Thirty years since the Miracle On Ice. I was four years old and still remember it. Even though USA won yesterday, it doesn't hold anywhere near the excitement for me since the professionals started playing.
Agree that it wasn't as cool since professionals started playing, but it was cool that a fairly young American team (avg age 26, remove the guys born in the 70s and it would be even younger) was able to hang with and beat a very stacked Canadian team FULL of superstars. Also, it was awesome because six of them are from Michigan. Even Pitt was represented!
exactly what I posted on my blog last night after the game. a gold medal means more to a college kid than to a pro who could probably buy a gold medal is they wanted
Sweden is almost all NHL players, with a couple of Swedish Elite players (one of which is also former NHL) and Russian KHL. Russia is all NHL and KHL. Finland is NHL, KHL, SEL. Same for Slovakia. Czech Republic is mostly NHL, SEL, KHL but has some Czech leaguers. Latvia is all KHL. The KHL and SEL are close to the NHL talent wise, especially now that Russia has so much petro $$$ now.
The only teams that isn't really stacked with pros is the Swiss team. Hell, even Norway (only one NHLer and a couple SEL/KHL players), Germany (couple from each) and Belarus are almost all pro players from one of those big leagues.
That said, Russia and Canada have the best lineups on paper and anyone else defeating them is probably something to feel good about for that country. Lots of shit talked by Canadians about the inferiority of US hockey programs.
I still wish we could go back to no pros for team sports.
Thirty years since the Miracle On Ice. I was four years old and still remember it. Even though USA won yesterday, it doesn't hold anywhere near the excitement for me since the professionals started playing.
7 comments:
Agree that it wasn't as cool since professionals started playing, but it was cool that a fairly young American team (avg age 26, remove the guys born in the 70s and it would be even younger) was able to hang with and beat a very stacked Canadian team FULL of superstars. Also, it was awesome because six of them are from Michigan. Even Pitt was represented!
Canada and the USA are the only two teams in the olympics made up of 100% NHL players. So to paint the USA as huge underdogs is a huge stretch.
Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as the USA hoops squad last year, who kept saying they had something to prove and acted like they were huge underdogs.
exactly what I posted on my blog last night after the game. a gold medal means more to a college kid than to a pro who could probably buy a gold medal is they wanted
Wow, listen to the professional runner chime in on amateurism!
@Brownie
Sweden is almost all NHL players, with a couple of Swedish Elite players (one of which is also former NHL) and Russian KHL. Russia is all NHL and KHL. Finland is NHL, KHL, SEL. Same for Slovakia. Czech Republic is mostly NHL, SEL, KHL but has some Czech leaguers. Latvia is all KHL. The KHL and SEL are close to the NHL talent wise, especially now that Russia has so much petro $$$ now.
The only teams that isn't really stacked with pros is the Swiss team. Hell, even Norway (only one NHLer and a couple SEL/KHL players), Germany (couple from each) and Belarus are almost all pro players from one of those big leagues.
That said, Russia and Canada have the best lineups on paper and anyone else defeating them is probably something to feel good about for that country. Lots of shit talked by Canadians about the inferiority of US hockey programs.
I still wish we could go back to no pros for team sports.
A good percentage of NHL players are Canadians. So are the US players even US born or at least US citizens?
You have to be a US citizen to be on the US olympic squad.
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