Official "USA is going to win the gold in hockey" thread

[denominator]

It's unfortunate that the bracket is set and doesn't reseed after the qualification playoff, the same way that the NHL playoff matchups are determined by rank in the second round.

Finland is a scary team to play. They are not a top skilled team like Canada, Russia, USA, or Sweden, but they play a great team game with exceptional goaltending. The Swiss play the same way, but aren't quite as good at it. Canada will get by Switzerland so long as they stay patient like they did against the Fins.

I see Finland giving Russia a lot of trouble. Russia really shouldn't have needed the shootout win over Slovenia, and they will have no problem getting past Norway. But that doesn't give them much momentum coming into the game against Finland, who really like to jam up the middle of the ice. I'm actually hoping for a Finland-Sweden semi-final as that will be the first real challenge for the Swedes before the gold.

Also, I hate the IIHF rules for faceoffs and shootouts.

[Army of GOD]

(1)Sweden faces the winner of Slovenia-Austria
(4)Finland faces the winner of Russia-Norway

(3)Canada faces the winner of Switzerland-Latvia
(2)USA faces the winner of Slovakia-Czech Republic


Finland rightfully got the toughest draw, they were the fourth best team so they should get the hardest opponent, but USA who were placed second overall got a harder draw than Canada who were third. Sure Canada seems to have some issues with Switzerland (at least they have in the past) but both Czech Republic and Slovakia are better teams than Switzerland so they got lucky with the draw in my opinion.

Also worth noting is that there can't be a rematch of the 2010 or 2006 final, as USA and Canada would meet before the finals, and Sweden and Finland would also meet before the finals. What can happen is a rematch of 1998, between Czech Republic and Russia (but that is very unlikely judging by how in Czech Republic has played), and a rematch of 1994 when Sweden and Canada met (more likely but I wouldn't bet it, my guess is that one of these teams won't make it to the final.)
I think we will get a new final this year, a USA-Sweden matchup, or a Finland-Canada perhaps.

Other than the Russian game, Slovakia has been pretty bad. I'd rather face Switz then the Czech though.

I got: Sweden - Slovenia, Finland - Russia, Canada - Switz, USA - Czech

[Serbia]

I'm taking:

Russia over Norway
Switzerland over Latvia
Czech Republic over Slovakia
Austria over Slovenia

Bollocks.

[Army of GOD]

I've been getting somewhat interested in sports betting lately (Bill Simmons and Colin Cowherd's fault) and I find it interesting how different some lines can be.

Here's sportsbook.ag:
Canada +180
USA +200
Russia +300
Sweden +500
Finland +1000
Czech Republic +3000

And then 5dimes.eu:
Canada wins men's gold medal +205
Russia wins men's gold medal +280
Sweden wins men's gold medal +375
USA wins men's gold medal +430
Finland wins men's gold medal +1315
Czech Republic wins men's gold medal +2750

Big disagreement over the US.

[AndyDufresne]

When is USA's next match? I haven't got to catch any of 'em yet.


--Andy

[notyou2]

When is USA's next match? I haven't got to catch any of 'em yet.


--Andy

https://www.google.ca/search?q=mens+hockey+schedule&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&gfe_rd=ctrl&ei=bv8BU_q6IevY8gep6oCwAw&gws_rd=cr

[DoomYoshi]

I've been getting somewhat interested in sports betting lately (Bill Simmons and Colin Cowherd's fault) and I find it interesting how different some lines can be.

Here's sportsbook.ag:
Canada +180
USA +200
Russia +300
Sweden +500
Finland +1000
Czech Republic +3000

And then 5dimes.eu:
Canada wins men's gold medal +205
Russia wins men's gold medal +280
Sweden wins men's gold medal +375
USA wins men's gold medal +430
Finland wins men's gold medal +1315
Czech Republic wins men's gold medal +2750

Big disagreement over the US.

That's the great things about bet markets. The cost is determined not only by how good a team is, but by how valued they are. You win money on undervalued teams. I use a site like covers.com which shows all the sportslines from vegas and the web.

[Baron Von PWN]

I've been getting somewhat interested in sports betting lately (Bill Simmons and Colin Cowherd's fault) and I find it interesting how different some lines can be.

Here's sportsbook.ag:
Canada +180
USA +200
Russia +300
Sweden +500
Finland +1000
Czech Republic +3000

And then 5dimes.eu:
Canada wins men's gold medal +205
Russia wins men's gold medal +280
Sweden wins men's gold medal +375
USA wins men's gold medal +430
Finland wins men's gold medal +1315
Czech Republic wins men's gold medal +2750

Big disagreement over the US.

It might have something to to with Russian's being more likely to place bets in the EU. Maybe due to patriotic Russians betting so much in favor of Russia they up the odds for Russia as if the Russian's win then they'd have to pay out more. My guess is based purely on anecdotal evidence of the rich Russians I teach English to being seemingly crazy with their money(for example one of my student's spends more than I make in a month on private lessons with me).

[NoSurvivors]

I've been getting somewhat interested in sports betting lately (Bill Simmons and Colin Cowherd's fault) and I find it interesting how different some lines can be.

Here's sportsbook.ag:
Canada +180
USA +200
Russia +300
Sweden +500
Finland +1000
Czech Republic +3000

And then 5dimes.eu:
Canada wins men's gold medal +205
Russia wins men's gold medal +280
Sweden wins men's gold medal +375
USA wins men's gold medal +430
Finland wins men's gold medal +1315
Czech Republic wins men's gold medal +2750

Big disagreement over the US.

Agreed. USA/Sweden are underrated and Canada/Russia are overrated... who makes up this crap?? lol

[Gillipig]

I've been getting somewhat interested in sports betting lately (Bill Simmons and Colin Cowherd's fault) and I find it interesting how different some lines can be.

Here's sportsbook.ag:
Canada +180
USA +200
Russia +300
Sweden +500
Finland +1000
Czech Republic +3000

And then 5dimes.eu:
Canada wins men's gold medal +205
Russia wins men's gold medal +280
Sweden wins men's gold medal +375
USA wins men's gold medal +430
Finland wins men's gold medal +1315
Czech Republic wins men's gold medal +2750

Big disagreement over the US.

Agreed. USA/Sweden are underrated and Canada/Russia are overrated... who makes up this crap?? lol

Sweden has a lot of injuries and even though we were the only team to take the full nine points our two last games hasn't exactly been impressive so I can understand the odds. I don't think USA has too high of an odds. The first betting company mentioned here put them at almost as good chance as Canada.

[Army of GOD]

Both the NHL and the Olympics are stupid if they don't get NHL players playing in the '18 Olympics. The US/Russia game was the best thing for hockey in the US since like the 1980 games.

[DoomYoshi]

So the standings, compared to our average score:
1. Sweden +1.7
2. USA +1.6
3. Canada -0.4
4. Finland +0.7
5. Russia -3.1
6. Switzerland +2.4
7. Czech Republic -0.9
8. Slovenia +3
9. Austria +1.6
10. Slovakia -3.4
11. Latvia -0.9
12. Norway -2.3

Not that this means much of anything. But numbers and colors and unicorns, whee

[DoomYoshi]

I still think Russia is going to come back up. Right now Latvia has a more effective powerplay. Regression to the mean and yada yada, Russia gets into a medal game, if not necessarily a medal.

[DoomYoshi]

Both the NHL and the Olympics are stupid if they don't get NHL players playing in the '18 Olympics. The US/Russia game was the best thing for hockey in the US since like the 1980 games.

On a fan-base/supporting the NHL level, I agree with you. As a fan, I totally disagree. Any game that ends in shootout is an abomination.

Why play 60 minutes of hockey only to decide the entire game by a lame skills comp?
It is about as arbitrary a way of deciding the game as a puck control relay would be or a backwards ice skating race. They already have a speed-skating event... they call it speed-skating. Hockey is not a simple skills competition. That's what makes it a billion dollar sport. Instead of going to shootout, they should just keep going to overtimes but make the net bigger every time. Or, tie all the players together like a rope wrestling match. It's about as hockey as a shootout is.

[rishaed]

I watched a few of the games, and I have to say if the US keeps playing like they have, I at least expect them to beat Russia if they meet again, haven't seen many of the other teams so I can't say for them, but the US isn't doing too bad right now.

[Serbia]

Both the NHL and the Olympics are stupid if they don't get NHL players playing in the '18 Olympics. The US/Russia game was the best thing for hockey in the US since like the 1980 games.

Prediction: If the NHL refuses to let players participate in the 2018 Olympics, the KHL will allow their players to travel to Korea. This will lead to more Russian players leaving the NHL to play in Europe; other Europeans (and perhaps some second tier North American players) could also be lured away.

Playing Internationally is a huge draw for players, and they will take advantage of their opportunities. Also, don't forget that the KHL now has money to spend, particularly on the highest paid players, and teams are not just based in Russia anymore, but throughout eastern Europe.

Bollocks.

[Gillipig]

Both the NHL and the Olympics are stupid if they don't get NHL players playing in the '18 Olympics. The US/Russia game was the best thing for hockey in the US since like the 1980 games.

On a fan-base/supporting the NHL level, I agree with you. As a fan, I totally disagree. Any game that ends in shootout is an abomination.

Why play 60 minutes of hockey only to decide the entire game by a lame skills comp?
It is about as arbitrary a way of deciding the game as a puck control relay would be or a backwards ice skating race. They already have a speed-skating event... they call it speed-skating. Hockey is not a simple skills competition. That's what makes it a billion dollar sport. Instead of going to shootout, they should just keep going to overtimes but make the net bigger every time. Or, tie all the players together like a rope wrestling match. It's about as hockey as a shootout is.

The winner of a hockey game is not determined by who skates the fastest though, it's goals that count so it's no surprise that shootouts are used to force an end to games. I'm not sure if I want first round games to be able to go on for 8 extra rounds. It's just games played to determine seedings anyway.

[Serbia]

Russians were again sluggish. The 4-0 final score doesn't reflect how close this game really was, as the third goal was actually an empty-netter and the last one came after that with less than a minute to play. Outside of the Datsyuk - Kovalchuk - Radulov line, the Russians didn't generate a ton offensively. Slovenia gets to continue their run with a convincing win over Austria, and their prize is a banged up Sweden team. And while the Swedes should still win, it'll be an interesting game (which unfortunately I won't get to see unless I wake up at 3:00 a.m. could I pull that off? thinking... I'll let you know in the morning)

The Czechs jumped out to a 4-0 lead, then had to survive a Slovak comeback and win 5-3. How disappointing was this tourney for Slovakia? Just bad. Meanwhile Latvia shocked Switzerland. Good day of hockey, and it'll only get better tomorrow.

Bollocks.

[DoomYoshi]

I can't believe its not:

PHIL KESSEL

GO LEAFS GO

[notyou2]

Both the NHL and the Olympics are stupid if they don't get NHL players playing in the '18 Olympics. The US/Russia game was the best thing for hockey in the US since like the 1980 games.

On a fan-base/supporting the NHL level, I agree with you. As a fan, I totally disagree. Any game that ends in shootout is an abomination.

Why play 60 minutes of hockey only to decide the entire game by a lame skills comp?
It is about as arbitrary a way of deciding the game as a puck control relay would be or a backwards ice skating race. They already have a speed-skating event... they call it speed-skating. Hockey is not a simple skills competition. That's what makes it a billion dollar sport. Instead of going to shootout, they should just keep going to overtimes but make the net bigger every time. Or, tie all the players together like a rope wrestling match. It's about as hockey as a shootout is.

I agree. PLAY HOCKEY to decide a tie. First period should be 5 minutes, not sudden death. All periods after the first should be sudden death.

[Timminz]

I can't believe its not:

PHIL KESSEL

GO LEAFS GO

Haha. Awesome!

Seriously though, it's great to the JVR and The Phil doing so well on the world stage. Hopefully it just gives them the confidence they need to push the Leafs into a deep playoff run.

[Army of GOD]

I LOVE shootouts in non-playoff games. They're exciting and truly showcase a skater's puckhandling and a goalies...goalieing.

[Serbia]

I LOVE shootouts in non-playoff games. They're exciting and truly showcase a skater's puckhandling and a goalies...goalieing.

Bollocks.

[Gillipig]

Putin is pissed!!!