Worse NHL olympics ever?

[Replacement*]

Interesting, ~68% think it was average to terrible...

67% think it was average to great.

Not sure what your point is.

 

[BigKing]

We made the US woman's team cry on international tv.....INTERNATIONAL TV

Let's face it the US men's team was close too

Women.

Secondly, I'm sure we can all pull some footage of tough Canadian men crying. I'll let someone else start off with "Captain Canada" Ryan Smyth and then we can go from there.

Your trolling is weak.

 

[Islanderfan17]

2010 was sooooo fun to watch, some of the best Hockey I've ever seen. This year was just awful, very forgettable.

 

[sharkie88]

We made the US woman's team cry on international tv.....INTERNATIONAL TV

Let's face it the US men's team was close too

I agree, in the men's tournament USA was the only team that had the potential to take out Canada. I don't think the play on the ice was close but the score was and, for that reason, I found it to be a very exciting game. Despite the score, there were a ton of chances. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Only someone who is bitter about losing could say that game wasn't exciting.

 

[HabsAddict]

Other countries play hockey? Ha!

Yes they do. They have man with stick and skates on frozen water. I'
ve seen it with my own eyes.

To be fair, hockey is to Canadians what soccer is to a lot of countries. The only reason we don't have even more kids playing our game is that it's so expensive to participate in it. Beyond the parking lot ball hockey, it cost tens of thousands to have a kid play through the organized system.

 

[TOML]

Proved that big ice will NOT EVER be coming to the NHL.

All teams lined up at the blue line and it resembled NFL football a lot of the time.

Boring? A bit. But so is the NHL, most games. Just plain up over-coached. Next NHL rules changes should probably come across some experienced coaches so they can figure out how they'd coach around the rules. Might help to determine whether the new rules are actually making the game better.

 

[FosterHewitt]

Yes they do. They have man with stick and skates on frozen water. I'
ve seen it with my own eyes.

To be fair, hockey is to Canadians what soccer is to a lot of countries. The only reason we don't have even more kids playing our game is that it's so expensive to participate in it. Beyond the parking lot ball hockey, it cost tens of thousands to have a kid play through the organized system.

These foreign lands couldn't beat the Kitchener Greenshirts

 

[BigKing]

Yes they do. They have man with stick and skates on frozen water. I'
ve seen it with my own eyes.

To be fair, hockey is to Canadians what soccer is to a lot of countries. The only reason we don't have even more kids playing our game is that it's so expensive to participate in it. Beyond the parking lot ball hockey, it cost tens of thousands to have a kid play through the organized system.

Yes. That is clearly a unique Canadian issue and not the same for, I don't know, every other country in the world.

 

[87CROSBYBEST87]

Just my two cents worth:
I was happy Canada won
I was so tired of listening to hab fans whine about subban not playing- Seabrook should have been there in his place
The same for the St Louis talk
I wanted the US to fair well; still can't believe they mailed it in the Bronze medal game
I was bored with the whole feel of the Olympics and the lack of coverage of certain sports
Bring back the Canada Cup
IMHO the 87 Canada Cup team was the greatest ever assembled

Now back to the NHL -Go Penguins

Thank you for the vine

 

[novisor]

I was very nervous before the game! Anything could've happened! A gold medal hockey game should never be boring if you are a fan. The celebration was a little less emotional, but nothing could top the perfect storm that was vancouver.

 

[RANDOMH3RO]

This canadian team reminded me of the best Devils teams. Played fantastic defense and didn't need to blow the roof off with goals, just had to get key goals at key times.

 

[FlyersFanz]

Great Olympics, both Canadian Hockey teams win Gold and Canada ended up with more Gold and a Silver than USA ...job well done!

 

[Fataldogg]

It was down there.

I thought the 06 and 10 Olympics were certainly more exciting. Both Finland/Sweden and Canada/USA were much more exciting finales.

We saw Canada beat down on an injury riddled Sweden team with no center depth.

Outside of that, it was far too defensive too. Too many 1-0 or 2-0, or 2-1 games. Yes, it's exciting sometimes, but its not exciting when it is ALL the time.

Slovakia was a huge disappointment, and I was hoping for more competition out of them. We didn't get to see Sweden at their best because of the injuries. Russia once again disappointed on a colossal level. Canada won as usual.

Best story of the tournament was Finland once again getting a medal, and showing the world they're a top nation. It was also great to see a Sweden team, missing their top two centers the entire tournament, and their top three centers in the Gold Medal game place for a Silver. Those were the two best stories, IMO.

If you had "Below Average" I would have voted for that. It wasn't the worst ever. So, since that isn't an option, I voted average. But, I thought it was below average. I just think the Gold Medal game could have actually been a legitimate showdown of talent if Sweden had Zetterberg, Backstrom, H. Sedin in the line up (Franzen wouldn't have hurt either). That makes a huge difference for a nation that doesn't have the depth of USA or Canada. You're talking about three of the best centers in the world all out for one team. All are arguably top-10 centers in the NHL. You didn't get to see Canada vs Sweden's best, and that's why it was such a lopsided game.

That said, I thought Canada vs USA was a great game, and it was truly their best against the USA's best.

 

[hudson bay rules]

Lot's of great games and I think many will be happy. Sweden, Finland, Canada x2, Latvia, Swiss women etc. The men's final was anticlimactic tho.

 

[CertainAffinity*]

Not the worst.

But you're not going to get the most entertaining hockey unless you play on smaller ice. European hockey is terrible.

 

[TL]

Call it want you want. When one team is so much better than all the other teams it's not going to be fun.

This is a great argument for sending multiple teams per country. Canada would have coasted to gold and silver. Maybe bronze for Canada 3.

It would have been cool to see how Giroux, Spezza, Seguin, Hall, Staal and the rest would have done in this tournament on Canada 2!

 

[Rekin]

Not the worst.

But you're not going to get the most entertaining hockey unless you play on smaller ice. European hockey is terrible.

You're not going to get the most entertaining hockey on smaller ice unless you play physical. And that just isn't the international game as we know it, like it or leave it.

 

[Cruor]

I was stoked before the games but once they started it all kinda felt flat, not sure why. Even with Sweden advancing I couldn't muster up a lot of enthusiasm. One or two good games all in all that I managed to catch

 

[LeighDx59]

These type of comments are gonna get real old real fast.

They have already gotten old. We get it Canada! You're really good at hockey!

On a sidenote, no one is trying to take away your gold medal Canada, but you have to admit. These games were a lot more dry. What I don't understand is why we don't give better teams harder schedules. Competition is really starting to become a big issue and no it isn't necessarily because "yew are tew gewd." I didn't particularly enjoy watching the US thrash Slovenia. Some sort of realignment has to be done, because I really am starting to dislike the olympics and the only people who like it are the winners.

Honestly, outside of Slovenia's games and the Russia/USA game there wasn't much entertainment in the entire tournament. Regardless of who won Gold it was alot more boring to watch. Especially when someone scores and you can say with confidence "oh its over now". Thats no fun no matter who you cheer for. Honestly if thats how the Olympics are going to go from now on, Id rather them not go over anymore.

 

[BLNY]

Best game was USA-Canada in the womens final.

I'd have to agree.

 

[Hyack57]

Canada's competition wasn't that great either to make exciting games. Norway, Austria, Finland. Then Latvia and finally the US.

I'd have loved to see Canada Russia at some point or Canada Czech.

 

[RorschachWJK]

This Sochi Olympic hockey event has been indeed underwhelming due to various things.

Too many injuries from small countries like Sweden and Finland. Canada has so much depth that losing Samkos then Tavares didn't affect much because we could replace them with almost as good players. Sweden and Finland don't have that luxury so their team's strength was significantly diminished.

Then you have the Czech Republic and Slovakia who aren't what they used to be anymore. I really hope their hockey programs get a boost somehow, but their regression is not good for hockey.

The big ice surface is definitely not as fun as the small ice surface. It seems that the key to winning on the international ice is defense and that makes the games not as fun to watch.

I believe most of the crowd in the final were Russians? There were not enough fans of Sweden and Canadians so the atmosphere was rather quiet.

Canada's dominance in the last few games didn't help. It's always more fun when there is danger and there was few here.

This. Except for the big ice, I think you nailed it more eloquently than I could.

 

[Laphroaig]

Maybe I just like hockey too much but I was on the edge of my seat for each and every game. I didn't mind the lack of scoring, if anything it made the games more compelling. I have no complaints.

 

[sandysan]

They have already gotten old. We get it Canada! You're really good at hockey!



Honestly, outside of Slovenia's games and the Russia/USA game there wasn't much entertainment in the entire tournament. Regardless of who won Gold it was alot more boring to watch. Especially when someone scores and you can say with confidence "oh its over now". Thats no fun no matter who you cheer for. Honestly if thats how the Olympics are going to go from now on, Id rather them not go over anymore.

It wasn't entertaining for TC to go against old man ozolins and a bunch of nobodies coached by a nearly blackballed head coach and PEPPER an echl goalie who kept them in the game?

I am not a big fan of big ice but the games were good, the russia us game was good, the can Latvia game was good, the us Canada and Canada Sweden games were close despite Canada carrying most of the game.

its not sc playoff good, but ten again nothing is.

 

[KuralySnipes]

I thought it was average, pretty typical results of what has been occuring since the NHL has been going to the Olympics.

It was cool seeing Slovenia's run and Latvia almost upsetting Canada though.