Winter Olympics 2018

[ddcanz]

Good Women's Hockey Gold game last night. Taking silver losing in the shootout. High energy, great skills and some big hits. Zebras tilted in favour of the US. At one point Canada went to the box 6 times, USA 0. Overlooking their constant interference non calls.

Shootout is not the best way to end a Gold medal game but thems the rules.

I disagree that this was very entertaining- except as a bit of a nail-biter. It was close, that's for sure.
Women on the big ice is not a great showcase for this event.
Looked more like a slow Midget game
Sure- a few (relatively) big hits. But that's not the way the women's game is generally played, so was a bonus.
And agreed, the Refs weren't picking up on the interference.
But the US pretty much dominated- especially the OT. Canada had virtually nothing in OT until their very late PP- and they woofed that one a couple of times trying to keep control and get set up.
Canada chased this game for the most part, and played a defensive style waiting for opportunities that were few and far between. The US skated the shit out of them for most of the night. Does Amanda Kessel remind you of anyone? Nice shot!
Hats off to Shannon Szabados- she kept the game close.
The better team on the night won this game.

 

[golferjohn]

Zebras tilted in favour of the US. At one point Canada went to the box 6 times, USA 0. Overlooking their constant interference non calls.

they kinda missed a 5 minute major for Poulin laying-out Decker in the crease...

very entertaining game, tho took me past my bedtime )

 

[Cock Throppled]

I disagree that this was very entertaining- except as a bit of a nail-biter. It was close, that's for sure.
Women on the big ice is not a great showcase for this event.
Looked more like a slow Midget game
Sure- a few (relatively) big hits. But that's not the way the women's game is generally played, so was a bonus.
And agreed, the Refs weren't picking up on the interference.
But the US pretty much dominated- especially the OT. Canada had virtually nothing in OT until their very late PP- and they woofed that one a couple of times trying to keep control and get set up.
Canada chased this game for the most part, and played a defensive style waiting for opportunities that were few and far between. The US skated the shit out of them for most of the night. Does Amanda Kessel remind you of anyone? Nice shot!
Hats off to Shannon Szabados- she kept the game close.
The better team on the night won this game.

True dat. Canada was toasted by OT. They were lucky to have survived to get to the shootout, so the better team did win.

Still a shitty way to decide a big game. Canada could have won and not deserved it.

 

[LM987]

Nothing wrong with the talent on the ice, but the women just do not have the size nor speed for the big ice IMO.
On the other hand would like to see the NHL go to larger ice, these guys are just so big now compared to "the good old days" when a big player was 6 feet tall.

 

[badbadboy]

they kinda missed a 5 minute major for Poulin laying-out Decker in the crease...

very entertaining game, tho took me past my bedtime )

I think what the refs looked at first was Poulin was actively trying to clear the puck with her stick down and her trying to move it out. Decker imo was collateral damage as a result. Of course the first thing fans look at is their player getting hit. Refs watch the puck and the players going for the puck 'equally'.

Of course it's up to interpretation. I think the refs missed a ton of calls on both sides but chose to let them play.

It doesn't negate the fact the US came on in the 3rd period and Canada couldn't respond.

Poulin hit from CBC

https://olympics.cbc.ca/news/article/canada-poulin-delivers-devastating-hit-usa-decker.html

@ddcanz - I've watched a lot of women's hockey at many different levels over the years. The speed and skill is vastly improved and it's attributed to the skating and puck handling skills mostly.

 

[FreeG]

I really enjoy the short track skating. Amazing skating, tight passing and a lot of strategy.

PD

I'm always blown away by this sport in particular. Its even more impressive in slow-motion (when they try to figure out who messed with who before handing out penalties).

Overall, I love the Olympics - since it only comes every 4 years, the highs are that much higher and lows/fails that much deeper and more painful. My heart goes out to the skier or slider who messes up in a heat and...that's it, game over! You miss a gate in slalom, there's no walking back to re-do. You fall/slip at the start of skeleton or bobsled, its a long butt-slide down the track.

Then you see someone who nails it and its beyond words. The Canadian and French couples in ice dancing were both amazing (never thought I'd say that or even admit to watching it, but hey, its an anonymous board for a reason!). The Canadian short-track skaters have been on fire (and with Kim Boutin having to face death threats? Unbelievable)! Its also fun to see the talent in other countries and Cinderella stories, like Korean women curlers - again, its not even like the World Champs which occur every year for virtually every sport - you mess up here, its a long 4 years (or maybe never) to the next chance.

 

[ddcanz]

Silver and gold in women's ski cross!
I watched the qualifying rounds all the way through to the final run for gold.
Canada DOMINATED throughout.
Flawless rides for both girls.
Way to go Kelsey and Brittany- you both rocked!

 

[wetnose]

Here's something alternative: figure skater and hockey player swap

 

[FreeG]

^ That was hilarious! (and Valentina is super-funny and super-hot!)

Speaking of hockey, how about the head of Hockey Canada walking out right after they lost? Class-less (unless she was walking down to join the team...) I saw a lot of heat thrown at the player who took off her silver medal, but at least she apologized and I agree with others that its easy for emotions to take over at that moment.

 

[badbadboy]

^ That was hilarious! (and Valentina is super-funny and super-hot!)

That was fun to watch.

 

[badbadboy]

The IOC are not to blame this time. They were as tough as they could be, in fact too harsh accordingly the court decisions by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.



I like the IOC's decision. They banished everybody who was actually caught and some who didn't (but indicated to be involved in the cover-up by Russia). At the same time they created enough incentive for Russia not to boycott the Games overall and hopefully learn a lesson. The decision by the CAS undermined that effort, luckily the timing was on the IOC side to keep their solution.

From Globe and Mail today:

International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided against immediately lifting Russia’s Olympic suspension, dashing Russian athletes’ hopes of marching behind their national flag during the closing ceremony. The IOC said two Russian doping violations during the Pyeongchang Games had marred an otherwise clean report card for the country’s delegation.

Twice in these games sealed the IOC decision not to let any country guilty of doping compete under their flag. The CAS wanted the review on March 9 well past these games.

I hope the message is finally made clear for every country.

 

[Tugela]

Both of the Russians who failed drug tests apparently had traces of drugs which act as metabolic modulators, but both of them were competing in sports where that sort of thing would not provide an advantage. So I think it is unlikely that either had an intention to cheat, and probably they ended up ingesting the stuff accidently or unknowingly in some medical treatment in the past. Traces of some of those drugs stays in your body for a very long time.

 

[uncleg]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x28fhap

 

[Cock Throppled]

I didn't watch a second of opening or closing ceremonies, but let me guess - there were a lot of fireworks, and people waving flags.

 

[badbadboy]

I didn't watch a second of opening or closing ceremonies, but let me guess - there were a lot of fireworks, and people waving flags.

K pop

I switched it off.

The news today was this Olympics was the least watched games in history.

 

[FreeG]

^ It couldn't have helped that it was the Winter Olympics (which are less popular for much of the world to begin with) and on the opposite side of the world from most of the countries that participate. (tho I'd be surprised if Nagano didn't have the same challenges).

Also, losing the NHL players probably didn't help US viewership. Getting crushed (CRUSHED!) by Norway in the medal count didn't help either. And while I don't wish to return to the Cold War days, the US/Russia (Soviet) rivalries that played out at the Olympics were surely a draw in the past - this year, Russia (sorry: Olympic Athletes from Russa!) was flat (2 golds I think) and the US wasn't much better with many of its stars either retired, going into retirement, or struggling.

Hopefully this isn't the beginning of the end for the Olympics - plenty of countries are realizing now that its hard to avoid becoming a money pit (one can't help but think Brazil's Olympics helped spiral that country into severe recession, with help from the World Cup, its oil industry fiasco, and good 'ole fashioned corruption & nepotism, while China's facilities are already in a sad state of affairs). I think at the last few Summer Olympics bids, IOC was worried they'd have enough qualified bidders.