GDT: Qf Finland - USA 17:35 CET 02-22-06

[RuuhkaTukka]

Finnland has gotta stop taking stupid penalties. I love how Saku Koivu is fighting and trying to hit, but you gotta hit with your body, not with your stick. I think most of these comment on NA ref. come from Finnish tv-kommentator Mertaranta, he is such a homer with an obvious bias against NA teams.

 

[jepjepjoo]

I'm not saying that NHL refs are always bad, but they don't seem to follow the IIHF rules... Very weak period for the ref

 

[JussiM]

He ran the goalie early in the game.

Of course the US defenseman didn't have anything to do with it...

 

[Bixby Snyder]

Yeah, I sure love watching skiing in the fog. Thanks CBC.

 

[acr*]

God I hope Finland wins, if for nothing else then because of all the arrogant Americans out there.

The Finnish crowd has been just as bad if not worse today with their whining over the refs.

 

[RangerBoy]

This is why NBC is the best American network to cover the Olympics.The company owns so many channels-MSNBC,CNBC and USA Network.All four games today are shown live and in their entirety.Good crews with Emrick/JD/Pierre and Strader/McNab/Micheletti.Ferraro and Clement at intermission

Hockey is the only live Olympic event shown during the day.Everything else is tape delayed until the evening hours

 

[Ar-too]

U.S. fans need to chill down. There has clearly been some very weak calls against Finland.

What are you talking about? Neither of the calls was weak. Koivu was not playing the puck, he was clearly interfering on the first one. The second was a clear high-stick.

 

[100mph slapshot]

I hate this ref.

You can almost quarantee there's a US/CAN ref whenever Finland has a sudden death-game against either team. I absolutely hate that. I'd prefer a ref from Mongolia over them. I'm just tired of this ****.

 

[eSabre]

Guys, quit complaining about the officiating. There's two periods to go. Every penalty was called for good reason. If not, it's called human error. It happens.

Definitely been exciting to watch.

 

[shawn_kemp*]

but weak call or not, the US has outplayed Finland for about the last 7 or 8 minutes

 

[Borlag]

Devorski sure doing a good job. Apparently Fasel&Bettman called about the TV ratings if the US is eliminated...

- Non-call on Chelios for checking to the head (yeah, sure, Ruutu blah blah yada yada, still Ruutu got a major + misconduct, Chelly nothing)
- Koivu hits Cole, Cole grabs him by the neck, Koivu shoves him back => 2 mins just for Koivu.
- A player in the crease interfering with Nitty on the US goal.
- Koivu's second penalty, the US player grabs Koivu's stick and pulls it up.
- plus a couple of no-calls on clear interference penalties - obviously the rules have been changed overnight

Doesn't matter tho', we'll take the W despite all this ****.

Not to forget that Ruutu was pushed directly on top of DiPietro early in the 1st period. He did NOT run over him.

And no, I'm not defending Ruutu because he's a fin or because I'm a canucks fan. I'm a Red Wings fan and I just plain don't like Ruutu, but that call was very bad by the ref. Just like many others so far...

 

[Ar-too]

Guys, quit complaining about the officiating. There's two periods to go. Every penalty was called for good reason. If not, it's called human error. It happens.

Definitely been exciting to watch.

Especially since the timeout. USA looked terrible before that.

 

[Bill McNeal]

For the record... Which Koivu are we talking about?

 

[donniedarko]

Stop complaing you guys are up 2-1...get over it. Again I said this earlier but bad call happen all the time...in NA and in Europe. Its part of the game.

 

[Ar-too]

For the record... Which Koivu are we talking about?

Surprisingly enough, Saku.

 

[Frozen]

It's funny how differently people see depending who they cheer for.

 

[SopelFan*]

A Finnish Wings fan? They are like completely Swedish...

 

[Ross MacLochness]

Die CBC.

 

[Puck33]

I'm not saying that NHL refs are always bad, but they don't seem to follow the IIHF rules... Very weak period for the ref

Are you still cying about that hit poor rutuu took? the hack had the puck (end of story) also rutuu should expect that kind of action since he ran the goalie in the first 5 minutes of the game.(He earned it)

 

[Joretus]

but weak call or not, the US has outplayed Finland for about the last 7 or 8 minutes

Or more. After scoring USA did run the game and Finland did stop moving. Finland only have their legs if they want to win this one. Of course bed reffing is harming to concentrating, but players should try to concentrate on playing and let fans whine.

 

[someguy44]

Is there a US radio station that's broadcasting this game online? I can't get this on CBC cause they think skiing is much more important and has much more viewership in CANADA!

 

[jepjepjoo]

One could wonder what happened to the foot in crease = game stoppage rule

 

[acr*]

I hate this ref.

You can almost quarantee there's a US/CAN ref whenever Finland has a sudden death-game against either team. I absolutely hate that. I'd prefer a ref from Mongolia over them. I'm just tired of this ****.

The US and Canada are RIVALS. If anything, they'd be biased against the North American team. Give me a ****ing break.

 

[JussiM]

Ruutu deserved it. Chelios should've been given a ten minute powerplay just for taking him out.

Talk about double standards...

 

[Flonaldo]

Every penalty was called for good reason. If not, it's called human error. It happens.

Yeah. But this has happened pretty much in every play-off against either the US or Canada over the years. There's never a Euro ref calling a Finland vs. US/Canada game. Forgive us for being a little paranoid but we've been through this before.