Didn't read the whole thread but I don't get how he could find this being more meaningful than his Cup wins. I could understand if it was best against the best like past Olympics but this was a fairly stacked Russian team against a bunch of team with former NHLers and minor league or Euro league players. Not exactly the best competition.
Olympics: Datsyuk says this medal means more than the Stanley Cup
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tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
I mean, this is equivalent to a top-level team in a beer league dropping down 2 tiers and playing C-level hockey so that they can win a tournament. "They don't care how they won it, they just care that they won it" doesn't really make it better.
Pavel has the right to assign meaning to whatever he wants, but in this case it makes him look like a smaller man.
hairylikebear
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Which tournament 2 levels higher than the Olympics did Datsyuk elect not to participate in? I fail to see the equivalence.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
hairylikebear
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Wait, I can't be understanding your point correctly.
Are you saying Datsyuk thought the Stanley Cup was too hard to win so he left the NHL to win an easier tournament? And now you think him petty to say the Olympics were worth more all along? I know you didn't forget this guy is a two time cup champion.
JETZZZ
Registered User
In North America, an Olympic gold is nothing compared to the Stanley cup. Look at Ken Morrow for example. He was a complete NOBODY until 1980...when he won his first of 4 Stanley cups with the Islanders. Obviously way more of a career defining moment than if he won some random medal at a silly tournament of non NHLers.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
You’re right, you don’t understand my point.
Datsyuk just played on an A-quality team to win an C-quality tournament, and said it’s more meaningful than winning an actual A-quality tournament. That’s silly, even if it’s his genuine feeling.
hairylikebear
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Okay. It was a misleading analogy so I needed clarification.
I'll chalk this up to a difference between an individualistic North American culture and a nationalistic Russian one. To say it makes him a smaller man is extreme to me, but you're entitled to that opinion.
I don't know, if I was the Russian's I'd be embarrassed. They should have destroyed this tournament, not barely get by.
ArGarBarGar
What do we want!? Unfair!
- Sep 8, 2008
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I think a lot of it has to do with a few things:
1. He is from a country that does not host the league that the Stanley Cup is won in, meaning the concept of winning it as the end goal of playing the sport being "ingrained" in the [hockey] culture like it is here doesn't exist (unless native Russians can clarify that it actually does).
2. He won the Stanley Cup his first ever NHL season as a rookie, never having to really struggle to earn it for the first time like he did with the gold medal.
3. There could very well be a national pride issue with the Russian team being so awful in recent Olympic events and having a black mark on the program. This could be seen as vindication to a point.
I personally don't care either way, but I can at least understand his perspective as someone who is not from North America and won a Stanley Cup immediately upon joining the league.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
I guess that's my point -- what does this really vindicate? It's like a football team getting relegated, winning at the lower level, and then saying they've vindicated themselves for struggling at the higher level. It only makes sense if you put on blinders and pretend that the level of competition doesn't actually matter.
Of course I understand that Datsyuk isn't going to get up on a podium in front of the press and say something like that. And of course the Olympics are all about nationalist sentiment. But I certainly hope that he doesn't genuinely feel like this was a greater achievement than beating Crosby and Malkin for the Stanley Cup. If he sincerely believes that, he's delusional at best.
jj cale
Registered User
I don't doubt winning the olympic gold means more to Pavel but I agree with you that beating Crosby and Malkin for the cup was a far bigger accomplishment.
What he assigns priority to as far as his feelings go is his call and one that only he can make.
Luigi Lemieux
Registered User
People are allowed to be proud of whatever they choose to. That said, no serious hockey fan or anyone interested in hockey history is ever going to consider this a meaningful accomplishment.
Eisen
Registered User
Than they go complain against their own state which gave every athlete in Russia a bad name. The athletes have not been degraded by the IOC but but there very own organisations and state.
What? How is NHL hockey more individual than Olympic or Russian hockey? You don't think Canadians are mad happy when someone wins for Canada? Makes no sense.
sdf
Registered User
Olympics with nhl-ers >> Stanley Cup
Olympics without them is garbage
It is must be clear no matter are you NA fans or if you from Africa)))
Olympics without them is garbage
It is must be clear no matter are you NA fans or if you from Africa)))
Sentinel
Registered User
Olympic medal matters to him for one simple reason: you can't switch your country every season like you can with NHL clubs. Your country can't trade you away. So country matters a great deal more than the city where you may not even be playing tomorrow, and then your own fans will boo you (Chelios and Chicago, for example). They can't take your country's pride from you. They tried... and Russians still sang their national anthem.
You can moan about the quality of this year's Olympics, but it's not Datsyuk's fault. He played his part and captained his team to its first medal since 92. Moreover you all make it sound like it's 1980 again, and the Russians brought the pros, while everyone else brought students. This Olympics have shown that outside NHL Russia is #1. And Datsyuk is proud of this.
You can moan about the quality of this year's Olympics, but it's not Datsyuk's fault. He played his part and captained his team to its first medal since 92. Moreover you all make it sound like it's 1980 again, and the Russians brought the pros, while everyone else brought students. This Olympics have shown that outside NHL Russia is #1. And Datsyuk is proud of this.
Canes
Registered User
You also can't choose which country you're from (for the most part)
Guys like Kopitar and Chara had/have no shot at ever winning gold. That you are able to win gold has a lot to do with circumstance where you are born, when, etc,
GeeoffBrown
Registered User
- Jul 6, 2007
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Datsyuk is a great player and a great ambassador to the game. I'm glad he accomplished something that is important to him. Don't know why people in this thread are trying to tell Pavel how he feels...
I think this is purely a cultural issue - the Olympics simply are hugely respected in Russia. Also in other European hockey countries but bit less intensely so. It's completely understandable that he thinks that way and I have no problem respecting his sentiments. But for myself the level of the tournament is still rather important - I think that hard core hockey fans in Finland and Sweden would not have the same respect for this gold should either country have gotten it. Don't know about the Russian fans, maybe it is bit different for them. But I see this issue as no cause to disparage and disrespect such a legendary player.
sdf
Registered User
cbj21
Registered User
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