MafiaMan

So you were being facetious in which teams you'd like to see Chris Chelios play for?

You're correct...this doesn't just pertain to hockey.

I hope you didn't mind me editing your post a bit. Chellie will retire a Red Wing. Unfortunately for him, though, the hometown hero of Chicago didn't have the honor of retiring as a Black Hawk. Even though I detested that team, it was still unreal watching Eddy, Jeremy, and Chris tear up Chicago Stadium in the early 1990's. What a team that was.

All hail stickboy1956! I couldn't agree more. Youth coaches in the US in ALL SPORTS are so fixated in victory that it gets in the way of teaching kids skills. One only needs to look at basketball to see how bad that problem is there. No one understands the fundamentals of basketball anymore, it's all about who is going to get poster-ized on a dunk on ESPN at 10:00 pm.

Living in the Twin Cities and watching how some of the parents treat their kids when it comes to shuffling them around to schools like Bloomington Jefferson and suddenly the ultra-hot-ticket-school-of-the-past-few-years Holy Angels Academy, not to mention heading to Michigan to school...I'd say there's not a lot of difference between the systems you're comparing.

LOL...the simultaneous posting is causing trouble. I think NDFlyer would be surprised to know that we agree for the most part on things. He is reading too much into the WCHA and college kid thing though. Look at the NBA. Does David Stern want to win the next Olympics? Then send the Detroit Pistons.

1-4-1. My point earlier was what would the difference between 0-6 and 1-4-1? Not much. However, with a younger team, the potential would be there for 2010. Instead, Team USA has to look into its cupboard and replace about a dozen players. Unless you would like to see a 48 year old Chelios, a 39 year old Modano, and other senior citizens in Vancouver in four years.

This backs up NDFlyer's point, Tsiouxnami. Why shouldn't our best 21-23 year old college players be able to compete with 19 year old Malkin? Phil Kessel, anyone? That's laughable. NDFlyer is correct...the rest of the world is churning out better hockey players than we are. That's a fact.

This I agree with 100%.

An obvious difference. You are totally missing my point. My point isn't to send over college kids...it's to send YOUNGER players! Tkachuk bombed at the 2004 WCOH and showed up to training camp with the nickname "Tka-chunk" and "Tka-chunky." And a few months later he's a US Olympian? We can do better!

Did I say anything at all about sending over the WCHA All-Stars? All I'm saying is that we're sending over 33-35 year old players while Russia has long-since looked to the future with stars like Datsyuk, Kovalchuk, and Ovechkin, who were playing in the 2004 WCOH in addition to this Olympiad. Evgeni Malkin, a 19 year old Penguins prospect, is playing for Team Russia. Meanwhile, where is Team USA's best hope for the future? A Zach Parise or a Paul Martin? Oh, they're taking a two week vacation...

I wasn't implying that the US needed to revert back to playing college kids! I was simply saying that it takes more than heart to play college hockey. If you've got a full-ride to Denver and are a two-time national champion, you've got more than just heart. What I'm saying is that there are talented young players all over the US who were left home so we could watch a team of mostly retreads and also rans attempt to medal. Think about it...1-4-1. We couldn't do much worse, could we? At least we beat a country that most people in North America couldn't spell. Woo hoo.

If you're playing college hockey for Minnesota, North Dakota, Boston U, Michigan, etc., you've obviously got some talent. I concur with Tsiouxnami on this one. Team USA needs people who WANT to be in the Olympics, not those who feel "well, since I'm one of the best players we have, I guess I should be there. Besides, I can get some free tickets for the family, some friends...". I agree on the stat about Canada being shut out in 12 of 13 periods of hockey. That's beyond comprehension with that team.

Of course, in correcting yourself, you are too, SiouxTupa. By the way, I concur on the self-evaluation of Hockey USA on both the women's and men's fronts. Let's start with the women. While a gold, silver, and bronze medal in three Olympiads are nothing to be ashamed of, it's clear that USA and Canada dominated the circuit in 1998 and 2002. Canada has continued its domination, some other teams have improved greatly (insert Sweden and Finland here), while others have regressed (obviously, USA). The men's program? Wow, where do we start? How about not throwing together a team and "hoping" they can put it all together on the ice. That logic is destined to fail. Herb Brooks must have rolled over in his grave yesterday after Mike Modano's comments. Oh how we have fallen when it is no longer a source or pride for athletes to don their country's crest on their jersey chest. The best thing Team USA could have done is pick a bunch of kids between the ages of 18 to about 28 and send them over there and wish them the best. Give them the experience to plow thru the field in 2010. Russia sends their Ovechkins and Kovalchuks and we counter by sending our Hatchers and Tkachuks? Chris Chelios has earned the right to say "it's time to find someone new" and turn down a spot on the team, but Tkachuk? Hatcher? Modano? That's the best we can do? Cmon...PCM and I could have picked a better roster this time around.

UND did beat BU in 1997, but BU won the 1995 title when Chris Drury was a freshman. Tsiouxnami is correct.

I think the issue second only to Robbie Bina's health is the fans letting the idea of some sort of payback go already. The last thing I want to see is some cheap shot penalty that causes the Sioux to lose a game this weekend or lose some players for next weekend. The best payback would be a sweep in Denver. The NCAA tournament is on the line and you don't get a chance to host a regional every day giving you home ice advantage and an enhanced chance to make the Frozen Four.

Who do you think you are, Mike, a Dream Team player for USA Basketball?

Sadly, PCM was never known for his fashion sense.

And it's not big for the Slovaks?

I believe a certain someone mentioned earlier that Finland or Slovakia would medal...but not both. I'm a regular Nostrodamus. Hold on for my title game prediction one hour before the gold medal game.

Exactly. Of course, right about now, 99.8% of Canada is in tears and 99.8% of America is saying "we have an Olympic hockey team over in Italy right NOW? Cool".

Wow, this is definitely stunning for the North American continent.

I heard that she had $500K bet on Mother Russia.

Oh here we go...the conspiracy theories are about 3:00 away from starting up.

Isn't that Canuck?