Assorted Olympic Thoughts
Written by James O'Brien   
Friday, 26 February 2010 16:49
  • Not a particularly graceful two weeks for the Fawned Over One, Alex Ovechkin.
Perhaps Sidney Crosby has a Cup because he does what Ovechkin doesn't want to do (play defense, acknowledge pressure) and gets all that media attention because he does what Ovechkin doesn't feel like doing (will always give a bland but accessible interview, even when his feewings are hurt.)
That last statement might be hyperbolic, but I would like to know how the Ovie zealots spin this immature little tantrum. It's kind of a bummer when reality gets in the way of your double standard, eh?
(All that being said, the Olympics gave me a chance to appreciate Ovechkin's game a bit more. I don't hate Ovechkin, I just find it amusing that the hockey blogosphere/Twitteverse is a bizarro mainstream media. In that niche atmosphere, Crosby's a prick and Ovechkin can do no wrong. The truth is usually somewhere in between.)
  • Is it me, or have a lot of once-proud national teams gotten old?
Sweden bowed out of the Olympics without even coming within a breath of a medal and all-world D Nicklas Lidstrom went pointless. Despite being scrappy and featuring nice goaltending from Tomas Vokoun, the Czech Republic is no longer an elite team. With Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu getting long in the tooth, it's obvious that Finland will look very different (if pros even go to the Olympics) in 2014.
You can go on and on about "experience" but I'll take young legs every time. Of course, it helps to have competent management, a solid goalie and a decent defensive system (Russian fans are squirming in their seats a bit right now).
  • Maybe it's just that I know more about hockey than I did a few years ago, but am I wrong in thinking that this Olympics feature an amazing assortment of goalies?
I don't mean the cream of the crop, as Ryan Miller cannot yet claim superiority over the Patrick Roys and Dominik Haseks of the world. Instead, I mean that a larger chunk of the teams feature a genuine franchise goalie.
Here's a snapshot of some of the stronger goalies:
USA - Miller, Tim Thomas
Canada - Martin Brodeur (people really need to calm down about one bad game), Roberto Luongo
Sweden - Henrik Lundqvist (in my mind, a top-5 goalie in the NHL)
Czech Republic - Vokoun (wildly underrated)
Slovakia - Jaroslav Halak (very solid)
Switzerland - Jonas Hiller (quite possibly the second best goalie of the tournament behind Miller)
Finland - Kipper (though he's been up-and-down) and Backstrom (possibly more deserving?)
Russia - Nabokov (was hung out to dry but did genuinely struggle) and Bryz (another very solid goalie)
At this point, only the true underdogs lack a good NHL goalie (Germany's Greiss is a borderline pro at best). Perhaps that's why supposed juggernauts have struggled so much?
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