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2010 Olympics : Men's Hockey


Ellis

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I love me some backstrom. Are the olympic rinks smaller than nhl rinks cause i feel like backstrom carries the puck into the zone a lot easier than this.

No they are the same size.

Normally the Olympic rink would be 20 feet wider - but I think $ got in the way of that this go around.

I'm still kind of pissed they aren't playing on the bigger ice.

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I want this:

:1stplace: US

:2ndplace: Russia

:3rdplace: Either Sweden (Backstrom) or Czech (Flash)

Canada :loser:

NO! if the US wins, I want them to beat Canada in the gold medal game. How sweet would it be for us to beat them in the gold medal game, in basically a road game where 95% of the crowd will be cheering against us?

But really, I'll be happy with ANY medal, because even bronze will be difficult.

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No they are the same size.

Normally the Olympic rink would be 20 feet wider - but I think $ got in the way of that this go around.

I'm still kind of pissed they aren't playing on the bigger ice.

Really? I love the physical aspect of NHL hockey. As an ex-Lacrosse player, the transition to being a fan of this sport was easy based on that (who am I kidding, loved this sport for longer than that). I feel the Olympic games give too big an advantage to speed.

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http://espn.go.com/olympics/blog/_/name/winterolympics/id/4923645/ovechkin-again-leaves-us-hanging-games

But the Russians, or Ovechkin himself, have decided to behave in a manner that is decidedly un-Olympic, speaking almost exclusively to the Russian media (we get that) and generally ignoring the rest of us (which we don't).

Now, we're not suggesting Ovechkin is Socrates on skates and we're all the poorer for not knowing how he feels about the lines at the Hudson's Bay Company or the ticket fiasco here or the food at the athletes' village. But it shouldn't be this big a hassle to get in front of a player who is arguably the best in the world playing in the world's biggest tournament … should it?

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Imagine Malkin, Gaborik, Crosby, Ovechkin and the Sharks first line with that space.

A lot less scary than they are on an NHL rink, that's for sure. Big ice means less scoring...a lot less, and a ton less scoring chances. It emphasizes skill over physicality, but that's not necessarily a good thing.

Every goal is pretty much the result of a great team play. It lessens the impact of an individual. It also makes the dump and chase a waste of time, which in turn makes the neutral zone trap ultra effective and ultra boring.

Teams can succeed on the big ice with lesser talent as long as they are committed to a sound defensive system. Scoring chances are naturally low on the big ice, and a solid defensive system cuts down on them even more. It's a big reason why the Swiss were so dangerous in past Olympics and why the Canadians weren't always locks for medals despite having the most talent.

Either way, the big ice sucks, it's boring, watch a KHL game or a SEL game sometime and see how long it takes for your eyes to start bleeding. Guys skating the puck out of their zone, trying to pass it, getting rejected, trying again, dumping the puck in to get a change, other team tries to skate out, tries to skate through, turns it over, other team throws a shot at the goalie from 40 feet out, easy glove save....and it goes on like this.

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Teams can succeed on the big ice with lesser talent as long as they are committed to a sound defensive system. Scoring chances are naturally low on the big ice, and a solid defensive system cuts down on them even more. It's a big reason why the Swiss were so dangerous in past Olympics and why the Canadians weren't always locks for medals despite having the most talent.

Do you mean Sweden, the 1994 and 2006 gold medalists? I'm not familiar with the Swiss success in Olympic hockey; in fact their only medal in men's hockey was a bronze back in 1928.

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Do you mean Sweden, the 1994 and 2006 gold medalists? I'm not familiar with the Swiss success in Olympic hockey; in fact their only medal in men's hockey was a bronze back in 1928.

I'm talking about their Win over Canada in Torino mainly. As in, the big ice allows lower level European teams to compete with the elite Countries if they play a sound defensive system. I was using the Swiss as an example because they don't have and have never had an NHL caliber forward, but they were able to win games on the big Olympic ice, one coming against Canada who supremely out talents and out depths them everywhere.

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i've been going to this page for everything...

http://www.nbcolympics.com/hockey/resultsandschedules/index.html

yea there is a site that I use to watch any sports game. Basically if they have the game televised somewhere, they will have it on the site: http://ATDHE.net

Pretty good quality but when the streams get full they can lag but they usually throw up another stream just in case. This is how I watched most of the skins games down here in South Florida.

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