Team USA vs Team Canada for gold

They couldn't have written this story any better if they'd tried.

It was the perfect matchup. Team USA, underdogs written off early in the tournament because they were too young. They had only three guys on the roster who had been in the Olympics before. Sure, they were NHLers, but most of them were under 25 years of age. What did they know about Olympic hockey?

Against Team Canada, the host team, the fathers of hockey. A roster packed with talent, NHL captains, winners of Olympics past. Not to mention, this was a team that had been completely embarrassed in their loss to Team USA during the preliminaries. They were angry, seeking revenge, hungry for the young Americans.

Yours truly was sadly at work during this game, but my phone buzzed constantly with texts from hockey friends and non-hockey friends alike. Even people not ordinarily fans of the sport during the NHL season had fallen in love with the hopes and dreams of these Olympic players.

They wanted to know how this one would turn out.

I was able to watch a good portion of the game with divided attention as I worked. The forechecking and backchecking pressure of the Americans was evident. The hunger and physicality of the Canadians was relentless. Each of these boys played the game of his life, and delivered some of the finest hockey I've ever seen.

Corey Perry would net one goal out of four SOG in this monumental game. Ryan Getzlaf would take an assist.

Despite falling behind for the first time in their Olympic run, the Americans didn't fall apart. They kept their focus, kept their composure, and kept coming. They closed the gap to one goal, and then a miracle.

With less than 30 seconds left in regulation, Zach Parise would deliver a simple strike in the crease that left a puck in the net behind Roberto Luongo.

Yours truly couldn't help but scream. My phone erupted in delight as well. The Americans had pushed the game into overtime! The gold would take more than 60 minutes to be won. How could anyone deny the drive and heart of Team USA?

Seven minutes of sudden death overtime would finally award the gold medal to Team Canada.

I can never stand to see the dejected faces of the losing team, and especially not when they're MY team. Sure, I was elated for our Canadian Ducks, but Team USA represented my country. I watched the medal ceremony with mixed emotions. Not being able to be completely happy for the beaming faces of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Captain Scott Niedermayer, I was distracted by the misery of the loss etched onto the faces of my boy Bobby Ryan, Captain Jamie Langenbrunner, and especially MVP Ryan Miller.

To them, I want to say that I am so very proud of their effort. Nobody, hockey experts and casualists alike, would have ever guessed that Team USA would compete for gold, that these young boys would slaughter Team Finland in a 6-1 landslide, that they would completely humiliate these very Canadians with a 5-3 trouncing. Team USA has absolutely nothing to be sorry for. They went above and beyond all expectations. They captured the hearts of a nation and the attention of the world.

What you've done for the sport of hockey, is beyond words. There will be so many new fans watching as you return to your respective NHL teams to complete your season. And for all of us old fans, including yours truly, you gave us the opportunity time and time again to say, "This, this is why I LOVE hockey!"

Celebratory congratulations to Getzy, Pears, Scotty, and Team Canada! But heartfelt thank yous to Bobby, Ryan Whitney, and Team USA! Along with the pride felt for the valiant efforts of Jonas Hiller and Luca Sbisa with Team Switzerland, and Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu with Team Finland, I am so very proud of all of our Olympic Ducks.

Seven Ducks will return home with Olympic medals, that's the most of any NHL team (San Jose comes in second with five). There's no way a team with such talented individuals can't put together a successful playoff run.

So how about it, boys? Let's go get Stanley!

Vancouver Olympics 2010 men's hockey in pictures

Since yours truly couldn't attend any of the Olympic action in person to get great pictures (wouldn't that be the day!), the next best thing I can do is share the great shots taken by others. Here's a collection of my hockey favorites over the past two weeks... (my apologies that some of the larger pics don't quite fit)

Bobby celebrating his first Olympic goal against Swiss game #1

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Finland beats Belarus

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Teemu in the Finland vs Germany prelim game

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Winner Team USA, loser Team Canada prelim

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images North America

Scotty, Getzy, and Perry celebrate after a goal against Slovakia

Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images North America

Bobby in Swiss #2 game

Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images North America

Bobby and Hiller in Swiss #2 game

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Hiller's crazy puck juggle from game Swiss/USA game #2. Puck would eventually go in behind Hiller, but not until after the horn

Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images North America

Luca Sbisa defending Kessel in game Swiss/USA #2

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Bobby and Hiller, final handshake, Swiss #2 game

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Goalie to goalie, Hiller and Miller after Swiss #2 game

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Corey Perry getting one past Naby in Canada vs Russia

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Corey Perry getting one past Bryz in Canada vs Russia

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images North America

Saku celebrating win over Czech Republic with Kipper

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images North America

Bobby and Selanne shaking hands after US beats Finland

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Teemu, Saku, and Team Finland with Bronze (over Slovakia)

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images North America

Teemu with his Bronze

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Captain Koivu with his Bronze and Finland flag

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images North America

Getzy, Scotty, and Pears win the gold

Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images North America

Team Canada vs Team Slovakia Semifinal

Don't count the Slovaks out just yet... after all, Sweden did, and where did that get them?

During the first period of this game, you can see why. Team Slovakia touts a good defensive system, collapsing down really low around the net.

It isn't until 14 minutes through the first that Shea Weber fires one from the point, which gets redirected by Patrick Marleau past the Slovak netminder. There's a review to make sure Marleau's redirect was below the crossbar, but it's pretty obvious that it was.

An assist for Captain Scotty Niedermayer.

Shortly after, great play by our Duck boys on the ice. Perry below the goal line fighting for a puck, getting it to Getzlaf who manages a pass under pressure to Pronger at the point. It's a patented Pronger rocket, with a redirection from Brendan Morrow in front.

Goal. 2-0. First intermission. Can I just say I've never missed Prongs and his point shots more than right now?

And boy, points for our Ducks in spades. Yours truly is pleased.

The Slovak goalie, Jaromir Halak, is good... but it appears that Team Canada has found his weakness: shots from the point or back from the blue line, with a well-placed deflection near the crease. Granted, those are difficult shots for any netminder to block, but both of Team Canada's goals came from that setup.

Halak denies the Canadians through most of the second, but what he really needs are his offense to get some pucks behind Roberto Luongo. Can't win if you can't score.

Before the end of the second, and on the power play at that, Prongs gets the puck to Perry who's skating up and down along the left wing, angling for passing lanes. He decides to fire on the net and the rebound comes out to Getzy who backhands it home from his knees.

It's a beautiful play, and it takes us into the second intermission with Canada leading 3-0.

The Slovaks haven't given up hope, however, and they are rewarded with a puck that squirts between Luongo's pads and the post. 3-1 Canada, with eight left in regulation.

Chants of "We want USA" echo around the arena. It's looking as if the gold medal game will be between Team USA and Team Canada...

Wait... maybe I've spoken too soon.

Michael Handzus bats one out of the air in the crease, and it's in behind Luongo. One-goal game with five minutes to go!

The Slovaks came on strong in the last few minutes. Lots of shots on Luongo, but Canada holds on. I don't know what it says that Canada let this one almost slip away, but maybe that's a good sign for the US come Sunday. Great game, Slovakia.

Team USA versus Team Canada for the gold. Hockey fans may have dreamed about this matchup, but who really thought it would happen?

Men's hockey Olympic quarterfinals

Four big big games today, starting off with Team USA vs Team Switzerland (part 2).

Both teams start off with fires lit under them. The commentators are gushing over the energy of team USA, and while I can agree there's definitely energy, it's looking largely unfocused and reckless to me. Probably indicative of the young stars that make up the team, they're going to have to concentrate on connecting some plays and being a team if they hope to bring anything against Jonas Hiller.

The Swiss are also coming on with energy, but their offensive force is not nearly as big as their defense. Ryan Miller is forced to make a handful of good saves, but the Team USA defense has a way of blocking many of those shots before they even reach their intrepid netminder.

Put it this way. Hiller faced 42 shots as opposed to Miller's 19.

My boy Bobby Ryan only got eight and a half minutes of ice time, but he managed three shots on goal and some nice YouTube-able plays. Hiller played a phenomenal game. He definitely helped his team fight to the end.

There were no goals through two periods of play. Not until Zach Parise got one by Hiller did the momentum swing, and Team USA gave that extra push. Parise potted an empty netter with less than a minute left in regulation.

Team USA moves on to the quarterfinals.

By the way, I'd forgotten to mention that Bobby is also writing an Olympic blog (along with Hiller and Ryan Whitney). You can read his thoughts here.

Next up, the heavily commercialized game of Team Canada vs Team Russia. Sid vs Ovie... again.

Elimination rounds

Two games to keep an eye on today, although one SHOULD be a no-brainer.

First up, Team Switzerland vs Team Belarus. The winner of this game will go on to play Team USA in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Yours truly was not able to watch this game (the job that pays the bills interfered), but it was my understanding that Jonas Hiller could have been much sharper between the pipes than he actually was.

In the end, it wouldn't matter. The Swiss squeezed out Belarus in a shootout, winning 3-2.

It'll be Hiller vs Bobby Ryan part two.

The next game on the Canada Place schedule was Team Canada vs Team Germany. After Canada's loss in regulation to USA on Sunday, you can bet the pressure was on to deliver against Germany. Shouldn't be a problem, right?

Martin Brodeur lost his opportunity to netmind, and Roberto Luongo would be the one in goal today. Team Canada redeemed themselves today, positively shredding Germany with a 8-2 win.

Our boys Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry looked good out there, despite neither recording any points. Getzy had one shot on goal, Perry had four. Captain Scott Niedermayer would net a goal.

If anyone is keeping count, as of today, I believe all of our hometown heroes have multiple Olypmic points to their names, with the exception of Hiller (obviously) and Ryan Whitney. I'll do a breakdown in the next post.

Team Canada will go on to play Team Russia in Wednesday's quarterfinals. Looks like another Sid vs. Ovie matchup!

Lots of hockey to be watched. Unfortunately, the television schedule has left much to be desired. The Team USA vs Team Switzerland quarterfinal will be aired on NBC at 3pm Pacific Time, but there's only a 2-hour time slot dedicated to it. Will they cut the game short??? How horrible!

The Team Canada vs Team Russia quarterfinal is scheduled to start at 4pm on CNBC. So of course, there's overlap... which makes it all but impossible for yours truly to record via VCR.

Following later in the day, Team Finland vs Team Czech.

I suppose I'll be refreshing the Olympic web page again and again.

Super-rink Sunday

Forget the Superbowl, today is hockey's day.

There were three big games today, but I'll focus on the last two because those feature Duck players. Yes, I'm biased, but it's my blog and I can do whatever I want.

Yours truly attended a watch party for the big Team USA vs Team Canada game this afternoon. The location was my favorite local sports bar, Oggi's in Tustin. The atmosphere was pure electricity, as tons of hockey fans came out to cheer on their country of choice.

With Ducks on both Team USA and Team Canada, it felt a little like a win-win situation for yours truly. However, I'm known to be a sucker for underdogs (heck, I'm a Phoenix Coyotes fan for crying out loud), and my boy Bobby Ryan make the decision easy. Team USA all the way, baby.

In between the pipes, Team USA would stay with Ryan Miller. For Team Canada, Martin Brodeur would get the nod.

The game started off wonderfully with an early goal for Team USA courtesy Brian Rafalski. Further energized, Team USA went on to have a great first period. They played with confidence and speed, and the forecheck was incredibly effective. Team Canada could not even set up in the offensive zone.

Team Canada did get on the board before the first half of the period expired, with a goal by Eric Staal. But it was answered less than a minute later by a second goal from Rafalski.

Unbelievable game for Rafalski.

The holes in the defense had been addressed, it seemed, and they weren't as glaring in Team USA's game tonight. The defensemen were better distributed along the blue line, turnovers were better controlled, and I think Canada only got away with one odd-man rush the entire game.

The second period, for Team USA, looked a little more like a typical Anaheim Ducks' second period. The boys looked a bit slow, a bit caught back on their heels. Dany Heatley would take advantage and score for Canada, tying the game up 2-2.

Before the end of the period, a pinball play in front of Brodeur's crease would land a third goal for Team USA. Credit to Chris Drury, assists to David Backes and Bobby Ryan. Again, Team USA would take a one-goal lead into the locker room for the intermission.

A series of penalties for Team Canada drove the momentum back in Team USA's favor for the third period. The forecheck reappeared, some of the extra kick returned to Team USA's step. On the last USA power play, Captain Jamie Langenbrunner would give the US a 2-goal lead for the first time in the game.

And then Team USA would take two penalities of its own, allowing a goal in the last five seconds. Sidney Crosby, pulling the game once again down to one goal. It became a veritable shooting gallery around Ryan Miller, with a desparate Canadian team taking every possible shot.

With about a minute left in regulation, Brodeur was pulled for the extra attacker. Zach Parise and Ryan Kesler danced with the puck near the blue line. Kesler took off down the ice, as did his defender Corey Perry. Parise's shot sped past them. When it looked as if Perry had effectively kept Kesler away, the fallen American swung his stick, connected with the puck, and sent it into the far corner of the net.

Empty net goal! And in that moment, Team USA realized what it had done. Kesler was tackled by Parise, Langenbrunner, and Erik Johnson behind the Canada net. On the bench, guys were hugging and slapping each other on the back, smiles stretched wide across their young faces.

There were 45 seconds left in regulation, but Team Canada would fail to bring a tie. Team USA had done it, beating the favorite and creating a situation where either Team Canada or Team Russia would leave Vancouver empty handed.

Miller came up HUGE, especially in the last five of regulation. He would face 45 shots during this game, compared to Brodeur's 23.

A few Duck observations...

Bobby's ice time was considerably increased in this game, I'm happy to say. He played nearly 12 minutes, had two shots on goal and one assist.

Ryan Whitney got the least time on ice of any Team USA player, 5:22, and he was a -1.

This definitely wasn't Corey Perry's game. To add injury to insult, Perry collided at one point with Staal and, while crumpled on the ice, had Chris Pronger fall over them both. Perry left blood on the ice, but there would be no penalties as all of the players involved belonged to the same team! Not Canada's finest moment by far.

Both Perry and Ryan Getzlaf would fail to pen any goals or assists, but each served two penalty minutes and had one and three shots on goal, respectively.

Captain Canada, Scott Niedermayer, has played better games himself. I think Scotty showed some rare frustration, getting himself involved in post-whistle shoving scrums on more than one occasion. He had three shots on goal, was a -1, and saw 17 minutes of ice time (which, incidentally, is a lot less than Scotty is used to playing).

It was an incredible game, and the watch party atmosphere made it even more memorable for yours truly.

The game that followed could have also been a nail-biter. Team Finland and Team Sweden have had a very heated rivalry through many Olympics, including the gold medal game four years ago. Unfortunately, this game failed to meet most expectations.

I don't know what was wrong with Team Finland, but it seemed that nobody showed except for Tuomo Ruutu and goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. He was able to stop the bleeding on a 0-3 meltdown by his countrymen, but with no effective attacks on net, Kipper couldn't exactly do anything about the bagel on the scoreboard.

With the preliminary rounds finished, the top four seeds go to USA, Sweden, Russia, and Finland (qualifying round). These four teams don't have to play in Tuesday's elimination rounds as they go straight through to the quarterfinals on Wednesday. The remaining eight teams will play Tuesday, with the top seed playing the bottommost seed, 2nd top playing the 2nd from bottom, etc.

- Czech vs Latvia
- Canada vs Germany
- Slovakia vs Norway
- Switzerland vs Belarus

The winners in these elimination rounds will go on to play the top four seeds on Wednesday. Yours truly will be posting the rest of the men's hockey schedule tomorrow.

Hits and misses, Olympic prelims

Another big day of men's hockey for our Ducks Olympians, today would feature contests between Team USA and Team Norway, Team Canada and Team Switzerland.

In watching USA versus Norway, yours truly has a few notable observations. The offensive lines are looking like they're starting to gel a little bit. Today's game was definitely physical... Team USA's bigger boys weren't afraid to throw their weight around. Passing plays looked cleaner, and the team would benefit with goals.

Defensively, I think we have problems. As long as the puck is in the offensive zone, Team USA looks good. But as soon as they have to defend, there's way too much open ice. Not to mention, I don't think it helps that the defensemen have been joining the offensive rushes. You may get away with that in games against less talented teams, but once you start playing the big guns, you're going to need both D-men holding up that blue line. Without that, turnovers quickly become dangerous odd-man rushes.

This happened a number of times in today's game, and Ryan Miller did his best against the Norweigan forwards, but you're playing a numbers game. Give them too many good scoring chances, and they will eventually score.

Unfortunately, yours truly isn't feeling too confident about the netminding. I understand Ryan Miller is probably going to be starting for as long as we're winning, or something like that, but I was actually hoping Jonathan Quick would get an opportunity between the pipes. I'm just a tad bit more impressed with Quick's game than Miller's going into the Olympic break.

My boy Bobby Ryan got less than 10 minutes of ice time in today's game... can I ask why?

In any case, Team USA proves good enough to win today's contest, 6-1.

The next men's hockey game on the schedule would pit Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Scott Niedermayer against their fellow teammate, goaltender Jonas Hiller.

What did I say about underestimating Team Switzerland? Hiller and his incredible D would take Team Canada all the way through five minutes of sudden death overtime and into a shootout. Switzerland would fall 2-3 in that shootout.

Hiller had an absolutely phenomenal game, I wish he had been rewarded with a win. He faced 47 shots, stopping 44. And when you figure that it's guys like Sidney Crosby, Jerome Iginla, Ryan Getzlaf, and Dany Heatley firing these shots, Hiller's performance is even more remarkable.

The Swiss play a hard, gritty game. I give them very good chances of taking a win away when they play Norway next.

Honestly, if Team USA had the defensive core and netminding of Team Switzerland, they'd be a force to be reckoned with.

No goals or assists for any of our hometown heroes today.

On a sidenote, who wants to bet Jeremy Roenick will take Mike Milbury out before the end of the tournament?

Wins, Finns, and journalism spins

The Team USA vs Team Switzerland match got men's ice hockey off to a good start, and the excitement would continue with the very next game.

Team Canada, with Ryan Getzlaf on the roster, took on Team Norway later that afternoon. Team Canada's roster looks like a veritable hockey all-stars team, what with Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Captain Scott Niedermayer from the Anaheim Ducks, and league-known superstars like Sidney Crosby, Jerome Iginla, Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, Rick Nash, Chris Pronger, and Jonathan Toews.

Vancouver Canucks' Roberto Luongo started in net for the Canadians, and got himself a shutout, 8-0. The game started off slowly, going scoreless into the first intermission, but play quickly picked up as players got comfortable.

Our three Ducks would come away with one point each, Getzy and Pears got goals, and Scotty an assist.

This morning, Team Finland took on Team Belarus. More points for our Ducks, Captain Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne would both get assists in this 5-1 win. Teemu is a bit of a legend in Olympic circles, holding 20 goals and 36 points in five Olympic appearances. He's now tied for the leading Olympic record for the most career points. Five more Olympic goals will tie him for the most career goals in the modern era (since the 1956 Olympics).

Can the Finnish Flash do it? Yours truly would say, if a broken hand and broken jaw can't keep him out of the Olympics, it's very possible he'll go on to tie that record.

Switching opponents, Team USA will take on Team Norway tomorrow. And Team Canada will face Jonas Hiller and Team Switzerland. The big game between USA and Canada will take place this Sunday, along with Team Finland versus rival Team Sweden.

A few of our Ducks have taken pen in hand to blog about their Olympic experiences. Ducks defenseman Ryan Whitney's blog can be found on the OC Register webpage, and netminder Jonas Hiller's blog can be found on the Ducks homepage.