Olympic Tourament Wrap Up

Here's some final news and notes as this years Olympic Hockey Tournament comes to an end. Everything from Tournament awards, 2 new members into International Hockey's Elite known as the Triple Gold Club and reaction to the Olympics as a whole.

Tournament Awards: Despite falling short of the Olympic Gold, Ryan Miller's performance during the Olympic Touranment did win him the tournament MVP as he was unbeaten in regulation and made some amazing saves to have the tournament of a lifetime.

Some of which were game saving especially in the Canada game during the Prelim Round and in the Quarterfinals Game against Switzerland where he pitched a shutout to help the Americans advance to the Semifinals.

Also making the All Tournament Team were American Forward Zach Parise who also had the event of his life where he lead Team U.S.A. in points with 8 (4G 4A). Joining Parise and Miller on the All Tournament Team from the U.S.A. was defensemen Brian Rafalski.

Joining the Americans were 2 Canadians players in defensmen Shea Webber and Forward Jonathan Toews. Rounding out the All Tournament Team was SVK Forward Pavol Demitra who helped Slovakia have their best Olympic Tournament result ever by reaching the Bronze Medal Game before losing to Finland.

Media All Star Team

G: Ryan Miller (USA)

D: Brian Rafalski (USA)

D: Shea Weber (CAN)

F: Jonathan Toews (CAN)

F: Zach Parise (USA)

F: Pavol Demitra (SVK)

Tournament MVP: Ryan Miller (USA)


Directorate Awards

Best Goalie: Ryan Miller (USA)

Best Defensemen: Brian Rafalski (USA)

Best Forward: Jonathan Toews (CAN)


Tournament Attendance: With this Olympic Tournament going down as one of the biggest and best in History. The tournament attendance was amazing as the tournament drew an impressive 419,444 fans through the gates at the 2 venues at the Hockey Canada Place and The UBC Thunderbird Arena. (17,162 at Hockey Canada Place, 5,455 at UBC Thunderbird Arena) The fans should be honored for creating such a great athomsphere for the games.

If you could make it, then you had the time of your life. If not, then the Olympic Tournament is something that every hockey fan around the world should experience at least once in their life. In addidition to the Olympics, events like the World Juniors and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are also worth making it worth getting involved in the exciting events and tournaments that the world's best players play in.


New Triple Gold Club Members

The Triple Gold Club is the biggest honor in hockey. This is where a player has won an Olympic Gold Medal, an IIHF World Championship and a Stanley Cup as the biggest honors a player and coach can win in your career.

This year, we had 2 new members as Canada's Eric Staal became the newest and currently is the youngest member of the Triple Gold Club at age 25. The young Canadian Forward only scored 1 goal, but was involved with 5 assists in the tournament and was in the mix with some of the physicality, especially in the 2 games against the U.S.A.

"At my age, I feel quite honored to be in that mix. It's an elite club. Hopefully I've got many more years ahead of me to add a few numbers to that," Staal said after the Gold Medal Game.

In addiditon to the Olympic Gold Medal, he won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, where he scored a career high 128 points (54G, 74A) in 107 games in his 2nd NHL Season en route to the Stanley Cup.

Then in 2007, he won the IIHF World Championship in Moscow with Team Canada to complete the trimph. In addiddition to the World Championship, the next season he won a Silver Medal on home ice when the World Championships were held in Quebec City and Halifax.

He will be the 23rd member to enter the Triple Gold Club. During the Olympics, the IIHF and the IOC had a ceremony to honor the Triple Gold Members.

In addiditoin to Eric Staal, Mike Babcock becomes the first coach to enter the Triple Gold Club, after leading Canada to lead Olympic Gold this year. He led the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup in 2008. Also he was Team Canada's head coach when the Canadians won the IIHF World Championship in 2004 when the tournament was in Prague, Czech Republic.

The Triple Gold Club was created shortly after the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics when Swedish Teammates Hakan Loob, Mats Naslund and Tomas Jonsson were the first players to complete the Triple in their careers in the sports history. If two or more players have identical championships, the priority goes to the player who did it at a younger age.

Of the 24 members, Sweden has the most with 9, Canada with the addiditions of Eric Staal and Mike Babcock increases its total to 7. Russia/Soviet Union has 6 members and the Czech Republic has 2.

Here's a look at the Complete List of the Triple Gold Club.

1. Tomas Jonsson (Born in Falun, Sweden April of 1960)
Stanley Cup: 1982 & 1983 (NY Islanders)
World Championship: 1991 (Sweden)
Olympic Gold: 1994 (Sweden)

TGC Member as of 2/27/94 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against Canada.

2. Mats Naslund (Timra, Sweden, October of 1956)
Stanley Cup: 1986 (Montreal Canadians)
World Championships: 1991 (Sweden)
Olympic Gold: 1994 (Sweden)

TGC Member as of 2/27/94 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against Canada.

3. Hakan Loob (Roma, Sweden, July 1960)
Stanley Cup: 1989 (Calgary Flames)
World Championship: 1987, 1991 (Sweden)
Olympic Gold: 1994 (Sweden)

TGC Member as of 2/27/94 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against Canada.

4. Valeri Kamensky (Voskresensk, Soviet Union, April of 1966)
Stanley Cup: 1996 (Colorado Avalanche)
World Championship: 1986, 1989, 1990 (Soviet Union)
Olympic Gold: 1988 (Soviet Union)

TGC Member as of 6/10/96 in Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers.

5. Alexei Gusarov (Leningard, Soviet Union, July of 1964)
Stanley Cup: 1996 (Colorado Avalanche)
World Championship: 1986, 1989, 1990 (Soviet Union)
Olympic Gold: 1988 (Soviet Union)

TGC Member as of 6/10/96 in Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers.

6. Peter Forsberg (Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, July of 1973)
Stanley Cup: 1996, 2001 (Colorado Avalanche)
World Championship: 1992, 1998 (Sweden)
Olympic Gold: 1994, 2006 (Sweden)

TGC Member as of 6/10/96 in Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers.

7. Vyacheslav Fetisov (Moscow, Soviet Union, April 1958)
Stanley Cup: 1997, 1998 (Detroit Red Wings)
World Championship: 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990 (Soviet Union)
Olympic Gold: 1984, 1988 (Soviet Union)

TGC Member as of 6/7/97 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Philadelphia Flyers.

8. Igor Larionov (Voskresensk, Soviet Union, December 1960)
Stanley Cup: 1997, 1998, 2002 (Detroit Red Wings)
World Championship: 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989 (Soviet Union)
Olympic Gold: 1984, 1988 (Soviet Union)

TGC Member as of 6/7/97 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Philadelphia Flyers.

9. Alexander Moginly (Khabarovsk, Soviet Union, February 1969)
Stanley Cup: 2000 (New Jersey Devils)
World Championship: 1989 (Soviet Union)
Olympic Gold: 1988 (Soviet Union)

TGC Member as of 6/10/2000 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Dallas Stars.

10. Vladimir Malakhov (Ekaterinburg, Soviet Union, August 1968)
Stanley Cup: 2000 (New Jersey Devils)
World Championship: 1990 (Soviet Union)
Olympic Gold: 1992 (Russia)

TGC Member as of 6/10/200 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Dallas Stars.

11. Rob Blake (Simcoe, On. Canada, December 1969)
Stanley Cup: 2001 (Colorado Avalanche)
World Championship: 1994, 1997 (Canada)
Olympic Gold: 2002 (Canada)

TGC Member as of 2/24/02 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against the U.S.A.

12. Joe Sakic (Burnaby, B.C. Canada, July 1969)
Stanley Cup: 1996, 2001 (Colorado Avalanche)
World Championship: 1994 (Canada)
Olympic Gold: 2002 (Canada)

TGC Member as of 2/24/02 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against the U.S.A.

13. Brendan Shanahan (Mimico, On. Canada, January 1969)
Stanley Cup: 1997, 1998, 2002 (Detroit Red Wings)
World Championship: 1994 (Canada)
Olympic Gold: 2002 (Canada)

TGC Member as of 2/24/02 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against the U.S.A.

14. Scott Niedermayer (Edmonton, Ab., Canada, August 1973)
Stanley Cup: 1995, 2000, 2003 (New Jersey Devils) 2007 (Anaheim Ducks)
World Championship: 2004 (Canada)
Olympic Gold: 2002 (Canada)

TGC Member as of 5/9/04 in the IIHF World Championship Game against Sweden.

15. Jaromir Jagr (Klando, Czechoslovakia, February 1972)
Stanley Cup: 1991, 1992 (Pittsburgh Penguins)
World Championship: 2005 (Czech Republic)
Olympic Gold: 1998 (Czech Republic)

TGC Member as of 5/15/05 in the IIHF World Championship Game against Canada.

16. Jiri Slegr (Jihlava, Czechoslovakia, May 1971)
Stanley Cup: 2002 (Detroit Red Wings)
World Championship: 2005 (Czech Republic)
Olympic Gold: 1998 (Czech Republic)

TGC Member as of 5/15/05 in the IIHF World Championship Game against Canada.

17. Nicklas Lindstrom (Vasteras, Sweden, April 1970)
Stanley Cup: 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008 (Detroit Red Wings)
World Championship: 1991 (Sweden)
Olympic Gold: 2006 (Sweden)

TGC Member as of 2/26/06 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against Finland.

18. Fredrik Modin (Sundsvall, Sweden, October 1974)
Stanley Cup: 2004 (Tampa Bay Lighting)
World Championship: 1998 (Sweden)
Olympic Gold: 2006 (Sweden)

TGC Member as of 2/26/06 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against Finland.


19. Chris Pronger (Dryden, On., Canada, October 1974)
Stanley Cup: 2007 (Anaheim Ducks)
World Championship: 1997 (Canada)
Olympic Gold: 2002 (Canada)

TGC Member as of 6/6/07 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Ottawa Senators.

20. Niklas Kronwall (Stockholm, Sweden, January 1981)
Stanley Cup: 2008 (Detroit Red Wings)
World Championship: 2006 (Sweden)
Olympic Gold: 2006 (Sweden)

TGC Member as of 6/4/08 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

21. Henrik Zetterberg (Njurunda, Sweden, October 1980)
Stanley Cup: 2008 (Detroit Red Wings)
World Championship: 2006 (Sweden)
Olympic Gold: 2006 (Sweden)

TGC Member as of 6/4/08 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

22. Mikael Samuelsson (Mariefred, Sweden, December 1976)
Stanley Cup: 2008 (Detroit Red Wings)
World Championship: 2006 (Sweden)
Olympic Gold: 2006 (Sweden)

TGC Member as of 6/4/08 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

23. Eric Staal (Thunder Bay, On., Canada, October 1984)
Stanley Cup: 2006 (Carolina Hurricanes)
World Championship: 2007 (Canada)
Olympic Gold: 2010 (Canada)

TGC Member as of 2/28/10 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against the U.S.A.

24 (Coach). Mike Babcock (Manitouwadge, On, Canada, April 1963)
Stanley Cup: 2008 (Detroit Red Wings)
World Championship: 2004 (Canada)
Olympic Gold: 2010 (Canada)

TGC Member as of 2/28/10 in the Olympic Gold Medal Game against the U.S.A.