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.

Finland comes back to win Bronze Medal

Slovakia's first ever Olympic Hockey Medal will have to wait at least another 4 years after the Slovaks good start where after Slovakia was up 3-1 going into the 3rd period with 3 2nd period goals by Slovak Superstars Marian Gaborik, Marian Hossa and Pavol Demitira all on the Special Teams (2 PP, 1 SH). After the 2nd intermission, Slovakia's fans were looking to celebrate the teams best ever hockey success.

However, Finland proved that they are still among worlds hockey elite when the Finns scored 4 goals in the 3rd period, inclduing 3 in 3 and a half minutes by Niklas Hagman and 2 by Olli Jokinen to turn the tide midway through the 3rd period. Despite playing better in the game and with shots being nearly equal with the excption of the 1st period to keep the game going.

Slovakia had a great effort starting with with 1:38 left in the game when Slovakia pulled Jaroslav Halak including a couple of great saves by Finnish Goalie Mikka Kiprusoff who despite being crushed in the 1st period of the Semifinal against the U.S.A., he was able to big when he needed to be.

Then with just 11 seconds left when Valtteri Filppula scored the Bronze Medal Winner to end the game 5-3 to win 3rd place and Slovakia who finished 4th with that being the best finish ever for Slovakia in the Olympic Games.

Despite the stagness of the team, hopefully this can put the SVK Hockey Assocation back on track and contuine to help grow the number of players that can make the NHL and make org. like the SVK Extraliga and the Junior Teams to help contuine to play and be successful in the Winter Olympics in the near future.

The problem for Slovakia right now is that they haven't had any big time players that have developed and been able to make it big. Players like Marian Gaborak, Marin Hossa are on the back side of their careers and this was probably they last Olympic WInter Games parctipation.

Will the Slovaks be able to successfully turn the page and help out the next generation of Slovak Hockey Players do well in the NHL, the Olympics and other big international events, or will the federation be on the down slide when making the Olympics will no longer be a given, that maybe an issue they may have to deal with is Olympic Qualification with teams like Germany, Norway, Denmark and Austria amongst others who are looking to get in or improve in 2014 in Sochi Russia.

Finland came short of redeeming themsevles for Olympic Gold, but they still have a great finish of Winning a Hockey Medal in back to back Olympics on the Men's side, and the First Olympic Hockey Medal on the Women's side since 1998. Finns still have a great mix of youth and experience to help them out to build up on this for both the U18 World Championship coming up in April and bring the nations first World Championship in over a decade when the tournament heads to Germany in May.

Last season, the Finns won Bronze at the U18 World Championship last season and they looking to get back after a few years of poor performances. Which includes a 7th place finish in 2007 when they hosted the tournament.

Then at the recent U20 World Championship, a 5th place finish was a nice step up, but they still got elinmated in the Quarterfinals. The Finns do a great job of getting ready their teams for international events reguardless of the level or age group and they looking to get back on the Medal Podium. Not just at the Olympics, but covering the board as much as possible.

After a Bronze Medal here, they will contuine to a world power at the different tournaments to follow and will contuine to play well at both the club and international level. Also the fact that despite losing to Sweden in the Group Stage, they were able to still be the best of the 2nd place teams and get the last of the 2nd Round Byes.

Reguardless of the Medal, hockey in Finland is still the top sport for the most part. But just imagine it would have been if the Finns could have brought home Finland's 1st ever Olympic Hockey Gold Medal after coming so close in 2006.

Finland VS. Slovakia Bronze Medal Game Photos: www.iihf.com/channels10/olympics-2010/pictures/page/0/game/FIN%20-%20SVK%20%28B%29.html

Finland VS. Slovakia Bronze Medal Game Summary: www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey/schedule-and-results/mens-bronze-medal-game---game-29_ihm400102zP.html

From Lucas Aykroyd of the International Ice Hockey Federation Website: www.iihf.com

It was an historic night at Canada Hockey Place, as Finland earned a 5-3 comeback win in its inaugral Olympic Meeting with Slovakia on Saturday to claim the 2010 Bronze Medal.

The gutsy Finns trailed 3-1 heading into the 3rd period, but Olli Jokinen scored a pair of 3rd period goals, including the game winner with 11:19 left in the game. Sami Salo, Niklas Hagman, and Valtteri Flippula also scored for Finland.

For Finland, Saku Koivu, Jere Lehtinen and Ville Peltonen all succeded in tying Vladislav Tretiak, Igor Kravchuk, and Jiri Holik for the most Olympic Medals with 4, the three battle-hardened Finns now have a Silver in 2006 and three Bronze Medals (1994, 1998, 2010).

"I think that shows a lot about them and Finnish Hockey", said Koivu's younger brother, Mikko. "There are always people who question our team and our talent before these tournaments. This achievement shows our character and the strenth of our team."

"When you see players like Lehtinen and Peltonen and Koivu sacrificing their bodies and blocked shots, you realize how many leaders we have," added Finnish forward Tuomo Ruutu. "I'am so incredibly proud of them and honored to be on this team."

Pavol Demitra, a crowd favorite as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, lead the Slovak Attack with a goal and two helpers. He is now first in Olympic Scoring (10 PTS), and shares the tournament lead in assists with 7 with Canada's Jonathan Towes. Marian Hossa added a goal and an assist, and Marian Gaborik had the other Slovak Goal.

This was Finland's 5th Olympic Medal since 1988. Finland has won a medal of shade-though never gold-at four of the last 5 Olympics. The Finns have also taken 3 World Championship Bronze Medals (2000, 2006, 2008) and seem particulary proficient in 3rd place games.

"After the other night it would have been tough to go home in 4th place," said Jarkko Ruutu, alluding to the 6-1 loss to the Americans. "4th or 8th- it dosen't matter, but Bronze really means something."

Instead of going with their backup goalies, as international teams usually do in 3rd place/Bronze Medal Games, both countries stuck with their starters. Finland's Mikka Kiprusoff rebounded after a horrific semi-final performance against the Americans, where he allowed 4 goals on 7 shots. Jaroslav Halak suited up against Slovakia, which he was outshot 33-22 in the game.

The 4th place finish was Slovakia's best ever in Olympic Competition. It came in 5th in Turin in 2006. Slovakia's previous senior IIHF medals at World Championships: Gold in 2002, Silver in 2000 and Bronze in 2003. Still it was disappointing for the Slovaks, who missed a chance to win their countries first ever Olympic Medal. After beating Russia and Sweden and giving Canada a scare in the Semifinals, they head home after empty-handed.

It was probably the final Olympic appearance for veteran stars on both sides: Slovakia's Demitra, Zigmund Palffy, Miroslav Satan, and Finland's Kiprusoff, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu Ville Peltonen and Jere Lehtinen, to name a few.

"I played my first national team game 23 years ago," noted Selanne who also said that this would be likely his final NHL Season. "Five Olympics, finishing with Bronze is a dream come. When you win your last game, it's huge. I really rank this very high. Any time you play against the best and can get this kind of medal, it's unbelievably huge."

Selanne also noted that the Bronze Medal was sure the heaviest medal in his collection, and that he'd be open to being "Jarri Kurri's right handed man", in retirement, but not a coach.

Although this game got off to a cautious start, there were several highlights in the early going. Kiprusoff made some sharp saves during an early Slovak Power Play with Niklas Hagman off for holding. Miroslav Satan dazzled the crowd with a spin-around move while going one-on-one with Finnish Defensemen Joni Pitkanen, but fired high and wide. Then Halak Stymied Lehtinen from point-blank range in the slot.

Finland picked up the pace as the time wore on, and Salo finally opened up the scoring with the man advantage with 1:10 left in the 1st period. The Vancouver Canucks defensemen delighted the home crowd when he unleashed his trademark howitzer, which screamed over Halak's left arm. It was Salo's first goal of the tournament.

The Finns Continued to press in the first half of the 2nd period, but it was Gaborik who tallied the Power Play Equalizer for the Slovaks midway through the game. Showing superb patience, Demitra controlled the puck on the sideboards before sending a centering pass to Gaborik, who zinged a shot over Kiprusoff's right shoulder.

The Slovaks couldn't contrubite on a couple of odd man rushes. But they did capitzlized on a breif 5-on-3 advantage with 4:22 left in the 2nd period when Hossa, standing on the edge of the crease, managed to kick the puck from his skate to his stick and bang it in past Kiprusoff's left skate.

Two minutes later, Branko Radivojevic inadvertently whacked Olli Jokinen in the head with the stick and went off for a four minute high sticking penalty. Yet even shorthanded, the Slovaks found a way to take advantage. After a backward pass by Salo in the Slovak end went bad, Hossa burst right wing on a 2-on-1 and fed the puck across Demitra, who made no mistake, putting it in past Kiprusoff right off a post for a 3-1 lead at 18:45 of the 2nd period.

The Slovaks seemed to be in control. But they ran into penalty trouble in the 3rd period, and this time the Finns made them pay. At the tail end of the extended two-man advantage, Kimmo Timonen's shot tipped twice en route to the net, going off Hagman to make it 3-2 at 5:06. The Finns were fired up now, and they struck quickly for the tying goal at 6:49 when Olli Jokinen wheeled into the high slot, taking a feed from Jarkko Ruutu and whipping it past Halak's blocker side.

Jokinen wasn't done. Taking a long pass from Joni Pitkanen, he split the Slovak defense on a power play solo rush and tucked a backhand shot neatly Halak's legs to put Finland up 4-3 at 8:41.

Three Finnish goals in less then 4 minutes-it was a blow from which stunned Slovaks couldn't recover.

"We didn't get it done in the 3rd period," Palffy admitted. "We took some penalties and let them back in the game. It was very disappointing."

The Slovaks pulled all the stops on a late penalty to Pitkanen, but Kiprusoff made a game saving stop on Richard Zednik at the edge of the crease with a minute and a half left. Twenty seconds later, Demitra nearly snucked one in with sneaky slider from the line. Yet luck wasn't on Slovakia's side.

Flippula sealed the deal with an empty netter with 11 seconds left.

"We have lots of character," said Peltonen. "We reminded each other to trust ourselves, trust our game. It was tough to play after yesterday, which was a total nightmare, but we pulled together."

Selanne ends his Olympic Career as an all time morden day points leader (37), one ahead of the Soviet great Valeri Kharlamov. However, Kharlamov is still the all time assists leader (22), one ahead of Saku Koivu.

Retired Canadian Mark Messier elicited both cheers and boos when he was shown on the big video screen. Messier will serve as Canada's GM at the 2010 IIHF World Championships in Germany. However, he was a longtime foe of the Canucks with the 1980s Edmonton Oilers, spolied Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup Hopes in the 1994 finals with the New York Rangers, and didn't lead the team to glory when he played with them from 1997 to 2000.

Women's Final Tournament Scores and Results

Here's a look at the full Women's Tournament for the Scores, Standings and Results for the 2010 Women's Olympic Tournament. I will provide final comments and thoughts soon as we wrap up the Women's Tournament and get ready for the Men's Semifinals and Medal Round coming up this weekend.

Congrats to Team Canada for winning Gold for the 3rd straight Olympics. The U.S.A. played very well in getting the Silver Medal. Also to the Finns who ended the Olympic Medal Drought that had lasted since 1998.

The Updated World Rankings will be used to determine who will play in the 2011 World Women's Hockey Championship which will be played in early 2011 where the host city has yet to be determined. Also the tournament has been reduced from 9 to 8 teams and will go back to the old format it was before the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

Here's the Tournament Divisons and Groups for the 2010-2011 season. The schedules and Sites will be announced during the off season.

WWC: U.S.A., Canada, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Switzerland.

Division 1: Japan, China, Germany, Norway, Austria, Latvia

Division 2: Czech Republic, France, North Korea, Great Britain, Italy, Denmark

Division 3: Netherlands, Australia, Slovenia, Croatia, Belgium, Hungary


Group Stage

Group A Standings

1. Canada 3-0-0-0 9 PTS 41-2

2. Sweden 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 10-15

3. Switzerland 1-0-0-2 3 PTS 6-15

4. Slovakia 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 4-29


Group A Results

2/13: Sweden 3 Switzerland 0 (1-0, 1-0, 1-0)

2/13: Canada 18 Slovakia 0 (7-0, 6-0, 5-0)

2/15: Switzerland 1 Canada 10 (0-2, 1-3, 0-5)

2/15: Sweden 6 Slovakia 2 (3-2, 1-0, 2-0)

2/17: Canada 13 Sweden 1 (5-0, 7-0, 1-1)

2/17: Slovakia 2 Switzerland 5 (1-0, 0-1, 1-4)


Group B Standings

1. U.S.A. 3-0-0-0 9 PTS 31-1

2. Finland 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 7-8

3. Russia 1-0-0-2 3 PTS 3-19

4. China 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 3-16


Group B Results

2/14: U.S.A. 12 China 1 (5-0, 3-0, 4-1)

2/14: Finland 5 Russia 1 (1-1, 2-0, 2-0)

2/16: Russia 0 U.S.A. 13 (0-5, 0-7, 0-1)

2/16: Finland 2 China 1 (0-1, 2-0, 0-0)

2/18: U.S.A. 6 Finland 0 (4-0, 1-0, 1-0)

2/18: China 1 Russia 2 (0-0, 1-2, 0-0)


Tournament Placement

2/20: Switzerland 6 China 0 (2-0, 2-0, 2-0)

2/20: Russia 4 Slovakia 2 (2-0, 1-1, 1-1)


5th Place Game

2/22: Switzerland 2 Russia 1 (SO) (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)

7th Place Game

2/22: China 3 Slovakia 1 (0-1, 1-0, 2-0)


Semifinals

2/22: U.S.A. 9 Sweden 1 (2-0, 3-1, 4-0)

2/22: Canada 5 Finland 0 (2-0, 1-0, 2-0)


Bronze Medal Game

2/25: Finland 3 Sweden 2 (OT) (0-0, 2-1, 0-1, 1-0)


Gold Medal Game

2/25: Canada 2 U.S.A. 0 (2-0, 0-0, 0-0)


Final Tournament Results:

1. Canada

2. U.S.A.

3. Finland

4. Sweden

5. Switzerland

6. Russia

7. China

8. Slovakia

Updated World Ranking: www.iihf.com/de/channels10/olympics-2010/home/men/world-ranking.html

Canadian Women use 2 early goals to win 3rd straight Gold Medal

Canadian Olympic Rookie Marie-Philip Poulin used 2 goals in the first 10 minutes to help the Canadians win their 3rd straight Olympic Women's Gold Medal over the U.S.A. and by doing so, have overtaken the U.S.A. for the top spot in the Women's World Rankings.

After the 2 goals were scored in the first 10 minutes, Goalie Shannon Szabados used a great performance by stopping all 28 U.S.A. shots to keep the Americans off the scoreboard as Canadian domination of this tournament since 2002. The U.S.A.'S only Women's Gold came in the inaugural tournament back in 1998.

In a game that had the physicality and the exicment of the Men's Prelim Round Game last weekend, the best Women's Teams in the World didn't disappointment the fans of both sides to give the game that fans of the U.S.A. and Canada deserve for the Gold Medal.

However, as we end another Women's Olympic Tournament. What should the U.S.A and Canada when it comes down to helping teams from around the world improve their game to make this tournament more competitive.

Do these players have an obligation to help young girls take up the sport around the world, or is that the responsibility of their own national team federations to help them out to make this tournament more competitive in the near future in both the Women's World Championship and the Olympics?

One thing that could help is the recent creation of the World Junior Women's Championship where this can help increase the number of players, especially at the younger age groups where you have very few Major College Teams and no Junior Leagues or teams at all.

Even though the tournament has only been around for 2 years, they has been some success already. The Czech Republic was able to medal at the first event in 2008 and then got back to the Bronze Medal Game back last year where they lost to Sweden is a very close game.

Also some of the lower seeded games have been greatly competitive such as all 4 of the placement games being 1 goal games last year, including 3 of them going to OT, so hopefully this can be a huge step forward for the Women's Game, especially for the younger players looking to play at the Olympics and WWC.

Also last year was the first year to include a Division 1 Tournament with the winner getting promoted to this year's tournament. This is good news because it was recommended that the IIHF wait 3 years before adding a Division 1 Tournament for new teams to have a shot at competing and getting promoted to the Main Event which will be in Chicago this season in March.

Canada VS. U.S.A. Women's Gold Medal Game Photos: www.iihf.com/de/channels10/olympics-2010/pictures/page/0/game/CAN%20-%20USA%20%28F%29.html

Canada VS. U.S.A. Women's Gold Medal Game Summary: www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey/schedule-and-results/womens-gold-medal-game---game-20_ihw400101Cf.html

From Andrew Ponieks of the International Ice Hockey Federation Website: www.iihf.com

Marie-Phillip Poulin scored two first-period goals to lead Canada to a 3rd straight Olympic Gold Medal in a 2-0 win over the United States. Shannon Szabados was nothing short of brilliant in goal for the Canadians, stopped all 28 shots.

"We trusted in ourselves," said veteran forward Jennifer Botterill. "Steve Yzerman came and spoke to us before the game, and that was one of the biggest pieces of advice: to trust yourself. We were excited, but had confidence all the preparation we did."

Coming into this game, Szabados had exactly two games of top-level experience under her belt, both here in Vancouver over the last two weeks. The game was watched by Wayne Gretzky and Prime Minister Stephen Harper as well as a full complement of both the Men's and Women's Teams from Canada and the U.S.A.

"I'm proud and very honored to be Canadian," said Meghan Agosta, the MVP of these Olympics. "To represent your country in Canada is honor and of itself. We had no doubt that if we played hard and worked together that we would be successful."

Coach Melody Davidson gave Szabados the surprise start despite many years of experience in Kim St. Pierre resume. Six minutes into the game, Szabados proved her worth in the first period-but not the last-time, making a huge glove save and ripped a wrist shot to the glove side, the game's first good scoring chance.

"Team Canada's a great team," said American Hilary Knight. "It just shows their perseverance. We had tons of opportunities tonight and couldn't capitalize. Hats off to Szabados for doing a great job. The puck didn't bounce our way, but she did a great job."

Indeed, while Canada's men's had been scrutinized for the intense pressure they had felt, the women, with mostly easy games so far, hadn't faced any. But they started this game nervously and tentatively. Midway through the period skated their way into a more confident team, drawing a couple of penalties but unable to capitalize.

Then it was Canada that took the quick penalties, creating a five-on-three for the Americans for 38 seconds. Szabados was sensational, and Wickenheiser made an heroic sliding block of a hard shot to keep the U.S.A. at bay. Soon after the team were playing at full strength, Canada struck. Jennifier Botterill took a loose puck along the left boards and swept a pass to Poulin in the slot. Poulin ripped a one timer over the glove of Jessie Vetter at 13:05.

Poulin got her second goal of the period at 16:50. This came off a faceoff deep in the U.S.A. end to the left of Vetter. She won a draw to winger Meghan Agosta. but the weak backhander was easily blocked. The puck came back right back to Poulin, however, and she drilled a low shot to the glove shot which Vetter couldn't reach.

"Poulin's just a little sniper," said Botterill. "You try to get her the puck, and she gets off some good shots."

It was a fast and furious period marked by a great scoring chances. The big difference was Szabados at one end and Canada's ability to nail its chances at the other. The Americans came out as a determined group and spent most of the first 90 seconds of the 2nd period in Canada's end, generating some good chances but not able to beat Szabados.

Canada then incurred two delay of game penalties within a span of 23 seconds, but the penalty killers during the 1:38 two man advantage was amazing. They blocked passing lanes, got sticks and bodies in the way of shots, and had Szabados as a surperb last line of defense.

"Szabados played great", said Lamoureux. "She stole the game for us." We had two 5-on-3's and we just couldn't bury the puck. They had blocked a lot of shots. We had rebounds to capitalize and made some great saves, I tip my hat to her. She played awesome."

The rest of the period featured spectacularly exciting, and end-to-end action. Both goalies had several close calls, the glove of Szabados often made the difference. Both teams also had their chances with the man advantage, and nearly the end of the period each team had a power play which has spent almost entirely in the offense zone. But, after 40 heart-pounding minutes, Poulin's two goals were still the only ones on record.

Canada's outlet passing and poise under pressure were impressive, and the team was able to contain the speed of the Americans for the most part, keeping their fleet-of-foot forwards on the outside. The Americans still generated their fair share of chances, and with a 2-0 lead with 20 minutes to play (or more), this game's results was by no means secure.

It was clear from the drop of the puck to start the 3rd period that Canada wasn't about to gamble, knowing that the Americans had to start taking chances. Szabados made another sensational save near the seven minute marks. The Canadian Defense made a dangerous clearing right through its own crease and the puck bounced off Monique Lamoureux's skate and headed right between the legs of the goalie until she squeezed the pads together.

The pace never let up, but the Canadians played brilliant defense and maintained their composure until the final horn when Canada Hockey Place erupted into a deafening moment of joy. Canada has won gold for the 3rd straight Olympic Games. While the U.S.A. has won Silver for the 2nd time (2002).

"This is definitely my last Olympic Games." Becky Kellar said, "and this is a good way to go out. It felt like a dream to be out there with that many people in the stands."

Women's Gold Medal Preview

Usually we would have the Men's Semifinals first as we are down the Final 4 of the Men's Tournament. But today, with the Women's Gold Medal Game coming up tonight between the U.S.A. and Canada.

As the only nations to ever win gold medals at the Women's Olympic Tournament and the Women's World Hockey Championship back in 1998. These teams have had some great matches over the years and have played for numerous medals over the years. Canada has won Olympic Gold the last 2 Olympics in 2006 and 2002.

However, the U.S.A. has won the Women's World Hockey Championship the last 2 seasons. In addition, 3 years ago, the IIHF created the World Junior Women's Championships where Team U.S.A. has beaten Canada in the first 2 years of the tournament's history, and look to make 3 in a row when the 3rd annual event takes place in March with the tournament taking place in Chicago this season coming up in March.

Women's Gold Medal Game

U.S.A. VS. Canada 5:00 PM @ Canada Hockey Place

With both teams dominating this tournament, even against their Northern European Rivals Sweden and Finland who usually have been able to challenge them in the Olympics and Women's World Championship.

Both Final Group Stage Games were used as the U.S.A. have been better on the defense and goaltending while Canada has been better on the barnstorming of the opponents was held by Sweden a little bit better as the U.S.A has been able to have shutouts over Russia and Finland during the Group Stage.

Then in the Semifinals was able to keep the Swedes to just one goal and that came pretty late in the game.

In the Goaltending battle will be the area where this game will come down who can stay more focused as both goalies haven't been that busy during this tournament in any of the 4 games that have been played for both teams.

Jesse Vetter has a 0.33 GAA and only has allowed 1 goal in this tournament while Canada has decided to play their different goalies Kim St. Pierre or Shannon Szabados that will get the start. The third netminder only played in the 18-0 blowout they gave Slovakia on the opening day of the tournament.

Edge: Toss Up

Defense has been the U.S.A.'s strong suit as the Americans unlike the Canadians have been much better then the Canadians when it comes down to protecting the net when needed during the tournament. For the U.S.A, watch out for the top duo of Catlin Chow and Molly Engstrom who have 8 and 7 points collectively in the tournament and have the capabilities to deliver some hits, where this is something that you don't see that much in the Women's Game.

For Canada, look for them to play a collectively team effort as the scoring hasn't been as effective for the Canadian team as the defensemen scoring hasn't been their as much as players like Phillip-Marie Poulin who leads the defense with 5 points.

In Women's Hockey, Defense scoring is a much bigger part of the game because of the lack of hitting and fewer penalties due to the hits and fewer fights as well.

Edge: Leaning U.S.A.

Talk about score by committee, 9 of the forwards have scored at least one goal in these Olympics. Lead by Jenny Porter who has 11 points (6G 5A) along with several players who have scored 4. While every forward expect for Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiez has scored at least a point that has made it very tough for opponents to focus on a few of the players which will be a challenge for Canada. Even though Zaugg-Siergiez hasn't scored a point, she's been more of a physical presence and more of a puck mover to set up some of the forwards, so far this has been maybe the only disappointment in this tournament run.

For Canada's leading score Meghan Agosta is looking to be the first player ever to score double digit goals in the Women's Olympic Tournament in it's history. Scoring 9 goals which has included a hat trick against Slovakia in their tournament opener where they won 18-0.

Some other forwards that can light the lamp include Jayna Hefford who after scoring 3 goals and 3 assists against Slovakia has kept up her performances with 2 goals and 5 assists in the tournament. However beyond the top 2, no one has more then 3 goals in this tournament so the scoring depth may be a problem, but they can be very hard hitting and can make life for the Americans skaters very tough tonight.

Edge: Slight U.S.A.


Bottom Line: Canada may have the Defending Gold Medals. But the U.S.A. is back up after a couple of Women's World Championships and have much better young players and they have a much better all around game. As expected, this game will be close, but look for the U.S.A. to pull away late in this one.

Final Score: U.S.A. 4 Canada 2

Here's the Scores from both the U.S.A. and Canada Throughout the Tournament.

U.S.A.

Group Stage

2/14: U.S.A. 12 China 1 (5-0, 3-0, 4-1)

2/16: U.S.A. 13 Russia 0 (5-0, 7-0, 1-0)

2/18: U.S.A. 6 Finland 0 (4-0, 1-0, 1-0)


Semifinals

2/22: U.S.A. 9 Sweden 1 (2-0, 3-1, 4-0)


Canada Scores

Group Stage

2/13: Canada 18 Slovakia 0 (7-0, 6-0, 5-0)

2/15: Switzerland 1 Canada 10 (0-2, 1-3, 0-5)

2/17: Canada 13 Sweden 1 (5-0, 7-0, 1-1)

Semifinals

2/22: Canada 5 Finland 0 (2-0, 1-0, 2-0)

Kiprusoff, Team Defense Shutdown's the Czech Republic

With one of the most defensive showdowns of the enter tournament with the first goal not coming until Niklas Hagaman broke the deadlock in a game of chicken where despite the shot count being so high in this game, it was getting to the point where one goal could have been enough to win the game.

Thanks to Mikka Kiprusoff's great performance, that made the difference as the Finns were able to shut out the Czechs and the team will be back in the Semifinals and Medal Round for the 2nd straight Olympics after coming so close to winning their first ever Olympic Gold Medal in their team's history.

For the Czech Republic, this ends a streak where the Czechs will not for an Olympic Medal for the first time since 1994. Could be a major sign of the decline of Czech Hockey in recent years. Their Junior Team have struggled, they not producing more players to the NHL in recent years and the Czech Extraliga has been going downhill steadily over the last decade or so.

Also, they had one of the older rosters on the team that for some of these guys that this would most likely be their final International Tournament of their careers.

For Finland, it's a shot at redemption against the U.S.A. as the Finns are looking for the nations first ever Olympic Gold after winning Silver Medals in 1988 (Calgary) and 2006 (Turin, Italy) and winning Bronze Medals in 1994 (Lillehammer, Norway) and 1998 (Nagano, Japan). Finland's last senior international Gold Medal was back in 1995 when the IHWC was held in Stockholm.

Finland VS. Czech Republic Game Photos: www.iihf.com/channels10/olympics-2010/pictures/page/0/game/FIN%20-%20CZE%20%28QF%29.html

Finland VS. Czech Republic Game Summary: www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey/schedule-and-results/mens-play-offs-quarterfinals---game-25_ihm400303gi.html

Here's the Matches for the Semifinals on Friday. Both Games will be at the Hockey Canada Place.

U.S.A. VS. Finland 12:00 PM PST

Canada VS. Slovakia 6:30 PM PST

Risto Pakarinen of the International Ice Hockey Federation: www.iihf.com

Thanks to Mikka Kiprusoff's shutout and Niklas Hagman's power play goal, Finland stayed in Vancouver to play a semi-final game against Team U.S.A., after 2-0 win over the Czech Republic late on Wednesday night.

"Just another day at the office for "Kipper"." said Teemu Selanne.

Finland managed to get a bye by being the best 2nd place team, while the Czechs had to go the full rounds with Latvia in the 2nd round game on Tuesday night. Maybe it was the Czechs' slight fatigue that caused penalty trouble they were in early in the game.

"Often it's better to play on back to back days, but I don't know, maybe they were tired. Although, they all play in the NHL and they should be used to it," Finland's Tuomo Ruutu said.

"This was a huge improvement over our game against Sweden. We wanted to be active, and take initiate. It's easier to be aggressive and play with our emotion if you know that somebody will cover for you. The defensemen can pinch when you can pinch they can trust the forwards," he added.

Just 3:38 into the game, Finland had a two-man advantage, a golden opportunity to score. The power play was turned into a 4-on-3 special when Finland captain Saku Koivu was sent to the penalty box for tripping. Finland-who had scored six power play goals in the first 3 games of the tournament-couldn't capitalize on its chance, nor did it score on any of the other four power play chances it had in this game.

Not only did the penalties give Finland the upper hand in the period, they also kept the Czech superstar Jaromir Jagr off the ice, as coach Ruzicka went with other players in the penalty kill. Jagr played only 2:08 in the first period.

In the 2nd period, the Czechs stayed out of the penalty box, a recipe for success, and they managed to create some good scoring chances. Team Captain Patrik Elias had an empty net in front of him halfway through the period, but the puck bounced over the blade. In fact, the only penalty of the period was on Olli Jokinen delaying of the game at 15:41 after he moved the net during a Czech attack. The ensued power play unit with Elias, Jagr, and Tomas Plekanec and defensemen Marek Zidlicky and Tomas Kaberle created a couple of good chances, but Kiprusoff was perfected in the Finnish goal.

"The most important thing is how the goalie makes his team feel, if he gives them the extra confidence. He doesn't even have to be the best in the world, if he makes his teammates more confident," said Jaromir Jagr."

The game was as round as the goalless score after two periods indicated. The Finns out shot the Czechs out shot Finland 11-10. And it came down the wire. Both teams were very careful in their own ends, with the first goal simply getting the puck over the blueline, and then went looking for that one mistake. Or a Power Play chance to take advantage.

Finland got its chance at 52:17 when Martin Erat was sent to the box for delaying the game. With 6:26 remaining, the puck was played to Janne Niskala whose slapshot Niklas Hagman deflected to the back of the net through Vokoun's five hole.

"It was tough luck for us, because the defensemen lost his helmet and he had to go and pick it up. But, it's a part of the game," Jagr commented on the play that left Hagman in front of the net.

Finland will play the U.S.A. in it's semifinal on Friday

"It'll be a tough game, they have a couple of skilled lines, but also players that are physical. A little bit like our team," said Defensemen Kimmo Timonen.

Sweden Dethroned, Slovakia to play for first ever Olympic Medal

The Defending Olympic Gold Medal Winners were looking to be the first team to repeat since the Soveit Union Domination in the 60s and the 70s. After a slow start to the game where it was a bit of a sleeper in the first period, but the game came to life in the 2nd period when Marian Gaborik and Andrej Sekera helped the Slovaks go up 2-0 in just over a minute prior to the midway point of the game.

For Sweden, Henrik Zetterberg and Patric Hornqvist came back quickly to make it 2-2 as the game began to come alive. With some great PP's chances and some fast action. The Slovaks used Tomas Kopecky goal to go up 4-2, but just 40 seconds later the Swedes fired right back with the Ottawa Senators Superstar Daniel Alfredsson used a goal to back within 1. And provided a great challenge to get back in the game when Sweden out shot Slovakia 10-3 in the 3rd period and 29-14 for the game.

The Slovak shot output got lower as the game went on as they got 7 off in the 1st, just 4 in the 2nd and just 3 in the 3rd period. But the Slovaks made their power play count big time as they scored twice with the man advantage and provided a spark on defense to help fend off the Swedes and knock them out.

For Slovakia, this is the best result ever for the team since the split of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the early 90s. The Slovaks will play the host Canadians in Friday's Semifinals. For Slovakia, they have 3 IHWC Medals to their credit in their pretty short history. Gold in 2002, Silver in 200 and a Bronze in Medal in 2003. This will also be their first ever shot at an Olympic Medal in Ice Hockey.

Going into the Semifinals, we have 2 teams in Finland and Slovakia who have never won Olympic Gold. As well as the U.S.A. who are looking to win their first Gold Medal in 30 years. That leaves Canada as the only team with a recent Olympic Gold that they won in 2002 in Salt Lake, City Utah.

Updated Brackets for Friday's Semifinals. Both games are at Canada Hockey Place.

U.S.A. VS Finland 12:00 PM PST

Canada VS. Slovakia 6:30 PM PST

From Lucas Aykroyd of the International Ice Hockey Federation. http://www.iihf.com/

Sweden VS. Slovakia Team Photos: www.iihf.com/channels10/olympics-2010/pictures/page/0/game/SWE%20-%20SVK%20%28QF%29.html

Sweden VS. Slovakia Game Summary: www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey/schedule-and-results/mens-play-offs-quarterfinals---game-26_ihm400304YU.html

Farewell Sweden, In the last Men's Quarterfinal, Slovakia advanced to a semi-final meeting on Canada on Friday, edging the 2006 Champs from Turin 4-3. Canada will face Canada, while the U.S.A. will play Finland.

Tomas Kopecky scored the third-period winner, and Pavol Demitra paced the Slovak Attack with a goal and 2 assists. Marian Gaborik and Andrej Sekera added singles, while Marian Hossa had two helpers.

"It is an awesome feeling, beating one of the favorites in the tournament," said Hossa of the 2010 biggest upset to date. "We played well defensively tonight."

Patrick Hornqvist, Henrik Zetterberg and Daniel Alfredsson replied for Sweden. "I don't really have an explanation," said Nicklas Backstrom. "They're a good team." We knew that, but we weren't ready. We didn't play as well as we could have."

"It wasn't a vintage outing for superstar Swedish Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, as Slovakia fired just 14 shots on goal to Sweden's 29. Jaroslav Halak got the win for Slovakia. Heading for it's first Olympic Semifinal appearance, Slovakia is guaranteed a top-four finish and a shot at it's first hockey medal at the games ever. The Slovaks came fifth four years ago in Turin, eliminated by the Czechs in the Quarterfinals after winning five straight in the Group Stage.

Slovakia will host the 2011 Ice Hockey World Championships in Bratislava and Kosice, has only three previous senior IIHF World Championship Medals to its credit, all from the Worlds: Gold in 2002, Silver in 2000, and Bronze in 2003. The game started slowly, but turned into a frenzy of trading chances as time wore on: however, the Slovaks never trailed.

"It's ideal when we get the lead and can play our game, but we weren't able to do that tonight," said Zetterberg. Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky nearly hooked up on a 2-1 in the opening minute, but there weren't many dangerous scoring opportunities as the team cautiously felt each other out. In the first period, the Slovaks failed to capitalize on three power play chances on Sweden's 1.

The Physical intensity increased just before the buzzer, as Slovak captain Zdeno Chara nearly put Henrik Tallinder over the boards with a big hit and Swedish defensemen Mattias Ohlund stood Marian Hossa up at the blueline with a solid-open ice hit.

In the 2nd period, the Slovaks got to Lundqvist in a big way, scoring three times on just 4 shots.

First the Swedes were caught with too many men on the ice, and paid the price. Slovakia opened the scoring at 7:34 with Marian Hossa fed a perfect cross-ice pass on the power play to Gaborik, whose one-timer along the ice beat Lundqvist. It ended the Swedish starter's tournament best shutout streak, which included wins over Belarus (2-0), and Finland (3-0).

Just 37 seconds later, the Slovaks opened up a 2-0 lead when Richard Zednik stepped away on a 2-on-1, feeding a nice backhand pass by the stick of Nicklas Lundstrom to Andrej Sekera, who made no mistake. Zigmund Palffy, who received the second assist, took a hit to make the play, as he was crushed in his own zone by Niklas Kronwall stepping up in vintage fashion.

The Swedes cut the deficit to 2-1 at 13:49 of the 2nd period with some magic courtsey of the suddenly-awakened Peter Forsberg line. From behind the goal line, "Foppa" got his first point of the Olympic Tournament with a perfect backhanded pass to Hornqvist, who in turn lifed a backhanded past Halak's right pad.

Just 37 seconds later, Foresberg bulled his way to the net and distracted Milan Jurcina as Zetterberg's 2-2 goal at 14:26 bounced in off the big Slovak defender. But the Swedish rally wasn't enough. With 48 seconds left in the 2nd period, Demitra put Slovakia up 3-2 on the man advantage with a screened slapshot that whizzed over Lundqvist's left shoulder.

"It was a huge goal by Demitra," said Marian Hossa. "When you score a goal with 3 seconds left in the period, it is a confidence-booster."

The 3rd period witnessed more dramatics. With 11 minutes left, Demitra busted down right wing, fed Marian Hossa on the other side, and Kopecky raced into convert the garbage into a 4-2 Slovak lead. The Swedes weren't done, though. Half a minute later, Nicklas Backstrom grabbed the puck behind the goal-line and fed a sweet centering pass to Alfredsson, who snapped it over Halak's glove to make it 4-3. That was as close as the Tre Kronor would come.

Sweden buzzed Halak's cage in the dying minutes but failed to get the equalizer. The Slovaks mobbed their goalie jubilantly at the final buzzer.

"We beat a quality team tonight," said Chara. "Sweden were outstanding throughout the tournament. We have to enjoy tonight, but great ready for the next one." (Mentioning Canada in the Semifinals).

The Slovaks played without forward Lubos Bartecko, who was concussed on a hit by Norwegian defensemen Ole Kristian Tollefsen in Slovakia 4-3 2nd round win on Tuesday.

Zach Parise beats out Hiller, Sends U.S.A. to Semifinals

At times today, it seemed like Jonas Hiller was standing on his head keeping it scoreless through 2 periods despite the U.S.A. out shooting Switzerland 32-8 through 2 periods. But Zach Parise who after Ryan Miller, maybe has been the best player for Team U.S.A. during the Olympic Tournament to send them to Semifinals who will play the lowest reaming seed during Friday's Semifinals at Canada Hockey Place.

You have got to give Switzerland and Jonas Hiller in particular a lot of props from getting to 3 OT games including forcing Canada to a SO.

Also giving the U.S.A. two stellar games where they proved they have been one of the fasting improving teams in the world. It's only a matter of time before Switzerland I think will finally break through and win an International Medal. After a strong performance in the WJC as they got to the Semifinals, and a strong showing in the Olympics for the 2nd straight time.

Despite not getting the massive upsets like they did in 2006, they have succeeded in letting the world know that 2006 was no joke. If Switzerland can start getting more players in the NHL, watch out for the Swiss to contend for an Olympic Medal in the near future. One player to watch out for in the near future could be Nino Niederreiter who had a strong showing for the Swiss for the Junior Team at the WJC and has had a great season with the Portland Winterhawks in the Western Hockey League.

The Swiss have two more shots at hockey glory this season at the U18 World Championships which will be in Belarus in April. Then in May is the Ice Hockey World Championships which will be in the German Cities of Mannheim, Colonge, and Gelsenkirchen where a world Record Attempt will be look to be set during Germany's Opening game of the IHWC. Expect the Swiss to be strong at both events in the spring.

For the Americans, this game was big that they can play against a desperate team that was looking to pull off a big upset. The Young American Players, especially guys like Ryan Miller, Zach Parise and Brian Rafalski who are playing in their First Olympics are showing that they can get it done against the best in the world.

Next up will be either the Czech Republic or Finland who finished with the Silver and Bronze Medals in 2006, the Americans have shown that playing teams in the Prelims and Quarterfinals that these guys are that good. Now they await they toughest test yet as they look to take down teams that are looking to win Gold after coming so close 4 years ago in Turin, Italy.

Next up for the U.S.A. will be the lowest remaining seeded team in the Semifinals coming up on Friday afternoon. With the win today by Team U.S.A., they will be guaranteed a chance at a medal this year. The Bronze Medal Game is on Saturday Night at 7:00 PM PST, then on Sunday afternoon is the Gold Medal Game as it's the final major event of these Winter Olympic Closing Ceremonies on Sunday Night.

From John Sanful of the International Ice Hockey Federation Website: http://www.iihf.com/

From Vancouver: The Americans dodged a bullet on Wednesday afternoon. Switzerland threatened to beat the U.S.A. since the 1948 Winter Olympic Games, but Zach Parise's power play goal in the third period gave the U.S.A. a 2-0 win, moving into the Semifinals against the Winner of the Czech Republic VS. Finland Game later tonight.

This was not the ideal scenario for Team U.S.A. After coming off a big win over Canada to finish atop Prelim Group A, Team U.S.A. entered this game meeting an opponent they've already beaten on the opening day of the Men's Tournament.

Prior to this game these teams have played each other 6 times in Olympic play with the U.S.A. winning all 6 prior games. But the Swiss would have none of it, Switzerland has grown accustomed to playing closely contested games. Their last 3 games have gone into OT and two shootouts. They played like a team that had nothing to lose, taking the play to the Americans.

"It was good to go into the intermission with a 0-0 game," said Yannick Weber. "I think it would have been different if it was 1-0." I think it gave us some confidence. We went out in the third period to get the win." It was close, but it just wasn't our day."

Team U.S.A. started tentatively, turning over the puck their first pass out of their zone. In addition there were several individual efforts that were unsuccessful. Rather then dump the puck and go after it, a few skaters tried to stickhandle through Swiss players, which was hardly effective.

The Swiss was rentless in pursuit of the puck. They enjoyed several odd-man rushes. Despite only four shots in the 1st period, the Swiss would also threaten, including one shift where Raffaele Sannitz had exceptional chances to score and delivered a big hit.

It was the Jonas Hiller Show today. Ryan Miller had to be extra sharp today as he faced odd man rushes and high percentage shots from the Swiss, whe were playing with incredible confidence. Miller was poised in goal. Jonas Hiller also stood strong for his team in goal, making 18 saves in the first period alone and keeping the Americans off the scoreboard.

In the 2nd period, Phil Kessel had the best chance for the Americans for the Americans when he sent a shot that rang off the post and crossbar. With time running out in the 2nd period, the Americans through that Dustin Brown had scored near the end of the 2nd. Hiller made a save then as the puck was in the air tried to bat it upwards, which he did but it went over his shoulder and on the goal line with no time left on the clock.

The play was reviewed and the officials concluded no goal.

"I was upset about the disallowed goal more then anything," said Ryan Kesler. "I though it was in. I didn't hear the horn until afterwards."

After two periods of play the Americans and Swiss remained tied. It appeared the inexperience and nerves of Team U.S.A. may have gotten the best of them. Only a big 3rd period would change things.

"It was good to go into the intermission with a 0-0 game," said Yannick Weber. "I think it would have been different if it was a 1-0. I think it game us some confidence. We went out in the 3rd period to get the win. It was close, but just wasn't our day."

The American Power Play was out of sync until the third period when Zach Parise put his team on the board when Philippe Furrer was called for Tripping.

Parise tapped his stick on the ice in front of Hiller, expecting a good low shot could be redirected. Brian Rafalski's shot was deflected by Parise over Hiller's glove and slowly dribbled into the net.

Swiss Assistant Captain, Sandy Jeannin appeared to have tied the game a few minutes later. Instant Replay showed that his shot hit the post and roll across the goal line, but didn't cross over the goal line. Parise had another chance but hit the post. Team U.S.A. picked up things significantly in the 3rd period. They were skating much more effectively and creating quality scoring chances.

"It'd be a lot less nerve wracking [to win big]," said Rafalski. "But it's good for our guys. It's a sign of maturity that we didn't panic. We didn't sit back, we continued to create chances."

The Swiss would not let up. With less then two minutes remaining they called a timeout to pull Jonas Hiller, but Parise scored his 2nd on an empty net. Now the Americans can take a breath and watch tonight's game at the UBC Thunderbird Arena to find out who they will play in Friday's Semifinal.

"Right now, we sit back and watch the Finns and Czechs play," said Rafalski. "We've run into Finland a lot over the years in recent international events, the Czechs, not so much. The Finns have good, deep goaltending, and both teams have good forwards. "It'll be a tough night either way".

Look for the Canada VS. Russia Game Report Later Tonight, then the Czech Republic VS. Finland and Sweden VS. Slovakia Game Reports tomorrow.

Offical Game Report: www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey/schedule-and-results/mens-play-offs-quarterfinals---game-23_ihm400301xK.html

Game Photos: www.iihf.com/en/channels10/olympics-2010/pictures/page/0/game/USA%20-%20SUI%20%28QF%29.html

Twitter Updates during the Olympic Tournament 2nd Round

Throughout the day today, I'm going to post udates of the 2nd round games as the teams will look to advance to the Quarterfinals. Right now, Switzerland and Belarus are tied at 1-1 at the 1st intermission as the winner will look to play the top seeded U.S.A. in tomorrow's Quarterfinals. Other 2nd Round Games include Canada VS. Germany, Slovakia VS. Norway and Czech Republic VS. Latvia.

Switzerland VS. Belarus In Progress

Canada VS. Germany 4:30 PM PST

Czech Republic VS. Latvia 7:00 PM PST

Slovakia VS. Norway 9:00 PM PST

Team Canada Shuts out Finland, To Play the U.S.A. For Gold on Thursday

After the U.S.A. crushed Sweden, Canada used the 2nd semifinal to get a shutout against Finland to play for Gold against arch rival U.S.A. for the Gold Medal on Thursday night.

From Lucas Aykroyd of the International Ice Hockey Federation Website: www.iihf.com

The Canadian Women overcame a sparkling performance by Finnish Goaile Noora Raty, by winning 5-0 in Monday's 2nd Semifinal at Canada Hockey Place. The result sets up a classic U.S.A. VS. Canada Gold Medal Game on Thursday night.

Thanks to Ratys heroics, the score was closer then expected for most of the night, despite Canada's 50-11 edge in SOG. "I think it was like one of the best performances I've ever had", said Raty.

2010 marks the third time the North American Superpowers will battle for gold since Women's Hockey was introduced as an Olympic Sport back in 1998. The Americans beat Canada 3-1 that year in Nagano, while the Canadians claimed the title on Salt Lake City on 2002 with a 3-2 victory.

"It's an Olympic Final Game, and that's when we've been working toward all year," said Canada's Jennifer Botterill. "Were excited, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but we're going to enjoy it."

VS. Finland, Haley Irwin stepped up with two goals for Canada, and tournament scoring leader Meghan Agosta with 14 points (9G 5A) chipped in a goal and assist. Agosta sets a new record for most goals in One Olympic Tournament when she plotted her 9th of 2010 in the 2nd period. That surpassed retired Canadian great Danielle Goyette's mark of 8 back in 1998.

Canada is the defending Olympic Champion from Turin 2006, where it defeated Sweden 4-1 in the final. In Monday's early Semifinal, the Americans got revenge on Swedes, who knocked them out of title contention in Turin, spanking Sweden 9-1.

"In some ways, it was a little disappointing we didn't get to face the Americans in the 2006 Olympics," said Canadian veteran Jayna Hefford, who scored the gold medal winning goal in 2002. "Of course, you'll take a gold medal anyday over facing a particular team, but you know what? Canada-U.S.A. is something people love to watch and we love to play in. It's going to be a great battle on Thursday night.

Canada heads into the final with a whopping goal differential of 46-2 in 4 games so far. However, it failed to capitalize on the Power Play against Finland, even though the blue and white women took six minor penalty in the game.

"The Finns played a tough, in your face game and they were good with their sticks in the lanes," said Canadian captain Hayley Wickenheiser. "They made it hard for us to generate momentum, and their goalie was excellent. They gave us probably the best game they could with the skills they have."

"We just battled and we didn't quit," said Raty. Facing Sweden in Thursday's Bronze Medal game, will seek it's first Olympic Women's Hockey Medal since winning Bronze in 1998. The Diminutive but tenacious Finns did their best to clog up the middle and clear loose pucks out of their end, but simply couldn't generate enough offensively to support Raty's great play. They'd acknowledged before this game that ousting Canada would be a "humongous task", and it proved to be too much for them.

Finland starved off Canada's untill the 5:22 mark, when Agosta swirled around the Finnish net and centered a sweet backhand feed to Cherile Piper, who banged it past Raty. At 14:36, Just after a Finnish Penalty had expired, Haley Irwin picked up a loose puck in Raty's goal crease and shoveled it past the netminder's right skate for a 2-0 lead. The Canadians outshot Finland 15-2 in the 1st period.

The host team continued to press in the middle frame, and the Finnish netminder had to keep her best mini-Mikka Kiprusoff impression. Even though Raty Stonned Sarah Vaillancourt on a rebound at the end of an early power play and slid across to make a great glove save on Gina Kingsbury, she couldn't stop Agosta at 16:21 when the Ruthven, Ontario Native scooped in a rebound with the teams playing 4-on-4 when the buzzer sounded, the shots were 32-5 in favor of Canada.

Raty stopped Agosta on a partial breakaway early in the third period. But at 4:23, Irwin scored her 2nd of the game on a rebound that deflected in off the goalie's to make it 4-0. Wickenheiser put the puck off the post on a late solo rush. Jenni Hiirikoski was shaken up on a collision deep in the Finnish end with Gillian Apps with 4 minutes left.

Canadian Fans sang a spontaneous rendition of "O Canada" as the clock ticked down, and Caroline Ouellette rounded out the scoring with 1:03 left to make it 5-0.

With the Gold Medal Game looming, the Americans are the two time defending World Champion, but the Canada has the edge in exhibition leading up to the Vancouver Olympics.

"We know exactly what [Team USA's] motivation is going to be," said Hefford. "We've heard it many times. It's going to be Salt Lake, and it's going to be the "Miracle on Ice". Good for them, That's their experience. Our Experience as Canadian Hockey players is completely different, and we're so proud here in Canada. This crowd is giving us energy every night."

Netminder Shannon Szabados earned her first shutout of the tournament for Canada. "This team played well in front of me, and it's really exciting," said Szabados. "I didn't get many shots in the early going, which makes it tough to stay focused mentally. "You have to find ways to keep yourself occupied, because all these teams are good and they're going to get their chances eventually."

This was the third straight Olympic Semi-Final Victory for Canada over Finland. (7-3 in 2002, 6-0 in 2006).

U.S.A. Women Crush Sweden, Cruise to Gold Medal Game

After Team U.S.A. dominating performances in the Group Stage, the Americans continued their freight train to the final as the Americans made sure that a repeat of 2006 would not be in the cards as the Americans take down 9-1 to get back to the Final. The Americans will look to win their first Women's Hockey Gold Medal on Thursday night either against Canada or Finland since the tournament made its debut back in 1998.

From John Sanful of the International Ice Hockey Federation Website: www.iihf.com

Except for the possibility of facing Canada, Team U.S.A. has been awaiting this game.

Looking to avenge a 3-2 semifinal loss to Sweden at the 2006 Winter Olympics, Team U.S.A came into this game clearly motivated by the opportunity. With goals from 7 different skaters, Team U.S.A. Defeated Sweden 9-1.

The win moves Team U.S.A. into a gold medal showdown with either Canada or Finland on Thursday night at Canada Hockey Place.

We've trained hard for this and we're all fired up now that we're going to the gold medal game," said Meghan Duggan.

The 2010 U.S.A. Women's team bears no resemblance to the divided squad that was upset in Turin. This team is more focused on and committed to winning. Most important, there's no drama surrounding the team to distract from their main goal: winning.

In today's semifinal game, the Americans attack was balanced. Jenny Potter's leads the team in goal scoring but did not have to carry the offense as Monique Lamoreux had that covered. Team U.S.A. took the lead when Lamoureux, accepted a pass from Julie Chu and drove to the net.

Pernilla Winberg tried jamming in a shot but Jesse Vetter, who has been exceptional in the tournament, made the save. The Americans quickly turned things around off the transition, Lamoureux accepted a Julie Chu and made a power move to the net.

Duggan scored a power play goal off a Catlin Cahow rebound infront. The Goal came at 8:23 as Emma Eliasson was in the penalty box for body checking. Swedish goalie Kim Martin made the original save on Cahow's shot, but Duggan was there to tap the rebound home.

The Americans resumed their dominance of the Swedes in the 2nd period when Angela Ruggiero, Cahow, and Karen Thatcher added middle frame markers. Pernilla Winberg scored Sweden's only goal on the power play at 9:34 of the 2nd period.

By the 3rd period, the Americans were on top of their game. Lamoureux added two goals in the third to register a hat trick. Julie Chu, who had members of her family in attendance, and Kim Stack also tallied in the period. U.S.A has one more game, and it will be a big one.

"It is now a one game season for us, said Chu. "It will take sixty minutes of hard work and we have to get the puck to the net, but there will be no surprises. Sweden will face the loser of the Canada-Finland game in the Bronze Medal Game on Thursday afternoon.

Game Summary: www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-hockey/schedule-and-results/womens-play-offs-semifinals---game-15_ihw400201Bk.html

U.S.A. VS. Sweden Photos: www.iihf.com/de/channels10/olympics-2010/pictures/page/0/game/USA%20-%20SWE%20%28SF%29.html

Final Olympic Group Stage Standings and Knockout Round Matchups

Men's Group Stage

30 Years ago today, the Americans took down the mighty Soviet Union as the Americans found that magic to take down the Arch Rival Canada to win Group A and finish the Group Stage as the Top Team for the Knockout Round with a strong 5-3 win over the heavily favored Canadians.

It turned out to be one of the most exciting and thrilling moments of these Winter Olympics. Not just in the Hockey Tournaments, but overall as we head into the 2nd half of the Winter Olympics. Which will climate with the Gold Medal Game on Sunday as the Winter Olympics in Vancouver will come to a close.

In the Men's Group Stage. It ended with the hype called Super Sunday where arguably the top 6 teams faced off on Sunday to determine the 2nd Round Byes as Team U.S.A., Russia, Sweden and Finland finished as the top 4 teams from the Group Stage. Elsewhere, Russia used it's high octane offense to beat the Czech Republic 4-2.

Then late last night, the defending Gold Medalist Sweden with 2 goals from Dallas Stars Forward Loui Eriksson to pitch a 3-0 shutout of Northern European Rival's Finland. Despite the loss for Finland, the Finns still advanced to the Quarterfinals with a strong 2-1 record and a +6 Goal Differential which turned out to be the difference over the Czech Republic who had a +3 Goal Differential who will be the 5th seed in the 2nd Round.

The 4 2nd Round Games will take place tomorrow as the Czechs take on Latvia, Canada faces off against Germany, Slovakia will take on Norway who after a bad start against the U.S.A. and Canada, came back with a strong performance by taking the Swiss to OT. Finally, Switzerland will take on Belarus.


Here's the Scores and Final Standings for the Men's Group Stage. The Final Number after the Goal Differential is the Seeding for the Knockout Rounds.

Group A Standings

1. U.S.A. 3-0-0-0 9 PTS 14-5 +9 1

2. Canada 1-1-0-1 5 PTS 14-7 +7 6

3. Switzerland 0-1-1-1 3 PTS 8-10 -2 8

4. Norway 0-0-1-2 1 PTS 5-19 -14 10


Group A Scores

2/16: U.S.A. 3 Switzerland 1 (1-0, 2-0, 0-1)

2/16: Canada 8 Norway 0 (0-0, 3-0, 5-0)

2/18: U.S.A. 6 Norway 1 (2-0, 1-1, 3-0)

2/18: Switzerland 2 Canada 3 (SO) (0-1, 2-1, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)

2/20: Norway 4 Switzerland 5 (OT) (1-1, 2-2, 1-1, 0-1)

2/21: Canada 3 U.S.A. 5 (1-2, 1-1, 2-1)


Group B Standings

1. Russia 2-0-1-0 7 PTS 13-6 +7 3

2. Czech Rep. 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 10-7 +3 5

3. Slovakia 1-1-0-1 5 PTS 9-4 +5 7

4. Latvia 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 4-19 -15 12


Group B Scores

2/16: Russia 8 Latvia 2 (3-0, 1-0, 4-2)

2/17: Czech Republic 3 Slovakia 1 (1-0, 2-1, 0-0)

2/18: Slovakia 2 Russia 1 (SO) (0-0, 1-0, 0-1, 0-0, 1-0)

2/19: Czech Republic 5 Latvia 2 (3-0, 1-2, 1-0)

2/20: Latvia 0 Slovakia 6 (0-3, 0-2, 0-1)

2/21: Russia 4 Czech Republic 2 (1-1, 1-0, 2-1)


Group C Standings

1. Sweden 3-0-0-0 9 PTS 9-2 +7 2

2. Finland 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 10-4 +6 4

3. Belarus 1-0-0-2 3 PTS 8-12 -4 9

4. Germany 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 3-12 -9 11


Group C Scores

2/17: Finland 5 Belarus 1 (2-0, 1-1, 2-0)

2/17: Sweden 2 Germany 0 (0-0, 2-0, 0-0)

2/19: Belarus 2 Sweden 4 (0-2, 1-1, 1-1)

2/19: Finland 5 Germany 0 (1-0, 2-0, 2-0)

2/20: Germany 3 Belarus 5 (1-1, 0-1, 2-3)

2/21: Sweden 3 Finland 0 (1-0, 2-0, 0-0)


Teams in Bold have earned 2nd Round Byes

2nd Round Matchups (All Games are on 2/23. All Games are PST)

#8 Switzerland VS. #9 Belarus 12:00 PM PST @ Canada Hockey Place

#6 Canada VS. #11 Germany 4:30 PM PST @ Canada Hockey Place

#5 Czech Republic VS. #12 Latvia 7:00 PM PST @ UBC Thunderbird Arena

#7 Slovakia VS. #10 Norway 9:00 PM PST @ Canada Hockey Place


Quarterfinals on 2/24 Times are TBD

#1 U.S.A. VS. Switzerland/Belarus Winner

#2 Sweden VS. Slovakia/Norway Winner

#3 Russia VS. Canada/Germany Winner

#4 Finland VS. Czech Republic/Latvia Winner



Women's Group Stage

The Women's Tournament has gone straight forward as the U.S.A. and Canada have won all 3 games in huge fashion as the North American Powers outscored their opposition by a combined 72-3 in their games as the U.S.A. and Canada are expected to face off for the Gold Medal Game coming up on Thursday.

As for the rest of the field, the Sweds and Finns have come up as the Northern Euro Teams could face off for the Bronze Medal assuming no major upsets take place in Today's Semifinal Matchups.

For the 3rd and 4th place teams, a consolation Round Matchups between Russia, China, Switzerland and Slovakia who's making their debut in the Women's Olympic Hockey Tournament this year as the lowest ranked team to ever make the Women's Tournament since Women's Hockey made it's debut in 1998 in Japan.

Group A Standings

1. Canada 3-0-0-0 9 PTS 41-2 +39

2. Sweden 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 10-15 -5

3. Switzerland 1-0-0-2 3 PTS 6-15 -9

4. Slovakia 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 4-29 -25


Group A Scores

2/13: Sweden 3 Switzerland 0 (1-0, 1-0, 1-0)

2/13: Canada 18 Slovakia 0 (7-0, 6-0, 5-0)

2/15: Sweden 6 Slovakia 2 (3-2, 1-0, 2-0)

2/15: Switzerland 1 Canada 10 (0-2, 1-3, 0-5)

2/17: Canada 13 Sweden 1 (5-0, 7-0, 1-1)

2/17: Slovakia 2 Switzerland 5 (1-0, 0-1, 1-4)


Group B Standings

1. U.S.A. 3-0-0-0 9 PTS 31-1 +30

2. Finland 2-0-0-1 6 PTS 7-8 -1

3. Russia 1-0-0-2 3 PTS 3-19 -16

4. China 0-0-0-3 0 PTS 3-16 -13



Group B Scores

2/14: U.S.A. 12 China 1 (5-0, 3-0, 4-1)

2/14: Finland 5 Russia 1 (1-1, 2-0, 2-0)

2/16: Russia 0 U.S.A. 13 (0-5, 0-7, 0-1)

2/16: Finland 2 China 1 (0-1, 2-0, 0-0)

2/18: U.S.A. 6 Finland 0 (4-0, 1-0, 1-0)

2/18: China 1 Russia 2 (0-0, 1-2, 0-0)


Semifinals/ Tournament Placement

In addition to the Semifinals, the Women's Tournament does a Tournament Placement to ranks teams that finish 5-8. This is for World Ranking purposes after the Olympics are over and to determine who will roundout the field for the 2011 World Women's Hockey Championships. The Women's Semifinals will take place today to determine the Gold and Bronze Medal Games which take place on Thursday night.

Women's Semifinals

#1A Canada VS. #2B Finland 5:00 PM PST

#1B U.S.A. VS. #2A Sweden 12:00 PM PST


Women's Tournament Placement

Saturday was the first Round of the Tournament Placement for the 3rd and 4th place teams that will round out teams ranked #5-#8. The two third Place Teams as Russia and Switzerland came out with big victories and will play for 5th place. As for the 2 4th Place Teams as Slovakia and China will play for 7th and 8th place coming up.


2/20: Switzerland 6 China 0 (2-0, 2-0, 2-0)

2/20: Russia 4 Slovakia 2 (2-0, 1-1, 1-1)

2/22, 5th Place Game: Switzerland VS. Russia 7:00 PM PST

2/22, 7th Place Game: China VS. Slovakia 2:00 PM PST

My Thoughts on U.S.A win over Switzerland

After a strong 3-1 win over Switzerland yesterday. The U.S.A. has put themselves in a strong position to possibly contend for the 2nd Round Bye out of Group A. Even if the Americans don't win the group, the Americans will be looking for a blow out win the Norwegians tomorrow to help their chances of at least being the best of the 3 2nd place teams to get the final 2nd Round Bye and get automatically through to the Quarterfinals.

They was some great things I saw yesterday, include peppering the Swiss Goalie Jonas Hiller that help kept the Swiss Defense. And Goaltending on their heels and keeping the Swiss offense from making just a whole lot chances, especially early in the game. Also, Ryan Miller has proven to be a strong netminder through his successful season with the Buffalo Sabres and in the tournament opener.

Some great chances on the PP including Ryan Malone's PP Goal to make it 3-0 late in the 2nd period. Even though they scored, the other 2 power plays didn't produce very much and that needs to get better as that could burn them as the tournament goes on, especially when the Americans and Canadians face off on Sunday.

Also, matching The team's physicality was big, by matching the Swiss number of hits early on in the game. In addition, they were able to keep the game clean by only taking 2 penalties in the entire game to limit the number of chances for the Swiss Offense. When you play teams like this, keeping the game clean is a huge factor as that's one of the best ways lower ranked opponents try to beat you on the Special Teams.

Now, the biggest criticism was the fact that they gave up way to many odd man rushes to the Swiss. One of the biggest things that kept the Swiss from getting in this game was the fact that many of the 2 on 1 chances were either to high or to wide and didn't challenge Ryan Miller that much in the game as the SOG were 24-15 in the game, but it could have been a lot higher for the Swiss real easily.

If the Americans are going to perform well in this tournament. This is the biggest thing that the U.S.A. needs to work on for the game against Norway tomorrow, then get themselves ready for the game against Canada on Sunday that should be to win the Group and gain a 2nd Round Bye for when the 2nd Round starts on 2/23.

Ryan Miller needs to be huge in this tournament, he's going to need to help steal the Canadian Game on Sunday and then either the 2nd Round and/or Quarterfinal Game to help the Americans have a chance of winning a medal this month in Vancouver.

Bottom Line: The Americans may still be underdogs, but the Americans have done well in this role countless time before. From the Miracle on Ice Game, to the recent WJC Tournament where the Americans upset Canada.

The Americans may have a shot to continue what's been a great season so far this year as the Americans look to win their 2nd major tournament of the international season. Including the WJC just after Christmas, plus some other big events like the U17 World Challenge and the World Junior A Challenge so far this season.

Even with a deep field, the Americans are not afraid and they believe that they can win a Medal at the Olympics.

U.S.A. VS. Switzerland 1st period Intermission Recap

After a very physical start to the game, the SUI were looking to prove that 2006 was no fluke. After a bit of sloppy passing by the USA and a failed Power Play Attempt, the Swiss weren't able to convert on any of the chances they had; including a pair they had nearly midway through the 1st period. Then with just under 2 minutes, the U.S.A. Bobby Ryan scored on a goal on a great wrist shot that goes over the glove of teammate Jonas Hiller to score the periods only goal.

For the 2nd period, the U.S.A. needs to match the Swiss Physicality and get better on the crispness of the passes and improve on the PP. Even though they was only 1 PP in the 1st, they couldn't muster much on it. And when the team goes on the penalty kill, the U.S.A. will need to get the puck out quickly as the Swiss are a great passing team and can play well in the neutral zone.

If the Americans get the next goal and get the Swiss get into a strong attacking mode. Then the U.S.A. can really make this a long day for the Swiss, as the counter attack is one of Switzerland's biggest weakness.

SOG: Switzerland 5 U.S.A. 8

1st Period Goals

1-0: Bobby Ryan (Unassisted) 18:35

Twitter Updates during U.S.A. Men's Olympic Hockey Games

Be sure to check out twitter for updates during the Men's Olympic Hockey Tournament Opener which will start at 3:00 PM Eastern/2:00 PM Central Time as the Americans will open up Group A play and the entire tournament against Switzerland. I will be providing updates of goals, fights and every moment that helps turn the tide as the Americans quest for Hockey Gold gets underway on the USA Network.

In addition to the USA VS. Switzerland game, Canada will start the tournament against Norway. Also Group B gets underway later tonight as former Soviet Rivals Russia VS. Latvia will take on each other tonight.

Look for updates during the 1st and 2nd intermission of the all the U.S.A. Games during the Men's Olympic Tournament and select Women's Olympic Tournament Games as well.

Today's Schedule

U.S.A. VS. Switzerland 2:00 PM on USA Network

Canada VS. Norway 6:30 PM on CNBC

Russia VS. Latvia 10:55 PM on CNBC


For more, here's my twitter page. www.twitter.com/tanman9

Russia Roster and Profile

When you have a roster with players like Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk. Your expected to score a lot of goals and make opposing goalies sweet.

After finnishing 4th in 2006, the Russians are looking to get back on the Medal Stand after losing to the Czech Republic in the Bronze Medal Game which turned out to be a downhill after the Quarterfinal win over Canada, the team started going dowhill with a 2-0 loss to the Finns, then in the Bronze Medal game, the Czech Republic beat the Russians 3-0 to finish in 4th place in 2006.

As expected, the offense is going to be their usual selves with the offensive firepower with the top NHL Superstars in Malkin and Ovechkin. Joining them on offense will be players Maxim Afinogenov, Alexander Semin and perhaps the biggest name in the KHL right now is Sergei Fedorov who's playing with Russian Powerhouse Metallurg Magnitogorsk who reached the KHL Semifinals last year and is looking to win the KHL Title this season.

Defense may be the weak spot as the Russians typically play their high flying style. Expect the top Defensemen duo will be Sergei Goncar and Andrei Markov to help out to move the puck and get involved with the scoring themselves.

Elsewhere is Fedor Tyutin of the Columbus Blue Jackets who's the biggest player on this team at 6'3" 218 and is not afraid to eat up the minutes as he had played as much as 27 minutes in a few games this season. In all, he's usually good for at least 20 minutes a night, it's a lot more if they're a lot of penalties. And should be imporant on the Penalty Kill to deliver the hits. Tyutin can also set up different forwards, with the excption of his rookie year, he's had at least 14 assists a year in the NHL throughout his career.

As for the KHL Players on defense is Dimtri Kalinin for Salavat Yulayev Ufa, Konstantin Korneyev for CSKA Moscow and Ilya Nikulin of AK Bars Kazan. Kalinin was a regular in the NHL for nearly a decade. Then after the lockout, his career in North America went downhill where he was sent to the NY Rangers over the offseason, after he was traded to Phoenix near the trading deadline. He finally decided to bolt for the KHL when he was let go by the Coyotes last summer, He eventually decided to play for

The Goalie battle is going to be one of the best in this Olympic Tournament as the battle for the starting job will be between Ilya Bryzgalov of Phoenix and Evgeni Nabokov. Even though they is a contversery that Russia trys to steal players from teams like Belarus, Kazakhstan and Latvia. And Nabokov is officaly from Kazakhstan, but has played a majority of his international career with Russia. The 3rd goalie being called up for Russia is Semyon Varlamov who may play a game or two if maybe the Group has been clinched and a 2nd round bye.

Internationally, Russia has competed very well since the last Olympic Games in Italy. The Russians have won the Ice Hockey World Championships the last 2 years and could be only the the 2nd team since the break up of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia to win 3 straight World Championships when the Czech Republic won from 1999 to 2001. This year, the Ice Hockey World Championships will be played in the German Cities of Colonge and Mannheim this season.

Also Russia has been until recently, the top European team in the Junior Ranks by winning 2 Silver Medals and 2 Bronze Medals since the last Olympics. The 2010 WJC was the first time since 2004 where they were left off the Medal Stand. It was also the first time that Russia didn't reach at least to the Semifinals when Switzerland pulled off a huge upset in the Quarterfinals in Overtime.

In the U18, the Russians won the Silver Medal won the tournament was in the U.S.A. where the Americans just crushed the Russians last year for the U18 World Championships. Russia also won the 2007 U18 Gold Medal and a 2008 U18 Silver Medal as well.

Team Russia Group Stage Schedule

2/16: VS. Latvia 10:55 PM

2/18: VS. Slovakia 10:55 PM

2/21: VS. Czech Republic 2:00 PM



Here's the Player Profiles of the North America Based Players.

Ilya Bryzgalov (PHX): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8468524&view=stats

Evgeni Nabokov (SJ): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8460705&view=stats

Semyon Varlamov (WSH): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8473575&view=stats

Sergei Gonchar (PIT): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8458951&view=stats

Denis Grebeshkov (EDM): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8470268&view=stats

Andrei Markov (MTL): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8467496&view=stats

Fedor Tyutin (CBJ): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8469492&view=stats

Anton Volchenkov (OTT): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8468501&view=stats

Maxim Afinogenov (ATL): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8466202&view=stats

Pavel Datsyuk (DET): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8467514&view=stats

Ilya Kovalchuk (NJ): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8469454&view=stats

Evgeni Malkin (PIT): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8471215&view=stats

Alexander Ovechkin (WSH): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8471214&view=stats

Alexander Semin (WSH): www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8470120&view=stats


Russian Team Roster

Goalies

30: Iyla Bryzgalov, 6'3" 210, 6/22/1980, Togliatti RUS, Phoenix Coyotes (NHL)

20: Evgeni Nabokov, 6'0" 200, 6/25/1975, Kamenogorsk KAZ, San Jose Sharks (NHL)

40: Semyon Varlamov, 6'2" 209, 4/27/1988, Samara RUS, Washington Capitals (NHL)


Defensemen

55: Sergei Gonchar, 6'2" 211, 4/13/1974, Chelyabinsk RUS, Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)

37: Denis Grebeshkov, 6'0" 209, 10/11/1983, Yaroslavl RUS, Edmonton Oilers (NHL)

7: Dimitri Kalinin, 6'3" 206, 7/22/1980, Chelyabinsk RUS, Salavat Yulayev Ufa (KHL, RUS)

22: Konstantin Korneyev, 5'11" 181, 6/5/1984, Moscow RUS, CSKA Moscow (KHL, RUS)

79: Andrei Markov, 6'0" 207, 12/20/1978, Voskresensk RUS, Montreal Canadains (NHL)

5: Iyla Nikulin, 6'3" 211, 3/12/1982, Moscow RUS, AK Bars Kazan (KHL, RUS)

51: Fedor Tyutin, 6'3" 218, 7/19/1983, Izhevsk, RUS, Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL)

6: Anton Volchenkov, 6'1" 226, 2/25/1982, Moscow RUS, Ottawa Senators (NHL)


Forwards

61: Maxim Afinogenov, 6'0" 192, 9/4/1979, Moscow RUS, Atlanta Thrashers (NHL)

13: Pavel Datsyuk, 6'1" 196, 7/20/1978, Sverdlovsk RUS, Detroit Red Wings (NHL)

29: Sergei Fedorov, 6'1" 200, 12/13/1969, Pskov RUS, Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL, RUS)

71: Ilya Kovalchuk, 6'2" 230, 4/15/1983, Tver RUS, New Jersey Devils (NHL)

52: Viktor Kozlov, 6'4" 232, 2/14/1975, Togliatti RUS, Salavat Yulayev Ufa (KHL, RUS)

11: Evgeni Malkin, 6'3" 195, 7/31/1986, Magnitogorsk RUS, Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL)

95: Alexei Morozov, 6'1" 204, 2/16/1977, Moscow RUS, AK Bars Kazan (KHL, RUS)

8: Alexander Ovechkin, 6'2" 233, 9/17/1985, Moscow RUS, Washington Capitals (NHL)

47: Alexander Radulov, 6'1" 188, 7/5/1986, Nizhni Tagil RUS, Salavat Yulayev Ufa (KHL, RUS)

32: Alexander Semin, 6'2" 208, 3/3/1984, Krasnojarsik RUS, Washington Capitals (NHL)

25: Denis Zaripov, 6'0" 163, 3/26/1981, Cehlyabinsk RUS, AK Bars Kazan (KHL, RUS)

42: Sergei Zinoviev, 5'10" 178, 3/4/1980, Prokopyevsk RUS, Salavat Yulayev Ufa (KHL, RUS)