The Official Olympics Hockey Thread

Post by **Alessandro** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 9:50 am

Olympics are approaching! Russia for the gold medal!
Nabokov to start for Russia: http://www.russianhockeyfans.com/team-r ... er-37.html

Made this to the Official Olympics Hockey Thread instead! /joehelmer

The Forsberg Fan · Post by **The Forsberg Fan** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 3:01 pm

Alessandro wrote:Olympics are approaching! Russia for the gold medal!
Nabokov to start for Russia: http://www.russianhockeyfans.com/team-r ... er-37.html

Russia and Canada in the final. Sweden vs Finland in the bronze medal match. Sweden wins the bronze and canada beats russia ! thats my guess

Post by **A9L3E** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:02 pm

The Forsberg Fan wrote:Sweden vs Finland in the bronze medal match. Sweden wins the bronze

In your dreams!

Post by **joehelmer** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:07 pm

A9L3E wrote:
The Forsberg Fan wrote:Sweden vs Finland in the bronze medal match. Sweden wins the bronze
In your dreams!

Sweden vs Finland in the gold medal match, Sweden wins after Lidström scores with a slapshot 10 seconds into the third period and Lundqvist does some sick saves in the last minutes so Sweden wins.

Oh wait...it has already happen...well it will again!

Post by **Jypfan92** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:13 pm

joehelmer wrote:
A9L3E wrote:
The Forsberg Fan wrote:Sweden vs Finland in the bronze medal match. Sweden wins the bronze
In your dreams!
Sweden vs Finland in the gold medal match, Sweden wins after Lidström scores with a slapshot 10 seconds into the third period and Lundqvist does some sick saves in the last minutes so Sweden wins.

Oh wait...it has already happen...well it will again!

Nope, if Ville Peltonen plays, he will score hattrick in final against Sweden

. If Ville isn't in Olympics, then somebody else make it

(somebody else in Finland National Team

)

Post by **batdad** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 5:31 pm

I hate to say it...

If Ovechkin is healthy, which he will be

Russia 4 Canada 3 in Gold Medal game (Luongo lets in first two shots and is replaced by Fleury. Brodeur injured)

Sweden 2 USA 4 (shocking Bronze medal result. Ryan Miller makes 65 saves, 22 off the Sedin's, who score exactly 4 points combined in the entire tournament.)

The only saving grace for Canucks fans? Ryan Kesler scores a hattrick in the Bronze medal game.

Actually: With the way Ryan Miller is playing..I expect the USA to surprise alot of teams out there, and they may finish higher than 3rd.

Post by **joehelmer** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 5:48 pm

Yeah, USA will be an outsider, no one expect them to succeed, so maybe that will do so they win.

Post by **CatchUp** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:16 am

I'm not convinced that Russia will have the goaltending to beat Canada. Miller is playing at an elite level right now. He could beat Canada. Nabokov/whoever else will play for Russia - not so much.

The terrible-ness of '06 will be forgotten when we win gold on home soil.

Andyjayp · Post by **Andyjayp** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:20 am

Sorry to say it but Team GB will win gold at the Olympics...

Ahhh... Alas that is just a pipe dream. I doubt it they will even get out of the group stages (if there are even group stages). In all seriousness I reckon either the Czech Republic or Russia will win the Olympics.

Post by **batdad** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:49 am

No Britain. For sure. I believe the pools are already set in stone.

Reynaldo28 · Post by **Reynaldo28** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:26 am

Andyjayp wrote:Sorry to say it but Team GB will win gold at the Olympics...

Ahhh... Alas that is just a pipe dream. I doubt it they will even get out of the group stages (if there are even group stages). In all seriousness I reckon either the Czech Republic or Russia will win the Olympics.

Maybe one day..... hopefully..... ohhhhh, ok then, never

Laker2415 · Post by **Laker2415** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:33 pm

Reynaldo28 wrote:
Maybe one day..... hopefully..... ohhhhh, ok then, never

Well, the actually did win the gold medal in the 1936 games in Germany, with Canada taking Silver and the U.S. taking bronze.

Andyjayp · Post by **Andyjayp** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:19 pm

Laker2415 wrote:Well, the actually did win the gold medal in the 1936 games in Germany, with Canada taking Silver and the U.S. taking bronze.

Maybe it time for a repeat performance. Bout rime I think!!

Post by **Calv** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:28 pm

We didn't get through the pre-qualification round, let alone even think about the final qualification round. If we continue to improve we may have a chance of getting into the final qualification roud next time, but we won't get into the actual tournament for a long time.

Andyjayp · Post by **Andyjayp** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 1:37 pm

darn it.

Oh well. I guess I'll be cheering for the Czech Republic and Switzerland!!

Post by **McQwak** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 4:53 pm

Good decision, Andy

I hope it's not just because you like to cheer for outsiders

Franck · Post by **Franck** » Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:33 pm

Team USA will get the gold, I can see it in my crystal ball.

Sweden to flop.

Laker2415 wrote:
Reynaldo28 wrote:
Maybe one day..... hopefully..... ohhhhh, ok then, never
Well, the actually did win the gold medal in the 1936 games in Germany, with Canada taking Silver and the U.S. taking bronze.

And they got that by playing a team consisting of Canadians.

LarsPGH · Post by **LarsPGH** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:50 am

Canada's winning it. There's no weaknesses on the team.
Sure, GB won gold in '36 but I believe their players were all Canadian with British passports or some such deal ... kind of the way Italy does it now with Canadian players/Italian grandparents.
It's going to be fun. A 4-3 win in the gold medal game v Russia.

Laker2415 · Post by **Laker2415** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:48 am

Yes, I know the '36 team was all Canadians with British passports, but it does look odd, looking at the winners of the Olympic Hockey Tournaments and you see the usual powerhouses and then you see Great Britain's win.

I would love to see someone shock the hockey world, much like the Swiss did in 2006 when they beat Canada, but I don't know if we'll see that kind of result this year.

Post by **Alessandro** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:48 am

LarsPGH wrote:Canada's winning it. There's no weaknesses on the team.
Sure, GB won gold in '36 but I believe their players were all Canadian with British passports or some such deal ... kind of the way Italy does it now with Canadian players/Italian grandparents.
It's going to be fun. A 4-3 win in the gold medal game v Russia.

We'll see, we'll see.
I can't wait tho

Post by **batdad** » Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:11 pm

IN A short tournament one player (usually the goalie) can overcome any areas of weakness a team has. can anyone say Dominator? BTW--I think he is coming and playing.

Ryan Miller is perfectly capable of destroying Canada all by himself
Henrik Lundqvist is as well. So is Kiprusoff. So is Nabokov.

Anything can happen. Ask Tommy Salo.

grazza · Post by **grazza** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 5:25 pm

Would love to see Scotland compete internationally at ice hockey I think it would improve interest here. Probably the current pool would look like this though I have listed a lot of forwards so could certainly cut a few of them at training camp can't think of much more defence men and Murphy is our only Goalie that has played regularly at pro level. Still though 2 NHL draftees and well maybe a couple of imports that could play for us and any Canadian/Americans with Scottish heritage may bring a bit more depth. Would be great to see this happen some day and encourage Scotland not to give up on ice hockey.

Goalies

Stephen Murphy - Belfast Giants
Blair Daly - Fife Flyers
Mark McGill - Dundee Stars

Defence

Kyle Horne - Edinburgh Capitals
Paddy Ward - Slough Jets
Craig Mitchell - Hull Stingrays
Tony Redmond - Basingstoke Bison
Lewis Christie - Milton Keynes Lightening
Daniel McIntyre - Fife Flyers

Forwards

Colin Shields - Belfast Giants
Tony Hand - Manchester Phoenix
Mark Garside - Edinburgh Capitals
Lee Mitchell - Hull Stingrays
Ross Dalgleish - Nottingham Panthers
Adam Walker - Manchester Phoenix
Scott McKenzie - Edinburgh Capitals
Bari McKenzie - Solway Sharks
Iain Bowie - Manchester Phoenix
Ryan Watt _ Bracknell Bees
Nicky Watt - Bracknell Bees
Grant McPherson - Milton Keynes Lightening
Neil Hay - Edinburgh Capitals
Mark Paterson - Edinburgh Capitals
Jordan Steel - Edinburgh Capitlas

Imports that have probably played in Scotland long enough to be able to play for Scotland

Martin Cingel - Edinburgh Capitals
Todd Dutiaume - Fife Flyers
Jeff Marshall - Dundee Stars

Post by **Jypfan92** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 8:01 pm

I'm not sure, but did Tony Hand played in NHL? I've heard his name somewhere

Post by **batdad** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 8:10 pm

Hand was drafted by the Oilers. He went to one camp with them and decided he wanted to go back to England. He is by far, the best player from Great Britain...ever. He is something like 43 years old now. He could have played in the NHL for sure. Just chose not to. Calv? Where are you...someone asked about your man crush. I thought you got an instantaneous memo if the name Hand was mentioned on this site.

grazza · Post by **grazza** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 12:11 am

Sorry batdad gotta correct you on one thing he didn't go back to England he went back to Scotland where he is from. No worries though it is a bit like calling a Canadian an American is probably the best example I can give here.
Though yes everything else you say is pretty much right. He went back to Edinburgh to play for Murrayfield Racers before going to Sheffield Steelers in England in 1995. He came back North in 1999 joining the team I supported Ayr Scottish Eagles (now tragically defunct). He spent two season there in the ISL continuing to be the top Scottish and British player in the league but wanted to take a step into coaching and in 2001 he took the role of player coach at Dundee Stars in the BNL which was a level below in Dundee's first season and he brought them silverware. He had two spells as player coach at Edinburgh Capitals back in his home city and in between these spells was player coach of Belfast Giants I think they were league runners up that season which was the NHL lock out season and were one of the few teams to not take an NHL ( though they did get a man named Theo Fleury the next season). I believe during his time as player coach of Belfast he scored on a breakaway when his team were 5 on 3 short-handed.

In 2006 he returned to England with the Manchester Phoenix who had returned from a year off in a new rink. So like the Dundee challenge new rink new team. They were competitive in the Elite league always making playoffs though have dropped to the EPL this season as the elite league seem to want to be a city league notice that Basingstoke who also dropped out and Phoenix who are based in Altringham were town.

He has been awarded an MBE by the Queen. He wrote an autobiography and it does make interesting reading so I recommend it to anyone that gets the chance.

Tony Hand is still player coach at Phoenix at the age of 42 and probably the best player in that league. If he hadn't retired from International hockey he would probably still get a spot in team GB and any Elite league team would love to have him.

The man is a model professional and he quite possibly could have made the NHL. If you look at Edmonton at the time he was drafted and they were impressed with him at Camp and sent him to the Jrs he just couldn't settle. Since 1996 the top leagues here have been more than 50% imports at least and Tony Hand has matched up these guys even in his senior years while juggling a coaching role.

Only other UK trained player to be drafted by NHL at least in modern history is another Scottish lad Colin Shields who was Selected by Philadelphia Flyers round 6 #195 overall 2000 NHL Entry Draft.

Colin Shields stats Tony Hand stats

There is a Welsh lad playing ECHL this season
Matt Myers stats

There is English lad in AHL
Dave Phillips

Might be a while before we have another really good Scottish player with the state of the sport here. Really we need to get teams like Dundee, Fife and maybe Solway playing at a better level and for there to be less imports at the highest league as it is killing the sport. Even just go to 8 or less like the BNL was and get the elite and former BNL teams all together and have a north/south conference split.

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