Was just watching the start of the Stars/Wild game tonight, and they named all the players. Too many to recall, but about half with some Olympic experience. Alot of newcomers, and some goldie oldies too. Esche is one of the goalies. Interesting pick. I hope he stands tall in net for the Yanks. Two other goalies, whose name escapes me. Modano, for sure is back again. Craig Conroy makes the team. He is a cutie for sure. A couple from the Wild. Chris Chelios too. They are talking about the team during the first intermission. No J.R., and no Brian Lettch either. They went with youth, which I think is a good choice.

[ February 15, 2006, 07:06 PM: Message edited by: m1 ]

Of course this is just one game against an explosive offense in Toronto, but I found it ironic watching Rick Dipietro get yanked (after giving up his sixth goal) less than hour after being selected to Team USA. I think Robert Esche and John Grahame are excellent selections in goal, though. I was disappointed that Brian Leetch didn't get chosen--but he is having a rough time out in Boston and getting up there in years. After viewing the Team USA selections, I think they will be very lucky if they can medal. I expect much better players out of Canada, Czech Republic, and Sweden.

Chris Drury baby!!!!

Cattledog, really? The talking heads on OLN seem quite impressed, at least thats what I am picking up. Plus, I forgot, Laviolette, head Coach of the Hurricanes gets the coaching nod. I like this move too.

More than half of the USA roster is at least 32 years old...and Chris Chelios is older than I am! eek! Based on that, I tend to agree with Cattledog.

[ December 19, 2005, 06:53 PM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

Carolina has looked good so far this season, but Peter Laviolette is no Herb Brooks. The OLN guys, one of whom happens to be my man, John Davidson, is going to be covering the Olympics for NBC. Of course, they are going to be understandably gung-ho. Also, they say they want to go younger, but then they still pick a guy like Chris Chelios, who is 43 years old. ...and how can they ignore Brian Leetch--what a complete kick in the teeth for an American defensive legend! Also, I am still trying to figure out what St. Louis' Keith Tkachuk did to earn a spot on this team. In addition, if they were going to choose so many Islanders, Laviolette's former team, they at least should have chosen Mike York, a much more productive winger at this point than Tkachuk. However, the big break for the US is the schedule, which opens with Latvia, Kazakhstan, and Slovakia before facing Sweden and Russia.

I'm in agreement with cattledog--this group will be lucky (and they'll need goaltending above and beyond anything DiPietro, Esche, and Grahame have shown) to medal and what is Keith Tkachuk doing on the team? The omission of Tony Amonte is somewhat surprising to me, as well. As for Jeremy Roenick's not surprising omission, he sought out any reporter in sight to express his disappointment and feeling that he's being "blackballed" because he refused to play in two World Cups and because he's so outspoken about the labor deal.

~Adam

Oh, man, Adam... I was watching the Islanders game last night (The Isles got three guys on the American team) and the announcers were completely and viciously trashing Jeremy Roenick. They used words like "whiner" and one actually said "enjoy watching the Olympics at home". Now, I have admittedly never been a Roenick fan (specifically when he played for the Flyers for obvious reasons--being a Rangers fan and all). However, I think the sportscasters (who wouldn't let up) crossed the line. I am so thankful to have professional guys like John Davidson and Sam Rosen covering the Rangers. Speaking of the Rangers, I am sure that they will amply fill up a good portion of the Czech Republic team. For the first time ever, I am going to be rooting for a team other than the USA in the Olympics. ...unless that is a violation of the Patriot Act, of course . I will redeem myself as an American once the World Cup (soccer) happens in the summer.

By the way, The Hockey News arrived in the mail today, and guess who is on the cover? Keith Tkachuk! The cover states: "Keith Tkachuk weighs in on... THE SAD-SACK BLUES, PLAYING FOR USA, AND, OF COURSE, HIS WEIGHT". I didn't realize the Blues had suspended him for reporting to training camp for being too heavy. Now, there's a guy that really cares about his game. It seems to me that if he really wanted to be ready for the Blues season and to get chosen for Team USA, he would have kept fit this summer.

Has anyone heard yet, who the odds on favorite is? Is it Canada or??? I would love to know what the "experts" think.

I guess the Islanders announcers couldn't help themselves, seeing as how their team last night went from 4-2 to 4-8 faster than BPT goes through sailors during Fleet Week! wink

Canada doesn't officially announce its team until Wednesday night. However, I would assume they are the favorites. If I heard correctly, all countries must submit their rosters to the IOC by Dec. 22.

It's not that easy to get through my 5-hole Joe. Sheesh!!!

Canada has so much depth--hell, they could put together a strong team with only players still in their 20's--they could probaly form enough teams to seriously compete for gold, silver, and bronze!

~Adam

Posted by ITJock (Member # 1353) on January 07, 2006, 08:04 AM:

According to Scott Burnside at ESPN:

"Barring an unfortunate turn of events, the best U.S.-born goaltender in the NHL will get no closer to Olympic ice than his television clicker or a Turin cafe.

With the start of the Olympic tournament just six weeks off and the U.S. goaltending picture getting uglier by the day, Buffalo Sabres rookie netminder Ryan Miller continues to be a painful reminder of an opportunity lost.

Team USA general manager Don Waddell and the rest of the management team thought the broken thumb that cost Miller six weeks of his first NHL season and his relative inexperience were enough to push him down the U.S. depth chart and off the 23-man roster announced on Dec. 19.

And who could blame them, really?

Former first overall draft pick Rick DiPietro had established himself as the No. 1 netminder thanks to his fine play at last year's World Championships and strong play with the Islanders, while Philly's Robert Esche and Tampa Bay's John Grahame fell nicely into place behind him. It didn't hurt that Grahame was in the midst of a nine-game winning streak for the defending Stanley Cup champions at the time the final decisions were being made.

But since the team was named, things have gotten progressively worse.

Beginning with a game that night, DiPietro has been torched for 26 goals on his past 151 shots as the Islanders are free-falling out of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

DiPietro, who is day-to-day with a knee sprain suffered in the Isles' last game against Ottawa, has been victimized by a shoddy defense, but he's also looked uncharacteristically uncertain.

Esche, the projected No. 2 goalie who impressed during Philadelphia's run to the 2004 Eastern Conference finals, remains sidelined with an injured right groin. He should be back well before the Olympics, but his durability is a question mark. Esche, 11-4-2 with a 3.14 goals-against average and .890 save percentage, has given way to Antero Niittymaki, who has played well enough for some to suggest he should be the Flyers' starter.

Grahame, meanwhile, was recently flayed by Tampa coach John Tortorella after the goalie gave up a weak goal late in a 4-3 loss to Montreal. Tortorella apologized the next day for his outburst, but Sean Burke started the next game (a 2-1 loss to Boston) and Tortorella said that as long as Burke plays well, he'll start.

As for Miller, all he's done since returning to action is go 4-1, including a dominating performance against Waddell's Thrashers in a 4-1 Sabres victory. Miller given up more than two goals in only one of those games.

The native of East Lansing, Mich., could be named to a reserve squad that will travel to Italy in case of injury, but those players can't stay in the athletes' village. He could also be named earlier if any of the other three netminders has a long-term injury that would keep them out of the Olympics.

Those who know Miller credit his strong lateral movement and focus as prime factors in his strong play this season. They also think those qualities would have been assets to the U.S. Olympic team. Hard to argue that now."

The man does have a point or two, and this does not bode well for the US Team Effort.

Rob


Posted by blueraider (Member # 2042) on January 09, 2006, 05:08 PM:

Miller is 5-0 against the three goalies selected to play on Team USA. Nuff said!


Posted by sooners2727 (Member # 1581) on January 28, 2006, 07:51 PM:

And Johnny Grahme now has two shutouts in his last two outings. He'll do fine for the U.S. should he go in between the pipes any. I felt (and of course, it's REALLY hard to question the defending Cup champion coach) that Torts has been a bit rough on Grahme. He had a tough stretch there, but it's hard to get consistent when you play well one night, and a couple nights later get benched. That's what TBL was doing at the begining of the season and it just didn't make sense to me. I wouldn't worry about us in net at the Olmypics... then again, I'm not being very patriotic and am pulling for the Nashville Czechs...


Posted by hockeyTom (Member # 663) on February 01, 2006, 11:36 AM:

I just read a story off msnbc about Chelios being named Captain of the US mens Olympic Hockey Team. At 44 he will be the oldest Olympian there. Congratulations Captain Chelios, and GO USA!!!

[ February 01, 2006, 12:51 PM: Message edited by: m1 ]

The oldest hockey player, maybe. The oldest U.S. Olympian is 54-year-old curler Scott Baird, of Bemidji, Minnesota.

And now we have the second reference to Bemidji on this board. wink

Thats another thing I love about Minnesota. Its hockey country!

LA kings defenseman Aaron Miller, who missed a bunch of games in December/January due to back problems, has decided to give up his spot on the US Olympic team.

~Adam

Damn, its like everybody is jumping the ( Olympic) ship lately. :confused: I read about Miller this morning. frown

Aaron Miller's absence does make room for Brett Hedican, who, I think, is an upgrade. To be shallow, that includes in the eye candy department. Is Hedican still married to Kristi Yamaguchi?

~Adam

And now it's been learned that he's the oldest Winter Olympian ever. The previous oldest was a German skeleton slider in 1948.

Posted by hockeyTom (Member # 663) on February 14, 2006, 03:15 PM:

US faces off against Latvia tomorrow ( Wednesday) at noon pt, thats 3:00pm for you all back east. I very much look forward to this opening game. Lets hope US is up to the task. One can hope. Caught a glimpse of a few men who just arrived today who attended the US womens game against the Fins.

Thanks m1 for the correction of my screwup.
Just caught the interview with Coach Laviolette. He said he is going to go with Graham in goal tonight. Said he will be evaluating the choice for goalies on a game by game basis. He is pretty much ready for the game, thinks the team is also, but just a ton of stuff going on behind the scenes as you would imagine. He said he is somewhat concerned about the guys adjusting to the time changes and all, but had a good practice already, and said he and they are ready to go. Looked at some tapes on Latvia and all.

Lets GO USA!!

USA leads 2-1 after one incredibly torrid first period. Man, talk about intense, the skating is just frantic. US had a 5 on 3 but couldn't score. Grahame looks pretty sharp so far, and Irbe is definitely keeping Latvia in this. The goal Latvia got energized them. Gionta and that cutie Craig Conroy score for the US. The crowd is just bonkers. I hear the US fans have drums they keep baning away at, and the Latvian fans are just as loud. The palace is rockin!!! US is outshooting Latvia by 2-1 margin. Love the cheerleaders with the orange pom poms too.
Lets GO USA!!!

Not a good period for our boys in blue. Latvia scores twice, and has outplayed and outskated the US. US needs to step it up several notches and come out in the 3rd the way they did in the first period. They are not playing their game and pressing too much now. J.D. said US had the hardest time getting to the Olmpics because of that snowstorm a few days ago.
Latvia 3-US-2 after two.
Lets GO USA!!!

3-3 tie.....ryan miller phone home!

great job by irbe!

Well at least it wasn't a loss. Ray Ferraro said in his comments after the game, what cost the US was that 3 minute stretch of the 2nd period when they allowed Latvia a 2 goal burst. He attributed this to over eagerness, which he said " was a good sign." I thought Grahame played pretty well overall. But Irbe was definitely why Latvia tied today, as they were outshot something like 42-16 in the game I think. Another game against Kaz. tomorrow.
LETS GO USA!!

I just finished watching the USA game (I was out at the movies and recorded it) -- I can't quite figure out how the US ended up in a tie game. They dominated the faceoffs, they outhit Latvia, they really should have won in a rout. And I don't think Arturs Irbe was all that spectacular. He stopped a lot of shots but it just didn't strike me as a dominating performance.

Dominik Hasek left the Czech Republic-Germany game with what is being reported as a hamstring injury, though during the USA telecast they said it's actually the dreaded groin injury.

Meanwhile, one goalie got a shutout today: Antero Niittymaki of Team Finland (and Team Philadelphia ), 5-0 over Switzerland.

Thursday's schedule (all times Eastern):
6:05 am Italy vs. Finland
7:05 am Switzerland vs. Czech Republic
10:05 am Russia vs. Sweden
11:05 am Latvia vs. Slovakia
2:05 pm Germany vs. Canada
3:05 pm Kazakhstan vs. United States

Again, the USA team is on USA Network wink while the other games will be on MSNBC.

[ February 15, 2006, 06:15 PM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

Team USA looked really spent and tired during the second period, when they had the lead and then didn't. They have to play a lot better if they expect to get past Russia, Sweden, Slovakia....Jamaica. wink Considering that Team USA outplayed Team Latvia in the first and third periods, this tie could easily be seen as a loss.

~Adam

Guess I'll put this in here... maybe one thread for Men's Hockey?

All of Slovakia must be in rapture today after their stunning 5-3 win over mothership Russia today. Gaborik's goals were things of beauty.

Canada came out pretty flat too, today but pulled out the win over the Italians in the 2nd and 3rd periods. Brodeur gave up two (!) goals, but they were kind of flukes. Thornton, Iginla, Richards, St-Louis, Heatley, * all stood out to me.

I'm already tired of Bob Cole and Harry Neal's voices on the CBC. They tend to describe plays that happened :45 seconds ago, and they don't even know the names of the players - even Team Canada's! Except for Brian McCabe and Pat Quinn, of course. You do the math.

Edit: ...and Rick Nash...

[ February 15, 2006, 07:32 PM: Message edited by: Seph ]

Go Leaves Go.......Go Leaves Go!

A pox on them! POX THEM ALL! wink

Forgot to mention, Dominik Hasek pulled his groin today (didn't we all, at least once?), and is doubtful for now... This just in: Sens fans fall off bandwagon...

POX!!

Now how am I supposed to watch Teemu Selanne play in the Olympics when they start at 3AM my time?

I will be long asleep at that time, guess I'll have to delete some TIVO programs and get it fired up to tape some puck.

The Flames and Lightning didn't get their Stanley Cup re-match this season, but at least some star players from both clubs are playing as teammates at the Olympics. They figured prominently in Canada's 7-2 win over Italy with goals from Jarome Iginla (2) and one each from Brad Richards and Martin St Louis. Todd Bertuzzi (with a surname like that, shouldn't he be on Italy's team?) had a couple of assists. But Bertuzzi got the not-so-welcome news of another civil lawsuit by Steve Moore. Just what the Canadian team could use, eh? An old controversy to distract attention from that more recent controversy...

I didn't see any of the US-Latvia game, but the result momentarily took me aback...3-3? I guess I've become so accustomed to tie games being a thing of the past, at least in the NHL.

[ February 15, 2006, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: Marc ]

Marc, in the preliminaries ties are allowed. Having said that, I hope the US today comes out today against Kaz. the way they did against Latvia in the first period. Fired up and skating with intent. Lets Go USA!!! Will be interesting to see who they start with in goal.

[ February 16, 2006, 06:10 AM: Message edited by: hockeyTom ]

Switzerland pulled off an upset by beating the Czechs 3-2. Hasek will have an MRI to see if his hamstring is torn, and his status for the rest of the Olympics is questionable. Finland has another shutout win, 6-0 over Italy, though they used a backup goalie instead of Niittymaki.

A columnist at Yahoo makes a great case for the NHL ending its involvement with the Olympics. I totally agree.

[ February 16, 2006, 08:32 AM: Message edited by: Joe in Philly ]

20 minutes away from the US/Kaz. game. A must win for the Yank boys. C'mon guys! Lets GO USA!!

NBC's coverage of Hockey stinks! How many times today have they went to commercial break only to come back and say, while we were gone, so and so scored a goal? Argh!!!!

I really hate their coverage of the hockey games so far. They need to either do TV time outs to allow for the breaks or do commericial free until the intermission. Get a clue NBC!!!

BTW, Teemu scored 2 more goals today

The games involving the USA team, as well as the gold medal game, will all be commercial-free.

Since the rest of the games are live and Olympic rules don't allow for TV timeouts, NBC doesn't have a choice but to squeeze in ads where they can. Seeing as how commercials pay the bills, they aren't going to go commercial-free for the entire sport. They can't help it if the game re-starts quickly and someone scores suddenly off a faceoff.

Good 3-0 lead for US after 1. If nothing else this should be a confidence booster for the US. Watch the stupid penalties though guys. Don't need em. Kazakstan is pretty much playing a grinding/slow down game now, as they can't generate very much. I would like to see Bucky ( Modano) get some goals here and get going. They will need his offense down the line me thinks.

A good 4-1 win for the US boys today. It was good seeing Modano finally get one too. There is an area of concern I have though, and that is the power play. US had so many today. I think we only had one goal. Alot of the times it looked kind of like we were trying to be too pretty. I know they haven;t had alot of time togther yet too. Now get 2 days of before is it the Czechs on Saturday I think? Either way, a nice win. Dipietro could have almost read a book. I saw some Latvian fans rooting for the US tonight too. :cool:

The Czechs are not in the same group as the US.

How many teams started a different goaltender today? I know Canada, the USA, Finland all did.

Saturday's schedule (all times EST):
5:35 am Russia vs. Kazakhstan
7:05 am Germany vs. Italy
9:35 am Switzerland vs. Canada
11:05 am Latvia vs. Sweden
2:05 pm United States vs. Slovakia
3:05 pm Finland vs. Czech Republic

The USA game has graduated to free TV: NBC has the game. The other games are on CNBC.

JIP,

Are they moving the US team to NBC? It's been on the USA network, including today. I must say, how can the USA network carry the games commericial free but CNBC can't?

Granted you get 15 minutes of commercials during intermissions, but I can live with that.

I think most teams changed goalies today, at least most of the games I watched today. Turco was a healthy scratch for Canada and they interviewed him during Canada's game.

I'll be sacreligious: The Czech team, with Vokoun, may actually be better than with Hasek. This despite today's loss to Switzerland.

~Adam

FYI...

U.S. out of sync; Chelios out of place

When's the last time you watched a hockey game? Anyway, THANK YOU for posting the article, despite its' complete irrevelence. Chelios is a washed-out hack. Nice try.

It must be hell in that skin.

I wasn't quite clear with my post. It's the Team USA games that are commercial-free, not the USA Network games (which happened to be Team USA games anyway). Yes, it is the Team USA game that's going to be on NBC on Saturday -- this because NBC's Monday-Friday coverage is mostly in prime time. (In the good old days a network would devote a lot more time to events. Now, they farm it off to the cable outlets because they want to show their soap operas and news shows and all that other stuff.)

Another game, another victory for Team Canada. Thing is, they haven't impressed me very much. I have cautious optimism that they'll win the Gold.

I dunno. Team Canada ain't really what it used to be, without Gretzky, Lemieux, Roy...

Hopefully optimististic..

I don't give a rats behind about all this media that keeps going off on how bad this US hockey team is. So they possibly won't win a medal. So they aren't the same team as the 1980 team, blah, blah, blah. They still give me much enjoyment as they take the ice for each and every game, and I can still cheer and yell as much as I want, and will still continue to watch and yell for them in each and every game until it ends. Hope never fades. wink And if the US mens don't win, there is always the US women!
Lets Go USA!!!!

[ February 17, 2006, 06:20 AM: Message edited by: hockeyTom ]

thinking about things re: the NHL and the Olympics