Don't mind me; I'm on a math bender

By Colby Cosh - Monday, April 19, 2010 at 3:11 AM - 19 Comments

As the paid-up holder of a Mainstream Media club card, can I warn the sportswriters away from making too much of the statistical fluke of all eight first-round NHL playoff series starting out tied through two games? The warning will arrive too late for some, but others may yet be saved.

As a landmark of NHL parity, the large number of 1-1 results in 2010 is not going to prove very useful. Imagine that game outcomes are statistically independent of each other and that the better team has a p chance of winning each individual game in the home team’s rink. If that’s the case, then the chance of a given series standing level after two games is 2(p)(1-p).

The 1-1 tie is always, for realistic values of p, the most common outcome. In a world of perfect parity—all teams are equal, no home-ice advantage, p = 0.5—half the series will be tied 1-1 after two games. And because the chance of the better team going up 2-0 is counterbalanced by a decreased chance of the other team going up 2-0, the overall chance of a tied series doesn’t drop off very fast as you depart from the parity condition, p = 0.5. For p = 0.6, about 48% of the series are still tied 1-1 after two games. (The better team is ahead in 36%, or 0.6²; the worse team is up 2-0 in 16%, about 0.4².)

But you can see that having eight series tied 1-1 will be incredibly rare even in the world of perfect parity. The probability of that happening in a given year will be the total product of the chances of a 1-1 tie in each of the series. Given an average overall value of p, the odds of all eight series starting out equal works out to, at most, (2(p)(1-p))⁸—a pretty small number, demonstrating the great flukiness of the “eight ties” outcome. Even in the perfect-parity world the expected frequency works out to 1 time in every 2⁸, or 256, years. In the real world, the right average figure for p is probably around .54, giving us an “eight ties” year about 1 time in 269. In a fairly extreme non-parity world where the 1-4 seeds had an average 60-40 edge—that is to say, p = 0.6—the “eight ties” outcome would happen once every 355 years.

In other words, using this fluke as any kind of sign, indicator, or test for parity is about like insisting on reading a book only by the light of Halley’s Comet. You’d better have a comfortable chair. And plenty of kids, so they and their progeny can continue the observations (over several millennia) after you die in it…

A grand Central station for Chicago

By Colby Cosh - Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 5:50 PM - 7 Comments

Congratulations to the Chicago Black Hawks on clinching the NHL’s Central Division title seconds before their opening faceoff against the Flames today. It’s the franchise’s first such pennant since 1992-93, when the league’s divisions still retained their old, still-beloved names and the Hawks were champions of the Norris. Of the teams in existence before the renaming (which took place at the outset of 1993-94), only four have failed to win a “new-style” division title: the Islanders, the Kings, the Once and Future Jets, and—wait for it—the Edmonton Oilers.

Cherry to Corsi: 'Get off my lawn'

By Colby Cosh - Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 10:55 PM - 20 Comments

It must be 2010; I’m watching Don Cherry talk about Corsi numbers on TV [fast-forward to 5:00 in the video above]. Granted, he’s denouncing them, but a) he has a couple of good points, and b) that’s what old guys do when they’re confronted with statistical innovations. Read your Kuhn.

Ron Maclean didn’t do a very good job of explaining the Corsi stat (yes, it was invented by Jim Corsi), and he picked a slightly inopportune occasion to bring it up with Grapes sitting next to him. As this Globe & Mail primer explains, Corsis are essentially a more powerful extension of the plus-minus stat you see in the newspaper; they count not only the goals for and against while the player is on the ice at even strength, but all shots directed at the net either way (goals, shots on goal, missed shots, and blocked shots).

Everybody knows plus-minus isn’t a very robust or accurate way of measuring a player’s contribution, and Corsi numbers mitigate some of the disadvantages of only counting goals. You’re counting a lot more events per game—scoring chances, loosely speaking–which gives you more statistical power and leaves luck and contextual factors with less relative influence on the stat. You’re also factoring out the quality of the goaltending behind (and in front of) a skater.

That doesn’t mean Corsis are a perfect means of understanding or isolating a player’s contribution. Shifts in hockey aren’t like a batting order, in which everyone must take his turn. Some players are out there with inferior teammates, some players are shielded from the toughest competition, and some players provide value just by chewing up a lot of minutes. Context is important, and in hockey we may never be able to correct advanced stats for context as well as we can for hitters in baseball. (That’s why stats in hockey aren’t very advanced. We’ve really only just gotten around to expressing events as rates in the simplest possible way. The guy who did this for baseball was born 186 years ago.)

The biggest easily-measurable influence on Corsi numbers—easily measurable thanks to the work of Gabe Desjardins—is where a player tends to start his shifts on faceoffs. A guy who is rolled out for a lot of defensive draws is going to have a worse Corsi rating through no fault of his own—indeed, he is penalized for being trusted by his coach. In that sense, Ryan Johnson was a bad choice for Maclean to pick on, and Don Cherry’s outburst of skepticism was entirely appropriate. Desjardins’ site also tracks “zone starts”, so we know that Johnson, who has the league’s worst Corsi rating, is one of the league’s most disadvantaged regular skaters zone-wise. Through the games of March 28 he’s been sent out for only 78 offensive-zone faceoffs but 165 in his own end. Which is why he’s near the very bottom of this list.

Like Desjardins himself, I am less impressed by the subtly different argument actually made by Cherry—that it’s unfair to penalize Johnson for blocked-shots-against that he himself has blocked. Insofar as Corsi numbers are measuring any ability, it’s the ability to not have to block shots in the first place—to help your team promote the puck out of your end and into the enemy’s defensive zone. The counting of blocked shots has a problem similar to the counting of double plays turned by a team in baseball; they correlate negatively, if at all, with the winning of games. An individual blocked shot might have a positive value—though even that’s certainly not true in every case—and you want players who are willing to block them. But it’s better not to give up lots of opportunities for blocked shots.

And, hell, it’s better still not to be a low-talent, high-grit player who has to block them to keep a job. Even Don Cherry knows that.

Owning the photo op

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 9:56 PM - 36 Comments

The Prime Minister may have scored dozens of flattering photos during these Olympics, but he was clearly out-maneouvered this afternoon by Jack Layton, who managed, by parking himself in front of a television camera at Wayne Gretzky’s restaurant in Toronto, to receive just slightly less airtime than Pierre McGuire.

This video, courtesy of the good folks at Torontoist, purports to show the NDP leader removing another spectator’s celebratory arm from the nation’s view of his face, but having watched it several times now, I’m not entirely convinced he’s not just awkwardly attempting to hug said spectator. Or something.

Jack Layton is possibly the most astute politician in our nation’s history.

Canada owns the hockey world

By Andrew Coyne - Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 6:25 PM - 51 Comments

So continues Canada’s astonishing string of hockey dominance. How dominant have we been? This Olympics was the 11th major world hockey tournament since the 1972 Summit Series launched the modern era of international competition (major, as in all the best hockey nations are represented, and they all bring their best players). That’s five Canada Cups (1976, 1981, 1984, 1987, and 1991), two World Cups (1996 and 2004), and four Olympics (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010).

Of those 11 competitions, Canada has now won 7 and come second in 2. Our cumulative record, including round-robin, quarter-, semi- and final games is 56-15-7, a 76% winning percentage. Not only have we dominated overall: we’ve dominated every one of our major competitors. We’re 8-4-2 against the Soviets/Russians, 12-4-1 against the USA, 9-2 against Sweden, 5-2-1 against Finland, 5-1-2 against Czechoslovakia, 2-1-1 against the Czech Republic and 4-0 against Slovakia.

May I politely say: We rule.

LIVE BLOG: Canada and the U.S. face off for men's hockey gold

By Philippe Gohier - Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 2:41 PM - 24 Comments

2:36 p.m.
The game doesn’t start for a half-hour or so, which leaves you plenty of time to read Charlie’s spot-on take on the state of international hockey and Canada’s place in it.

Meantime, here are my picks for the gamebreakers. Or, if you’re like me and Olympic hockey coverage has so polluted your mind you’re more familiar with McGuire-ese at this point, these are my predictions for the “monsters”:

U.S.: Ryan Miller, Brian Rafalski, and Zach Parise. (All of whom, it’s probably not worth noting but I’ll do it anyway, are coached by members of the Canadian coaching squad.)

Canada: Sidney Crosby (who’s been quiet of late), Ryan Getzlaf, and Scott Niedermayer.

Chime in with yours in the comments. However, there are no prizes for being right. What do you think this is, Feschuk’s blog?

3:01 p.m.
Charlie’s at the game and offers this bit of breaking news:  A not-unattractive woman has brought a sign reading “Sid, Check Out My Soft Hands”. Don’t let it distract you, Sid! She’ll be even happier to see you with a gold medal around your neck!

3:16 p.m.
My sleeper pick to have a huge game: Jonathan Toews. I’ve been consistently surprised by how good that kid is. I’m a Habs fan, so I don’t get to see a whole lot of him, but that guy can play.

3:19 p.m.
Oh boy, Babcock’s got his “lucky McGill tie” on. Watch out, world!

3:22 p.m.
I don’t know if that match-up’s going to hold, but Orpik and Johnson up against Crosby’s line is going to make for a punishing game behind the U.S. blue line.

3:25 p.m.
The American D is doing a good job holding the Canadian blue line. U.S. also has a great forecheck going. Looks like they’re going to try to keep the Canadian D from skating it out.

3:28 p.m.
Anybody else loving no-touch icing as much as I am? Granted, it takes away the stretch-pass, but it also means way tighter break-outs.

3:30 p.m.
First mention of Joe Sakic. Drink!

3:32 p.m.
Americans are doing a great job of taking the Canadians’ space away. I wouldn’t expect to see those tic-tac-toe plays we saw against Russia.

3:36 p.m.
I wonder if Scott Niedermayer will have time to grow his grandpa beard before the end of the game. I really hope so.

3:39 p.m.
Goal by Toews! (Told you so.)

3:42 p.m.
How can Ron Wilson not like that penalty on Bobby Ryan? I don’t know if there’s a more obvious call.

3:45 p.m.
Canada’s really not getting too many quality chances on this PP. Great PK by the U.S.

3:47 p.m.
With Ruff and Lemaire on the Canadian bench, it’s no surprise to find the Canadian team protecting the neutral zone with only one deep forechecker. The Americans seem to be trying to get around it with long passes up the middle, but it hasn’t worked so far. I wonder if the American D is going to try skating it out more in the last two periods.

3:51 p.m.
Another shoutout to the McGill tie. Did they give those out at graduation? Maybe I should’ve gone to mine.

3:55 p.m.
1st intermission: About as good a period as either team could hope for. U.S. is doing a brilliant job of taking away Canada’s room to skate, but Canada managed to pounce on the only real scoring chance it got. (Miller doesn’t look like he’s going to give up too many rebounds today.)

This is perhaps self-evident but, so far, this is about as North American a game as there’s been since the start of the Olympics: periphery shots with players trying to get rebounds, no odd-man rushes, a lot of blocked point shots, and broken stretch-pass breakouts.

In the second period, I’m expecting to see the Canadian D play a bigger role in the offensive zone because the American forwards are collapsing down low and leaving the points open. On the American side, I think their forwards are going to crash the net a bit more; Luongo’s been playing the puck and they’ll want to catch him doing it. I can’t see either team breaking the game wide open, though. The checking’s way too tight right now.

4:10 p.m.
You have to admire the courage of anyone who’s willing to step in front of Weber’s shot. Dude’s got a cannon.

4:15 p.m.
Niedermayer is almost single-handedly killing this penalty to Staal.

4:16 p.m.
Great PK by Canada. U.S. never really got any closer to Luongo than the half-boards.

4:17 p.m.
Goal by Perry! Bad defensive zone coverage by the U.S., who left Perry coming in as the trailer.

4:20 p.m.
That’s two odd-man rushes for Canada in the last two shifts. Didn’t see a single one in the 1st period.

4:21 p.m.
My man-crush on Toews prevents me from thinking that was a bad penalty he just took.

4:22 p.m.
Who knew Nash could kill penalties that well? Great job taking the point shot away on that PK.

4:24 p.m.
I’ve already outed myself as a complete hockey dork, so I don’t mind admitting Niedermayer’s unbelievable job covering the front of the net during that PK got me a little hot ‘n bothered.

4:27 p.m.
Note to Pierre McGuire: nobody says “jammin’ to the music” anymore.

4:28 p.m.
Goal by Kesler. Canada can’t give up the red line as easily as they did on that play.

4:30 p.m.
It seems obvious now, but I should’ve had Kesler up there as a game-breaker. He’s another one of those Western guys I don’t see enough of.

4:32 p.m.
Even though he’s been on the PP, we haven’t seen Thornton do much. The tight checking really doesn’t suit him. Wonder if this doesn’t presage anything for the Sharks.

4:35 p.m.
How did Ryan Suter get to the front of the net totally uncovered?

4:38 p.m.
The Canadian forwards are having a real hard time beating the American D one-on-one. Look for them to either dump it in earlier, or try to sneak behind the American D like they just did on that breakaway.

4:55 p.m.
Okay, so I wasn’t entirely right about the second period. Being a hockey blowhard is harder than it looks. That doesn’t mean I’m going to quit, though.

Turns out, the game did open up a little bit in the second. Both sides are pressing and the U.S. has poked a few holes in the Canadian trap.

Going into the third, I think both teams are going to have a similar gameplan: get some speed through the neutral zone to press the defence back and try to tire them out. Look for guys like Dustin Brown and Ryan Kesler to do this for the U.S., while Richards and Toews are going to play a similar role for Canada. This should benefit Canada, if only because they have a deeper bench to work with, but a stand-out period by Miller could go a long way for the U.S.

4:57 p.m.
Two posts for Canada! The good news is they’re finally getting the puck to the point and the shots are sneaking through.

5:00 p.m.
I don’t mean to pick on the Thornton line, but they’re going to have to get some pucks on net.

5:01 p.m.
Crosby hasn’t done much either. Maybe that woman with the sign is getting to him. After all, he is, like, 22 or something.

5:04 p.m.
Maybe I hadn’t noticed this before, but the “k” in “Reebok” on Crosby’s helmet is scratched off. Nothing gets by those VANOC sponsorship monitors.

5:06 p.m.
Scratch that last bit about Crosby’s helmet. He’s the only one without it.

5:07 p.m.
So far, the third period is a lot more like the first than the second. Guys can’t skate it in, so they’re dumping the puck to try to hem in the defense. Someone’s going to bust this game open soon.

5:09 p.m.
There we go: one bad giveaway by Kane and Heatley gets a golden opportunity. Too bad he didn’t score.

5:11 p.m.
Getzlaf is having an outstanding game. When he’s not getting (and keeping) the puck deep in the U.S. zone, he’s helping the Canadian D clear the front of the net.

5:14 p.m.
No penalties yet in the third. The next power play could very well decide the game.

5:16 p.m.
I don’t know if the Canadians are getting tired, but they haven’t had a decent scoring chance since Heatley got a shot on net off Kane’s giveaway. The Americans, meanwhile, have Canada running around in their own zone. All praise be to Luongo.

5:19 p.m.
Less than five minutes to go, but Canada’s lead has not looked less secure than it does now.

5:20 p.m.
Ken Hitchcock looks like he hasn’t let go of that bannister in front of his box since the Norway game.

5:21 p.m.
Crosby breakaway! The Maclean’s office goes nuts! And he loses the puck…. ugh.

5:22 p.m.
These defensive zone faceoffs are going to kill the Canadians.

5:24 p.m.
Miller goes to the bench. Oh boy. I’m working up a Ken Hitchcock-ian sweat over here.

5:27 p.m.
The three forwards that are out there for Canada in the last minute have had tremendous games: Getzlaf, Nash and Toews.

5:29 p.m.
Parise scores. And a wave of curses washes over the the office. 2-2 going into 20-minute overtime.

5:30 p.m.
Unbelievable. Seriously.

5:34 p.m.
Was that Jack Layton at Gretzky’s bar in Toronto? Sure looked like him.

5:41 p.m.
The Americans really found their legs in the last 15 minutes of the third period. They’ll want to keep up that sustained pressure in the overtime period. They had Canada pressed in their own end for most of the third and kept skill guys like Crosby and Thornton away from the middle of the ice.

That said, Canada managed to turn even the slightest U.S. mistakes into scoring opportunities, which is all you need in overtime. Still, they’ll need to start skating much more than they did in the third.

5:46 p.m.
Canadians look good so far. They’re back to shooting the puck. Four-on-four should give them more room to work with.

5:52 p.m.
Great shot by Nash, but they’re aren’t any Canadians around to pick up rebounds in front of Miller.

5:53 p.m.
CROSBY SCORES!

5:58 p.m.
Crosby sure has a sense of timing. Doesn’t score in three games, but manages to become a national hero anyway.

6:01 p.m.
Well, it’s all over but the drinkin’ for the Canadian squad. Lock up your daughters, Vancouver.

Good night, folks.

Not just our game, anymore

By Charlie Gillis - Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 4:43 PM - 7 Comments

Photograph by Brian Howell

There are lulls in hockey games. There are hushes and buzzes and what you might call silences—though a 16,700-strong crowd never truly shuts up. Then there’s an order of audience shock so profound and dreadful it defies a one-word label. It follows the sonic template of a car crash, and you could hear it during last week’s game between Switzerland and Canada, when Swiss defenceman Patrick von Gunten scored with 10 seconds remaining in the second period. There were screams, followed by a calamitous “Oh!” and then, in the ensuing quiet, random cries like the tinkle of breaking glass.

Von Gunten’s goal lifted his team into an improbable 2-2 tie with the gold medal favourites, which is no calamity in the broader scheme of the tournament. But it was a full-on catastrophe for the red-clad patriots at Canada Hockey Place, salved only by the shootout heroics of Sidney Crosby and goaltender Martin Brodeur. From that point on, the team appeared fragile. Insecurity over the close call with Switzerland fed into Sunday’s devastating 5-3 loss to the United States—a game the Canadians dominated yet squandered with a series of untimely defensive-zone gaffes. By then, fans and media were already hitting the panic button, invoking memories of Canada’s epic loss to the U.S. in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, second-guessing the line combinations chosen by the coach, Mike Babcock. At one point late in the game against Switzerland, one agonized fan to the right of the press section seized upon a break in play to pose the obvious, if crudely phrased, question: “What the f–k’s going on?”

These Olympics, like others before them, say much about the shifting landscape of hockey. When the NHL first allowed its players to participate in the Olympics in 1998, most assumed that teams with the most and best NHL players would be on an entirely different competitive plane. At first, the results bore them out. A Czech team led by NHL stars Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek won gold in Nagano; four years later in Salt Lake City, the Canada-U.S. final looked like an NHL All-Star game, with Mario Lemieux, Martin Brodeur and Joe Sakic on one side, and Brian Leetch, Mike Modano and Mike Richter on the other.

Continue…

How Canada can beat the United States in hockey

By Scott Feschuk - Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 2:02 PM - 18 Comments

It comes down to Ryan Miller.

If patterns hold, Team Canada will muster more shots tomorrow than Team USA. It will probably win the balance of quality scoring chances. If Miller is on – and he’s been nothing but on the entire tournament – then the chances of an American victory rise considerably.

We must therefore do all we can to Continue…

Cross-border showdown for gold!

By Charlie Gillis - Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 1:43 AM - 4 Comments

VANCOUVER — The titanic clash that looked increasingly likely over the past few days will come to pass at the 2010 Winter Games, as Canada defeated the Slovaks 3-2 in a nail-biting semi-final to reach the gold-medal game against the U.S.

Sunday’s final in men’s hockey will be the crowning event of the Olympics, reuniting old rivals from the 2002 final in Salt Lake City that gave Canada it’s first gold in the event since 1952.

“I can’t wait,” said Canadian forward Jarome Iginla. “For years, we as players have been talking about being able to play at the Olympics in front of our own fans. The atmosphere has been everything we hoped it would be. Now we have just one more game—a gold-medal game.

“They beat us earlier,” added Iginla, referring to the U.S.’s surprise 5-3 win over Canada in the preliminary round. “We know they’re undefeated. They’re a good skating club and we are too. It’s going to be a fun game.”

It’s also a game Canada came perilously close to missing. After scoring three straight goals and pouring 21 shots on Slovak goaltender Jaroslav Halak during the first two periods tonight, the team sat back and let their opponents back into the game.

With 8:25 left in the third—and fans in Canada Hockey Place chanting “We want U.S.A.!”—Slovak defenceman Lubomir Visnovsky tapped the puck past a sprawling Roberto Luongo, launching the comeback bid.

A goal by Michal Handzus on a scramble in the crease with 4:53 left drew the Slovaks within one, and Luongo was forced to make a miraculous save on his Vancouver Canucks teammate Pavol Demitra to preserve the win with 10 seconds left.

Demitra had set himself up off Luongo’s left post and smacked a bouncing puck toward the net while the goaltender was down. Luongo caught a piece of it with his trapper, knocking it up and out of harm’s way.

“I hit it good,” said Demitra. “I don’t know how Luongo made this save. There were so many guys in front, so maybe it hit something too.”

Luongo described the last-minute scramble as “the most fun I’ve ever had.” “If we would have lost I don’t know if I’d have been saying that,” he acknowledged. “They were throwing everything at the net, pucks, bodies, anything. Obviously they gave it all they had at the end and the puck stayed out.”

Team Canada looked tight on its first couple of shifts of the game, yet soon assembled a couple of scoring chances, including a rebound off a shot by Scott Niedermayer that bounced over the blade of Corey Perry’s stick.

By the middle of the first period, Canadian forwards were creating traffic in Halak’s crease, cycling the puck and working it back to the point for dangerous shots. At 13:30 Patrick Marleau deflected a shoulder-high wrister by defenceman Shea Weber past Halak. Then, less than two minutes later, Brenden Morrow scored on a similar play, redirecting a well-placed point shot from Chris Pronger.

Late in the second period, Ryan Getzlaf then backhanded a power-play rebound over Halak’s left shoulder to make it 3-0.

Clearly the Canadians had identified Halak as a problem to be solved, and found a solution in crowding his crease. The underrated netminder for the Montreal Canadiens has been one of the top goaltenders of the tournament, and on this night turned aside 25 of the 28 shots keeping his team in the game with some eye-catching saves in the third.

Slovak coach Jan Filc credited Team Canada for going to the net, saying, “we were not able to cover their players in front on three goals that were very similar. That’s why we had to try to do everything in the last couple of minutes.”

Mike Babcock was satisfied with the overall performance, if not exactly thrilled by his team’s dismount. “I thought our whole group came unraveled a bit at the end. But those are good experiences. If you stop playing you’re not going to win. You’ve got to play the full 60 minutes because the [opposing] teams are too good.”

He and his charges now face a U.S. team riding the momentum of a 6-1 demolition of the Finns, and possessed of their own hot goaltender, Ryan Miller.

The Americans have assiduously cast Canada as a prohibitive favourite, and themselves as underdogs, despite being the only team to go through the tournament undefeated.

Babcock had some fun with the rhetoric after the tonight’s game. “They’re rolling,” he said with exaggerated emphasis. “I mean, they just crushed the other team today. They must be the favourite going in.”

Americans move on to gold-medal game

By Charlie Gillis - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 6:32 PM - 1 Comment

VANCOUVER — The Great American Olympic Machine will leave here with at least a silver medal in men’s hockey, but if the U.S. players wanted a warm-up for Sunday’s gold-medal showdown, they didn’t get it from the Finns.

After a dramatic win over the Czechs in the quarter-finals, Finland had nothing left in the tank for the semis, falling 6-1 to the hard-driving Americans in game they seemed unprepared for. Or to put it less charitably: they played like they came straight from the bar.

“Losing is fine when you play your best and give everything you’ve got,” said veteran winger Teemu Selanne, the all-time Olympic scoring leader, who is playing in his last Games. “But losing like this, it sucks. It’s very disappointing. I have no words.”

The demolition began just two minutes in, when goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff whiffed on a clearing attempt in his own zone, leaving Ryan Malone a chance he’d have had to work hard to blow. The goal clearly rattled the Swiss, leading to a series of giveaways and silly penalties in their own end.

A boarding call four minutes later against defenceman Janne Niskala resulted in a Zach Parise’s third goal of the tournament, while Toni Lydman went to the box just 40 seconds later for the same infraction. This time it was defenceman Erik Johnson grabbing a lose rebound and firing it in over a sprawling Kiprusoff.

At that point, Finnish coach Jukka Jalonen should have yanked the beleaguered Calgary Flames netminder in favour of the up-and-comer Niklas Backstrom.

But Kipper stayed put, surrendering a goal at 10:08 by Patrick Kane, who took advantage of some abysmal defensive coverage in front of the Finnish net. Then, with Backstrom between the pipes, Kane and Paul Statsny scored even-strength goals just 15 seconds apart—the latter at 12:46

All tolled: six goals in 10 minutes, 42 seconds. When the public address man called the final minute of the first period, the Finnish fans in Canada Hockey Place cheered.

At most, then, this was a confidence-builder for the Americans—a young team that has used its talent and energy to maximum advantage and at 5-0 is the only undefeated team in the tournament. The Johnson & Johnson defence pairing (Erik and Jack) controlled the tempo of play brilliantly whenever they were on the ice. Kane, who had a slow start the tournament, seems restored by his move to a line with Ryan Kesler and Dustin Brown.

Brooks Orpik, a hulking blueliner with the Pittsburgh Penguins, basically pushed around the likes of Selanne and Saku Koivu with impunity. It was a drubbing.

The Finns did manage a goal against backup U.S. goalie Tim Thomas late in the third, as winger Antti Miettinen scored on the power play. They even managed to match the Americans’ shot total of 25.

They move on to the bronze medal game against the loser of tonight’s game between Canada and the Slovaks.

But that stat failed to reflect the competitive imbalance through two periods, and many of the Finnish shots came after the departure of Ryan Miller, whose comfort level in these Games is getting downright eerie.

The Americans were still clinging afterward to the underdog label they gave themselves coming into the tournament. When asked who he thinks the favourite will be in the gold-medal game—pending the outcome of Canada v. Slovakia—captain Jamie Langenbrunner replied with a straight face: “I don’t know but I’m sure it won’t be us.”

The more they play, the harder it is to believe that message.

LIVE BLOG Men’s hockey: Canada 3, Slovakia 2 (F)

By Scott Feschuk - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 5:41 PM - 18 Comments

Did you catch the very end of the U.S.-Finland game? I’m a little worried – not so much by the American victory, which was impressive, as by what I saw afterward.

When the buzzer sounded, the broadcast cut to the suite from which U.S. GM Brian Burke and his gang were watching – and we saw Burke and company exchange a series of double fist bumps. Both fists, tight together directly in front the body, touch the other guy’s two fists, boom!

Does Steve Yzerman have an equally manly victory ritual of his own that he shares with his underlings? Could this be our Achilles heel? Quick, send someone out to the team bus to teach Yzerman a jive handsake!

The day’s second semi-final in men’s hockey, pitting Canada against Slovakia, gets underway at 6:30 PT. See you then.

5:09 p.m. PT They’re showing the gold medal match in women’s curling on the scoreboard screen at Canada Hockey Place. A win for the home side would be historic, in that Continue…

LIVE BLOG men's hockey: U.S. 6, Finland 1 (F)

By Scott Feschuk - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 1:45 PM - 22 Comments

I met a Finnish guy last night at the bar at the Hotel Vancouver (I’m not staying there; I just like to stop by every now and then to stare at cashmere). The Finnish guy predicted a win for Finland in today’s men’s hockey semi-final. I’d had a few drinks so, what the hell, I agreed Finland was a mortal lock – and you don’t go back on that kind of a solemn commitment. I’m calling it: a Finland victory.

The game, assuming they decided to play it out anyway, begins at noon PT.

Twenty minutes til puck drop: Finland will be skating from left to right on your computer screen. Finland is in white, the U.S. is in blue and the crowd is in… red.

Breaking news: There are six players on the U.S. team named Ryan, and another with the surname Ryan. Seven Ryans. The best the Finns can do is two Jarkkos, two Samis, one Miikka and one Mikko. Not a good omen, Finland.

First Period

20:00 Canada Hockey Place is still filling up as the puck drops. Not especially raucous, but the bulk of the crowd is rooting for the United States – especially scalpers holding gold medal tickets and Continue…

Jacques goes Rogge

By Colby Cosh - Friday, February 26, 2010 at 6:52 AM - 44 Comments

As Canadians we all selfishly want women’s hockey to remain part of the Winter Olympics, but can we all agree that we’re going to have to come up with arguments for doing so that aren’t crapola? When Jacques Rogge dared to mention yesterday that the tournament had been just a teeny tiny bit lopsided, Monique Lamoureux, a U.S. forward, observed that “If you look back 30 to 40 years ago, Canada and Russia were blowing men’s hockey out of the water, but other countries came around.”

It’s rather bad luck for her that some of us can remember almost 30, nay, 40 years back, isn’t it? Split the difference pretty much down the middle and you find yourself with a seat at the 1976 Canada Cup, where Canada had a hard struggle to win the final on home ice—not against the all-conquering Russians, who finished tied for third with Sweden in the round robin, but against the Czechs. It’s simply not true that women’s hockey has arrived at the state of maturity that men’s hockey stood at “30 or 40 years ago”. The correct figure would surely be more like 60 or 70. And there is no evidence of any progress toward parity whatsoever.

The National Post‘s Scott Stinson argues in defence of women’s hockey that the IOC’s decision-making about what sports belong at the Winter Games is incomprehensible and silly, which it is, and that it is compromised by politics and money, which it is, and that some of these sports are sheer cold-weather tomfoolery, as some of them surely are. But the parity problem is the only one that Rogge raised, and it is distinct from all these considerations. The biathlon may seem ridiculous—though, frankly, nothing much that Canadians do is as important to the existence of Canada as practical skill at skiing-and-shooting may be to the northern neighbours of Russia or Germany. What counts in addressing Rogge’s argument is that the biathlon is legitimately competitive. The historic medals in the sport are distributed fairly widely; gold and silver aren’t the exclusive preserve of anybody.

Should the IOC bring back women’s hockey in 2014? The strongest argument in favour is not the argument that the sport is racing headlong toward some hypothetical future of genuine international competitiveness. It’s the argument from gender equity—if we let the men play, the women should be entitled to—but everybody knows that one won’t get you very far with the IOC. The wisest counsel for fans of the women’s game is probably to be prepared for life outside the Olympics. If your dignity depends on being involved with the International Olympic Committee, that’s a problem in itself: it means you’re looking for dignity in a very inappropriate place.

Consider baseball. It didn’t feel threatened when the IOC cast it into outer darkness; millions consider it a thing worth doing, watching, and enjoying for its own sake. (And if those millions were mere thousands, that would be all right too.) Its mythology and popularity stand apart from and above the lust for gold medals. In fact, baseball doesn’t have any physical trophies of real significance; the number of people who can name the last 10 Cy Young Award winners in each league is at least a hundred times greater than the number who can tell you what the damn thing looks like.

Hockey, as Canadians traditionally conceive of it, isn’t like this; it’s the product of a monarchical culture where silverware has denoted heritage, survival, and memory for several thousand years. So it’s hard for us to see past the shinies. But I suspect the lady hockeyists will have to learn to. Starting right about now.

Golden night for Canadian women

By Nancy Macdonald - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 9:15 PM - 0 Comments

Whew—the kids came out to play tonight. We just saw the torch handed from well-known veterans (some of whom are expected to retire after the Olympics) to the youngsters on the Canadian squad.

As expected, 23-year-old goalie, Shannon Szabados got the nod to backstop tonight; head coach Mel Davidson chose her youngest goalie ahead of long-time veterans Kim St-Pierre and Charline Labonte. Both of Canada’s goals came from 18-year-old phenom, Marie-Philip Poulin; the assist on Poulin’s second goal came from 23-year-old Meghan Agosta, who some analysts have begun calling the new face of the women’s game.

All three were named to the tournament all-star team. Szabados was also named the tournament’s top goaltender. Agosta was named tournament MVP. No other Canadians were named to the squad.

More to come

Canada-U.S.: How do the women's hockey teams stack up?

By Nancy Macdonald - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 4:14 PM - 2 Comments

The Canada-U.S. women’s hockey rivalry is one of hockey’s greatest; for these two, there’s no such thing as silver. Later this afternoon, they’ll face-off for Olympic gold in front of a raucous crowd at Canada Hockey Place in downtown Vancouver. How do they match up?

OFFENSE:
Canada has two great lines. The U.S. has a deeper bench, and can roll four. Even Team USA’s fourth line, with Karen Thatcher and youngsters Erika Lawler and Jocelyne Lamoureux—one half of the team’s twins—can compete. Jocelyne’s sister Monique has been playing on the first line with Jenny Potter and young phenom, Hillary Knight.

The U.S. shoots better, but Canada’s Meghan Agosta—who has nine goals in four games—can score with her eyes closed; Hayley Wickenheiser, over the years, has evolved into an unselfish, cerebral playmaker, more likely to set up the play than shoot.

Potter and Natalie Darwitz are the top scorers for the U.S.: each has 11 points. The U.S. has scored 40 goals on 183 shots during the Games for a 21.86 efficiency tournament—the best at the Games. Canada is second at 19.91, with 46 goals on 231 shots.

DEFENSE:
Canada has a stronger defense than their American counterparts. Team USA standouts are 192-lber Angela Ruggiero, unquestionably the best defenseman in the game, and the U.S.’s soul and physical presence. Two-time Olympian, Caitlin Cahow is also a joy to watch.
Canada, on the other hand, is bigger and will play a more physical game. Rookie Catherine Ward, who plays for McGill, leads the team in ice time, with 20 minutes 7 seconds, and is plus-13; Canada’s other defensive standouts include Becky Kellar, Colleen Sostorics and Carla MacLeod.

EXPERIENCE:
The U.S. is a younger, less experienced team, with 15 first-time Olympians on its 21-player roster; Canada has just seven Oly rookies.

WHO TO WATCH:
Over the course of the tournament, Meghan Agosta, who is currently studying law at Pennsylvania’s Mercyhurst College, has evolved into Canada’s next major star. She’s one of the fastest women in the game, has great patience with the puck and an uncanny ability to find the hole; she leads the tournament in goals. She’ll flat-out tell you that her intention is to be the best player in the world. She’s going to get there—and sooner than anyone had thought.

She and Canada’s 18-year-old phenom, Marie-Philip Poulin—whose top-shelf backhand against Sweden wound up on TSN’s highlight reel—are the future of the women’s game in Canada.

GOALTENDING:
USA’s Jessie Vetter, the reigning Patty Kazmaier Award winner as the NCAA’s top player, has blocked 41 of 42 shots in the tournament so far.

Coach Mel Davidson hasn’t announced who’ll be backstopping for Canada. Kim St-Pierre and Shannon Szabados have been splitting time for Canada; Szabados, the youngest of Canada’s three goalies at 23, started Canada’s last game—a 5-0 semi-final win over Finland, on Monday.

PRESSURE:
“Think about it: they’re the defending gold medalists, they’re the No. 1-ranked team,” says Team USA’s Ruggiero. “We don’t have that pressure. We’re just going to be able to go out and just play. I don’t envy Canada in these Games. They have the weight of their nation on their shoulders. Canada can deny it as much as they want—but there’s the weight of a nation on them. And we see that. And I know they see that. And they’re going to try to diffuse it as much as they can.”

“Every one of them is saying it in the media—so we’re hearing it every day,” Team Canada’s Jayna Hefford said yesterday, in response to questions about the pressure Canada faces at home in Vancouver.

Backstopping the gold medal final—will Canada’s Szabados get the nod?

By Nancy Macdonald - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 12:40 PM - 0 Comments

After Canada’s final practice at east Vancouver’s Britannia Rink yesterday, coach Mel Davidson refused to answer the question on everybody’s mind—who’ll be backstopping for Canada in today’s gold-medal final against the U.S.? “I’m not announcing anything—that’s it,” she said. “We have made a decision,” she conceded, after prodding from reporters. “And we’ve talked to the goalies.”

Youngster Shannon Szabados and veteran Kim St-Pierre have each had two starts, and are likely candidates for the job; Montreal’s Charline Labonte, who played the gold-medal final in Turin, is less likely because she’s only played one period, so far in Vancouver. St-Pierre was 2-0 with a 1.61 goals against average in three  appearances in Canada’s six-game exhibition series with the U.S. Szabados was 2-0 with a 2.00 GAA in her two starts.

Szabados, the youngest of Canada’s three goalies at 23, started in Canada’s last game, a 5-0 semi-final win over Finland, Monday—a hint, perhaps, that she might get the nod today. She spent five years in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, and was the league’s top goaltender.

No one was asking Team USA coach, Mark Johnson the question; there’s no chance he’ll go with anyone but Jessie Vetter, the reigning Patty Kazmaier Award winner as the NCAA’s top player.

Presented without gloating

By Colby Cosh - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 8:30 AM - 25 Comments

A new poll found at the website of Komsomolskaya Pravda, as automatically translated into quasi-English by Google:

The paper’s front-page story on the Russian loss makes it quite clear that Olympic angst is not a phenomenon confined to Canada. Indeed, you could figure this out without an auto-translation even if all you knew was the Cyrillic alphabet; you don’t need to be a linguist to get “guillotine” (!) from “гильотины”.

[UPDATE: Commenter "Lunatic" may have cracked the ham secret.]

Back in the hunt for hockey gold

By Charlie Gillis - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 1:50 AM - 3 Comments

VANCOUVER — Somewhere in Moscow—perhaps in the archives of the old Physical Culture and Sports Committee of the Soviet government— you can bet there is a yellowed playbook with an Orwellian-sounding title like: “How to Beat the Bourgeois at their Game of Ice and Sticks.”

If such a volume exists, Vyacheslav Bykov should dig it up and blow the dust off it, because if he survives the next few days as coach of Russia’s national men’s hockey team, he’s going to need a game plan. And he could do a lot worse than the bloodless systems methodically applied by his forbears at Spartak or Central Army. At least they understood the value of discipline.

Instead, Bykov brought the strategic equivalent of a cocktail napkin to Canada Hockey Place tonight, where his players handed Team Canada a 7-3 victory on a platter, providing what two days ago had seemed a fragile team all the confidence it needs to contend for a medal.

It was an epic defeat for the Russians, who in 58 years of Olympic hockey have lost to Canada only once, and that was back in 1960, before the Big Red Machine really got rolling. 

For the Canadians, it was sweetness distilled. After months of hype about a possible Canada-Russia showdown, after their slow-ish start at these Games, after some none-too-subtle suggestions by Russia’s talented forwards that they were spoiling to take the home boys down (all those world championships must mean something!), they vanquished the foe in style.

The Canadians left the ice amid a victory serenade from the crowd, and try as they might to keep their emotions in check, they clearly felt vindicated.

“We knew we had a great team and we had confidence in our room,” said forward Eric Staal, who had one assist on a night of highlight-reel goals for Canada. “We came after them right away and I thought our emotion and energy carried us through. We were at the boiling point as soon as the puck dropped to start that game.”

Roberto Luongo played a strong game in the Canadian nets, stopping 25 of 28 shots, and stoning Evgeni Malkin on a breakaway in the third period. He’ll likely get the start in the semifinal on Friday.

The surprise outcome has enormous implications, not least that the Canadians once again will wake up as the favorites to win gold at the 2010 Winter Games. That’s not as pleasing as you might think to coach Mike Babcock, who has dedicated a fair amount of time this past week trying to smooth out the highs and lows of his players’ Olympic experience.

“We think we’re going in the right direction, but all that happened here today is that we’re back at the tournament,” he said. “We have to continue to get better and stay focused. There are no guarantees. As you’ve seen in all these games, it’s a fine line [between winning and losing]. ”

The win also means a date in the semi-finals with Slovakia, who added a chapter to their own improbable storyline by knocking off Sweden, the defending Olympic champions and a team led by the Sedin twins of the Vancouver Canucks. It’s hard to imagine the crowd working up the same level of fervour for Slovakia that it did against Russia. But you never know.

The greatest surprise tonight’s game was how easily Canada shut down Russia’s big offensive stars. The long-billed showdown between Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby proved a squib, as neither registered a point, but Ovechkin in particular seemed unable to summon his usual brio. Ilya Kovalchuk and Malkin each had an assist, but Malkin was drawn into some late-game jostling with Ryan Getzlaf.

In general, the Russian forwards looked scattered and undisciplined. Again and again, they made neutral zone turnovers that resulted in goals they’ll have to watch for years. Corey Perry scored two of them, while Getzlaf, Dan Boyle, Brenden Morrow, Rick Nash and Shea Weber had one each, chasing starting Russian goaltender Evgeni Nabokov from the net less than five minutes into the second period.

The whole spectacle was too much for Bykov, who apologized through a translator to the thousands of Russian fans who paid top dollar to get into the game, and who contributed a lot to the festive atmosphere.

“It was a very strong team today playing against us, and we couldn’t [handle] the pressure from the Canadian team,” he said, staring ahead impassively. “We were trying to play different ways, but everything just failed and nothing helped.”

Bykov said he was impressed by the level of the Canadians’ intensity, then added tersely: “Unfortunately I can’t say the same thing about the game by the Russian team.”

Team Canada's ferocious wounded pride

By Andrew Coyne - Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 12:41 AM - 40 Comments

That was quite simply one of the most remarkable nights in the history of Canadian hockey. We have never beaten the Russians that badly—not for 50 years, at any rate.

That’s as much a statement about Russian timidity and disorganization as it is about Canadian verve and aggressiveness: the Russians looked jittery from the start, particularly on defence, as the big, marauding Canadian forwards ran right over them. Russia’s defencemen left man after man unmarked, and the Canadians made them pay for it with slickly timed passes to the goalmouth.

Going into this tournament, I had thought the strength of the Canadian team was their defence, and certainly Shea Weber and Duncan Keith have emerged as stars of the team. But it’s the Canadian forwards that have proven to be the power on this team. Between them, they have scored nearly 6 goals a game. And, unlike the Russians, they have shown some balance on the attack: five of Canada’s seven goals tonight were scored by their third and fourth lines. Russia has relied throughout almost entirely on its big guns—Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Semin, Datsyuk—and an impressive battery they generally are. But shut them down—Datsyuk has been invisible, Ovechkin hot and cold—and there’s little left.

But that still doesn’t explain this extraordinary shellacking. I think psychology does. That was an angry, determined Canadian team we saw, their pride still smarting from the near-disaster vs Switzerland and the defeat at the hands of the Americans. They took it out on the poor Germans last night, but it was clear that wasn’t going to satisfy them. The Russians walked into a buzzsaw from the opening whistle, and it plainly unnerved them.

But: will this massive win take the edge off? Will they be as sharp, as ferocious the next time?

LIVE BLOG: Canada v. Russia

By Charlie Gillis - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 11:07 PM - 9 Comments

3rd Period

18:30 — Garbage time. The key now is to avoid penalties and/or injuries. What an enormous game for Canada. Watch the Vegas odds tonight. My guess? They’re the gold medal favourites once again.

17:17 — boneheaded penalty by Boyle; he’s obviously never seen that youtube clip of Semin trying to fight (look it up, it’s priceless)

15:45 — I’m going break with the crowd here and suggest this isn’t “LU’s” best game. But that terrific save off Malkin probably just won him a start in the semis.

12:30 — The team’s acting like it’s garbage time, letting Luongo take way to many shots. If as, a recent TV shot suggests, Ovie hurt his had, Russia is really in a jam for the rest of the tourney. No wonder the Oligarch’s Box is starting to look like a funeral home.

8:55 — The crowd’s on Ovie. And our boy Sid? He’s one buttock away from being on the scoresheet.

3:05— you know things are going badly for your team when only your goalie’s protruding butt is keeping the puck out of your net.

Can I just use this break in play to voice my amazement at what we’re witnessing here? What on earth is with Russia? It’s as if they arrived without a game plan—not even one on a cocktail napkin.

If this keeps up, it will go down as an epic defeat. Consider how talented this team is. It’s as if they thought they could wing it completely, or that the money the new Russian elite have been pumping into hockey would take care of everything. Now they’ve taken a too-many-men penalty. The look you see on Bykov’s face is a that of a man afraid for his job.

1:45 — Staal down. The hit by Volchenkov should have been penalized. It looked worse in real-time than on the replay. Good to see him still on the bench.

0:00 — Interesting to note: Bykov has given Datsyuk and Ovechkin more ice time than he has is top defencemen. Both topped 14 minutes in the first two periods; Gonchar was the top d-man at 13:47.

2nd Period

20:00 — Shots are 30-20 for Canada, but a glimpse of the Russian power-play at the end of the period gives you a sense of how fragile that fat-looking lead might be.

Hey, remember that Crosby-Ovie thing? So far it’s a squib. Ten goals in 40 minutes and neither has so much as an assist. Dan Boyle has a goal and two assists; same for Getzlaf; Corey Perry has two goals. Secondary scoring wins hockey games, and Canada has gotten it tonight.

17:30 — By far the best shift yet from the Ovie line, which no longer has Malkin on it (he’s with Radulov and Kozlov now).

11:40 — How many of Canada’s goals have come on neutral-zone turnovers by Russia? Terrible puck management by Zinovyev leads to a highlight-reel passing play by Getzlaf, Staal and Perry. It’s seriously depressing the Russians here—who got only a minor charge from Gonchar’s goal. 7-3 Canada.

4:46 — Canada does not, repeat not, want to play run-and-gun with this team. Afinogenov. And why was Keith playing in the middle of the ice. As Howie Meeker used to say, he couldn’t have hit him with a handful of beans. 6-2 Canada.

4:07 — Er .. ignore previous update. Corey Perry, then Shea Weber (who couldn’t shoot it through the netting; what a limp-wrist). 6-1 Canada. Who’d have thunk?

Nabokov is out in favour of Ilya Bryzgalov about two goals too late.

2:30 — Worth remembering: Ovie and Alex Semin play for Washington. Washington erases leads like rain washes sidewalk chalk.

0:00 — Nabokov still in.

Some debate about whether the second goal was Marleau’s. My Globe colleague Eric Duhatschek doesn’t think he touched it. That would make it Boyle’s, but no matter. It doesn’t happen without Marleau’s arse in Nabokov’s face.

Speaking of whom, will we see a goalie change at the start of the second? Nabokov looks terrible. He pulled off the post on the Morrow goal, and that was a very important one for Canada.

1st Period

18:10 — What Brenden Morrow just did is what Yzerman put him on this team to do. Worked the puck down low, and scored blue-collar goal. 4-1 Canada. I think Babcock has found his energy line in Getzlaf-Morrow-Perry. With occasional doses of Bergeron.

What an enormous period for Canada. You hear coaches talk about chemistry and it sounds like a cliché. But Canada has found some in the last 80 minutes of hockey it’s played.

How bad is it? The two Russian women sitting next to me in the press section (why do they never seem to be working?) held their heads when Nash buried that beauty from Toews.

16:28 — Game within the game: Keith and Doughty do an interesting little switcheroo when they enter the offensive zone, so that each is shooting from his off-hand side. It improves your angle on the net.

Little bit like watching a volleyball team rotate for a spike, though.

14:39 — You won’t see many shots as well placed as that one by Dmitri Kalinin. Bykov has their attention. 3-1 Canada.

13:53 — They love Lu in this town, and stops like that crease jam are the reason.

Fyi, things look REALLY quiet up in the Oligarch’s Box.

But don’t count your chickens. The Datsyuk line looks really dangerous to me, and the Canadian defence is giving up the blue line because they’re terrified of the Russians’ speed.

12:55 — Marleau!! who is my underrated player of the tourney (Not Boyle, but it was a nice screened shot). Then a beauty by Nash, and you can thank Geno Malkin for the turnover at the offensive blue line. 3-0 Canada? Are my eyes deceiving me?

10:26 — Canadian PP. Volchenkov hauls down Crosby.

10:06 — my goalie friends tell me those bread-basket catches are a lot harder than Luongo makes them look. Whatever. No rebounds on a Russian power play.

7:58 — Russian PP. Seabrook dumps Alexei Morozov; bit of a dive, but it was there. You now know why Seabrook’s icetime has been limited, talented though he is.

From where I’m sitting it looked like Morozov had half a net when he whiffed on that shot.

5:55 — Bykov, in case you’re wondering, is a laconic coach in the old Soviet vein. But his temper is even. You can bet he’ll settle these guys down.

2:21 — Getzlaf! On a sweet feed from Boyle. Feeble coverage by Viktor Kozlov. I’ll try not to keep harping on this, but I felt that cheer in my rib cage. This is by far the loudest the building’s been since the tournament began.

1:26 — I think several of the players couldn’t hear the whistle on that icing call

Teams are out! It’s deafening in here! Drop the G.D. puck!!

UPDATE: The warm-up is just starting, the building isn’t half-full, and I’m already getting worried about the fragility of the social compact.

We have some seriously assertive—and I’m guessing seriously refreshed—Russian fans in Canada Hockey Place this eve. There’s a loud band of them wearing KHL jerseys and waving a giant Russian flag at the east end of the arena. One has megaphone; another has a trumpet. About 90 per cent of them have beer guts. Restrain yourselves, ladies.

Some Canadians down below started hollering back and waving their flags. One has a sign that says “In Lu We Trust,” referring of course to goalie Roberto Luongo. The Russians, meanwhile, have one reading: “In Gold We Trust.” Gotta say, the Russian’s one’s better.

There’s also a very visible gang of about a dozen people wearing Russian jerseys in one of the luxury suites. I’ll be referring to it as the Oligarch’s Box.

UPDATE 2: Ovie is wearing his regular skates, not the technicolor ones with some sort of evil goat-muppet airbrushed on the blade holders. There goes Russia’s psychological edge.

Most incendiary Canadian sign: DA DA CANADA, NYET NYET SO-VI-ET. Wonder how long before the VANOC taste police seize that thing.

————–

Here’s a sad stat. Canada has nine losses and only one Olympic win against Russia/the Soviet Union/the Commonwealth of De-communized States since 1956—the first time the Motherland sent a hockey team to the Winter Games.

The victory came back in 1960, when Canada was still sending its top amateur team to the Olympics—in this case, the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchmen. Among a handful of familiar names on the team that competed in Squaw Valley, Calif. was a young man named Harry Sinden.

It was a cracking good game, unless you happened to be a goalie: the Dutchmen prevailed 8-5.

The way the current edition of the Russians play offence, and the way Canada plays defence, a similar result tonight is not out of the question. Either way, we’ve waited a long time for this day. Four years, and two days, to be exact—it’s been that long since Russia dropped Canada 2-0 in the quarters at Turin.

These two teams are very different from the ones who played in Italy, though. Younger, faster, more driven. This will be a treat.

Ovie, Malkin & Co. have their mojo back after a shocking shootout loss to the Slovaks in the round robin. They looked very convincing in the 4-2 victory over the Czechs that gave them a bye to the quarter-finals. The hit-goal sequence that began when Ovechkin demolished Jagr at centre ice was one for the ages.

That said, the Canadians were feeling better after last night’s 8-2 rout of the Germans, who had held Sweden to a 2-0 game in the preliminary round. Canadian captain Scott Niedermayer told us the big spread mattered a lot less than the team’s sense things were finally clicking.

“Just doing the things we talked about doing, having success with them, builds chemistry within the team,” he said. “We were able to make some plays that led to opportunities, and then the guys made the most of those opportunities. And confidence is a big part of the game.”

The game within the game, of course, will be Ovechkin v. Crosby: which young star will dominate? You’d have given the edge to Ovie based on his obvious rapport with linemates Alexander Semin and Crosby buddy Evgeni Malkin. But Crosby did nicely last night on a reconstituted line with Jarome Iginla and Eric Staal.

Of note: Iginla leads Canadian goal scorers with five, despite Mike Babcock’s difficulty finding linemates who click with the Calgary Flames winger. Faceoffs have not been Canada’s strong suit: Joe Thornton and Jonathan Toews share the best average on the team (64.1), which looks good until you consider that Ryan Kesler of the U.S. has been feasting on centre-icemen of weaker teams to the tune of 76 per cent. Yowza.

Fyi, watching the Switzerland-U.S. game out of the corner of my eye and Swiss goalie Jonas Hiller is in a shooting gallery. He’s done an amazing job, but good god, Phil Kessel just rang one off the post on his stick side.

And I know it’s been said before, but the Euros have way better cheers than we do. They’re practically syncopated, and usually led by a sort of beer-fueled drill sergeant.

Game in Review: Canada 7, Russia 3

By Scott Feschuk - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 8:16 PM - 20 Comments

UPDATE: My ears still hurt.

First Period in a Nutshell

Great to see Jonathan Toews given a chance to play with Rick Nash. He’s been very good but underused. Everyone in the rink standing for the opening faceoff! Incredibly noisy. Crowd’s “Let’s Go Canada!” chant fun but loud enough to cost me two fillings. You win this time, decibels! Boyle to Getzlaf at 2:21 of the first. 1-0 Canada. I’m sure there have been louder places to be: inside a jet engine, for instance, or across from Rosie O’Donnell at dinner. Canada utterly dominating the play and taking it to the Russians physically. This is the team we all thought we had. My ears are actually ringing. I look across the rink and see people coming back from the concession stand. HOW CAN PEOPLE GO TO THE CONCESSION STAND DURING THIS GAME??? IT’S CANADA-RUSSIA FOR CRISSSAKES!! Right now you get the feeling Brenden Morrow would run over an old lady if she had the slightest Russian accent. God, even Joe Thornton is playing well. Had Twitter on there for a minute and came up with a new rule: I’m no longer following anyone who tweets during the Russia-Canada game unless Continue…

Men's hockey: USA 2 Switzerland 0

By Charlie Gillis - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 5:55 PM - 2 Comments

Tough game for the Swiss. Jonas Hiller made 42 saves, as Switzerland stuck to the rope-a-dope strategy it’s been using the whole tournament.

The idea is to keep the game close, let the other guys initiate the play and wait for them to make a mistake (Swiss coach Ralph Krueger has actually said his team plays best if it does not have the puck). And for two periods, it appeared to be working.

But the system requires enormous effort from the players, whose task is to maintain body position on the attacking team at all times, to stick-check ferociously and to race like maniacs for loose pucks. Essentially, it’s a stop-and-start drill that lasts the whole game.

By the end of the second, they were losing their legs. A shot in the dying seconds by Ryan Kesler popped up and off Hiller’s chest, falling into the net. And while replays showed it had not yet crossed the line when the buzzer went, this bit of good fortune for the Swiss merely delayed the inevitable.

Zach Parise scored for the U.S. at 2:08 of the third on an eerily similar play, then popped the insurance marker into the empty Swiss net with 12 seconds to go. The Americans move on to play the winner of today’s Finn-Czech game, which starts at 10 p.m. ET over at UBC.

Props to the Swiss though. They showed in this tournament that they are knocking at the door of the world’s top-tier hockey powers, that they “get” the game on the level Canadians do. To wit: early in the third, Swiss defenceman Severin Blindenbacher appeared to dislocate his shoulder; he left the ice and, there on the bench, the trainer trussed him up in a full nelson and tried, rather forcefully, to pop it back in.

Blindenbacher disappeared to the dressing room for a while. Then, with two minutes left and the Swiss down by a goal, he was back on the ice, taking a heavy hit as he pushed the puck down the left boards.

A guy like that can play for my team any day.

Potential trouble for Team Canada?

By Scott Feschuk - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 5:54 PM - 6 Comments

Is it just me or has that easy victory over Germany given Roberto Luongo a big head?

Playing the penalty shot odds

By Michael Friscolanti - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 12:14 AM - 0 Comments

As it turns out, the decision didn’t make any difference. It wasn’t even that important at the time. But if the same scenario unfolds against the Russians Wednesday night—and Canadian coach Mike Babcock makes the wrong choice—the nation won’t be so forgiving.

With Canada already up 4-0 in the second period, a German defenceman hauled down Rick Nash as he barreled toward the net on a breakaway. (Or at least the referee thought it was a breakaway; the truth is debatable). Either way, Nash was awarded a penalty shot. Under international rules, however, the shooter doesn’t necessarily have to be the player who draws the penalty. The coach can choose anyone.

Enter Sidney Crosby.

As Babcock later explained, the numbers don’t lie. Sid the Kid has converted more than 50 per cent of his penalty shot opportunities in the NHL, while Nash’s average is closer to 35 per cent. That’s exactly why Crosby led off the shoot-out against Switzerland last week, and why, when the score was still tied after the mandatory three shooters, Crosby came out again for shot number four.

And it’s why Crosby—not Nash—lined up against German goaltender Thomas Greiss Tuesday night.

Unfortunately, the percentages didn’t pan out this time around. Crosby faked left, shot right, and watched the puck bounce off Greiss’s pad.

“It’s one of those ones when he didn’t score, you wish you didn’t do it,” Babcock told reporters after the game, an 8-2 romp. “But the stats show that Crosby’s got a better chance to score. So it’s real simple. To me, it’s all about winning. I even said to Nash: ‘You do all the work and you don’t get to take the shot.’ I said that right to him. The reality is this is about Canada, not about me or not about Nash. It’s about winning. He’s fine, he’s a big boy, and he understands that.”

For the record, Nash did take the decision like a big boy. “It’s international rules, you can pick anybody,” he said. “If I was the coach I think I’d probably pick Crosby over me too.”

Did you give Sid a hard time after he missed? “No,” Nash said with a chuckle. “I will, though.”