Archive for February, 2010

Game Highlights Doc Emrick said it best, “What a tribute to the sport.” If you are an American Penguin fan like me, it couldn’t have ended much better.  Perhaps a 4-3 USA triumph with Canada’s output produced by a Sidney Crosby hat trick would have been ideal.  But an overtime loss that left the Americans just shy of a gold medal and established #87 as an even more prominent national/world-wide hero is satisfactory. It is hard to carry much disdain for Canada.  Technically, hockey IS their game.  Sure, it would have been wonderful to win a gold medal.  We would [...]

What was more surprising: the U.S. narrowly escaping disaster against Switzerland 2-0 or Canada embarrassing Russia 7-3? Neither in my book. The biggest shock from yesterday was Slovakia upsetting defending gold-medalist Sweden 4-3. When I saw the result on the ticker this morning I let out an audible gasp. Not only was the result a bombshell, the aftershock is as well. Now Canada gets a decidedly easier matchup in the semifinals. Instead of facing powerhouse Sweden, the host country gets unheralded Slovakia. And with the way Canada’s playing right now, it might as well be a free pass to Sunday’s [...]

Now the pressure is really on. Don’t get me wrong, it was already there, but after Canada dropped a 5-3 decision to the United States Sunday night, an entire nation is holding its breath and clenching its butt cheeks. One more game like that, and it’s all over.  The U.S. victory means the host nation failed to secure a pass to the quarterfinals and must now win a play-in game against Germany on Tuesday. Sunday’s result was a shocker in more ways than one. The heavily favored Canadians failed to win their group, and they also failed to beat their biggest rival on [...]

We, as American hockey fans, cannot unequivocally say that Team USA is better than the All-Star collection of Team Canada.  However, on this night, thanks to net-minding heroics from Ryan Miller and offensive fireworks from d-man Brian Rafalski, the Red-White-and-Blue overcame a raucous Maple-Leaf clad crowd and tremendous firepower from their opponents in a 5-3 Olympic-sized victory. After taking and surrendering a one-goal lead twice, the Americans held on despite facing a barrage in the third period’s closing minutes.  Miller made some incredible stops, including a glove save from his belly on Jarome Iginla and a save on a Rick [...]

I don’t know about you, but I had mixed emotions while watching Canada play Switzerland (which, by the way, was the first Olympic hockey action I’ve seen so far, but that’s another story). I am obviously rooting for the U.S. team to win the Gold. Nonetheless, I found myself cheering for Canada last night. Well, not so much for Canada, but for Sidney Crosby. You see, had our neighbors to the north blown that game – and they were damn close – I have a feeling Sid would have shouldered a majority of the blame. Let’s face facts – he’s [...]

This is going to be hard. I hadn’t given it much thought until recently. I guess I figured I would fall in line like every other international competition, cheer die-hardedly for the good ole’ U-S-of-A. Then, while watching yesterday’s frustration against Nashville and their six – one more than Pittsburgh – Olympians, it started to creep in… Am I really going to pull against Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury? How about Evgeni and Sergei, are they now my enemies? Russia is decidedly less challenging. Although I have strong feelings for our Dynamic Duo, the thought of Ovi wearing a gold [...]

Not even a miracle – in this case, a goal from Brooks Orpik – could help the Pens pull out two points against Nashville Sunday afternoon. Orpik scored his first goal in 112 games to give the Pens a 3-2 third-period lead, but Shea Weber tied it up with 7:43 left in regulation and the Predators went on to win 4-3 in a shootout. It was the Pens first loss in eight tries this season in the glorified skills competition. Pittsburgh had a chance to end the game in OT when it was awarded a power play 1:16 in. Despite [...]

When you are the Stanley Cup Champions you can bet on getting your opponent’s best effort every night.  When your opponent happens to be a division rival who has lost seven straight to your club, you can rest assured they will be ready.  And finally, when your opponent is a wounded animal desperate to get back on its feet, you will definitely get a fight. Tonight was one of those nights.  The New York Rangers entered the Igloo having lost eight of 10 overall and seven in a row – four this season – against Pittsburgh.  Their only star player, [...]