Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The 2010, XXI, Winter Olympic games are here. The last time Canada hosted a Winter Olympics was back in 1988 in Calgary. Ironically, the Calgary Flames were the Stanley Cup Champions for the 1988 season. Well, 1988-89. Back when Terry Crisp was the head coach. 1988 was also the year Patrick Kane was born, the star forward for the Chicago Blackhawks, and a recent addition to this year's USA Olympic hockey squad.
The 1988 USA squad had some notable players on the team, Brian Leetch, Tony Granato, Mike Richter, and Corey Millen, who ended up being the top scorer that year for the team. The Soviets finished first, followed by the Fins, Swedes, Canada, West Germany, Czechoslovakia, and then the US. Now how is this for Irony. Finland actually beat the Soviets on the final day, earning them the Silver Medal. No, that is not a typo, they earned the silver medal despite a 2-1 win over Russia. Russia racked up enough wins prior to that game that it was pretty much meaningless for them to even play, the gold was already theirs. For Finland, the game mattered as they earned the silver, but it doesn't make sense.
Just like when Sweden beat Canada in the 1994 Olympics, when it was Peter Forsberg who got the winning goal, but it was a shootout goal. I don't think important games should be decided by shootouts. The NHL has adapted a 4 on 4 overtime now to open up the ice and make it easier for a team to score. If there is no winner after the 5 minute 4 on 4, then it goes to a 3 man shoot-out, until there is a winner. That is fine with me because that format is only for regular season games, and the loser still earns one point in the OTL column (Overtime loss). But in the playoffs, it goes back to a 5 on 5 20-minute overtime until somebody scores a goal. Even in this past World Cup for soccer, or football depending on what country you are reading this in, Italy was awarded the trophy for defeating France, but they won by a shoot-out, or penalty kicks. I just don't believe strongly in awarding medals, trophies, or championships with penalty shots or kicks. I also don't believe in awarding championships based on regular season, or pool standings.
The goal of winning your division or conference or pool, to me, should be to gain a top seeded position and get to play a somewhat easier schedule throughout the playoff tournament. For instance, in the NHL, the top seeded team gets to play an 8th seeded team. And most of the time the top seed wins, but the games still have to be played because every once in a while, that 8th seed will pull off an upset. But if an NHL team plays 84 regular season games, and has the best record, they are not awarded the Stanley Cup. In fact, how many teams with the President's Trophy (awarded to the team with the best regular season record) wins the cup? Not as many as one might think. And any NHL player, or coach, will tell you that playoff hockey is a whole different game in itself. Different strategies being used, a higher intensity level, less penalties and fights etc etc.
In the 1988 Olympic Games, there was a lift on the professional athlete being able to play ban, however, the NHL did not allow their players to play in the Olympic games in 1988, which helped pave the way for another Soviet gold medal that year. Now, however, professional players are allowed in the Olympics. Because of this, there will never be another Miracle On Ice type game. The one in which a group of young college aged Americans, playing together for less than a year, defeated the heavily favored Soviet team, who won gold medals in 1964, 68, 72, and 76 previously. The Soviets, keep in mind, were using their professional players, but had them registered in the army to keep their playing status as amateur. But while that can never happen again, I still like the idea that professionals are playing in the Olympics. Perhaps the idea of it is wrong, what the Olympics stands for might be changing by allowing pros to play, but from a sheer competition standpoint, it is great. Take the Americans, you have guys like Patrick Kane, Zach Parise, Chris Drury, Dustin Brown, Jamie Langenbrunner, Paul Stastny, and Erick Jonson playing. The Canadians are stacked. When Sidney Crosby is not your team captain, you know your team is great. Sid the Kid, Iginla, Toews, Brodeur, Getzlaf and Perrey are just some of the big names. Geez, it seems like they have 10 NHL captains on that one team. The Russians have Nabakov, Fedorov, Malkin, Ovechkin, Gonchar, Datsyuk and Semin. The Czechs have Jagr and Elias. Sweden has Lundqvist, Lidstrom, Forsberg, Sundin, Zetterberg, and Nasland. I think Russia has the best players overall.
Canada has some great ones, but a lot of their good players are not on the roster either. My pick for this year's games will be Sweden to take it all. They have a good mix of young and old players. A good core of guys who have won Stanley Cups. A few talented players from the Vancouver Canucks, so they are used to playing with each other, plus the games are in Vancouver. I think the egos of the Russians, like Malkin and Ovechkin, will bring themselves down. USA just doesn't stack up, and I'd be surprised if they even medal. Czech will win a few games, but without Hasek of a few years back, don't stand a chance for a medal. My pick are the Swedes, however, I wouldn't count Canada out simply because they are playing on home ice, as well as have the best player in the game on their team. Crosby is the youngest player to captain a Stanley Cup team, last year's Pittsburgh Penguins, and it's no fluke. Dubbed the "Next One," look for him to up his game in order to add a medal to his already impressive trophy case. From a talent perspective, these games should be evenly matched, quick-paced games. Less hitting, more skating, fun, fast hockey. There will never be another 1980 Lake Placid Miracle game, but in a way that is good. Keep that in its own special place and moment.
For now, if the NHL is willing to take a 2 week hiatus and allow its players to enter the Olympics, I think it will make for some great completion, where really it is open to almost any country to have a chance to win. Except of course, unlike 1988, Czechoslovakia and West Germany do not stand a chance.
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