u20 Days and Ready to Go

The USA should be favored to repeat in the 2011 WJCs

The month of December is about waiting.  It is about counting down.  That's because, at the end of the month, we get the most festive day of the year, one where people celebrate and appreciate the greatest gift of all, while seeing new gifts that they will enjoy for years to come for the first time. 

And Christmas.  Christmas is at the end of December too.  I’m not talking about that, though.  I’m talking about the best sporting event of the year.  The World Junior Hockey Championships.

God, just typing that gets me excited.  I really can’t wait.  That’s because, with due respect to the Olympics, Super Bowl, college football season, world cup, Tour de France and Stanley Cup Playoffs, which, among others, are events to circle on the sporting calendar, the WJCs are the event that is brining the most anticipation in 2010.  Well, for me, anyways. 

I tried to explain how much I loved World Juniors, as they’re known in the hockey world, last winter, and found it difficult.  There are tangible aspects of the tournament, which I described, and while it fails to capture the whole thing, the best I could come up with was this:

So this tournament was great, but I knew it was appointment viewing, one of my favorite events of the year, long before I knew that the United States would pull it out in dramatic fashion. What is it, then, about the World Juniors that is so appealing? There is a lot, but two things stick out.

First of all, this is the only tournament in any of the major American sports that features the best available players, representing their country, in the most important event of their season. The level of talent in the Olympic hockey tournament is staggering. The “Dream Team” in the basketball tournament is great. The problem is, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, despite what some have insinuated, would trade their gold medals in Beijing for NBA championships in an instant. Conversely, none of the players for Canada would have accepted silver had they been given CHL Memorial Cup championships instead, like the USA players wouldn’t trade their Gold’s for NCAA Frozen Four titles (or, if we’re honest, Memorial Cups).

There really is only one tournament that can say this, apart from World Juniors. The soccer World Cup is likely the defining moment of the player’s seasons, but it is neither annual, nor a major sport in America. While it is growing in popularity, soccer still just isn’t up there in terms of interest for Americans.

Add the passion of having a season defined by a tournament, like the playoffs for professionals, with the eyes of the entire NHL on these young players looking to break into the league, and the inherent rush anyone would get playing with for their country, and the result is a brand of hockey the intensity and passion of which is nearly unmatched, even in the NHL playoffs.

There is another thing that is great about the World Juniors, though. Like no other event in the world, the World Juniors give hockey fans a glimpse into the future of a league. Canada’s team was made up almost exclusively first and second rounders. Most guys on the Swedish Russian and continental teams will play in the NHL. Most of the USA team projects to be top 6 forwards. The talent level is insane. You could watch the CHL and college hockey for months, but you wouldn’t match the level of insight gained when you see when the best come together, not for nothing, to face the best.

There is a telling commercial that played during the games. It was of NHL stars, including Ovechkin, Nash, Crosby and Getzlaf, among others, raising their arms after goals. The punch line: “Raise your hand if you got your start in the World Juniors.” Truth in advertizing.

The greatness of the tournament goes beyond what I described, though.  Those are the things that I can enumerate, but in order to appreciate the tournament, you have to take my word for it, and tune in.  Last year, the crux of that column was that America had largely failed to take notice of the tournament, thus far (as evidenced by the fact that the games were on NHL Network in the US).  There is good news, though, America.  This is the year that you can check it out!

You know how everyone kind of concedes that the world cup is an awesome event, but no one really feels like getting too into it, since we know that a good tournament for the Americans would be to not get knocked out before the championship round even begins (also, as much as we build it up, the tournament is actually just a bunch of soccer games, which either end in zero-zero ties or own goals)?  The World Juniors were a little bit like that before.  USA Hockey was much more of a contender than US Soccer, but Canada had more or less owned the decade, winning five in a row.  The United States had just one win, in 2004.  This year, though, that has all changed.  Last year, the USA pulled off a huge upset, knocking off a historically good Canada team and taking gold.

Now, perhaps for the first time, the United States comes into the tournament as the favorite.  Winning last year certainly helped to that end, but that isn’t really why they get the nod over the Canadians. One of the things that is unique about the World Juniors is just how much rosters turn over from year to year.  The tournament is open to players under 20.  For teenagers, a lot of development takes place year to year, so guys in their last year of eligibility usually take up most of the roster spots.  On top of that, a lot of the guys who are good enough to play at a younger age are in the NHL by the time they are in their last year of eligibility, and don’t get released from their teams to play (Taylor Hall, the Oilers’ rookie being an example). 

This year, the USA returns 8 from their 22 man roster.  That is a ton.  The United States holds their camp during the summer, whereas Canada has a training/tryout camp right before the tournament, so it is unofficial, but the most Canada can return, by contrast, is 3 (Jared Cowan, Ryan Ellis and Calvin de Haan).  In addition to the experience that the Americans bring back, they have an incoming class of ‘92s (I feel old) that contains more high draft picks than any before.  It should lead to the most talented USA squad that we have seen (and for what it is worth, the most geographically diverse.  The team has kids from California, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Texas, Nevada, Missouri and Colorado mixed in with the traditional New York, New England, Michigan and Minnesota boys). 

Of course, that cursory explanation won’t do, so let’s take a look at the team that will wear Red White and Blue, and defend the gold on home ice in Buffalo (that advantage should be huge.  I’m sure no Canadians will make the grueling 2 hour drive from Toronto).

Returning Players

Jack Campbell is the big one here.  Perhaps the top goaltending prospect not playing pro yet, the Windsor Spitfires (OHL) backstop is going to take the reins once again for the USA.  He will likely give the USA the strongest goaltending in the tournament. 

On defense, the United States has the most turnover.  Losing guys like John Carlson (thriving this year the Washington Capitals), John Carlson (who scored the game winner in last year’s championship), and John Carlson (perhaps the strongest player in the tournament last year), in addition to Cam Fowler, Cam Fowler and Cam Fowler (equally deserving of superlatives), leaves a big hole to fill on the blueline.  The lone returner is University of Wisconsin defenseman John Ramage, who played with Carlson on the number 1 pair for most of the tournament last year. 

Up front, the United States brings two things in spades; speed, and experience.  Maple Leafs prospect (and current farmhand for the Marlies) Jerry D’Amigo is the biggest impact forward that the US brings back.  He trailed only New York Rangers rookie Derek Stepan with 12 points last year.  Chris Kreider, of Boston College  and Kyle Palmieri, who saw time in Anaheim before being demoted to the Duck’s AHL squad this season, were both top 6 guys last year, and will be impact players for the States this year.  My dad got mad at Jason Zucker for playing like it was a tryout last year (over-stickhandeling), but really the kid just has silky mitts, and he has the potential to step up this year.  Ryan Bourque and Jeremy Morin round out the group of 6 forwards returning, all of whom had substantial impacts on last year’s gold medal win.

Rookies

Andy Iles, a Salisbury product who is a frosh at Cornell got the invite as America’s second goaltender.  Coach Keith Allain elected not to take a third goaltender for this year’s team.  I don’t know much about Iles, other than that he was really, really good in prep school (started for Salisbury as a sophomore), and that I keep thinking he was a returner, because I know the name.

On defense, the US adds one AHLer and 6 college players to round out a core that won’t have a single junior hockey player on it.  Nick Leddy, left off of the team last year, highlights the incoming class, having already garnered some NHL experience this season in Chicago.  Derek Forbert also has a chance to be the number one defenseman for the USA.  A student at North Dakota, Forbert was the 15^th pick in the 2010 draft, going to Los Angeles. 

Up front, the US brings in a ton of early round talent.  Emerson Etem, a Ducks draft pick and California native playing for Medicine Hat (WHL) may be the fastest player in the tournament.  Brock Nelson of the Islanders and UBD, Nick Bjugstad of Minnesota and the Panthers, and Charlie Coyle of BU and the Sharks are the first round picks from 2010 that are new to the roster. 

If none of that meant anything to you, I’m sorry.  Take my word for it, though, we are STACKED.  Last year, I wrote that “Canada was stacked. Not, ‘every player is pretty good’ stacked, more like ‘every player has a chance to be a star in the NHL’ stacked. In fact, 15 of the 22 players on the Canada roster have been taken in the first two rounds of the NHL draft, and two of the seven that haven’t will be first round picks in 2010, their first year of draft eligibility.”  They were.  This year, that is us.  If you know nothing else about the United States roster, know this: Beau Bennett (20^th overall), Austin Watson (18^th), Jarred Tinordi (22^nd), and Kevin Hayes (24^th) were all Americans that were drafted in the first round last year, who DIDN’T make the team.  AND THEY HAVEN’T EVEN MADE FINAL CUTS YET. 

GOD we are loaded.  I’m fired up, because USA HOCKEY IS DO OR DIE!

Different Roads, the Same Turnaround

There is one story line in the Stanley Cup Finals that no one is talking about, and it might be the best angle going in the media friendly Chicago – Philadelphia series that begins this weekend. It isn’t the clash of the Byfuglien/Pronger titans, or Gary Betteman’s refusal to acknowledge the NHL’s new ‘Marian Hossa has to play in every Stanley Cup Finals’ rule.

Think back to 2007. Something monumental happened in early June that had nothing to do with the Anaheim Ducks winning the Stanley Cup.

For the first time in the history of the draft, two American players were neck and neck, competing for the spot as the number one prospect. One was a winger bound for the University of New Hampshire that had played on the USNTDP team, but was a couple of years from the NHL. The other was a right wing playing across the border for the London Knights, considered ready to step into the NHL immediately. The team with the number one pick went with the guy ready to step in right away.

The Chicago Blackhawks took Patrick Kane. The Philadelphia Flyers went with James Van Riemsdyk.

I probably don’t need to tell you that 3 years later, the two are once again neck in neck for a much more important number one slot.

On the one hand, it is a difficult line to drum up. There is no real rivalry between the two, since they are at much different points in their careers. Van Riemsdyk has taken a roundabout path to the NHL. He spent two decorated years at UNH, starring on the United States World Junior team before making 2009-2010 his rookie year. He has been great for the Flyers, and I wrote the following back in December:

‘I had the fortune of taking in a Sharks-Flyers game in San Jose. For the Flyers, the best player on the ice wasn’t Richards, Carter, Briere or even Pronger. As far as I could tell, their most impressive player was James VanRienmsdyk. JVR was flying every time he was on the ice. He was around the puck a lot, and when he got it on his stick, good things were happening for the Flyers every time. Naturally, then, at whistles and line changes, me and my buddy Andrew would look for #21 in white. We rarely saw him. VanRiemsdyk’s ice time was, for whatever reason, limited to around 13 minutes that night. Even that number surprised me when I looked it up the next morning. Looking at his stats, while he would get second line ice time occasionally, only once did Stevens play him 20 minutes’

I still think that pretty well sums up Van Riemsdyk’s rookie year. He has been great, but he is treated like a rookie. Maybe it is for the best. I thought he could handle more when I watched them, but I didn’t see enough of Philly to know for sure. He has had some big goals though, in the playoff run where he has had a somewhat larger role than he did when I saw him, so maybe that is a bit of vindication.

Kane is at a completely different point in his career. He signed and joined the Blackhawks immediately after he was drafted, making his debut in the 2007-2008 season. By now, he is in his third season, the other rokkie that jumped into the NHL with him that year, Jonathan Toews, is the captain, and he is a marquee player in the NHL, having put up 70 and 88 points the last two years.

Obviously Kane is a better player at this point, but that can’t be taken to mean that he was a better pick because of the developmental stages that they are at, which make it an ‘apples to oranges’ comparison. Kane’s rookie numbers were a fair amount better than JVR’s but that doesn’t settle it either, since Chicago has just turned it around in the past two years, and Kane went into a pretty bad lineup where he was asked to score right away. Van Riemsdyk, on the other hand, went to a team that had already turned their fortunes around from the dismal 06-07 that gave them the pick, and therefore played a different role.

The basic takeaway is that here is no legitimate comparison between Van Riemsdyk and Kane, and that to call it a matchup between the two is misleading since they play such different roles. The lack of a viable comparison, though, is one of the things that makes this such an interesting storyline.

The two players show the volatility of the NHL draft, and the quirkiness involved with the process between draft day and actual NHL production. Kane is not the norm. Even in years when lots of players sign, and even for number one draft picks, very few contribute right away, simply because hockey players are drafted at such a young age. VanRiemsdyk isn’t exactly the prototype number two pick either. At the number two position, most picks would be playing a larger role than he has by their third season of eligibility.

Nothing will be resolved (it isn’t as though if Philly wins, it is proven that picks should wait to enter the league or that JVR is better than Kane), but it is still interesting consider, if for no other reason than to think about how just 3 years after both teams were at the bottom of the league, they find themselves on top, with the rewards of their futility playing important, though different roles.

All Things Hockey, Playoff Edition Part IV

Eulogies-- Detroit Red Wings

I don’t want to take anything away from the Red Wings, as they were certainly a good team. Unfortunately, it will be near impossible not to do so though, as this is a team that has been largely overhyped due to the logo on the front of their jersey, and one that exited the NHL’s postseason tournament about where they deserved to do so.

Following their advancement from a hard fought first round series, the Red Wings became a trendy pick to make a deep run with many placing them in the favorite position for the Western Conference. This was set in two lines of reasoning, both of them flawed. The first, and most obvious, was that the Red Wings have been there before...a lot...and therefore seem to be a perpetual threat to come out of the West and compete for a title. The other was the manner in which they clinched the second round birth.

As for the logo on the front, the problem with penciling in the franchise that had seen back to back finals appearances was that this was not the same Red Wings team. It was an older, more tired, and, let’s face it, less talented group. Number 13 and 40 were as good as ever this year. Even in his fourth decade, Pavel Datsyuk is as scary as ever. He still has an ability to track down the puck and create turnovers that can only be described as mystifying. Zetterberg, too, was as productive as ever. The rest of the roster, though, is underwhelming. Guys like Drew Miller, Justin Abdelkader, and Darren Helm were passable pieces as role players on the finals team, but in this incarnation of the flying wheels, they were counted upon as secondary scoring, a role for which they aren’t suited, at least not yet.

Beyond the lack of talent, the Wings had put on a ton of miles, with back to back finals runs, the Olympics for many of their key players, and a grueling 7 game series with Phoenix. For all of these reasons, not to mention the questions in goal, there was a clear difference between last year’s Detroit team and this year’s: they just weren't as good.

The second folly made by those who jumped on Detroit is that they looked at a game seven result, in which the Wings absolutely hammered Phoenix with a decisive 6-1 showing. In that seventh game, the Wings looked like an absolute juggernaut, and a lot of people were watching. Those people saw that performance and understandably, they extrapolated that this was a team that could go all the way. The problem is, that was one game. The public ignored the fact that a Phoenix team with a roster that had no business in the NHL playoffs had taken this so called juggernaut to the brink of elimination, even if they got clobbered once they were there.

Anyways, here is what I think about the Red Wings roster: Datsyuk and Zetterberg are great. Franzen is good. Stuart, Kronwall and Ericsson are solid. Lindstrom and Rafalski are old but they still get it done and then some on the back end. Same for Holmstrom up front. Bertuzzi, Maltby, May, and Draper are old and don’t. Howard and Abdelkader are going to get better, but that is really it, and the window seems to be closing. I watched this team intently for five games and really can’t think of anything interesting to say about anyone else, and don’t feel compelled to expand on any of the above. That last sentence pretty much sums it up.

Since there isn’t much to say about the team, I have a couple of thoughts on the fans. I saw the best and the worst of hockey fans in the Red Wings series, through two groups of Red Wings die hards. The first group, the annoying ones, manifested themselves in HP Pavilion, being obnoxious and demonstrating a decided ignorance towards the game. No team brings out bandwagoners like the Red Wings, and that was on display from a group that hasn’t been this upset since the Yankees blew the 3-0 lead in 2004, or even since Jordan retired from the Bulls. I am lumping this group of people in with the ones who make up the Red Wings presence online, who constantly complained and made excuses, refusing to give the Sharks credit for being the better team in the series. These people frustrated me to no end, but the other group made up for it.

The second group, which contributed the upside, was the crowd for game 4. They came in loud, and the Wings fed off of them on the way to a huge lead. Now, as exciting as a home team’s blowout is as the score is being run up, usually a crowd will check out once the game is decided half way through the second period. Not this one, and it was summed up beautifully, with about five minutes to go and the score at 7-1.

During a stoppage, if I remember correctly, before a Detroit powerplay, “Don’t Stop Believing” came on. Obviously, this was apropos for a number of reasons, with the line ‘born and raised in south Detroit,’ and the specter of a 3-0 hole in front of the Red Wings. The place lit up. The entire building, it seemed, joined in with Steve Perry as the players lined up. A cool moment, but not altogether spectacular. Why not scream the name of the town, and besides, who doesn’t love Journey? Like I said, though, a cool moment from a good, old school hockey crowd.

Unfortunately, the linesman was obligated to drop the puck, and the PA was responsible for cutting the music, right after the second midnight train going anywhere line. With the music off, and the play going, though, the Joe took it to another level. Unperturbed by the lack of accompaniment, the crowd continued to sing, loud enough that they rivaled the volume of the commentary while play continued. The crowd got all the way through the chorus with what had to be 90% of the building singing at the top of their lungs, before finally stopping, and giving themselves a self-congratulatory cheer.

I never thought that I could be made happy by a hockey game that the Sharks were losing by a touchdown, but as I watched the Joe sing in celebration, I was smiling. I couldn’t help it, and that is what I want to remember about the 2010 Red Wings.

Stupidity in the Circle

If I were an NHL coach, and I had half decent centermen, my team would go 70% on draws. I guarantee it.

With the NHL’s insane directive to throw out more centers, an easy loophole has opened up, but no one seems to have tried to exploit it yet (emphasis on tried, this isn’t airtight, but I definitely think it could work).

Here is the problem: after the linesman throws out a center, he essentially waits until the winger gets to the dot, and immediately throws down the puck. Don Cherry pointed this out Saturday night, and he was absolutely right. Watch for it. They hardly even look, dropping the puck almost instantly, more or less every time. While vigilance is up big time on the draw, once a player is thrown out, the level of scrutiny from the linesman drops to almost zero.

So, between the increased number of ejections, and the lack of patrolling on the second matchup, an easily exploitable situation is created. All a coach would need to do is put his best faceoff man on the wing when the teams line up. The first guy goes into the circle and cheats as much as he can. He doesn’t have to get himself tossed for the plan to work, since he can give himself a pretty distinct advantage on the draw just by taking illegal position before the puck is dropped.

If the linesman keeps him in the circle, great, since he has a distinct advantage when the puck is dropped. If not, your best faceoff guy comes in to the dot. Knowing that the ref will almost instantly drop the puck, the natural center can take advantage by not setting, again essentially cheating on the draw and gaining an advantage. No ref wants to throw two guys out of the faceoff. They know they will be boo’d, and called out by the coaches for slowing the game. With the advantage of the aggressive center on the second one, again you are giving yourself a chance on the draw that is well above the intended 50/50.

I am convinced that this would work.

Shorter Hockey Thoughts

- Owen Wilson got a bit of screen time watching the Blackhawks – Canucks game 3. Since I can’t think of a single reason that Wilson would be at the game, I am going to assume that Shane O’Brien saw Wedding Crashers 60 times, with his reaction being ‘that’s freakin’ ME, man,’ and then drunkenly demanded that the Canucks front office ‘get those dudes to the next game, bro!’ (Either that, or they shoot a lot of movies in Vancouver, and Wilson knows how to get some solid entertainment. Either one.)

- Serious question: the Canucks have to be the fattest team in the NHL, right (O’Brien, Wellwood, Bernier…pretty untouchable 1,2,3)?

- What happened to Sami Salo should never happen to anyone ever. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, consider yourself lucky. Please, can we remove all video evidence of this from the internet?

- I would like to see Modano go out gracefully this year, but Nicklas Lindstrom has a couple more years on the blueline. He should come back.

- Kudos to Mike Babcock for having the dignity to come out and say publicly that, as was the case, the Red Wings were not being screwed by officiating. The Red Wings were slower than the Sharks, and getting beat was forcing them to hook, hold, and take penalties. Babcock said as much, and deserves major credit for it.

- Having said that, the officiating was extremely sketchy in the Sharks – Red Wings series, but it was sketchy both ways.

- The NHL needs to figure out goalie interference. Holmstrom and Franzen lived in the Sharks crease, yet Dany Heatley got knocked from behind while following through, and got a penalty. The Byfugdlein thing was ridiculous, but it was hardly the only goal that has been scored with a goalie being physically unable to stop the puck. It is becoming a major issue.

HOMER OF THE WEEK AWARDS

I’m going with a Sharks theme for the plays of the week this time. I’m a homer, deal with it.

GOAL OF THE WEEK

I have long contended, for the past week or so, that Ryane Clowe is the And-1 grinder. This goal is proof of that.

HIT OF THE WEEK

Some people thought that it was a cheap shot, that Douglas Murray laid on Johan Franzen in game five. I didn’t think it was that bad, but would admit it was questionable. This one, though was 100% legal, and is for you, Steve Moore.

SAVE OF THE WEEK

Turns out I’m also a Team Slovakia homer too. This beauty by Jaroslav Halak on the guy who just so happens to be the best player in the world

NON – NHL Update

Keeping with the ‘damn that was a good crowd’ theme, it is time for the tournament to crown the number one hockey nation on earth. Not including the players who are in the playoffs. Or the ones who are banged up from the season. Or the ones whose owners, coaches and GMs don’t want them putting on the extra mileage. Or the ones who just can’t be bothered to go. The very best, not including the top 70% or so of the NHL!

Team USA is effectively a ‘C’ team at best. I mean the roster has a backup goalie from the AHL, a starter who will probably be there next year, and one from the Finnish league. It has the same number of 2010 World Junior champions, one, as silver medalists. It features studs like Taylor Chorney, Jack Hilen, and Mike Lundin holding down the blue line for the red white and blue. I mean, calling this team USA is like calling Eurotrip a ‘Matt Damon movie,’ except that Eurotrip is fun to watch, whereas this team is kind of embarrassing.

That is exactly what was on display when they played a German squad with their best goalie Thomas Greiss, best defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, and best forward Marco Sturm still in the playoffs. It was a must see game. Why? It was played in one of the world cup stadiums in Germany, and someone forgot to tell the German fans that the teams weren’t world class. The amount of flags was staggering. The amount of fans was staggering. The enthusiasm after the Deutsche pulled it out in OT, was somewhat confusing (again, the teams…), but still cool. I may be prone to hyperbole, but with national pride on the line, this was like nothing that I have ever seen surrounding a hockey game, and that is no exaggeration. Do yourself a favor, watch the highlights on YouTube, Then do yourself another favor, and ignore the IIHF tournament in Olympic years.

All Things (Olympic) Hockey: Part 5, Wrapping It Up

This hurts. It sucks. Losing always does.

The United States falling in the gold medal game to our rivals to the north was tough, as losing goes, too. I have been recapping games for you here, but I don’t need to do this one. The world was watching. It was all over ESPN, NBC, and even found its way on to news sites like NYTimes.com or CNN.com. One in three people with their TVs on were watching the game as it was played, calling in to question the judgment of 2/3 of America. In Canada, that number was 4/5, so I really see no point in a blow by blow. The game certainly didn’t disappoint on the ice, unfortunately, that’s exactly what the result did.

It was easy going into the game to say that it was all upside. I had told myself that the tournament had been so great that even if Canada maintained hockey dominance, I couldn’t end it upset. I told myself that I had known that the USA was a long shot, and that silver would be a great finish. I knew that the tournament had brought hockey to the forefront of the sports world. And I told myself that I had seen the greatest hockey tournament of my life, 34 enjoyable, great games of the 41 that were played, and that really, we were all winners. All those things were true, and I couldn’t have asked for a better game in the finals. All I do is watch hockey when I have fee time between October and June, and between the last two Sundays, I saw the two best hockey games I have ever seen. Unfortunately, by the time Crosby went Miller time and put the USA on ice, I was convinced that the USA not only could win, but would win.

I knew Canada was better, but we hadn’t lost yet in Vancouver. The team was resilient, and more importantly, despite what some had thought coming in, they were damn good. 120 minutes of even hockey isn’t a fluke, the USA could play with Canada. When they went down a few minutes into overtime, all the rationality of not being disappointed, thinking that everyone was a winner after the greatest tournament I have ever seen, and realizing that silver was a great result for USA Hockey was crushed by the anger brought about by seeing Corey Perry hug Chris Pronger having just won the gold that should have returned to the USA after 30 years (this hug really happened, and when it did, I really wanted to cry).

What had been elation on facebook and twitter moments before when Zach Parise had tied the game, was replaced by Crosby hate which I reject, anguish which I shared and disparaging remarks about Canada being Americas hat, which I refrained from, but fully endorsed. On the ice, it was one of the best games I have ever seen. I can’t possibly say that I feel cheated, and I’ll get to those things, but it was still a tough reminder that in sports there are two things. There are no moral victories. No matter how rational you are coming in, there is only winning and losing. One is great the other hurts.

The Olympic hockey tournament couldn’t have been better. I couldn’t be prouder of team USA. Bobby Ryan, Jack Johnson and Ryan Whitney play for a division rival. Brian Rafalski, Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner play for teams I have grown up resenting. I will never be able to root against any of them, or anyone else on team USA again. There are a plethora of great things that I can take away from the Vancouver Olympics, but right now, all I am getting is that we lost. The greatest player alive ended the greatest tournament I have ever seen, and right now it sucks.

There were so many things to like about the Olympics, whether you are a diehard hockey fan, a big sports fan with a passing interest in the ice, or even a casual sports fan that tunes in only to check out the Super Bowls, March Madness’s and National Championships of the sports calendar. As someone who started to preview the Olympic hockey tournament last February, and routinely writes about the NHL, it would be impossible for me to sum it up from a perspective of something other than a diehard fan, and as someone who lives with hockey every day, one of the most fun things about the tournament was that for once, hockey was the center of the universe.

It can be frustrating being a hockey fan in America. ESPN will relegate NHL highlights to the last few minutes of SportsCenter, or go months without putting it on the front page of ESPN.com. That certainly wasn’t the case during these Olympic Games. Hockey has always been there with American media, but you wouldn’t say that it has ever quite been a mainstream topic. Once Team USA made it clear they were poised to make a run, though, America seemed willing and eager to follow them, and the sports media followed suit.

Hockey fans and non-hockey fans alike were checking scores, watching games online or on tape delay, even as NBC was trying to tell us that the Olympics were for our mothers, sisters, wives and girlfriends by showing an endless array of figure skating and ice dancing, the most insufferable of all so called sports, in addition to a plethora of women’s events surrounded by ads for Tide and Vicks, or ones proclaiming that ‘To their moms, they will always be kids.’ ESPN was putting previews and scores on the front page. It was the main attraction for talk radio. NBC was even forced to give in, eventually, moving the USA-Finland game to live, and carrying the Canada-USA game both live and with limited commercials, in order to show all the action.

It isn’t just conjecture and insinuation, either. The ratings for hockey were huge. Almost as many people tuned in to MSNBC to watch the USA beat Canada as watched Obama get elected on the most prominent liberal news source. 27.2 million people watched the USA-Canada final in the United States, along with 80 percent of Canada. Not 80 percent of people watching TV, but 80 percent of the population, or 26.5 million people (this is perhaps my favorite stat, that more Americans watched than Canadians, although the 80 percent is astounding). Essentially, hockey was as big yesterday as it has been for 30 years since Carter and Brezhnev decided to forgo nuclear war and the USA beat Russia in the battle of Lake Placid, to put it lightly, to win the cold war and ensure the triumph of capitalism and freedom for the world over communism and dictatorship.

Even if the American numbers would have been just as high against Slovakia (they wouldn’t have been, although judging by the Finland numbers, they still would have been huge), the viewers were treated the best team in the tournament, America, against the best players, the Canadians. Someone said that if you don’t enjoy that, you don’t enjoy hockey. I would say that you don’t enjoy sports.

Does that mean that the NHL will now turn around and do numbers that beat the BCS and regular season football all the time? Of course not, but it does mean that come playoff time, or Sunday afternoons, some of the 50 million plus that checked out the games will come across the NHL and say, ‘hey, it is Ryan Miller,’ or Sidney Crosby, or Patrick Kane, and stick around, when they would have changed the channel before. That’s because people like hockey. Very few watch it, say “I’m bored,” or “that sucked,” and never want to go back to the game. Usually, the reaction of sports fans watching hockey is at worst that they don’t get it, but more often, that they want to watch more. The problem for the NHL has never been a bad product, but rather under-exposure. While a little familiarity from a popular Olympics may not turn around hockey as a TV sport, with an NBA lockout looming, it can’t be a bad thing. And who knows, it might be enough to boost the game in the USA after all, even if it is just a little.

I mentioned women’s events and figure skating—and the effect that they have on ratings—above, and wanted to clarify my thoughts on that, as well as put my take on the NBC coverage out there.

Women’s events should absolutely be in the Olympics—not the figure skating, but the women’s events like hockey, skiing and Speed Skating for instance--, but to covered and hyped to the extent that they were? Come on. I can name three women’s skiers, two snowboarders, and a speed skater. The only males I know that don’t play hockey are Shaun White, since he has been bouncing around for a few years, Bodie Miller because he used to be the best, and Apalo Ohno because…well I’m actually not sure what his appeal is, but he keeps getting jammed down our throats. I’m not being a misogynist, only pointing out that it is a fact that men’s events push more boundaries, are faster, and are generally more exciting, yet they receive significantly less coverage. The reason for this is pretty simple.

Unfortunately, the networks know that sports fans will tune in, so they go out of their way to bring in other audiences that could lead to a big number. This emphasis is misconceived as being because women and non-traditional fans watch more. Instead, it just means that they need to be pandered to more, since their viewership can be had, and will push ratings to greater heights, but it is harder to court. This leads to a paradox in which the core audience is neglected, in order for the network to attract its largest possible audience. You can’t blame NBC for it, but it is rough if you are a sports fan.

One thing I can blame NBC for, though, is the tape delays. Many people have pointed out, similar to the point above, that the primetime show does huge numbers and should be kept as it is, even if it is taped footage. I completely agree. I watched most of my stuff online, and was uninterested in the pageantry (that’s what it was---sports don’t have judges) that was emphasized at night. The problem is that there is not a single reason that I have heard or can think of, in the vast and rapidly expanding GD universe, that events occurring at noon, 2 or 3 in the afternoon shouldn’t have been live on NBC.

When many of the live events were taking place, in the afternoons, NBC’s typical programming includes repeats of soap operas, the Bonnie Hunt Show, something called a Wendy Williams show and the abortion known as the Ellen Degeneres show. I know, because I am in the gym most days at this time, and there is usually at least one TV on NBC. Every time I see Ellen dance in front of her audience like the dorky, phony loser that she is, before she sits down, and fails to be funny with guests I could not possibly care about, I hate humanity a little bit more, and that is the so-called ‘highlight’ of the slate of afternoon vapidity that they refused to cancel, or even move to one of their cable networks. Yes, I am losing my temper, but it is well freaking justified. If you try to tell me, NBC, that those are better programming decisions than showing the Olympics while they happen, and that this is a valid reason for not showing me a life freaking hockey game, I will fly to New York and take the cast of 30 Rock as hostages.

I forgot what I was talking about. God I hate dumb executives…

One more thing, speaking of dumb executives. If you are a casual sports fan who, like millions of your countrymen, tuned on the game on Sunday to check out some hockey, enjoyed it, and now want to watch a bit more, you have no idea where you can watch it. I’ll answer the question for you it is on N-B-freaking-C, the network you were watching, and it is on every Sunday, but you didn’t know that. Why not? BECAUSE NBC DIDN’T SHOW ONE GD PROMO FOR THE NHL ON NBC! NOT ONE! IN THE ENTIRE TIME THEY WERE DOING THE BIGGEST RATING THEY WILL GET IN MONTHS, FOR A FREAKING HOCKEY GAME THEY DIDN’T STOP AND THINK, ‘HEY, MAYBE WE SHOULD LET PEOPLE KNOW WE HAVE MORE OF THIS.’ NO I WILL NOT TURN OFF CAPS LOCK. THIS IS EGREGIOUS. IT DEFIES LOGIC. I LITERALLY DON’T KNOW HOW TO DESCRIBE HOW STUPID THAT IS.

People have said that the NHL may not see any sort of significant boost from this tournament, which to me is a load of crap. I have a number of friends who have cheerfully told me that Sunday was a bad day for the NBA, because they are now in on hockey. If I am wrong though, I will know exactly why.

I will now take a five mile walk to calm down…

Having ranted for about two thousand words about how great the 2010 Olympics were, I probably don’t need to tell you that I am strongly in favor of the NHL returning to the Olympics in 2014, by going to Sochi, Russia. Gary Bettman has refused thus far to commit to such a scenario, but he simply has to send guys overseas. First of all, because not one player has said that they don’t want to travel and represent their country, and some have gone as far as to insist that they will, if they are released from the league for 2 weeks or not. There is more to it than that though.

A lot will be made in the run up to the decision to go to Sochi or not, of the fact that Bettman works for the owners, and that the NHL doesn’t see a dime from the Olympic Games. The thing is, as a commissioner of a major sports league, your job goes a bit deeper than your financial responsibilities to the owners. Your responsibilities do, anyways. Sure, protecting the interests of the owners and the league can come first, but they shouldn’t be the only concern. Growing and protecting the game should certainly factor into decisions made, especially if there isn’t a significant downside, and I am sorry, but a condensed regular season with a 3 week break is not a significant downside.

Beyond that, the premise that the Olympics don’t help the NHL is shortsighted. If anything, the NHL needs to work with their partners (coughNBCcough) to ensure that it does help. You cannot convince me that having the best players in the world, on perhaps the biggest stage in the world, does not help the game of hockey. It is too good, and too exposed not to at least make people more aware of the game. People will say that the games didn’t help the NHL, but people talking about hockey helps the NHL. Period. Sure, the USA-Canada final in an NHL city is about as good as it can get from the standpoint of North American hockey, but that hardly means that significant momentum can’t be built for the sport even if the result is less perfect.

There are some detractors that have nothing to do with the NHL, usually by referencing the 1980 games, but these premises are fairly easy to reject. An argument that some people have voiced is that the Olympics were somehow more pure when the athletes were amateurs. I couldn’t disagree more. Ask the IOC how the Olympic baseball tournament has gone. Without pros, the Olympics essentially become a second rate event. That, not having professionals, is what would fly in the face of the Olympic spirit. The Olympics are all about bringing the best athletes in the world together (as well as the best curlers), in order to see which nations are dominant at these sports. In no way would restricting access to the games to those who are at the top level make this a better tournament. It would make it a lower level of play at best, arbitrary at worst. As for the 1980 argument, that was a perfect confluence of circumstances. No one can say anything about the 1984 or 1988 tournament other than ‘the Russians probably won.’ One of the first sporting events I can remember, however vaguely, is the 1992 Lillehammer Olympics. I was 3, but I remember watching with my parents. Not once, as far as I can tell, did we watch hockey. 1980 will never happen again, and to try to replicate it is shortsighted.

Generally, I like to refrain from blaming ‘the media,’ in the general sense, as one. This is hard to detect, since I do it all the time, just know that I have an urge to write about something stupid that I hear all the time, let’s just say twice a day, by way of an estimate, but usually stop myself. During the Olympics, there were a lot of things that gave me this urge. Here are a few of them.

- People kept asking themselves, in previewing team USA, if a ‘repeat of the Miracle on Ice’ could take place, and the USA could take gold. I don’t even need to explain how stupid this is, but just for fun, had the USA decided to send their world junior team, and the Russians sent their national team, and the USA took gold, that would be a repeat of the miracle on ice. But only if the Russians were playing for China. And people in America actually realized how evil the Chinese government actually is. Everyone knows this by now, but there were still plenty of morons trying to play this up, and they need to be called out.

- Later, I heard a lot of people talking about the United States’ upset of Canada. They were responding to the hordes of media saying that this victory compared to that of 1980. They were rightfully calling out all the people saying that this was just as big a win for USA Hockey. There was a problem, though. No one was saying this. They were responding to people that they had made up. Sure, plenty of people were comparing the game to the 1980 tilt, but not one was saying it compared favorably. To a man, people agreed that it wasn’t as big an upset. Still, the media felt compelled to point out that these people (who I stress, are imaginary), kept saying that this was the same, and correcting them (even thought they didn’t exist).

- A third 1980 thing got to me. We get it. It was the greatest thing in the history of hockey, nay sports, nay human history, nay the universe. Listen, I have seen Miracle 2,864 times. I own the documentary. I have found the entire game online and watched it multiple times. I even read The Boys of Winter twice. I know that the most interesting story wasn’t Eruzioni, or Ralph Cox getting cut, but Herb Brooks playing nice with his archrival at Wisconsin, Bob Johnson, because he was afraid Johnson wouldn’t let his son Mark play in the Olympics for Brooks. Just thinking about this, I want to watch Miracle again. Having said all of that, can we just agree to move on? I’m not saying completely. We should show clips when Johnson is coaching the women’s team. We should run a piece or two on it on anniversaries, and at least once an Olympics. What bothers me, is that everything that USA Hockey does gets brought back to it. I don’t want to forget about the 1980 games, but I am ready to move on.

- This one is less about incompetence and making stuff up, and more about my competitive disposition. I listen to Leafs Lunch, an hour long talk radio show out of Toronto every day. I don’t listen because I care particularly about the Toronto Maple Leafs, but rather because I enjoy good sports talk radio, and Leafs Lunch is one of the few high quality shows with a focus on the NHL. I would recommend it to anyone who likes hockey, as Darren Dreger is perhaps the best reporter in the NHL, and provides a great league wide view. Last Thursday, the day after the red Maple Leafs smoked out the Russians in dominant fashion, they opened the show in an…aggressive…manner.

Here is the link, take a listen for yourself (you have to scroll down to get to the February 25^th show).

(If you didn’t listen, the show began with Queen’s We Are the Champions, before guest host Brian Duff proceeded to declare the tournament over for the next five minutes. You really need to listen to get the full effect, though.)

Now, bear in mind, that this was not Monday’s show. Canada had not only not won the tournament yet, they hadn’t even made the championship game yet. Even if he was trying to make a point, the whole thing came off as sort of infuriating. After I listened to that, I wanted to take the ice for the United States, who had just beaten the Canadians, a team that had only played one game in which they looked unflappable.

The podcast is great, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes hockey, but this got me a bit fired up, because Duff completely trivialized two strong teams (Slovakia and America). Then again, he was right, although Canada didn’t exactly roll to the title like he predicted, with one goal wins over Slovakia and the United States.

- Not one person on ESPN, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com or NBC pointed out how great it was that the second leading goal scorer in the tournament was Norway’s Tore Vikingstadt. Seriously, his name is Tore Vikingstadt. That is way better than Fedor Tyutin, the current league leader in awesome names, and may even be good enough to surpass Jeff Beaukeboom as the greatest hockey name of all time. Seriously forget the trade deadline, my one hope for the Sharks is that they sign Tore Vikingstad. He did score 4 goals in four games against America, Canada, Switzerland and Slovakia, three of the top four teams in the tournament. Would I buy a Tore Vikingstad Sharks jersey? I am pretty broke, but I don’t think I would have a choice. I don’t know what the transfer rules are for the DEL, but we need to at least inquire about the Hanover Scorpions’ (Vikingstad’s current team) interest in Scott Nichol or Brad Staubitz.

(And you’re right, this had basically nothing to do with the media, I just wanted to point out how awesome Tore Vikingstad is. He is my new favorite player.)

There seem to be two factions here in America, now that Canada has gone back to their igloos, village fishermen and polar bears with a gold medal in the only sport they care about. The first is a sort of ‘good-for-you’ feeling, shared by a lot of sports fans who aren’t so much hockey fans on a day to day basis. The feeling that Canada, which most Americans have always liked, deserved to win on their home soil is certainly shared by many. On the other hand, there is a large dose of Sidney Crosby haterade. Not only do I not buy into this, I actually find it a bit upsetting.

If you happen to be a fan of the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, you get a pass on this (I would include the New York Islanders, but as far as I can tell, they haven’t had a single fan since 1994). For these guys, it is a divisional rivalry thing. Personally, I chose to respect, fear and root against special players who are in the same division as the Sharks, but if you want to go all the way to genuine hate (sports hate, at any rate), that is fine with me. Everyone else, though, you sound ridiculous.

Sidney Crosby only does one thing. That one thing, is do everything right. All the kid wants to do is be the best player that he can be, and win hockey games. Take a look at his career.

As a rookie, the cros was a twice in a generation playmaker (add Iginla to his number and you get the other guy), but not what you would call a pure scorer. This worked alright, especially when Gino Malkin joined him in Pittsburgh, but you could tell that Crosby was never completely satisfied with his role as a setup guy. Still, he killed himself to help his team win games. It is laughable that Ovechkin is sometimes sited by dumb hockey fans as better because “he plays a physical game.” I am the farthest thing from an Ovie hater, but Crosby spends more time in the corner, battling for pucks in a given month than Ovechkin has in his career. Crosby got plenty of help from guys like Malkin and Jordan Stall, but did every single little thing (on both ends of the ice), in leading the Penguins to the cup last year.

Crosby came into the game as an elite talent, but he had found new ways to get better, and to help his team get to championship level. Once they got there, there was only one thing that changed in his desire to get better. This year, he turned it up a notch. He decided that to take the Penguins back to the finals, he would have to be a scoring threat, because, as he said, teams could shut him down as a playmaker (untrue, but don’t tell 87 if you are a Pens fan). He did just that, shooting more, creating more, and racking up a league leading 42 goals.

Less noticeable, but more importantly, Crosby has turned two of what were considered his weaknesses into downright, indisputable strengths. Not just passable skills, but on both counts, league leading statistics. When attempting to find something wrong with the kid as a young player, nitpickers often pointed to faceoffs as something that Crosby could improve upon. All he did was work, and in 2009, he is 11^th in the league in faceoff percentage. Same goes for shootouts. Crosby started out his career 1 for 9 in the tiebreaker, but now he has found a move (fake that almost is just a stickhandle to the backhand, back to the forehand to open up the goalie and a quick shot 5 hole), that works for him, and he is second in the NHL with shootout goals, with 6 in 8 attempts this season.

There are two takeaways from this. One is that goons the league over better hope that Crosby is never told that his weakness is that he doesn’t fight enough/isn’t a good enough fighter, because you better believe that if that were the case, he would lock himself in an MMA gym for the summer and come back to break every orbital bone in the league. More importantly, Crosby is, quite simply, the complete package. A supposedly good guy to boot, Sid does everything that you could want on the ice, and if he doesn’t, you can bet he will next year.

I can’t really buy into the whole ‘it would have been good to win, but I’m happy for Canada’ thing. USA Hockey is right there with the Sharks for me. World Juniors are my favorite part about the holidays. I started thinking about the Olympics a year ago. I know we could have won, and I really wanted gold for this team. The fact is, though, that it is fitting that Crosby, the best player in the world ended the tournament with the greatest players in the world.