Olympic Hockey Diary

We have two hockey games and figure skating right now.  I really really don't care about figure skating, so let's hope these hockey games are good.  It's time for a running diary.

12:00- What's the deal with the schedule?  The last two days, they've played games at 3:30, 7:30, 12:00, and 12:00.  Why not stagger those last two games?

12:04- Jaromir Jagr is playing for the Czech Republic.  I knew he was still around, but it blew my mind yesterday when I heard Petr Nedved was playing for the Czech Republic also.  And Sandis Ozolins is playing for Latvia.  What year is this?

12:06- We're underway.  The Czech Republic is wearing their flag jerseys (that are mostly red on the back).  The US is wearing their white jerseys that they wore against Slovakia.  The white jerseys that we wore against Slovenia (kind of a throwback look) were the best jerseys that we've worn so far.

12:07- James van Riemsdyk stuffs one home to give the US a 1-0 lead.  That's a really annoying name to type.  The Czech Republic is also really annoying to type.

12:09- They show T.J. Oshie warming up before the game.  I love that guy.  And no, I had no idea who he was a week ago.

12:11- A scramble in front of the US goal leads to a goal for the Czech Republic.  They had to show about five replays before I actually saw the puck go in.  This is one of the reasons why hockey isn't more popular in the US.  Sometimes it's hard to see what's going on.  Tied at one.  Nuts.

12:17- The Czech Republic just hit the post.  They're controlling the game right now.

12:18- Still no score in the Canada-Latvia game.  George Costanza and Latvian Orthodox people everywhere are rooting for Latvia.  It's 12-2 in shots on goal in favor of Canada.

12:22- The US just hit the post.  And we just had another really good chance.

12:23- Canada just scored.  Game over.

12:25- The Olympic game is better than the NHL game.  Why not play on the wider rink when they play outdoor games?  Football fields and baseball fields have plenty of room.

12:27- Beautiful goal by Dustin Brown.  David Backes made a great pass.  2-1 USA.

12:30- I just checked my last running diary.  It was about the Notre Dame-Air Force game and Game 3 of the World Series.  I also made fun of Matt Millen a decent amount.

12:36- Patrick Kane and Zach Parise had a nice two on one chance, but couldn't connect on the pass.

12:38- David Backes scores with 1.8 seconds left in the period.  Huge goal.  3-1 USA.

12:39- That's the end of the first period.  Can we get a couple of goals in the second and put this one away?  I'll be back for the second.

12:54- We're back for the second period.

12:57- One thing I forgot to mention in my last post with random February thoughts.  I hate that we have messed up Washington's birthday, but one nice thing is the week off that schools in New York and some other places get in February the week of Washington's Birthday.  If we celebrated this holiday a week later (like we should), I'd be off on a really boring week with nothing going on.  It's pretty awesome to have the Olympics going on during my week off.  Last week, I was watching as much as I could at work, but that's nowhere near as good as just being off and being able to watch as much as I want.

1:01- It's 1-1 in the Canada-Latvia game.  It looks like I jumped the gun with my game over proclamation.

1:02- I was waiting for Canada to score as I typed that, but it didn't happen.  Actually, Latvia had a decent scoring chance, but couldn't score.

1:03- Speaking of other games, it was nice of Finland to beat Russia.  Of course, I want the US to win the gold, I can live with any of the countries that are left winning the gold medal.  Russia winning would have been like the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl.  Russia isn't our biggest enemy (just like the Seahawks aren't my biggest NFL enemy), but I despise Vladimir Putin about as much as I despise Pete Carroll.  Speaking of Finland and Russia, one thing I liked about their hockey uniforms was that they had their country names in their own language.  I actually did some research about this.  Russia is spellied P-O-C-C-backwards N-backwards R.  That's pronounced pretty close to the way we pronounce Russia.  (P is R, O is O, C is S, backwards N is I, and backwards R is Ya).  Our word for Russia is an anglicized version of their word for Russia.  But Finland is spelled and pronounced Suomi in Finnish.  How do we get Finland from Suomi?

1:06- Zach Parise scores on the power play.  Things are looking good for the U, S, and A.  4-1.

1:13- Play has resumed after a glass issue.

1:15- Now we have an ice issue.  Still 1-1 in the other game.

1:16- Since I hope this is Jaromir Jagr's last Olympic game (although if Petr Nedved is playing, maybe we'll see Jagr again in four years), it's worth mentioning that one of his heroes was Ronald Reagan.  He kept a picture of Reagan in his wallet.  It drives me nuts any time I hear people giving Gorbachev credit for the end of the Cold War.  He was trying to save communism and realized he couldn't and agreed to lose.  But he agreed to lose because Reagan and John Paul II did what was necessary to defeat communism.  At best, we can give Gorbachev credit for not being as evil as Stalin or Khrushchev or Brezhnev, but he was not the reason the Cold War ended.  People who lived under communism and hated the Soviets realize this.

1:23- I'm not paying much attention to the game.  I'm cool with that.  The Czech Republic is on the power play.

1:24- Their power play only lasted 28 seconds as T.J. Oshie just drew a penalty.  OOOOOOOO-SHHHHHHIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1:28- I just did some googling, I kind of want to buy this, but they're out of stock.  Not surprising.

1:31- 4-1 at the end of the second period.  I'll be back for the third.

1:46- The third period gets started.  Let's wrap this up.

1:47- There was a scrum in front of the US goal that went on way too long before the whistle was blown.  I've never seen that many players in the crease at once.

1:49- Phil Kessel just scored.  Great pass by Ryan Kesler.  Game over.

1:51- Canada is still tied with Latvia.  It would be awesome for us to beat Canada, but I'm cool if the Latvians do it for us.  I'm watching this game from now on.

1:54- Canada gets a good scoring chance, but can't take advantage.  Hang in there, Latvia.

1:55- Canada thinks they scored, but it appears that they didn't.

1:56- Wow, that was close.  The puck was crossing the goal line, but a Latvian defender pulled it back.  It should be a penalty shot.

1:58- They reviewed the play and no goal.  Supposedly, they couldn't review whether or not it should be a penalty shot.  It definitely didn't completely cross the goal line, which is probably all that they reviewed.  Good break for Latvia.

2:01- Delayed penalty on Latvia.  They need to touch the puck here.

2:02- That took long enough.  Canada has a power play with 8:51 to play.  Back in my hockey video game days, the good thing about killing penalties was you could try long passes without worrying about icing.  A shorthanded goal would be nice.

2:06- Big save by Latvia.  They're 17 seconds away from killing this penalty.  The goalie is shaken up.

2:07- The Latvian goalie has faced 52 shots and allowed one goal.  That's ridiculous.

2:07- Now he's faced 53 shots and allowed two goals.  Nuts.  Shea Weber scores.  Game over.

2:08- 6:46 to go, but I don't have much confidence in Latvia to score.

2:11- Canada is putting more pressure on.  Latvia's getting nothing going right now.

2:12- Two shots blocked by Canada.  And then a save.  When does Latvia pull the goalie?  3:33 to play.

2:14- In 1936, Canada beat Latvia 11-0.  That was the only other time these two countries played in the Olympics.

2:16- 1:38 to play.  Face off in the Canadian zone.  Time out called by Latvia.

2:18- Latvia won the face off, but Canada blocked a shot.  They've pulled their goalie.

2:19- 43.9 to play.  Face off in the Canadian zone again.  Time out called by Canada.

2:20- The US won 5-2.

2:20- Latvia kept Canada from scoring on the empty net.  Latvia brings it in offside.  25.2 left.

2:21- Icing by Latvia with 10.1 left.

2:22- Great effort by Latvia, but Canada wins.

2:23- 57-16 in shots on goal.  Amazing that Latvia only lost by one.

Well, that's it for hockey today.  We take on Canada tomorrow in women's hockey for the gold.  And we play them in the semifinals in men's hockey on Friday.  It would be so nice to win both, but I'd settle for just the men winning.  It's been 34 years since we won a gold medal in men's hockey.  It's time.