Sports Opinionated » Olympics

Hockey’s Golden Finish Makes Canadians Proud

Ryan Popilchak — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 04:08:36 +0000

Yesterday’s epic gold medal clash between Canada and the USA in men’s hockey had a bigger impact on Canada than most casual fans realize.

This won’t shock you, but Canadians LOVE hockey. We love it so much that we didn’t exactly celebrate the win yesterday, we let go of our pent up nerves and worries much the same as a father celebrates his first born child, just happy that everyone is healthy.

When you’re widely considered the favorite, there is everything to lose and very little to gain. Canadians couldn’t stand the thought of losing.

We want to win at hockey so badly, that we take pride in our “win at all costs” mentality. What other country would revere someone like Bobby Clarke for his role in purposely breaking Valeri Kharlamov’s ankle in the ’72 Summit Series.

We love that once again Sidney Crosby is the victor over other world talents like Alexander Ovechkin, despite the fact that Ovechkin has more pure talent. He’s Canadian, so he’s a winner.

More than winning though, we want other countries to realize that hockey is a great game. We’re proud of the sport, we’re proud of it’s traditions, and of course, we love winning at the game we love.

For the gold medal to be decided in overtime with the whole world watching and against the USA was perfect, but not in the way most of you think.

Yes, we love beating our neighbor to the south, but we also like showing them what they’re missing.

In Canada, it hits a collective national nerve that we send our best players to NHL clubs in the United States, lose our franchises to southern cities, and yet hockey appears to be only the 5^th most popular sport behind football, basketball, baseball and NASCAR.

Yesterday’s game was the perfect display to kick-start our beloved sport back into North American consciousness.

The game featured the same two countries that host the NHL. Gary Bettman couldn’t have asked for a better target audience.

Two-thirds of all Canadian households and one-third of US households watched the game. Those are astronomical numbers for hockey. It was the most viewed hockey game in 30 years, since the Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid.

The viewership for the game was better than every World Series game since 2004 and every NBA Finals since 1998, proving that hockey DOES have the ability to appeal to the masses.

The NFL and NBA are both heading towards labor disputes which could thrust the NHL back into the North American sports spotlight. That’s terrible news for football and basketball, but hockey needs it badly.

Today we have a certain swagger, knowing that our cherished sport is back on the map. And just in case you missed it, we’re still the champs.

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Canada’s Keys to Victory over Russia

Ryan Popilchak — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:01:00 +0000

Having seen both teams play live on Sunday, I was telling everyone who would listen what my scouting report was. The Russian defense looks terrible. This statement came partly from what I saw in the game against the Czech Republic, and partly just because I wanted to believe it was true.

Obviously my insight proved to be part of the 7-3 beat down that Team Canada unleashed on Russia tonight. That said, it wasn’t the only reason the Russians lost. Here are the main reasons the game ended the way it did.

You can watch the game highlights here.

The Russian Defense is not Physical

The Czech forwards proved that the Russian defense couldn’t win the puck behind the icing line in their own zone. Canada has been the best cycling team in the tournament.

This was a match made for the Canadian forwards and they took full advantage of it.

Nabokov Over-Committed to the Shooter

I’ve never noticed this before, but he clearly wasn’t ready to move laterally when Canada had the puck on the break.

The Russian defense was pressuring the shooter and their “offensive” forwards clearly weren’t back-checking. This constantly left a Canadian shooter open on the far post.

I understand that this puts Nabokov in a tough spot, but the Canadians frequently had a gaping net to shoot at. The goaltender needs to at least force the shooter to pick a corner.

Rarely do you see a goalie pulled that early in the 2^nd period, but Nabokov had already given up 6 goals in 23 shots.

Canada Re-discovered Physical Play

Following previous Canadian gameplans versus Ovechkin and company, Canada came out hitting. The goal was to impose a physical presence and they did it.

Forwards were finishing hits on the Russian defencemen and causing them to cough up the puck. Drew Doughty and Shea Weber both battered the Russian forwards with some big hits on Ovechkin and Datsyuk early.

I love when we batter and bruise European teams who clearly aren’t very comfortable playing the physical style of play.

Canada Caused Neutral Zone Turnovers

Other opponents have tried to coral the free-wheeling Russian forwards by crowding them once they gained the zone. The Russians have countered with some creative close-quarter passing and have stick-handled through traffic.

Canada decided to deny the Russians the opportunity to gain steam through the neutral zone. They forced the Russians to move laterally before they gained the blueline and often got fast-break chances and odd-man rushes as a result.

A perfect example of this was the Rick Nash goal in the first period. Jonathan Toews knocked the puck off Malkin’s stick, Mike Richards picked the puck up and fed it to Toews on the break. Toews got the puck to a streaking Nash and he put it past Nabokov.

Toews, Richards and Nash played this system extremely well and frequently turned turnovers into scoring chances.

Karma is a Cold Bitch

In the first period, Alexei Morozov drew a penalty with a dive that would have made his summer Olympic counterparts proud.

In order to right the wrongs of the universe, the black karmic energy that he drew from caused him to fan on a beautiful scoring chance on the very same power play.

Do not anger the hockey gods.

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Olympic Hockey – Crowds, Crushing Hits & Coaching Decisions

Ryan Popilchak — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:28:36 +0000

With two great games on back-to-back this past Sunday, it felt like a blessing to have tickets. Given that watching Canada play in the Olympics was on my list of sports fan must see’s, I was already pumped beyond belief.

The talent present on the Czech, Russian, American and Canadian national teams was startling.

Most people don’t get the chance to see Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Datsyuk, Nabokov, Jagr, Vokoun, Miller, Crosby, Nash, Thornton, Heatley, Iginla, Kane, Toews and (unfortunately) Brodeur in a full season, let alone in one afternoon.

Of course world-class talent will make the caliber of play world class, but what I was really hoping for was atmosphere, and the crowds were epic.

I’ve finally returned home from Vancouver and can share my scattered thoughts on both games.

Russia vs Czech Replublic

For starters, the turnout by both the Czech and Russian fans was fantastic. They came out in numbers, were dressed in team colors from head to toe and were vocal enough during the game that they drowned each other out.

My favorite foreign chant was undoubtedly something that sounded like “Shy Boo” (spelled phonetically here) from the Russian fans. I have no idea what it meant, but it always got the Russians fired up.

If I was to describe the styles of play by either team, the Russians would be fluid on the attack yet somewhat sloppy in their own end. The Czechs were a much more disciplined and tactical squad.

Evgeni Malkin was clearly the best player on the ice. While he had a few bad turnovers high in the offensive zone, he was a demon with the puck on his stick and clearly wanted it more than anyone else.

If Malkin was the clear #1, then Ovechkin was 1a. He managed to get his stick on every puck near the net, took plenty of dangerous shots and absolutely brought a physical element to the game that no one else could match. His physical presence was manifested in the play of the game, and possibly the greatest hit I’ve ever seen live.

Note: I’d like to show it to you, but NBC, CTV and the IOC have all banned it’s viewing on Youtube and other sites. Great marketing job guys.

The open ice explosion that Ovie dished on Jagr was both a highlight reel clip for years to come and a game changing play. The hit gave the puck to the Russians who promptly pushed it up ice for a goal by Malkin.

Despite thinking the Czechs were done after the 2^nd Malkin goal, they steadied their nerves and continued to pour on the pressure. This team has a lot of life left.

Canada vs USA

If you’re wondering whether the crowd was ready for this game, here’s all you need to know. They stood and cheered at the top of their lungs for the entire … warm-up. I’ve never seen it before and may never again. The warm-up was louder than the Czech-Russia game at any point.

Despite being “tasered” early by the USA goal 41 seconds into the game, the Canadian crowd still responded to every attempted U-S-A chant with a flood of CAN-A-DA that drowned out the American fans before they could get going.

Rick Nash was the only forward on Team Canada bringing any kind of physical play to the USA defencemen.

Jonathan Toews didn’t get anywhere near enough credit for his work along the boards in the offensive zone. He controlled the play and frequently found teammates in great scoring positions.

Drew Doughty was Canada’s best defenceman. He was calm with the puck, had great recovery in his own end and helped create offense consistently.

Chris Pronger looked terrible. Scott Niedermeyer wasn’t bad, but hardly played like he’s capable of. Canada looked best with a combination of Doughty, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith manning the blueline.

It’s not a surprise to anyone who watched the game, but Martin Brodeur looked incredibly shaky. He wandered from his crease at inopportune times, played the puck poorly and frequently took himself out of position. With the news today that Luongo will replace him in net, Canadian fans can finally exhale.

Speaking of Luongo, I’m surprised that no one in the media has mentioned that he would essentially be playing “at home”. He plays for the Vancouver Canucks and should know every bounce in that arena. On top of that, he is the only goalie on Canada’s roster who could legitimately steal a game.

Ryan Miller absolutely stole THIS game. Any time a team faces more than 40 shots and wins, they should be giving their goalie the royalty treatment. The Buffalo Sabres gatekeeper was stellar on Sunday and deserves every ounce of praise he’s received so far.

Am I the only person who wonders why Crosby wasn’t getting more icetime? He was legitimately dangerous every time he touched the puck. I know that he and Nash were both -3 at one point, but that was more a function of Brodeur and the defense on those particular plays. The Russians were smart enough to ride Ovechkin and Malkin, shouldn’t Babcock do the same with his own superstar?

Finally, the minute the Crosby-Nash-Iginla line was reunited in the 3^rd period, they produced results. Crosby scored a powerplay goal and that same line was responsible for the flurry of chances in the final minutes of the game. Babcock needs to realize that he messed with a good thing and put that line back together.

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Olympic Thoughts From the Last Few Days

Ryan Popilchak — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:52:20 +0000

Does Tiger have a Glock?

The Olympics were apparently made to satisfy my Sports-ADD. Given that the TV coverage flips from event to event while I’m checking out other results on the internet, I feel it’s only logical to give you an equally scattered version of my thoughts over the last few days.

NBC Coverage

It’s surprising how many Americans are frustrated with the tape-delay coverage of the Olympics by NBC. I’m not surprised that they’re frustrated, I’m shocked that the myriad of US television networks can’t find a way to cover the world’s biggest sporting event. They’ve had 2 years to plan since the summer Olympics.

From what I’ve read, most people didn’t have the option to see Lindsey Vonn win her gold medal in the downhill live. That’s really too bad since it was an incredibly gutsy performance. Yet somehow every channel in the nation had Tiger’s robotic press conference today in which he admitted to cheating. What a revelation! Couldn’t Tiger have given this press conference a flashy title to make it more interesting? Maybe he could have used the original rendition of the tag line for the new movie Cop Out.

Forget about disbanding women’s hockey, Shaun White is pure evil

There has been a ton of talk about removing women’s hockey from the Olympics. Obviously the sport is currently dominated by only two countries, Canada and the USA. I can see where the fury comes from given some of the beatings that have happened (see Canada vs Japan) but it would set the sport back immensely. If we want to see countries like Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia and other hockey nations develop their talent, it doesn’t do any good to remove their biggest incentive to play.

If we want to ban sports that are completely dominated by one entity, shouldn’t we just eliminate the men’s snowboarding half-pipe? Shaun White is miles better than anyone in his sport, and it’s not even close.

shaun white gold medal run- Watch more Sports Videos at Vodpod.

In his 2nd run, he actually busts out a 1260. Whoa!

Men’s hockey had a few surprises in store

Many have predicted that the race for the gold medal is essentially between Canada and Russia. Think again.

While they may be the two best teams on paper, they’ll need to prove it on the ice. Last night was a great example of how the favorites can be a little too confident.

Both teams ran into hot goaltending in the form of Jonas Hiller and Jaroslav Halak, but the best teams overcome those obstacles.

Canada seemed to pay last night for the strategy of picking players for their physical presence rather than their offensive skill. They didn’t play a checking game, and more than anything needed someone to just put the damn puck in the net. Switzerland set the physical tone for the game and wore out the home side as the game went on. When was the last time we said that? As the favorite, it’s always dangerous to let the underdog hang in the game. Switzerland did just that by scoring a goal on a beautiful shot from the wing at the end of the 2^nd. All it took was a lucky bounce off a defenceman’s skate in the 3^rd to tie the score.

Quick side note: Ryan Getzlaf looked horrible last night. He had several giveaways high in the offensive zone and looked like he didn’t care in the shoot-out. I have a hatred for him since back in his Calgary Hitmen days and this performance didn’t help. Why couldn’t we have Jeff Carter or Steve Stamkos instead?

Russia played a tough game against the Slovak’s but ultimately wasted a chance to win by not putting their most successful players into the shootout. Timmo Seppa over at Ice Hockey Metrics is a shoot-out specialist and explains the issue here.

Figure skaters missing jumps

Finally, it’s just a pet peeve, but why are figure skaters getting high marks even when they fall? I can’t take a sport seriously when this happens. I understand that some jumps are extremely difficult, but that’s the inherent risk in doing a more difficult jump.

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Bilodeau Takes Gold…and the Pressure Off

Ryan Popilchak — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:40:02 +0000

Last night, a whole country got the chance to hold their breath, cross their fingers and knock on wood. It may be only a minor source of embarrassment for us Canadians, but nonetheless we needed to see the monkey off our back. With four skiers in the finals of the Men’s Moguls, this was one of our best chances to finally win a gold medal on home soil.

And man did I get sucked in. From the moment that Vincent Marquis unleashed the run of his life, and sat atop the leaderboard, I was on the edge of the couch. Most of us will remember Bilodeau and I’ll get to more of that in a minute, but it was Marquis who set the early tone for Canada. He blew the lid off the crowd, taking the tension out of fans at the venue and in living rooms across the country. He may have been bumped down to 4^th place overall after the big names got their chance, but it was a great run nonetheless.

Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau’s run right after Marquis’ gave us thoughts that we might just dominate the podium. His is another great story given that he’s missed the last two Olympics with complications from a broken neck and mononucleosis. Rousseau had a very solid run and put himself in 2^nd place at the time, and finished 5^th overall.

Part of the reason the event was so special, was the presence of a true villain to combat our hero. That villain came in the person of Dale Begg-Smith. For those that are unfamiliar, Begg-Smith grew up in Canada and left to train, live and compete for Australia with his brother. He now refuses to acknowledge his Canadian heritage and refuses to converse with any non-Australian media, especially those from the host country. He also has a shady history in relation to his internet business CPM Media Inc. In general, he’s the type of athlete people like to root against. They don’t even seem to like him that much in Australia. His solid, yet unspectacular run put him just ahead of Marquis and sitting in first until Bilodeau got his shot.

To say that Bilodeau’s run was electric was an understatement. He combined big air with technical turns and blazing speed. Check it out here. His father said it best.

”I know the sport so well and I knew when he crossed the finish line that it was the best run and no one could beat it.” — Bilodeau’s father Serge.

Probably the biggest winner of the whole event was the sport of moguls. Between the men’s competition last night and the women’s final the night before, the ‘net and conversations in public are peppered with remarks like “Can you believe how fast they go?” and “How do their knees not explode on contact?”

Most of us have come to the realization that mogul skiing combines speed, power, technique, agility and bravery to a degree that most of us will never experience.

Thank you to Alexandre Bilodeau for breaking the “home soil jinx” and giving us all a riveting experience to cheer for.

“It’s so big for Canada. Since the beginning, and with Jenn (Heil) yesterday, these Games are all about Canada. I want every young Canadian and (old) Canadian to be inspired by all of these athletes.” — Dominick Gauthier, who coaches both Bilodeau and (women’s mogul’s silver medallist) Heil.

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