they didnt even medal,not even a bronze.pat quinn wouldnt use steve nash.bertuzzi takes a stupid penalty.gretzky pick an older team.gretzky 's been having a tough time of it lately.wonder who's going to pick the next olypmis team
what happened to us in basketball is what happened to you guys in hockey...you can throw the best talent in the world at the olympics, but that doesn't mean they'll be a team and win. but still, this has been a very, very good olympics for canadians..
Quin benched Nash because he was tryin' be a go-alone hotshot, which constantly led to turnovers. In general he just showed a great degree of imaturity. I think the solution for 2010 is they should have a one or two week selection camp in the summer before the games to select the team. If professional hockey players want to represent Canada then they should show that commitment by putting in that time in thier off season. The camp would show who skates well together and who really wants it. This is what each NHL team does in Ausgust with thier rosters (which includes minor league call-ups, draft picks) some make the team others are told "sorry, but thaks for trying", and reamin just a name on the fanchise roster, with a shot of making it the next time around. God forbid they should have to qualify in some way to represent thier country like nearly every other athlete in the olympics. Gretsky's mistake was he assumed that top NHL points leaders, and defence would translate into a degree of 'depth'. What he got was a depth of ego's and minimal team cohersion. Certain lines just did not click, at all, and if they did it was for one isolated period of play. On the defensive side we played a bizzarely passive style, lousy forchecking and no one was taking their man on the boards when they should have. When we played the Fins for example, a team known for finess not force, stepped up and knocked us on our asses, physicly. Another missed oportunity for points was the absence of Crosby, he's young but he's shown in the NHL, against seasoned oposition, he can get points, but more importantly play with speed and an eye for making plays. This is what is needed when you're playing on the larger olympic rinks, just look what Ovechkin did for Russia. I watched all the games in the round robin, and overall I'd say our default was simply that they didn't have enough heart. Now the Swiss, there's an example of heart, an upset against the czecks and the canadians. Even though they had NO current NHL players, they played a solid team game. Though it should be noted it was a middle-aged ex canadain NHLer(married to a swiss) who scored both goals against Canada in that game. I like that we got our asses handed to us on a platter, I think our defeat will humble us a little. It also strengthens the overall state of hockey in the world, the bar is being raised, no team can anylonger be considered untouchable, or even two or three teams. I enjoyed watching other nations play strong games, and demonstrating thier unique team style. If anyone watches football(soccer) they'll probably tell you that's why they love watching the world cup. It's not just to see their team win but to see the degree of talent and styles of play because the sport is firmly rooted all over the globe. I hope Gretsky assembles the team in 2010 aswell, he's still the great one, he sees the game in a way like no other. He knows where he went wrong and he's a smart enough guy to sort it out for our next shot at the gold.
Blame nobody but Gretzky for this - he picked a fairly terrible team. Leaving out talent such as Crosby, Stahl, Phanoeuf, hell even Cole was a bad decision. Especially for the ancient team he picked. (Draper should have been dropped, and Smyth, as well as Blake on defence). Draper only has 4 or 5 goals this season, I believe. Also, Luongo is a much better goalie than Brodeur. Non-butterfly goalies have no consistency.
well thats about the most incorrect statement ive read in a while. first of all Brodeur played absolutly amazing, as he always does, and luongo is great but no where near brodeurs level, and hes unproven in pressure situations. Secondly, crosby is much to young to make an olympic debut, but Staal and spezza should have made the team, although they are both centers and there really wasnt a whole lot of room for them. Phaneuf should have replaced bouwmeester, and cole? if you are refering to erik cole he is an american and was not on the canadian olympic team, mccabe was a disaster as predeicted by many real hockey analysts such as peirre mcguire. Blake is great, no matter the situation. Could have done without Smyth, although him and draper are both great leaders and good in penalty kill situations.
Some of the goals Brodeur let in weren't terribly difficult. And I find it hard to count on any non-butterfly goalie. Because our current geriatric team played so well. All top-notch NHL hockey players can play all forward positions with little difficulty. Bouwmeester played solid all tournament. My bad - I thought he was Canadian. That is putting it a little strongly. Blake is too old and too slow. Our weakness wasn't defense, it was scoring.
replies in order to your replies: Brodeur was the best player on the ice when it matterd, end of story. Being young means inexperience which leads to problems//see rick nash the whole reason for not having staal and spezza on the team were because they ONLY play center, and there were no centers they wanted to bump off the roster. Bouwmeester did nothing for me, but I can agree that he did "ok" if anyone shouldnt have been on the team and wont be on the team again it will be mccabe, phaneuf will take that spot. again, Blake is solid in any situation, and he wasnt the one that took 3 holding penalties in one game. Draper and Smyth arent defence.
at least they played harddid the best they could.sometimes a loss reveals things ,like what the wrong assumptions were will be corrected next time.gretzky did his best .even he's not perfect, close,but close only counts in curling.and this time they werent even in whiffing distance of a medal,
yeah, it sucked, gretz still isnt to blame. live and learn, come back in 2010 same way we rebounded from 1998 in 2002
man it will be super sweet if team usa can pull off an upset in Vancouver.... then the NHL will remove itself from the olympics...haha
