Justin Faulk is probably a surprise to a lot of people. Especially since I assume casual NHL watchers have no idea who Justin Faulk is.

Personally I don’t mind the team they picked at all. I think Kane and Kessel are better than Ryan and I like the makeup of the bottom six to be physical, gritty and hard to play against (Brown, Oshie, Backes, Callahan, Pavelski). I wasn’t crazy about the Wheeler pick (I might have chosen Saad or Ryan), but the 14th forward shouldn’t make a big difference either way to your fortunes.

I would have taken Scheneider ahead of Howard, but I wouldn’t give a second’s worry to who my third goalie is. They should be fine.

Ryan showed he could play a fourth line role in Vancouver and was very good at it, but his skating may not translate well on the big ice.

Scott Burnside from Sports Illustrated got unprecedented access to the selection process and wrote this: http://espn.go.com/olympics/hockey/story/_...mpics-was-named

Brian Burke (who is famous for being candid) said of Ryan: “He’s a passive guy. He is not intense. That word is not in his vocabulary. It’s never going to be in his vocabulary. He can’t spell intense.”

Burke drafted Ryan and was his GM. Plus Burke actually had Ryan on his final Olympic team roster. So clearly Burke likes some aspects of Ryan’s game, but Ryan was understandably displeased. The worst thing about all of this is that Ryan is probably next guy up if there is an injury. That’s why I have no idea why they would allow the honest and frank selection process to be published.

Anyway I like this U.S. team more than most people and I think they’ll be good again in Sochi.

cheers,
hobbes
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americafutbol10
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Good points, hobbes. Never really knew about Burke's "lack of enthusiasm" for Bobby Ryan, as a player.

Being a Anaheim player, never cared for Ryan but always found him to be a solid USA player and, amazingly, very productive in playing with Dustin Brown. But the rumors were that USA hockey management thought he was a defensive liability on the international ice.

I agree about the third goalie choice...still, thought Bishop (who was, reportedly, upset about being passed over) & Schneider were MUCH more deserving that Howard. Also, agree that Faulk & Fowler were interesting choices & thought Erik Johnson and Jack Johnson would have been great choices but think it's ok to try out some young guys, who, from all reports, are having solid NHL seasons.

Overall, I do like the USA team & expect us to medal again! Thought you'd be a big Canada guy, hobbes! :P
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hobbes
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Oh I am, I wish nothing but losses and heartbreak for the U.S. I am cheering for Canada all the way. :)

That being said I would take guys like Backes, Oshie, Kesler, Shattenkirk, Carlson (I've been a huge Carlson fan since he was 16), Callahan and Pavelski on my team in a heartbeat. I don't see a whole lot of Colorado, but I don't mind Erik Johnson and don't really understand why no one values him any more. I can see why Jack Johnson got left behind, especially if you don't want him on the power play.

I'm not sure why Ben Bishop is so choked. He's having a good year, but he had a bad world championship a year ago and has no pedigree of doing anything. He's never even played in a playoff game.

We're still weeks away from Canada picking Chris Kunitz and the entire country losing their minds, so our time for second guessing will come I am sure. :)

cheers,
hobbes
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americafutbol10
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I hear ya, hobbes. Much as I love Doughty, Carter & Richards, I wish them & Canada all the heartache that was inflicted on my USA in 2010...that goal by Cindy just reinforced my hatred for "her"!

Even, THE greatest of all-time...Mr. Gretzky...would incur my wrath during international competition! Just the way it is, when it's USA-Canada in hockey...men & women :D

Same goes for Kopi...my choice for Kings MVP, so far...but will be the enemy when USA plays Slovakia. Can't wait for the Sochi games to start...2002 & 2010 still linger in my heart and hope the USA women take the gold from Canada, too.

LET THE HOCKEY BORDER WAR BEGIN...the "USA-Mexico" of international hockey ;)
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Yogi
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Maybe we can make this the all encompassing Olympic Hockey thread and not just the US team? Here is a story on Canada's team, I am sure hobbes will have a lot to say about this and yes Kunitz did make it. As did Crosby, Tavares and Getzlaf. lot of offensive weapons there. As a Blues fan I am happy to see Bouwmeester and Pietrangelo on the defense for Canada and Luongo will once more be in goal.

It will take quite an upset to defeat this team IMO for the gold.

Anybody see Russia, Sweden and Finland's rosters?
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Martin
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Did the Hanson Brothers make Canada's roster? ;)
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americafutbol10
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Good idea, Yogi...didn't mean to make the thread just about the USA team. Oh hell, of course, I did :P :D

Seriously though, not sure how to edit the thread title to make it "2014 Olympic Hockey"...so, whoever has the ability, please go ahead.

And, whoever has links to ALL the teams' rosters, please post...FWIW, here's my picks for medals in Sochi and, not being objective :lol:

GOLD - USA

SILVER - Canada

BRONZE - Russia
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Martin,Jan 8 2014
11:57 AM
Did the Hanson Brothers make Canada's roster? ;)

Old school hockey eh? :lol:
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Martin
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raconteur, it is:

Old time hockey!


Links to all 12 Olympic hockey rosters.
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hobbes
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Martin,Jan 8 2014
11:57 AM
Did the Hanson Brothers make Canada's roster?  ;)

You've got the wrong country Martin. Hanson/theCarlsons are all American. (thread drift)… the Hanson brothers are really the Carlson brothers, except before shooting Jack Carlson got called up to the NHL. So Dave 'Killer' Hanson filled in as 'Jack Hanson'. Dave Hanson is the basis for Dave 'Killer' Carlson character in the movie ("Dave's a killer! Dave's a mess.") while the Carlsons are the basis for the Hansons. Why they swapped the names? Who knows. Also Ned Dowd (the basis for anti-fighting college graduate Ned Braydon in the movie) plays Ogie Ogilthorpe, the afro'd goon. Dowd's sister Nancy wrote the movie. The real Ogie, Goldie Goldthorpe, was as deranged and troubled as he portrayed. This is what he actually looked like and wasn't allowed anywhere near the movie.

Anyway… on to real hockey.

I was hoping for the Regina guys for Team Canada and the roster was pretty close to what I expected. We got Kunitz and Getlzaf, but no Harding or Eberle, which didn't surprise me. I was really hoping they'd name Harding as the third goalie. A year after being diagnosed with MS he's having the best year of any Canadian goalie in the NHL. No. 3 isn't going to play anyway, so why not him? Plus I'm not a Mike Smith fan at all.

The surprises to most are that Giroux and St. Louis aren't there. I'm surprised by Giroux, but more surprised by Couture who plays a really nice 200-foot game. I picked my 25 for an article I wrote and I left off Benn and Kunitz (two players I quite like) and Couture was a lock for me. The logic to pick Kunitz because he has good chemistry with Crosby bothers me. Every guy on the team could find chemistry with Crosby. There's this new narrative that they had trouble finding someone who could "play with Crosby" in Vancouver. The problem was that they paired him with the last guy who didn't deserve to be there and made the team because of supposed Crosby chemistry (Bergeron, who is fully deserving of his spot as an elite face-off guy/defensive forward now) and he played like garbage. They kept trying different guys to see if they could get him going. Crosby shouldn't be hard to play with and I can see Kunitz not playing by time the games get serious.

I like our defence. I think we have a little too much size and not quite as much finesse as I would have liked, but they really tried to find speed, so that helps.

The Czechs brought a baffling team, leaving a number of NHL players off the team. Jiri Hudler was the big name that got all of the attention, but Radim Vrbata, Tomas Fleischmann, Roman Polak (this is the one that boggles my mind the most) and Jan Hejda all got passed over. They also brought 42-year-old Petr Nedved. I had absolutely no idea Nedved was still playing hockey. Jagr is there too and he looks positively young by comparison. I quite like their coach Alois Hadamczik (who is the brother of Evzen Hadamczik who managed the Czechoslovakian football team in the mid-80s), but I have no idea what they're doing.

The Russians similarly brought far more domestic players than I expected, but at least the KHL players are going to get two weeks of training camp before the games which is more than their opponents.

They left behind Alexander Semin and Nail Yakupov (who is struggling in Edmonton, though I don't think it's necessarily his fault), but brought Tarasenko from St. Louis who was healthy scratched in the playoffs last year and 18-year-old Valeri Nichushkin. They also left behind Anton Volchenkov who is one of my favourite players, but he's getting up there in a age a little. They brought eight KHL players.

The Swedes took a pretty reasonable team with no major surprises and look to be pretty strong if Henrik Lundqvist can find his game in goal

The Finns actually picked the team I like the most out of all of the major nations. They had few surprises and where maybe there were some I thought they were good surprises. They brought 18-year-old Alex Barkov and 19-year-old Olli Maatta. They also brought a lot of KHLers and a couple of Finnish-based players, but some of those guys were former NHLers and the NHLers they snubbed were grinders who seemed ill-suited to the bit ice (Sean Bergenheim, Jess Joesnsuu). I like them as a dark horse.

I'm going to wait to see who is healthy (Mikko Koivu and Steven Stamkos being big examples), but I think this is a less open tournament than four years ago. The level of the smaller countries keeps getting better, but I think there's only 4 or 5 teams that could possibly win this time compared to 6 or 7 four years ago.

cheers,
hobbes
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Merengue
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Yogi,Jan 8 2014
08:30 AM
Maybe we can make this the all encompassing Olympic Hockey thread and not just the US team?

Done.
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americafutbol10
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Thanks, Merengue & Martin, for updating the thread & posting the links. Thought you didn't like hockey, Martin? :P

SHOCKED that St. Louis was not chosen for Canada, hobbes...especially, since Yzerman is his GM at Tampa Bay, as well as Canada GM!
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Martin
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americafutbol10,Jan 12 2014
11:32 PM
Thanks, Merengue & Martin, for updating the thread & posting the links. Thought you didn't like hockey, Martin? :P


I don't but I loved the movie Slap Shot.

Actually I enjoy watching international hockey and will watch this Olympic hockey tournament, maybe it is the bigger rink and to me what seems less goonish play. Same applies to basketball, I am not much of a NBA or NCAA fan but always enjoy watching Olympic or World Championship hoops.

Thanks hobbes for the info on the Hansons/Carlsons I did not know they were American (maybe the fictitious Iron League they came from is supposed to be from iron ore country in northern Minnesota, you know where Bob Dylan and Kevin McHale are from?)
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americafutbol10
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Yes, Slap Shot is a classic..."old-time hockey" :D

I've always loved the NHL but, like Martin, I prefer the international game...especially, Olympic hockey...and can't wait for Sochi.

Just curious...how many would love to see the return of the World Cup of Hockey, involving NHL players & return the Olympics to the amateurs or college kids?

I know it won't happen but I hate the fact that the Olympics have gone all "professional"...part of the lure of the Miracle On Ice was that it was a bunch of college kids beating the big, bad "pro" Russkies!

I remember going to a group game of the World Cup of Hockey in MSG in NYC, back in 1996, and it was INCREDIBLE...would love to see it happen again!
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