Cally and Brown should have never made the team. The strategy of picking these two because they can hit, grind and play defense didn't work. We missed offense today and could have really used Okposo and Ryan. Orpik also should have never been on the team. Finally glad that Bylsma has been exposed for the fraud that he is. He can't coach, and thats one of the main reasons why his team usually underachieves. There was no Geno or Cindy to save his ass today like what usually happens with the Penguins.
Canada is going to continue to be better at hockey than the USA until we see the USA produce better talent. The USA has made strides in hockey recently, but Canada is still dominating. The NHL Draft is telling of how Canada is dominating hockey. Each year at least five or six of the top ten picks are Canadian, so its not a surprise that for every McDonagh or Kessel, there are three or four Canadian players of equal ability.
Couldn't agree more. Brown is not an Olympian and although Callahan helped us against Russa, he didn't produce anything offensively. Okposo and Bobby Ryan would have helped us a lot and it's just sad that this was our last shot until 2018
I wonder why Canada has been able to continue to dominate " their" sport yet the English cant dominate-not even close in their own sport. A buddy of mine sent me a tweet on this from someone who posted it. More countries play soccer obviously, by a mile so that has to be part of the reason I guess? But you really have to hand it to Canada. They had their scares from the Soviets for a while but now that's its just Russia, Canada is far superior. Sweden has had a couple hilites and the US very few and that's it. In soccer you have Germany, brazil, france, Italy, Spain, Holland, Portugal who have been better than England for some time. Even the US isn't far off if at all. PLus teams like Ghana and Uruguay and Chile and Croatia, it goes on and on. But hockey? That shit belongs to Canada
GAH, I hate losing to those syrup-guzzling fucks. Hell of a game though. McDonagh played the game of his life and Quick played just about as good of a game as you could ask for. Credit the guys in red for playing absolutely suffocating defense and out-muscling us the entire game. Go HANK!
It might be the last shot ever at a Gold Medal if NHL players aren't allowed to participate. Russia will dominate everyone if NHL players aren't allowed.
Looking ahead to 2018, I was thinking about the team that the USA could put together. Half of these guys probably won't make it, but I might as well have a go at it. Any others want to give it a guess? Kreider/Stepan/Kane Pacioretty/Galchenyuk/Ryan JVR/Eichel/Kessel Parise/Backes/Okposo Bjugstad Saad McDonagh-Jones Suter-Trouba Fowler-Shattenkirk Faulk Hanifin Gibson Quick Schneider Those defensive pairings look like they could be dominant in four years. The fact that Justin Faulk won't even be good enough to crack a top three pairing speaks to the depth on defense for 2018. Goalies look good as usual. I think Gibson is a star in the making. LW looks great with a ton of size, speed and skill. Center is missing depth, but I'm really excited about Stepan, Galchenyuk and especially Eichel. RW has four elite goal scorers in the league. I don't know if the USA will be better than Canada in 2018, but this team looks a lot deeper defensively and definitely looks more talented than 2018.
Canada has better hockey talent than the US every year (there's a decent chance the US had the second best team this year, though. Too bad the draw went poorly). People freaking out just don't get it. Changing the coach is not going to change the fact that Canada is simply better. Neither would replacing Orpik with some other defenseman. I said it before the tournament and I said it during the tournament. Anyone honestly reviewing the rosters would say the same thing. It was true this year, it was true in Vancouver...
Canada is #1 in hockey but not by a lot imo. I don't think there is that much of a talent disparity as you guys are saying. Canada beat the US by 1 goal yesterday and in 0vertime in 2010. They lost to Switzerland and Czechs in 06 and 98. The US beat Canada in the 1996 World Cup with Tkachuk, Modano, Roenick, Hull, LeClaire, Richter, etc. I think it will always be very competitive moving forward. I've seen Finland, US, Sweden, Russia and Czechs all win junior world championships in the past decade too. The 96 World Cup was an outstanding performance by USA hockey.
Rask terrific so far Kane couldn't beat him on a penalty shot, either (Oshie couldn't take it because it had to be someone on the ice)