More Olympic Notes

Consistency is the Key

The first 2 rounds of the elimination round are over and 2 things have been consistent:

1. Upsets or near-upsets
2. Horrable Reffing

They almost go hand-in-hand too. Latvia and Switzerland could have pulled off the upsets against the Czechs and US (respectively) if they had gotten those late-game calls. While Canada did beat Russia, Russia got a way with a lot of calls. Slovakia did upset Sweden but a questionable call within the last 5 minutes almost cost them the game.

Women's Hockey

Apparently the women's side is in danger of being kicked from the Olympics because of it's lack of competition. I can't remember exactly where this is from but the lack of funds for the competitors outside of North America is a big reason why. Not many teams can compete when they don't have the ability to develop players without the necessary investment. The Olympic future of this sport can't keep relying on upsets (a la Sweden beats USA in 2006).

Olympic Notes

I meant to do a lot more post over the Olympics but now that the preliminary round is over, its the best time to say a couple things:

• Norway's Pal Grotnes and Tore Vikingstad should get NHL tryouts. They've had a good tournament so far.
• In hindsight, Ovechkin's hit on Jagr isn't as spectacular as it's hyped to be. Unless you take into account 2 things:
  1. Because International Rules are lame...er...stricter, any open-ice hit is considered awesome.
  2. It's the first time anyone seen Ovi make a clean hit.
• Speaking of awesome and Russia, it's nice to see Slovakia get the upset over them.
• How does Switzerland give the US and Canada a hard time but allows Norway to score 4 goals on them?
• Even through inserting/removing players from rosters are prohibited, what's the rule on coaches? Seriously though, what was Babcock thinking in either not pulling Brodeur or calling a timeout near the end of the game.
• The bigger question of the Canada-US game: How the hell does a team with the Leafs GM and coach win?
• Only Pool C had no surprises (maybe Sweden shutting out Finland but nothing major).
• 2 true facts about the standings:
  1. If the Sweden-Finland game went to overtime and Sweden won, Canada would have faced Finland after Germany, not Russia (thus confirming TSN needs a fact-checker).
  2. If the Canada-US game went into overtime, Canada would have had a top 4 finish, meaning they would get a first round bye.

On a semi-related Olympic note - A new slogan for these games (inspired by our failure in short track and ski cross) should be: You're either a medallist, or Canadian.

About The Kovalchuk Trade

After reviewing the blockbuster Kovalchuk trade, there is only one thing to say about Atlanta's GM Don Waddell...

He's the dumbest active GM

Since this involves Atlanta, here is:

You Know Your Atlanta's GM When...

• Mike Mulbury tells you how it should have went down.
• Your team's future is built with this guy.
• Out of all the teams linked to the high-scoring Russian, the team that plays "the trap" seems the most suited.
• A 50-goal scorer and a borderline NHL defenseman seems enough to get only one draft pick.
• Raising Kovy's trade value includes announcing that a $101-million/12 year deal isn't enough for him.
• When NBC calls and ask you to become a late-night executive.