Whatifsports.com simulation of the Olympics

[Rabid Ranger]

That's in the past, see the Russians have gotten better and younger, while the US Defense has gotten older, thats it

What a convincing argument!

 

[Douggy]

Why does it matter if the USA is better or worse than Russia?

Is the 5th place game REALLY going to be that important to you?

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Why does it matter if the USA is better or worse than Russia?

Is the 5th place game REALLY going to be that important to you?

That's a fair point to make. While I think the U.S. has a shot at a bronze medal, I'm not convinced that WILL happen. I just don't understand the love for Russia. Offense isn't everything.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

No, because their defense can't handle the Russian's speed and skill, sorry

What about the Russian defense's ability to handle the Americans' speed and skill? Take a look at the top ten or so scorers for each country in the NHL this season. There are several American forwards having very good years.

 

[UAGoalieGuy]

I was kinda shocked to see ltaly get 3 pts. As an Italian it makes me quite happy though

 

[Redden Punches Faces*]

What the hell is the point of this? What a waste of time. You all owe me now.

 

[nik jr]

A beast who disappears when the going gets tough.

I am sure Red Wing fans can speak more on that, with regards to Datysuk's past playoff performances (or past playoff disappearing acts).

this is vastly overblown. he's only been in the playoffs 3 times.
1st: rookie w/ limited time. did well. det won cup.
2nd: det swept by giguere....i mean anaheim. fedorov, a ppg player in playoffs, was wings' leading scorer w/ 3p. anaheim went to game 7 in finals. (and ana should have won, but didn't show up for 1st 2 games.) giguere won smythe.
3rd. lost to calgary, an excellent defensive team. calgary also went to 7th game of the finals.

so 1 cup, and 2 losses to eventual western champs who both went to 7.

the only 1 anyone can really critcize datsyuk for is the calgary series. but calgary focused on him. lots of wings had a bad series, but u don't see the same criticism.

Final

1 2 3 T
Italy 0 1 0 1
Canada 5 4 4 13

Goals: ITA - Michele Strazzabosco CAN - Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger (2), Jarome Iginla (2), Kris Draper (2), Brad Richards, Martin St-Louis, Todd Bertuzzi, Ryan Smyth (2), Vincent Lecavalier

W: Martin Brodeur (22 saves)
L: Jason Muzzatti (11 saves)

this could never happen.

draper can't score 2 goals to save his life--stonehands.

 

[Osprey]

...and the USA beats the Russian, like right.

Yeah, it's not like the Russians have the same disadvantage as the 1980 Soviet team

 

[CSKA]

Oh boy some of you north amaricans will be very disappointed after that tourney !

Russia - USA bring it on ! And believe me after that game/tourney that BS talk about Malkins 0 games in NHL talk will be over. That kid is the real deal !

And forget about Kovalchuk ......whatch out for Ovy and Malkin. They will dominate

Hmmmm Kovy will be there just for the PP

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Yeah, it's not like the Russians have the same disadvantage as the 1980 Soviet team

Wow imagine that digging up the distant past to make an arguement

So next you're going to tell me that it wasn't Mike Craig single handled winning that game and that Kharlamov wasn't the best player in the world at the time.

Problems for the USA in the 2006 Olympics

1. Goaltending- Ryan Miller, the best American goaltender by far, is no going. Now if DiPietro plays all the games, they should be ok, but if Esche starts a bunch they're in trouble.

2. Aging Defense core that's pretty slow. Chelios 44, and the Rest of them, outside of Rafalski, isn't super impressive

Oh, and the Olympics are being played on an International ice suface, so it;s much wider and longer, so the Speed and skill of the Russian will be very very hard to contain, let alone stop.

 

[shawn_kemp*]

who makes those silly simulations anyway?

 

[mug3n]

United States 0 0 1 1
Sweden 1 4 3 8
Goals: USA - Michael Knuble SWE - Fredrik Modin, Daniel Alfredsson, Markus Naslund, Daniel Sedin, Mika Hannula, Mikael Samuelsson (2), Henrik Sedin
W: Henrik Lundqvist (31 saves)
L: Rick Dipietro (18 saves)

Now that's am amazing result too, especially if you look at the goalie stats!

DiPietro giving up only 1 goal? Wow, that has to be a miracle.

Now if DiPietro plays all the games, they should be ok, but if Esche starts a bunch they're in trouble.

DiPietro as the US's #1=a disaster. It is not ok for DiPietro to play all the games. Not ok for Esche or Grahame to play either. Too bad Miller will be a reserve at best.

 

[Garbs]

DiPietro giving up only 1 goal? Wow, that has to be a miracle.

Either that, or a misread.

 

[Osprey]

Wow imagine that digging up the distant past to make an argument

Maybe if you kept the "distant past" in mind when posting, you'd know that the better team doesn't always win. If you want a more recent example, the Blues beat the Red Wings today.

 

[barfy2000]

- Malkin has never played against NHL-calibre players before.

I guess all the NHLer's playing in Russia last year doesn't count?

- Kovalev and Yashin are so streaky and inconsistent that you can't really be sure of what you are even going to get from them.

They are consistently two of the best Russians in international play. One of them is going to be captain of this team.

- And don't even get me started on their goaltending.

What? Nabokov and Bryzgalov aren't good enough for you?

And to suggest that there is no way that Team U.S.A. can beat Russia is absurd.

Agree 112%

 

[Ovechkin_mvp]

I'll take Russia over USA anyday.

Given Sweden's and Finland's injuries the top 3 Medal contenders are:

1. Canada
2. Czechs
3. Russia

then we have:

4. Sweden (if Forsberg is healthy)
5. USA
6. Slovakia
7. Finland

 

[Den]

I read about this in a newspaper and checked it out. Any idea why teams only have half their roster and why Zhamnov is scoring goals and Khabibulin keeping guards of the net for Russia despite not going?

This just shows how useless this simulations is. US rallies to beat Czechs is one of the best jokes I've ever heard...

 

[Ogopogo*]

This is a cool thing Whatifsports.com is doing a simulation of the tournament http://worldhockey.whatifsports.com/.

P.S My bad if this was posted

If you have ever looked at the ratings for players in What if Sports, you would pay no attention to anything they simulate.

Guy Hebert is better than Terry Sawchuk according to What If Sports.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

If you have ever looked at the ratings for players in What if Sports, you would pay no attention to anything they simulate.

Guy Hebert is better than Terry Sawchuk according to What If Sports.

Are you kidding me, brutal, these 'whatifsports' guys are retar**d

 

[Snap Wilson]

If you have ever looked at the ratings for players in What if Sports, you would pay no attention to anything they simulate.

Guy Hebert is better than Terry Sawchuk according to What If Sports.

Out of curiosity, where do you see these "ratings?"

 

[Ogopogo*]

Out of curiosity, where do you see these "ratings?"

Go to www.whatifsports.com and sign up for an exhibition hockey season. It is free and you get to see the ratings they give for every player. For goalies, they weight it VERY heavy on save % so, during the "HUGE equipment" era, when save percentages were very high, goalies ended up with the best ratings.

Hasek is the top rated goalie but, others, that aren't really that great are rated far ahead of guys like Sawchuk, Esposito and Dryden. Even the ratings for the non-goalies are way out of whack.

 

[shawn_kemp*]

Canada and the USA eliminated Russia and the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals

 

[wildslip]

HJAHAH THIS IS A JOKE they have gaborik not gettign a singal goal all tourny hahah soo his play of late wont carry into the tourny i guess ok hahahahh w/e thats a lame simulation

 

[shawn_kemp*]

but what if all these predictions actually happen????