Canada lost

[johnstephenson]

Wtf man how could we lose at hockey I definetly thought we would have done better :thumbsdow Better take some lessons from the women.... :hmmm:

[twizzbeats]

I second that. atleast they got the gold

[meat12]

Better luck next time eh! :D

[johnstephenson]

ya ya Bite me :nutkick: Just kiddin bro, they just didnt bring it... but everyone is going to blame it on the whole gambling thing saying wayne didnt have his head in the game..

[Shibby]

I just watched an interview with Wayne Gretzky on Canada's loss. Broke it down how even though Canada reached an all time high for medals won, the headlines will still read "Canada Looses" in refrence to hockey. Gretzky talked about how it's even harder for Canada than for the U.S. The americans have baseball, basketball, hockey etc., but in Canada it's live and breath ice hockey. Then Costas went on to talk about the pressure Gretzky had from the Canadian goverment to pick certain players. Also how much pressure there is going to be in the 2010 winter olypics being held in Vancouver and the pressure for Canada to win the hockey gold.

[Motorcycleguy]

I watched that game... I want that 1.5 hours back! Bertuzzi taking a bullshit penalty, then Pronger puting the puck infront of our net..... ahhh. Well I guess we have 2010 in my hometown.... better shine then

[hitmansb]

Canada lost because this team was poorly selected.

It starts with a lack of speed on defense: Pronger, Blake, and Foote looked like dinosaurs out there on the larger international ice surface.

Some bad forward picks as well: Bertuzzi, Doan, Draper are obvious.

The problems this team had scoring are hardly a surprise: six of the nine highest-scoring Canadians in the NHL were left off of this team!!! Think that Patrick Marleau, Eric Staal, Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Cheechoo, Marc Savard, and Alex Tanguay might have helped? Throw Jason Spezza in the mix two, who would be near the top of that pack had he not missed time with an injury. Not to mention the boost in line chemistry the team would have gotten by having Spezza there to play with Heatley, Cheechoo there to play with Thornton, Savard there to play with Iginla, and Tanguay there to play with Sakic.

Wayne Gretzky and the others responsible for picking this team should be raked over the coals for a good long while. The average Canadian hockey fan could have been plucked off of the street and done a better job with player selection.

The only Canadians who should be immune to blame are goaltenders Brodeur and Luongo, who played well behind a team that left them exposed to many quality scoring chances.

[Shibby]

That's what part of the interview adressed. Gretzky gave into the pressure of the canadian goverment instead of picking the team exactly like he wanted. In doing so though, it looks like in 2010 it the canadian government will take a step back in the selection.

[Shibby]

Do you think if the Stanley cup champions (at the time of the olympics) would be able to dominate? The advantage I think alot of the other teams (not U.S. or Canada) have is they play together all the time.(don't they?)

[Shibby]

Ha, the hockey guy for Sports Center said the front page of the newspaper in Canada will say "Canada and it's hockey embarresed in Italy" and the U.S. sports page will say "Duke retains #1"

[Scrumhalf]

Do you think if the Stanley cup champions (at the time of the olympics) would be able to dominate? The advantage I think alot of the other teams (not U.S. or Canada) have is they play together all the time.(don't they?)

I don't think any of the other top teams (Russia, Finland, Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovakia) got any more time to play together, considering that they are also are full of NHL players that also got thrown in together at the last minute after the season was suspended.

The bottom line is - those teams were full of skaters with greater speed Iand weaned on the larger ice surface) and maybe more desire when it came down to it.

Mike Modano sounded silly berating US Hockey for not arranging for travel for families, etc. as though that was the reason for why he had 2 goals, zero assists and a +/- of minus one in the tournament.

Contrast this to what Oli Jokinen said, with a chuckle:

"My wife is here," said Jokinen, who scored his two goals in the second period to give Finland a 4-2 lead. "She went on the Internet a couple of months ago. She booked her own flight. Phones are working pretty good in the U.S. We have five or six players whose families are here. We haven't really had time to see them. We play every second day. It's not a distraction for us."

Playing at least a man down for 30 minutes isn't going to get things done...

[Shibby]

Yea Madano is one of my favorite players and of course the Stars are my team, but that just made him looked whiney. He's not normally like that but that's how the rest of the world will view him now.

[johnstephenson]

Canada lost because this team was poorly selected.

It starts with a lack of speed on defense: Pronger, Blake, and Foote looked like dinosaurs out there on the larger international ice surface.

Some bad forward picks as well: Bertuzzi, Doan, Draper are obvious.

The problems this team had scoring are hardly a surprise: six of the nine highest-scoring Canadians in the NHL were left off of this team!!! Think that Patrick Marleau, Eric Staal, Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Cheechoo, Marc Savard, and Alex Tanguay might have helped? Throw Jason Spezza in the mix two, who would be near the top of that pack had he not missed time with an injury. Not to mention the boost in line chemistry the team would have gotten by having Spezza there to play with Heatley, Cheechoo there to play with Thornton, Savard there to play with Iginla, and Tanguay there to play with Sakic.

Wayne Gretzky and the others responsible for picking this team should be raked over the coals for a good long while. The average Canadian hockey fan could have been plucked off of the street and done a better job with player selection.

The only Canadians who should be immune to blame are goaltenders Brodeur and Luongo, who played well behind a team that left them exposed to many quality scoring chances.

Agreed...

[johnstephenson]

Do you think if the Stanley cup champions (at the time of the olympics) would be able to dominate? The advantage I think alot of the other teams (not U.S. or Canada) have is they play together all the time.(don't they?)

Ummm your talkin about Tampa Bay???, If you are then I dont know about winning but they defenetly would have gave a better run at it.. I dont think we can blame it on anything but lack of speed and effort....(goalies did there job)

[Shibby]

I wasn't talking about Tampa Bay or any specific team. Just what ever year the olympics are, the team that's the best, maybe not the champions but someone who went far in the finals.