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poor zucc is gonna play 30 minutes vs russia and lose 
i expect the swiss to make it out and give canada a good run for their money. they play very tight like the finns, but arent as skilled. austria/slovenia might be good. prior to this tourny id think czechs/slovakia would be good, but the slovaks have looked like total shit and i'm expecting them to get murdered.
sweden is a bit banged up but theyre probably looking at the easiest path right about now
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Erm what are people talking about Sweden losing to Belarus? We never lost to Belarus...Salo did.
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On February 17 2014 06:06 one-one-one wrote: Ok.
Group stage is over. As expected the Swedish team came out first. They are still trying to get their team together properly as they only really managed to shine in the game versus the Czech. It is plausible though that they were chilling versus the Swiss and especially versus Lithuania. I have to be honest and state that I'm a bit disappointed so far. But I would have been more disappointed if we had actually dropped points.
Austria - Slovenia next. That should be a very easy first game on the was to the finals. I don't think USA and Canada are good enough to stop us from taking the gold.
The USA and Canada are by far the favorites, both in terms of talent and as defending 1st and 2nd.. Sweden had the easiest group (meaning they didnt have one of the other top 5 teams, Canada, USA, Finland, Russia) so its not really a suprise that they finished first.
Dont get me wrong, Sweden could win since they have a great lineup. They also have arguably the easiest route to the finals, but to say no other team can stop them is a little strange. Their team is aging, and missing some of the best players.
If I had to make a guess. We'll see a Russia vs USA finals. Canadas team doesnt strike me as a championship team this year for some reason.
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On February 17 2014 06:34 Darpa wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 06:06 one-one-one wrote: Ok.
Group stage is over. As expected the Swedish team came out first. They are still trying to get their team together properly as they only really managed to shine in the game versus the Czech. It is plausible though that they were chilling versus the Swiss and especially versus Lithuania. I have to be honest and state that I'm a bit disappointed so far. But I would have been more disappointed if we had actually dropped points.
Austria - Slovenia next. That should be a very easy first game on the was to the finals. I don't think USA and Canada are good enough to stop us from taking the gold.
The USA and Canada are by far the favorites, both in terms of talent and as defending 1st and 2nd.. Sweden had the easiest group (meaning they didnt have one of the other top 5 teams, Canada, USA, Finland, Russia) so its not really a suprise that they finished first. Dont get me wrong, Sweden could win since they have a great lineup. They also have arguably the easiest route to the finals, but to say no other team can stop them is a little strange. Their team is aging, and missing some of the best players. If I had to make a guess. We'll see a Russia vs USA finals. Canadas team doesnt strike me as a championship team this year for some reason.
I want you to take a close look at this table: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ice_hockey_at_the_2014_Winter_Olympics_–_Men's_tournament#Current_standings
The reason we got the easiest group is that we are ranked the #1 team in the world which you can see in the right most column. You make it sound like we somehow avoided the hard teams by pure luck which is not very informative.
And by the same measure you can see that Canada and USA are ranked 5 and 6. So it is more likely that they have been performing a bit above their expectations if they get to the finals.
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On February 17 2014 06:44 one-one-one wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 06:34 Darpa wrote:On February 17 2014 06:06 one-one-one wrote: Ok.
Group stage is over. As expected the Swedish team came out first. They are still trying to get their team together properly as they only really managed to shine in the game versus the Czech. It is plausible though that they were chilling versus the Swiss and especially versus Lithuania. I have to be honest and state that I'm a bit disappointed so far. But I would have been more disappointed if we had actually dropped points.
Austria - Slovenia next. That should be a very easy first game on the was to the finals. I don't think USA and Canada are good enough to stop us from taking the gold.
The USA and Canada are by far the favorites, both in terms of talent and as defending 1st and 2nd.. Sweden had the easiest group (meaning they didnt have one of the other top 5 teams, Canada, USA, Finland, Russia) so its not really a suprise that they finished first. Dont get me wrong, Sweden could win since they have a great lineup. They also have arguably the easiest route to the finals, but to say no other team can stop them is a little strange. Their team is aging, and missing some of the best players. If I had to make a guess. We'll see a Russia vs USA finals. Canadas team doesnt strike me as a championship team this year for some reason. I want you to take a close look at this table: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ice_hockey_at_the_2014_Winter_Olympics_–_Men's_tournament#Current_standingsThe reason we got the easiest group is that we are ranked the #1 team in the world which you can see in the right most column. You make it sound like we somehow avoided the hard teams by pure luck which is not very informative. And by the same measure you can see that Canada and USA are ranked 5 and 6. So it is more likely that they have been performing a bit above their expectations if they get to the finals.
Not sure if serious or not.
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On February 17 2014 06:44 one-one-one wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 06:34 Darpa wrote:On February 17 2014 06:06 one-one-one wrote: Ok.
Group stage is over. As expected the Swedish team came out first. They are still trying to get their team together properly as they only really managed to shine in the game versus the Czech. It is plausible though that they were chilling versus the Swiss and especially versus Lithuania. I have to be honest and state that I'm a bit disappointed so far. But I would have been more disappointed if we had actually dropped points.
Austria - Slovenia next. That should be a very easy first game on the was to the finals. I don't think USA and Canada are good enough to stop us from taking the gold.
The USA and Canada are by far the favorites, both in terms of talent and as defending 1st and 2nd.. Sweden had the easiest group (meaning they didnt have one of the other top 5 teams, Canada, USA, Finland, Russia) so its not really a suprise that they finished first. Dont get me wrong, Sweden could win since they have a great lineup. They also have arguably the easiest route to the finals, but to say no other team can stop them is a little strange. Their team is aging, and missing some of the best players. If I had to make a guess. We'll see a Russia vs USA finals. Canadas team doesnt strike me as a championship team this year for some reason. I want you to take a close look at this table: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ice_hockey_at_the_2014_Winter_Olympics_–_Men's_tournament#Current_standingsThe reason we got the easiest group is that we are ranked the #1 team in the world which you can see in the right most column. You make it sound like we somehow avoided the hard teams by pure luck which is not very informative. And by the same measure you can see that Canada and USA are ranked 5 and 6. So it is more likely that they have been performing a bit above their expectations if they get to the finals.
I dont think you really follow international hockey man. I never said they avoided for whatever reason, but when you have the easiest group you will in fact be most likely to finish on the top.
Those rankings from those charts are based almost entirely on the last 4 world championships, one olympics and IIHF Events. Of which none of the best players in the world compete in because of the NHL season (other than the olympics 25%). I mean it has the Czech's and Fins ahead of Canada and the USA. Which is pretty crazy to place from a talent standpoint. Very few if any of the top NA players actually play in those events.
Those rankings mean literally NOTHING in terms of the actual skill level of top teams once you include NHL players. So saying Canada and USA are over preforming when they are the top picks by almost every analyst and have won 2/3 Olympics where all the best players are playing is whats uninformative.
edit for reference: how IIHF determine olympic rankings 2013 IIHF World Championship 100% 1200 2012 IIHF World Championship 75% 900 2011 IIHF World Championship 50% 600 2010 IIHF World Championship 25% 300 2010 Winter Olympics 25% 300 2009 IIHF World Championship 0% 0
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Decent showing from Finland but Canada was the better team. We definitely have a solid chance vs Russia though, assuming they get past Norway.
Sweden and USA should walk into semi's without bigger issues but Canada may or may not struggle with Switzerland.
This tournament is looking mighty interesting.
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On February 17 2014 07:01 Vaelone wrote: Decent showing from Finland but Canada was the better team. We definitely have a solid chance vs Russia though, assuming they get past Norway.
Sweden and USA should walk into semi's without bigger issues but Canada may or may not struggle with Switzerland.
This tournament is looking mighty interesting.
Canada always struggles with Switzerland. It's like our legacy. hahaha. Even the last olympics where we won, we barely squeezed by the swiss
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On February 17 2014 06:06 Mafe wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 05:59 Sub40APM wrote:So here is the bracket for the elimination round: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey_at_the_2014_Winter_Olympics_–_Men's_tournament#BracketCzech-Slovaks get to play for the privilege to be destroyed by America. Hiller vs all of Canada and then we see Canada vs. USA, the most dynamic and exciting match...in the semi finals so one of the two best teams at this tournament gets 0 shot at gold. Terrible tournament design. On the other side of the bracket, Russia lucks out to miss the two toughest teams and runs into Finland, the weakest of the top 4 teams. How convenient for them. Finland will turtle the way that they did against Canada but maybe Ovechkin and Malkin will feel some shame and actually step up big. Sweden should coast through Austria/Slovenia, maybe even rest a bunch of their players? Then Sweden should eliminate Russia handily and then the Americans will finish what they started and destroy them in the Bronze medal game. Without Sedin and Zettterberg and with just a so-so Lundquist there is nothing that the Swedes can do to stop Canada. Chris Kunitz becomes the worst skilled gold medal winner in human history. Name a tournament in any team sports where such a thing can't happen. Apart from pure full round robin tournaments. There is no other game like hockey, where the best players all play in one league and that league's final season tournament ends after the 'world cup' does. The IIHF needs to swallow its pride and accept that NHL rankings are the only ones should matter, and start ranking individual players and then use their combined scores to rank teams. That way Canada will always be number 1 as it should be.
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On February 17 2014 07:03 Darpa wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 07:01 Vaelone wrote: Decent showing from Finland but Canada was the better team. We definitely have a solid chance vs Russia though, assuming they get past Norway.
Sweden and USA should walk into semi's without bigger issues but Canada may or may not struggle with Switzerland.
This tournament is looking mighty interesting. Canada always struggles with Switzerland. It's like our legacy. hahaha. Even the last olympics where we won, we barely squeezed by the swiss Seems like the Swiss are serious about building a national team though. They play a cohesive, Dave Tippet style of turtling game that really benefits the fact that most of their players are too skill-less to play abroad so they get used to each other. That and Hiller being an amazing goalie.
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On February 17 2014 06:59 Darpa wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 06:44 one-one-one wrote:On February 17 2014 06:34 Darpa wrote:On February 17 2014 06:06 one-one-one wrote: Ok.
Group stage is over. As expected the Swedish team came out first. They are still trying to get their team together properly as they only really managed to shine in the game versus the Czech. It is plausible though that they were chilling versus the Swiss and especially versus Lithuania. I have to be honest and state that I'm a bit disappointed so far. But I would have been more disappointed if we had actually dropped points.
Austria - Slovenia next. That should be a very easy first game on the was to the finals. I don't think USA and Canada are good enough to stop us from taking the gold.
The USA and Canada are by far the favorites, both in terms of talent and as defending 1st and 2nd.. Sweden had the easiest group (meaning they didnt have one of the other top 5 teams, Canada, USA, Finland, Russia) so its not really a suprise that they finished first. Dont get me wrong, Sweden could win since they have a great lineup. They also have arguably the easiest route to the finals, but to say no other team can stop them is a little strange. Their team is aging, and missing some of the best players. If I had to make a guess. We'll see a Russia vs USA finals. Canadas team doesnt strike me as a championship team this year for some reason. I want you to take a close look at this table: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ice_hockey_at_the_2014_Winter_Olympics_–_Men's_tournament#Current_standingsThe reason we got the easiest group is that we are ranked the #1 team in the world which you can see in the right most column. You make it sound like we somehow avoided the hard teams by pure luck which is not very informative. And by the same measure you can see that Canada and USA are ranked 5 and 6. So it is more likely that they have been performing a bit above their expectations if they get to the finals. I dont think you really follow international hockey man. I never said they avoided for whatever reason, but when you have the easiest group you will in fact be most likely to finish on the top. Those rankings from those charts are based almost entirely on the last 4 world championships, one olympics and IIHF Events. Of which none of the best players in the world compete in because of the NHL season (other than the olympics 25%). I mean it has the Czech's and Fins ahead of Canada and the USA. Which is pretty crazy to place from a talent standpoint. Very few if any of the top NA players actually play in those events. Those rankings mean literally NOTHING in terms of the actual skill level of top teams once you include NHL players. So saying Canada and USA are over preforming when they are the top picks by almost every analyst and have won 2/3 Olympics where all the best players are playing is whats uninformative. edit for reference: how IIHF determine olympic rankings 2013 IIHF World Championship 100% 1200 2012 IIHF World Championship 75% 900 2011 IIHF World Championship 50% 600 2010 IIHF World Championship 25% 300 2010 Winter Olympics 25% 300 2009 IIHF World Championship 0% 0
Nothing?
I would say that the correlation between IIHF rank and Sochi tournament rank is pretty high. It is apparent if you look at the data. For instance - the #1 IIHF team finished in the #1 spot. Data talks. You are just biased.
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On February 17 2014 04:20 iCanada wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 04:17 Warfie wrote: Are you fucking joking? Terrible officiating in this OT, first boarding then slashing Well, atleast they were consistent. I thought it was resonably officiated, some blatant non-calls on both sides, but they were consistent, so I can't fault them too much. I'd say that it kind of worked out in Finlands favor, a lot of holds in this game would have been penalties in the NHL. I guess you're right but to me the last two 'missed' suspension calls were a bit out of line even with said consistency.. but it might have something to do with me not watching all that much hockey combined with slashing/boarding being more flashy fouls than holding
Anyway, Russia gets to stomp us Norwegians soon enough, can't say these result weren't unexpected. I would have liked a better result against Austria though
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On February 17 2014 06:44 one-one-one wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 06:34 Darpa wrote:On February 17 2014 06:06 one-one-one wrote: Ok.
Group stage is over. As expected the Swedish team came out first. They are still trying to get their team together properly as they only really managed to shine in the game versus the Czech. It is plausible though that they were chilling versus the Swiss and especially versus Lithuania. I have to be honest and state that I'm a bit disappointed so far. But I would have been more disappointed if we had actually dropped points.
Austria - Slovenia next. That should be a very easy first game on the was to the finals. I don't think USA and Canada are good enough to stop us from taking the gold.
The USA and Canada are by far the favorites, both in terms of talent and as defending 1st and 2nd.. Sweden had the easiest group (meaning they didnt have one of the other top 5 teams, Canada, USA, Finland, Russia) so its not really a suprise that they finished first. Dont get me wrong, Sweden could win since they have a great lineup. They also have arguably the easiest route to the finals, but to say no other team can stop them is a little strange. Their team is aging, and missing some of the best players. If I had to make a guess. We'll see a Russia vs USA finals. Canadas team doesnt strike me as a championship team this year for some reason. I want you to take a close look at this table: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ice_hockey_at_the_2014_Winter_Olympics_–_Men's_tournament#Current_standingsThe reason we got the easiest group is that we are ranked the #1 team in the world which you can see in the right most column. You make it sound like we somehow avoided the hard teams by pure luck which is not very informative. And by the same measure you can see that Canada and USA are ranked 5 and 6. So it is more likely that they have been performing a bit above their expectations if they get to the finals.
You realize that every year they hold the world championship during the NHL playoffs??
Theres like only Rick Nash who goes to that tourney year after year on the current Canadian olympic roster because everyone else is busy battling for the cup lol.
Pretty sure that Canada's B team could take the gold in that tournament...
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On February 17 2014 08:32 QuanticHawk wrote:yall need to get better at spotting trolls. the games were determined in 2012, not 2013, so sweden was ranked fourth. which is how you get this http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/championships/olympics.htmlnot to mention the dead giveaway of using the iihf rankings to justify his reasoning
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Funny that it takes a progamer to make the right conclusion. But to my defense, you set the tone yourself with your first post. I don't expect this to be a very serious thread, haha.
Trolling or not I dislike the "we could send our B-team and still win the world cup" attitude. You did send your B-team and you didn't win.
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On February 17 2014 08:49 one-one-one wrote: Funny that it takes a progamer to make the right conclusion. But to my defense, you set the tone yourself with your first post. I don't expect this to be a very serious thread, haha. Trolling or not I dislike the "we could send our B-team and still win the world cup" attitude. You did send your B-team and you didn't win. its probably the F team that goes to the world championships...
I was talking about making a team with the reamaining players who were not invited to Sochi. Pretty good line up : http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/the-all-snub-team-canadas-incredible-olympic-hockey-b-team/article16230031/
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Russia has a rough path to the gold medal game. Needing wins over Norway, Finland, Sweden and either Canada or the USA to win gold. Gonna be a tough test. Doable but hard. And thats assuming there are no upsets.
The bottom half of the brack has upset potential EVERYWHERE. The Swiss and Slovaks can beat anyone with that suffocating defense and the Czechs have a very talented hockey team too.
I think this kind of bracketing for hockey is awesome
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On February 17 2014 08:32 Kevin_Sorbo wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 06:44 one-one-one wrote:On February 17 2014 06:34 Darpa wrote:On February 17 2014 06:06 one-one-one wrote: Ok.
Group stage is over. As expected the Swedish team came out first. They are still trying to get their team together properly as they only really managed to shine in the game versus the Czech. It is plausible though that they were chilling versus the Swiss and especially versus Lithuania. I have to be honest and state that I'm a bit disappointed so far. But I would have been more disappointed if we had actually dropped points.
Austria - Slovenia next. That should be a very easy first game on the was to the finals. I don't think USA and Canada are good enough to stop us from taking the gold.
The USA and Canada are by far the favorites, both in terms of talent and as defending 1st and 2nd.. Sweden had the easiest group (meaning they didnt have one of the other top 5 teams, Canada, USA, Finland, Russia) so its not really a suprise that they finished first. Dont get me wrong, Sweden could win since they have a great lineup. They also have arguably the easiest route to the finals, but to say no other team can stop them is a little strange. Their team is aging, and missing some of the best players. If I had to make a guess. We'll see a Russia vs USA finals. Canadas team doesnt strike me as a championship team this year for some reason. I want you to take a close look at this table: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ice_hockey_at_the_2014_Winter_Olympics_–_Men's_tournament#Current_standingsThe reason we got the easiest group is that we are ranked the #1 team in the world which you can see in the right most column. You make it sound like we somehow avoided the hard teams by pure luck which is not very informative. And by the same measure you can see that Canada and USA are ranked 5 and 6. So it is more likely that they have been performing a bit above their expectations if they get to the finals. You realize that every year they hold the world championship during the NHL playoffs?? Theres like only Rick Nash who goes to that tourney year after year on the current Canadian olympic roster because everyone else is busy battling for the cup lol. Pretty sure that Canada's B team could take the gold in that tournament...
So every national team is not their best because the NHL playoffs is going on. But which teams have access to the most NHL players of the ones available? I mean maybe Sweden can reinforce with two or so but Canada and USA are pretty much 100% no?
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The Czech team is pretty terrible. Maybe they can beat Slovakia and then get crushed by the US.
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On February 17 2014 10:00 AlternativeEgo wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2014 08:32 Kevin_Sorbo wrote:On February 17 2014 06:44 one-one-one wrote:On February 17 2014 06:34 Darpa wrote:On February 17 2014 06:06 one-one-one wrote: Ok.
Group stage is over. As expected the Swedish team came out first. They are still trying to get their team together properly as they only really managed to shine in the game versus the Czech. It is plausible though that they were chilling versus the Swiss and especially versus Lithuania. I have to be honest and state that I'm a bit disappointed so far. But I would have been more disappointed if we had actually dropped points.
Austria - Slovenia next. That should be a very easy first game on the was to the finals. I don't think USA and Canada are good enough to stop us from taking the gold.
The USA and Canada are by far the favorites, both in terms of talent and as defending 1st and 2nd.. Sweden had the easiest group (meaning they didnt have one of the other top 5 teams, Canada, USA, Finland, Russia) so its not really a suprise that they finished first. Dont get me wrong, Sweden could win since they have a great lineup. They also have arguably the easiest route to the finals, but to say no other team can stop them is a little strange. Their team is aging, and missing some of the best players. If I had to make a guess. We'll see a Russia vs USA finals. Canadas team doesnt strike me as a championship team this year for some reason. I want you to take a close look at this table: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ice_hockey_at_the_2014_Winter_Olympics_–_Men's_tournament#Current_standingsThe reason we got the easiest group is that we are ranked the #1 team in the world which you can see in the right most column. You make it sound like we somehow avoided the hard teams by pure luck which is not very informative. And by the same measure you can see that Canada and USA are ranked 5 and 6. So it is more likely that they have been performing a bit above their expectations if they get to the finals. You realize that every year they hold the world championship during the NHL playoffs?? Theres like only Rick Nash who goes to that tourney year after year on the current Canadian olympic roster because everyone else is busy battling for the cup lol. Pretty sure that Canada's B team could take the gold in that tournament... So every national team is not their best because the NHL playoffs is going on. But which teams have access to the most NHL players of the ones available? I mean maybe Sweden can reinforce with two or so but Canada and USA are pretty much 100% no?
Yeah, Canada had all NHL players, but no where near their best ones, which is why people here don't really care about it very much.
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