Puck Talk

-I’ll start with the obvious. This tournament is wide open. As I write this article the quarterfinal match-ups are still to be determined but, regardless of how it shakes out, there is nothing that would surprise me in that quarterfinal round. We’ve already seen the Swiss beat the Czech Republic and Canada on back-to-back days. We’ve seen Russia lose to Slovakia, then destroy Sweden and then barely squeak by Kazakhstan. We’ve seen mighty Canada get shutout in consecutive games. We’ve seen the US struggle to tie Latvia. And we’ve seen Slovakia and Finland look like the two best teams in the tournament. At this point, I’m ready for just about anything.

-My game of the tourney so far is definitely the 2-0 Switzerland upset over Canada. I don’t know how many people got the chance to watch that one but it was pretty amazing to watch that game unfold. Canada carries the play through most of the 1st period but Switzerland gets the only goal from Paul DiPietro, a Canadian-born player who hasn’t played in the NHL for 10 years. Canada carries the play through most of the 2nd period too but, once again, the only goal of the period goes to DiPietro and the Swiss to make it 2-0. Down 2-0, Canada has a Rick Nash goal taken away despite replays that look pretty conclusive that the puck crossed the line. (Of course, we later find out that Nash has a history with the Russian ref doing the game and that Canada, as a country, has a history of bad things happening in games with Russian refs in general.) And then, just a classic 3rd period with Canada outshooting the Swiss 24-1 and Martin Gerber, probably the most underrated goalie in the NHL, standing on his head in the Swiss net to preserve the shutout. Great stuff.

-My favorite random stat to come out of that Switzerland-Canada game? The fact that Canada once beat the Swiss 33-0 in an Olympic game. I think it was back in 1924. 33-0? Are you kidding me? Who the hell runs up a score that big in an Olympic hockey game? Who was coaching that Canadian team, Barry Switzer?

-The story for the US so far has been the inability to score goals. I’ve watched almost all of their first four games of the tourney and, by and large, they’ve outplayed their opponents in all of them. At least for stretches. But they can’t score goals. The Sweden game, a 2-1 loss, is a perfect example. The US had their chances against the Swedes, including two 5 on 3 advantages in the 2nd period, but just couldn’t find the net. The 2-1 loss to Slovakia was another one. They outshot Slovakia something like 30-20 but couldn’t put the puck away. A crossbar here. A blocked shot there. Very frustrating.

-Best player in the tournament so far? I’m going to have to go with Teemu Selanne. I was always a big Teemu fan because I used to use a white Titan with a Selanne curve in high school and college but even I never saw a big tourney coming from him and the Finns. Honorable mention: The entire Hossa-Gaborik-Demitra line from Slovakia, Daniel Alfredsson and both Swiss goalies.

-My favorite running subplot of the tourney is watching Alex Ovechkin continue his habit of going completely bananas every time he scores a goal. And I do mean every single time too. It could the first goal of the game, a game-winner in OT or the last goal of a 10-1 rout. Doesn’t matter. If Ovechkin scores he’s going to make sure everyone in the building knows it was him. And it doesn’t matter how nice of a goal it is either. He goes crazy if he scores an amazing goal but he goes just as bonkers if a puck re-directs into the net off his skate. Quality is irrelevant.

-I don’t mind Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick that much on the play-by-play but I wish he’d bag some of his weird little expressions like “carryback” and “stash” and “filter.” I’ve been around hockey my entire life and I don’t know anyone that uses those words to describe the play. I cringe every time I hear Doc say something like “Chelios on the carryback through center…tries to stash it through for Gionta but Sundin is there for Sweden and he filters it across for Axelsson.”

-This whole thing with the neutral Italian cheerleaders in the orange and yellow uniforms? Yeah, I don’t get it.

-Finally, my predictions for the rest of the tourney. Finland is locked into the #1 seed in their group. Looks like they’ll get the US in the quarterfinals. I think the US will play them very, very tough but I see Finland winning that in a low-scoring, one-goal kind of game. 2-1. 3-2. Something like that. I think the other semi-finalists will be Canada, Russia and Slovakia. And then I’ll go with a Russia-Canada final, with Russia winning the gold. But again, I could legitimately see almost anyone that makes the quarterfinals winning a medal. It’s that wide open.

Questions? Comments? Please send feedback to Michael James at feedback@barstoolsports.com