Tsiouxnami

1st period comes to a close. Sweden up 2-1 over the Czech Republic. Sweden will carry about 40 seconds of power play into the 2nd. In my opinion, Sweden is outplaying the Czech's. . . . and Henrik Lundqvist appears to be on his game today.

1:20 left in 1st - Forsberg draws the penalty. Sweden goes on the power play.

13:40 into 1st. . . . .P.J. Axelsson redirects shot from Lidstrom 2-1 Sweden

3:11 of the 1st - Swedes are caught in a line change. . . .Straka makes it 1-1.

34 seconds in Modin from Forsberg. Sweden 1-0 (Sorry couldn't resist.)

Anybody interested in updates on the Sweden-Czech game? It's just getting underway.

Sorry, my mistake!

And Modano says, "What, they got PEANUTS!"

Oh, come now, cut the man some slack. He had to be in charge of his own plane tickets . . . maybe all the flights were full and he HAD to leave early??

Strength of skills is HUGE! Many Euros grow up not touching a puck until they are at about a US PeeWee level. They work on skating skills - which, in my opinion, is why European skaters are so hard to knock off the puck. In the US we are more concerned that kids at a Mite level are onside/offside - when in reality, they lack the skating skills to GET onside, even if they want to.

Difference? Let's see, playing high school, juniors, college, NHL (probably being somewhat coddled along the way) and/or having your talent recognized then being taken away from your parents at the age of 12, put in a sort of hockey military academy and being groomed to be the next big thing. While I don't say this is the case with them all, I say it has some bearing on things.

See my last post.

I agree 100% as well. We never have and probably never will. Hockey is not the be-all and end-all in this country like it is other places. In my opinion, that has a lot to do with it. More kids grow up wanting to play basketball, football or baseball.

Parise was used as an example of YOUTH! Insert a different name then for all I care. In a tournament where a lot of games are played in a short amount of time, I say that YOUTH bounces back and has the ability to play better over the long haul. Again, my point is NOT to put college players in to play Malkin and Ovechkin. . . my point is get rid of the over the hill primadonas and try something new - go with the YOUTH movement and see what happens.

I have never said that we should have a team of college players playing against a team of NHLer's. That is not the point I am trying to make at all. What we have been trying to say, or at least what I have been trying to say and I believe that MafiaMan has as well, and you keep overlooking, is that we need to take our MOST TALENTED YOUNG TEAM OF NHLer'S to the Olympics. Yes, we need some maturity and leadership with a couple of veterans, but I think (and I could be wrong) that a Zach Parise (he is playing in the NHL!) would have been a better player and played with more fire than Mike Modano. . . who was too busy pouting about having to make his own plane/hotel reservations.

I kind of disagree a bit here. I think the talent is there. . . . sure we aren't as talented as some of the other teams, but you know the saying "Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn't work hard." Just ask the Swiss. . . that is how they beat Canada. (Oh yeah, that and playing like a team.) While the US should be upset with their losses, Canada should feel worse. Look at the talent pool they had and they were shut out 3 games! YIKES! I believe I read they were shut out 12 of their last 13 periods of hockey. WOW!

On another note, I think USA Hockey also needs to reevaluate the women's program. They are in a steady slide down the totem pole also. . .Gold (2002), Silver (2004), Bronze (2006). . .heading the wrong direction. They went with youth, but in the process cut some of the heart and soul from the team. In my opinion, cutting Cammie Granato was a HUGE mistake. Yeah, she may not have been as fast as she once was, but she was still as skilled as ever AND (here's the common theme) she knows how to win!!! (Not to mention the leadership that she brings to a young team.) For goodness sakes, Canada had Danielle Goyette (she's 40) and it didn't appear to hurt them to have her there! USA Hockey needs to quickly reevalute their program and come up with a plan to right this hockey ship (Men and Women) before it sinks! (Ok, enough ranting!)

Hatcher WAS slow on his feet and that showed with the amount of time he spent in the box. While I think we do need some older/wiser?? veterans on the team for some leadership. . . perhaps a Mathieu Schneider (who I felt played well and did his part), Brian Rolston, Bill Guerin. . . geez, even Chris Drury for that matter (the guy knows how to win at all levels and I think that means something. . . I remember watching him pitch Trumbull, CT to a Little League World Series title when I was young. He won the Hobey Baker Award in 1998, won an NCAA Hockey Title at BU, was NHL Rookie of the Year in 1999 and won a Stanley Cup with the Avs in 2001.) Some people know what to do to contribute to win at all levels. . . why not try to pass some of that on to our YOUNGER NHLer's? Take Zach Parise - who also knows how to win, mind you - and build the team with those type of players. Maybe this doesn't make much sense and I am WAYYYY off base, but that is where I would start if I were in charge! Cut the dead weight (cough, cough ModanoHatcherTkachuk, etc, etc. cough, cough) and start all over again before we slide ANY farther down the totem pole.

And I am guessing they ordered the snow storm in New York too? Those darn USA Hockey people! It really was a conspiracy against the big, rich hockey stars.

Oh, the horror. . . .I am tearing up a bit for ya, Mike!

Czech's win 3-1 on an empty net goal. Man, Slovakia ALMOST tied it up. What a GREAT last couple of minutes! Too bad, would have liked to have seen the game go into OT. I can't stand Jagr!

Demitra takes a nasty shot off the visor from his own teammate. YIKES! Slow motion, the visor breaks and he is bleeding. Lucky he had the visor on, or he would be minus an eye!

Oh, I spoke too soon. . . .Slovaks have scored. 2-1 with about 16 minutes left in the 3rd

As it looks right now - I take Finland to medal, not Slovakia. . . . . geez, now my psychic side is showing

Start of 3rd. . . .Czech's lead Slovakia 2-0.