Olympics: Women tournament

[DeysArena]

The new tournament format is really dumb. The round robin games in Pool A are effectively meaningless.

 

[Czechboy]

Indeed, a repeat of the Finland-Czech quarterfinal matchup from the last World Championship seems likely.

That was 1-0.

I think Finns would win again (assuming they don't beat Canada in round robin) in another heart breaker for the Czechs.

 

[Kyndig]

Would love to see Japan be the next market that really explodes as a hockey nation

Japan went from scoring 1 goal and being super happy about it in 2014 to beating Sweden in 4 of their last 5 meetings. Safe to say no country has improved as much as Japan over the last 8 years. I'd love to see them challenge for the bronze.

 

[CornKicker]

awful injury to Decker last night i hope it isnt too bad and she recovers quickly and fully. Some saying scumbag dirty play but i dont think anything about it was intentional just a freak accident

 

[LeetchisGod]

awful injury to Decker last night i hope it isnt too bad and she recovers quickly and fully. Some saying scumbag dirty play but i dont think anything about it was intentional just a freak accident

Couldn't disagree more. That play looked dirty as hell to me. What was the Finnish player trying to accomplish sticking her leg out and then pulling Decker backwards like that? That's not a hockey play.

 

[Czechboy]

Japan went from scoring 1 goal and being super happy about it in 2014 to beating Sweden in 4 of their last 5 meetings. Safe to say no country has improved as much as Japan over the last 8 years. I'd love to see them challenge for the bronze.

Their road to bronze is through us and then Finland. That is though.

Obviously Czech path is through Japan and then Finland. Also very tough.

Finland is in a tier all to themselves right now.

 

[MyLoveIsBlue]

Just watching this game now. That looked like a dirty play.

 

[canuck2010]

I don't think it was dirty or intentional, just a lack of skill and skating ability.

I remember back in the early days of women's hockey when they weren't good enough skaters to avoid collisions and there were some humdingers.

 

[FiLe]

I'm not saying we'd beat Russia or Swiss but they are a slightly lower Tier then the Finns.

IMO Czechia should be in Group A - these ladies have posted some very respectable results in the past few years - but getting promoted is rather difficult, as it largely depends on beating a superior opponent in the eventual QF. (And even a single stumble during the group stage makes it a veritable Everest, as it means getting past one of the Big Two.)

That being said, while Finland is presently the distinct 3rd in a tier of their own, they're not as invulnerable to the lower seeds as the top-two are; stumbling against either Russia or Switzerland is not completely out of the question - which would be good news for the Group B winner. However, it wouldn't be much of a hindrance for Finland, as there isn't a ton of difference in level between Russia, Switzerland, and the eventual top-three of Group B. In fact, I might even slightly prefer the Swiss over the Czechs, so one "unexpected" loss for the Lion Ladies might even be a welcome outcome.

While I get the parity argument for the present tournament format, yeah, I must say it does make the group stage somewhat meaningless especially for Finland - they're guaranteed to avoid the Big Two, so they could just mail in all first four games and still enter the QF as the favorite no matter who they face.

In fact, when our coach was asked in a post-game interview if losing 5-2 to USA was a good way to start the tournament - he simply shrugged and said, "Who cares, we're here to win Game 5."

 

[adsfan]

I don't think it was dirty or intentional, just a lack of skill and skating ability.

I remember back in the early days of women's hockey when they weren't good enough skaters to avoid collisions and there were some humdingers.

I missed period 1 and looked at 6 different places for some video. I only found a still shot of Decker laying on her back with both of her legs between the Finnish players legs. How does that happen? It looked similar to a figure-4 leg lock in pro wrestling. I can believe that Decker's leg is broken or her knee is blown out.

Call me suspicious. It is the second picture in the story.

US hockey star Brianna Decker out of Olympics after nasty leg injury

 

[FiLe]

I missed period 1 and looked at 6 different places for some video.

Here's a clip. Hopefully not geoblocked.

 

[Czechboy]

IMO Czechia should be in Group A - these ladies have posted some very respectable results in the past few years - but getting promoted is rather difficult, as it largely depends on beating a superior opponent in the eventual QF. (And even a single stumble during the group stage makes it a veritable Everest, as it means getting past one of the Big Two.)

That being said, while Finland is presently the distinct 3rd in a tier of their own, they're not as invulnerable to the lower seeds as the top-two are; stumbling against either Russia or Switzerland is not completely out of the question - which would be good news for the Group B winner. However, it wouldn't be much of a hindrance for Finland, as there isn't a ton of difference in level between Russia, Switzerland, and the eventual top-three of Group B. In fact, I might even slightly prefer the Swiss over the Czechs, so one "unexpected" loss for the Lion Ladies might even be a welcome outcome.

While I get the parity argument for the present tournament format, yeah, I must say it does make the group stage somewhat meaningless especially for Finland - they're guaranteed to avoid the Big Two, so they could just mail in all first four games and still enter the QF as the favorite no matter who they face.

In fact, when our coach was asked in a post-game interview if losing 5-2 to USA was a good way to start the tournament - he simply shrugged and said, "Who cares, we're here to win Game 5."

We are not group A yet but I really would like to see how we do against Russia and Switzerland ... I don't think it'd be blowouts. However... We seem to skip them to play Finland. So it is a bit off-putting... To get to number 4 in the world you have to beat a top 3 nation as a number 6. It's be nice to get a crack at playing 5 and taking their spot... Then 4. It's a dramatic jump for sure.

 

[FiLe]

We are not group A yet but I really would like to see how we do against Russia and Switzerland

The Czechs sure look like they're on the level of Russia/Switzerland - and there's even a chance they're slightly ahead. So you more or less vocalized the same point I was making - to prove you belong in Group A you should be given the chance to overtake the bottom-two in it, not the top-three.

This being said, the IIHF has actually recognized this problem, as the Women's WHC does feature a seeding round for the QF losers instead of determining the seedings based on the group stage results - so winning that race to the fifth place may eventually give you enough ranking points to be promoted to Group A. This round is absent from the olympics, though.

 

[adsfan]

Here's a clip. Hopefully not geoblocked.

Thanks. It looked more awkward than anything else to me. If Decker had maintained her speed going around the goal, the other player wouldn't have caught up to her and maybe none of that happens.

 

[Czechboy]

The Czechs sure look like they're on the level of Russia/Switzerland - and there's even a chance they're slightly ahead. So you more or less vocalized the same point I was making - to prove you belong in Group A you should be given the chance to overtake the bottom-two in it, not the top-three.

This being said, the IIHF has actually recognized this problem, as the Women's WHC does feature a seeding round for the QF losers instead of determining the seedings based on the group stage results - so winning that race to the fifth place may eventually give you enough ranking points to be promoted to Group A. This round is absent from the olympics, though.

Totally agree with everything you have said. Who knows .. maybe we will have a good gdt in about a week to see where it goes... I'm seeing 2 very good players are now out of tourney. May be in Finlands favour. I really did. It like that video review a few years ago. Ftr... Nothing against us or Canada either. I just would like the sport to expand... Same as the men. We sti have Sweden and Japan and I think it will be very even. Sweden also had some unfair setbacks and it's be nice to see them get going. Japan has improved a lot too.

 

[William H Bonney]

Decker is a huge loss for Team USA. She's an elite player and one of the team's leaders. And of course USAH didn't bother bringing any taxi squad players because who the hell knows.

Feel gutted for Decker. She'll almost be 35 in the next Olympics, so this could have been her last time as an Olympian.

 

[canuck2010]

I don't understand the rules of women's hockey. What about the injury to Melodie Daoust. Are you allowed to body check or not?

 

[Jussi]

Team Finland head coach Pasi Mustonen is heading home due to a serious health emergency in his family. His assistant, who was going to takeover the team after this tournament anyway, will take over.

 

[lawrence]

Team Finland head coach Pasi Mustonen is heading home due to an acute health emergency in his family. His assistant, who was going to takeover the team after this tournament anyway, will take over.

i hope everything is ok.

 

[Urbanskog]

Have to agree that as a sixth-placed team you are at quite the disadvantage with this model. Maybe it should be considered that under certain conditions the first-placed team of Group B would rank higher in the seeding than the last-placed team of Group A? Perhaps this would make sense at least in a scenario in which the team in Group B gets full 12 points from the group stage games while the team in Group A gets a total of 0 points, even if the opposition in Group A is vastly superior.

 

[HabsForHire]

I don't think it was dirty or intentional, just a lack of skill and skating ability.

I remember back in the early days of women's hockey when they weren't good enough skaters to avoid collisions and there were some humdingers.

That'd 100% a dirty play. Clearly sticks her leg out to trip her. Should be banned for the rest of the tournament

 

[ES]

This being said, the IIHF has actually recognized this problem, as the Women's WHC does feature a seeding round for the QF losers instead of determining the seedings based on the group stage results - so winning that race to the fifth place may eventually give you enough ranking points to be promoted to Group A. This round is absent from the olympics, though.

5th place winner earns a place with the best countries for next year. Unfortunately for Czechs they lost against Japan in the placement games last year.

I think Czechs have never met either North American team in major tournaments. I surely hope they will get that chance in 2023. I would like to see them getting to host Women's Worlds some year before next Olympics.

 

[Dessloch]

Couldn't disagree more. That play looked dirty as hell to me. What was the Finnish player trying to accomplish sticking her leg out and then pulling Decker backwards like that? That's not a hockey play.

Just watching this game now. That looked like a dirty play.

I don't think it was dirty or intentional, just a lack of skill and skating ability.

I remember back in the early days of women's hockey when they weren't good enough skaters to avoid collisions and there were some humdingers.

I should add that I watch Savolainen play all the time in the SDHL for Luleå in sweden and she is a pretty reckless player who throws her body around alot both legally and illegaly and uses her big body frame, from time to time things go wrong.

Personally I think a 2 minutes for tripping was a given and a 5 minute major for slew-footing would have been fine too. I knew instantly who had injured Decker when I saw a headline she had got injured against Finland. If this happened in the NHL she could expect a suspension. Given its the olympics they could have given her like a 1 or 2 games ban.

Swedish link to the video: Stjärnan ut på bår när USA vann OS-premiären mot Finland

 

[Dessloch]

I don't understand the rules of women's hockey. What about the injury to Melodie Daoust. Are you allowed to body check or not?

As far as I know you can hit if you are moving towards the puck in the same direction as the other player against the boards. You cant throw hits going the opposite direction like the McDavid hit the other day vs Caps. Open ice hits are also forbidden regardless of direction.

Of course these rules makes it somewhat confusing and penalties are handed out for allowed checks all the time, and also illegal hits are not penalized from time to time.

 

[Dessloch]

The new tournament format is really dumb. The round robin games in Pool A are effectively meaningless.

Agreed. In the world championships I skipped to watch the group stage because of this.

Switzerland finished 4th despite being the LOSERS of the tournament. They lost 4 straight games in the group stage and never lead once. Then they trailed Russia in the quarterfinals until 10 minutes left. They came back to win in OT vs Russia. And then Switzerland lost the semfinals and the bronze game by a landslide. So they lost 20 of 22 periods of play, but still was able to finish 4th. That did not sit well with me at all.

I´d rather have the games mean anything and get a few butcherings than have 90% of all group stage games being meaningless and just a waiting game for the knockout round.