Steph J February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 2 hours ago, wintrygal said: Oh well, alright, at least they didn't put the American flag on the floor of their dressing room and use it for a carpet like the Americans did last time. It's her medal as far as I'm concerned and her right to remove, she was in the moment and will likely feel bad on hindsight. Literally none of the players for the US 2018 team were members of the Olympic team when that allegedly happened so I'm not sure it's fair to hold it against the current iteration of the US team as some sort of "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" type thing. As a Canadian who stayed up all night to watch the game and was gutted to see Canada lose, I understand the inclination to defend Larocque. They're hurting. Those of us who were rooting for them are hurting for them. None of us want to see an internet shaming pile-on on one of the players on top of it. At the same time, however, that was bad form on her part. It would be as bad as if she had refused to shake hands with the winners afterwards and as one of the team's veterans, she should be expected to display good sportsmanship and set a good example for the younger players. I'm sure that no one feels worse about it than her because right now, when she probably just wants to lick her wounds in private, she's front and center in the media over what she did. I'm sure she regrets it and I'm sure that in the heat of the moment she didn't pause to think about how it would be perceived, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be called out for doing it in the first place. 13 Link to comment
Eyes High February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 The Olympics always bring out my inner rabid Canadian hockey fan, but poor sportsmanship is poor sportsmanship. If Larocque truly cared about letting her country down, she wouldn't have put on such a ridiculously childish display. You lost. Suck it up and wear the damn medal. 11 Link to comment
Cherpumple February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 Out of curiosity, why do so many people dislike the idea of ending a game in a shoot out? I always find them fun and exciting. 2 Link to comment
vibeology February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 4 hours ago, Cherpumple said: Out of curiosity, why do so many people dislike the idea of ending a game in a shoot out? I always find them fun and exciting. For me because it's not hockey. It's a one on one skills competition and not a team sport. I would much rather see a result be decided by a team effort since that's what hockey is supposed to be. 8 Link to comment
MyAimIsTrue February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 18 hours ago, Mumbles said: I'm an American and actually support the Canadian player's refusal to wear the medal. She was raw and emotional. It was an unguarded, human reaction. My take as well. I assume she worked very hard her whole life and came thisclose to winning a gold medal in the Olympics, and she has a right to be disappointed. I'm competitive as all hell and probably would not have held it together as well as she did on an international stage. 2 Link to comment
Jeddah February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 9 hours ago, mledawn said: Come on now, that flag "controversy" was debunked within days (it was '02 and not "last time"), and Wickenheiser herself has walked it back (Question #6) Yeah, I don’t understand trying to excuse a blatant act of poor sportsmanship by using something from 16 years ago that didn’t even happen. 6 Link to comment
Jeddah February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 13 minutes ago, MyAimIsTrue said: My take as well. I assume she worked very hard her whole life and came thisclose to winning a gold medal in the Olympics, and she has a right to be disappointed. I'm competitive as all hell and probably would not have held it together as well as she did on an international stage. She has a gold medal from Sochi. Having a gold and silver medal from the Olympics is a huge accomplishment for anyone. Lots of athletes would be thrilled to have that. It’s a shame that’s not enough for her. I understand being disappointed in the moment. Her teammates were all disappointed too. There are plenty of broken-hearted silver medalists at the Olympics. Immediately taking her medal off during the medal ceremony is far different than just being disappointed. 15 Link to comment
aemom February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 Thankfully she has apologized. It's really hard for me to give her a pass, since she's not 12 years old and hopefully her parents taught her good sportsmanship at some point, but at least she has done the right thing whether she means it or not: In a statement Friday, Larocque apologized to the IOC, International Ice Hockey Federation, the Pyeongchang Olympic Organizing Committee, the Canadian Olympic Committee, Hockey Canada and her teammates and fans. She said she meant no disrespect. “In the moment, I was disappointed with the outcome of the game, and my emotions got the better of me,” she said. “I’m proud of our team, and proud to be counted among the Canadian athletes who have won medals at these Games. “Being on the podium at the world’s biggest sporting event is a great achievement and one that I’m thankful I was able to experience with my teammates.” Most Canadian players were fighting tears as they waited in line to get their medals following the gut-wrenching 3-2 loss. As soon as the medal was placed around Larocque’s neck, she removed it. The image was captured on television and then shared widely on social media with some users accusing Larocque of being a poor sport. She said she wished she could take the moment back. “I take seriously being a role model to young girls and representing our country,” she said. “My actions did not demonstrate the values our team, myself and my family live and for that I am truly sorry.” 6 Link to comment
mtlchick February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 Part of me wonders if losing to the USA is a harder pill to swallow as opposed to well, any other team. Imagine if we had lost to a weaker team. Meanwhile on the men's side...woof. I know I'm not expecting NHL play but some of the Canadian players seem to forget they're not playing with NHL rules. 3 Link to comment
Tanichka February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 8 minutes ago, AEMom said: Thankfully she has apologized. It's really hard for me to give her a pass, since she's not 12 years old and hopefully her parents taught her good sportsmanship at some point, but at least she has done the right thing whether she means it or not: Yes, glad she apologized, whether she was forced to or not. Not a classy move to make that big statement. 1 Link to comment
blackwing February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 Not surprised that Canada lost to Germany, especially since the starting goalie was injured and Germany upset Sweden. But still. Germany was 0-2-1 in the preliminary round. I get that there's no NHL players, but Canada still produces nearly 50% of the NHL players so you would think there's a pretty good tier of players who are still pretty decent. I guess one major difference is that I believe all these German players played together regularly, whereas I read that the Canadian and U.S. teams were mishmashes of also-rans and college players who barely even practiced together and didn't gel as a team. If the NHL is going to be absent again in 2022 I hope the Team Canada powers that he consider this and make some changes. At this point I think Canada will have a tough battle to get the bronze. Who would have thought that we'd see Germany battling for the gold medal against the stacked Not Russian team? 3 Link to comment
mtlchick February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 36 minutes ago, blackwing said: If the NHL is going to be absent again in 2022 I hope the Team Canada powers that he consider this and make some changes. It depends if going back to non NHL players will feel lackluster at the end of it all. We watched the game on the live stream during my training session at work (as a Canadian does!) and someone in the class said "I'm here for the best of the best, why am I watching the lame second string?" But given that it goes to Beijing next time, I can't see the NHL turning down the chance in selling the sport to a huge audience unless the owners really refuse to budge. 4 hours ago, vibeology said: For me because it's not hockey. It's a one on one skills competition and not a team sport. I would much rather see a result be decided by a team effort since that's what hockey is supposed to be. Pretty much. I don't necessarily mind them in the NHL season because hey, people need to get home eventually. But you work as a team, you should win as a team. Not by someone who is skilled on break aways or the goalie is on their own hoping to block the shot. 2 Link to comment
galaxygirl76 February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 Germany is not an ice hockey nation, I believe this is their first ever final and understandably they are overjoyed. As I said after the US won the women final, it seems the sports gods decided to give Canada their best Games ever but they had to give up hockey and curling golds for it. 8 Link to comment
RHJunkie February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 12 hours ago, Steph J said: Literally none of the players for the US 2018 team were members of the Olympic team when that allegedly happened so I'm not sure it's fair to hold it against the current iteration of the US team as some sort of "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" type thing. As a Canadian who stayed up all night to watch the game and was gutted to see Canada lose, I understand the inclination to defend Larocque. They're hurting. Those of us who were rooting for them are hurting for them. None of us want to see an internet shaming pile-on on one of the players on top of it. At the same time, however, that was bad form on her part. It would be as bad as if she had refused to shake hands with the winners afterwards and as one of the team's veterans, she should be expected to display good sportsmanship and set a good example for the younger players. I'm sure that no one feels worse about it than her because right now, when she probably just wants to lick her wounds in private, she's front and center in the media over what she did. I'm sure she regrets it and I'm sure that in the heat of the moment she didn't pause to think about how it would be perceived, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be called out for doing it in the first place. But that in part is the problem, it's entirely possibly to acknowledge what she did and disagree with her actions without shaming her or lecturing her about it. Can we all really say that we never let our emotions get the best of us where we did something that in retrospect, we knew wasn't the best approach? If so, then I apologize on behalf of all of us unworthy, unexceptional human beings who make mistakes. I'm sorry we can't all be perfect like those who are so harshly criticizing. There's no reason why the commentary has to be THAT extreme and for that, it's inciting the need for some to defend, like myself. I fully admit that it wasn't a wise choice for her, but to see her being called a crybaby, a jerk, being told that she's a disappointment to her country because she didn't act gracious enough - sure YMMV, but you know what, we're all sitting behind our computers judging someone else life's work while they're out there trying to make things happen for themselves. It's far easier to be in our position and be a keyboard warrior than to be in her position. She was ungracious in that moment, but it's less offensive to me than the lack of graciousness I'm seeing from a lot of the opinions on line. 5 Link to comment
RHJunkie February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 As a Canadian watching the Olympics, I'm always going to root for my country and I'll always be disappointed FOR the athletes when they fall short of realizing their Olympic dreams. I didn't have high expectations for Team Canada's men's hockey, in fact, I didn't even have the expectations that they would have the opportunity to medal. That said, I'm really happy for the German team. They're having a great Olympics overall and to see an underdog team that no one would have ever guessed win a game to send them to the Gold medal finals, that's a pretty amazing story for Olympic fans and especially for the country of Germany. The Russian team were the heavy favourites once it was determined that NHL would not be participating so Germany without doubt will be the underdogs but I'll be rooting for them. I don't think Russia should have been allowed to compete at all and the fact that they've already got a second athlete from Russia who has tested positive for doping just make it all the more obvious what a joke the IOC is. But that's a conversation for another thread. 4 Link to comment
Eyes High February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 Before the Olympics, I thought NHL players being excluded would lead to a more interesting gold medal matchup, and I was right. Way to go, Germany! Get that gold! Disappointed for the Canadians, but can't say I'm surprised. 3 Link to comment
bosawks February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 I hope now that she apologized about the medal ceremony it'll settle down. I don't know how I would react if my most disappointing moment professionally was broadcast internationally. I hope I would acquit myself honorably but acknowledge the possibility of petulance. At least the Canadian men volunteered to take off some of the spotlight glare from her........ 2 Link to comment
Mittengirl February 23, 2018 Share February 23, 2018 (edited) For some reason, I had it in my mind that there were not going to be any Russian teams participating this year, so I hadn’t really paid attention to hockey outside of the US teams. I was surprised to see an OAR team this afternoon. What exactly was the point of a ban, besides the IOC being able to say there was one? Edited February 23, 2018 by Mittengirl 6 Link to comment
Steph J February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 3 hours ago, bosawks said: I hope now that she apologized about the medal ceremony it'll settle down. It'll die for now but be resurrected every four years, I'm sure. Link to comment
mledawn February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 I watched the first two periods of CAN v GER and then had to drive for an hour and a half. I had friends updating me and it seems like Canada started to play in the 3rd. Too late! I have little interest in the men's tournament but obviously still disappointed in that result. Best tweet from the event though: 11 Link to comment
Bama February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 Ha! That is a very cute tweet. A German government official with a cute sense of humor? Who knew? 2 Link to comment
Mittengirl February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 Those German uniforms make the players look like a swarm of giant bumblebees on ice. 3 Link to comment
mledawn February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 Here's another gem, this time with regards to the US women's team win. I can't even be mad. https://breakingt.com/products/star-spangled-dangle 2 Link to comment
Tanichka February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 (edited) . Edited February 24, 2018 by Tanichka 2 Link to comment
Trey February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 Canada wins the bronze! I remember a few Olympics back, our NHL laden team (Wayne Gretzky yet!) lost the bronze, so hooray for these non-NHL players bringing home a medal!! 6 Link to comment
mledawn February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 5 minutes ago, Trey said: Canada wins the bronze! I remember a few Olympics back, our NHL laden team (Wayne Gretzky yet!) lost the bronze, so hooray for these non-NHL players bringing home a medal!! Against the Czechs as well, so a redemption of sorts...? Good job, fellas! 3 Link to comment
SeanC February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 Good job by Team Canada. Other than Chris Kelly, who has a Stanley Cup, this is almost certainly the career highlight for most of those guys. 4 Link to comment
walnutqueen February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 5 hours ago, Mittengirl said: Those German uniforms make the players look like a swarm of giant bumblebees on ice. I thought the same thing. When they played Sweden, my eyes were dazzled by the visual buzz. :-) 14 minutes ago, Trey said: Canada wins the bronze! I remember a few Olympics back, our NHL laden team (Wayne Gretzky yet!) lost the bronze, so hooray for these non-NHL players bringing home a medal!! I am ever so glad they can bring home a medal. 1 Link to comment
mtlchick February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 52 minutes ago, walnutqueen said: I thought the same thing. When they played Sweden, my eyes were dazzled by the visual buzz. :-) I am ever so glad they can bring home a medal. I didn't watch the game as I was too irked by the game yesterday lol. But I'm glad they won. And it got me thinking about this bronze vs the women's silver. The women's team were the best of the best that this country had to offer, they were upset (among other things) that they "lost the gold." The men's team were NOT considered the best of the best (and for some, potentially considered "past their prime") and from what I can tell, mostly happy they were able to even medal. 4 Link to comment
blackwing February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 Yes. Considering the fact that pre-Olympics many had assumed that the Not Russians with Kovalchuk and Datsyuk were heavy favourites for the gold, I'd say this band of ragtag Canadians did well to earn a medal of any colour. And I still think it's a joke that there is a Not Russian team to begin with. I suppose I get allowing individuals to compete as individuals. I get allowing a pairs figure skating team or a doubles luge team (already established partnerships) in. What I don't get is why they were allowed to all loosely compete as OAR. Who made the selections for the Not Russian hockey team? It was a Russian Hockey body or the a Russian Olympic Committee right? If there was to be a ban, then no officials from Russia should have had any part in making selections. If the IOC was going to allow any athletes from Russia to participate in hockey they should have issued invites to them and invited them to join together to form an INDEPENDENT Olympic hockey team. Frankly, it's a complete joke that they even list OAR in the medal standings. There is no team. Therefore all these athletes are winning medals for themselves and not to increase the medal total of Not Russia. 7 Link to comment
galaxygirl76 February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 2 hours ago, Trey said: Canada wins the bronze! I remember a few Olympics back, our NHL laden team (Wayne Gretzky yet!) lost the bronze, so hooray for these non-NHL players bringing home a medal!! They lost to the Czechs in the semi final, they went on to win the gold. Dominik Hasek was fantastic those Olympics, iirc he basically won them the gold. Canada went on to lose the bronze medal match to Finland(had to look that one up) 2 Link to comment
Trey February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 Dominik Hasek! That's his name - I couldn't remember it. But I do remember what a great job he did for the Czechs. 1 Link to comment
kili February 24, 2018 Share February 24, 2018 Quote Best tweet from the event though: The Germans are doubling down. Their embassy is going to serve free hot chocolate to Canadians on Monday. Great Olympic Spirit. 13 Link to comment
RHJunkie February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 12 hours ago, blackwing said: Yes. Considering the fact that pre-Olympics many had assumed that the Not Russians with Kovalchuk and Datsyuk were heavy favourites for the gold, I'd say this band of ragtag Canadians did well to earn a medal of any colour. And I still think it's a joke that there is a Not Russian team to begin with. I suppose I get allowing individuals to compete as individuals. I get allowing a pairs figure skating team or a doubles luge team (already established partnerships) in. What I don't get is why they were allowed to all loosely compete as OAR. Who made the selections for the Not Russian hockey team? It was a Russian Hockey body or the a Russian Olympic Committee right? If there was to be a ban, then no officials from Russia should have had any part in making selections. If the IOC was going to allow any athletes from Russia to participate in hockey they should have issued invites to them and invited them to join together to form an INDEPENDENT Olympic hockey team. Frankly, it's a complete joke that they even list OAR in the medal standings. There is no team. Therefore all these athletes are winning medals for themselves and not to increase the medal total of Not Russia. When the second case of doping from a Not Russian player was discovered, Russia did address the situation as being unfortunate and was worried about their ability to be reinstated before this year's closing ceremonies. Russia referenced that they had fulfilled their monetary commitment of 15M to allow their athletes to still compete - supposedly the IOC was going to take this money to use for some anti-doping fund or something. Who knows, but in the end, I firmly believe that the only reason Russia is there as Not Russia is because money talks like it often does. 2 Link to comment
RHJunkie February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 12 hours ago, mtlchick said: I didn't watch the game as I was too irked by the game yesterday lol. But I'm glad they won. And it got me thinking about this bronze vs the women's silver. The women's team were the best of the best that this country had to offer, they were upset (among other things) that they "lost the gold." The men's team were NOT considered the best of the best (and for some, potentially considered "past their prime") and from what I can tell, mostly happy they were able to even medal. Well two things with that - those men would have never imagined that they would have the opportunity to represent Canada at the Olympics and had it not been for the NHL not participating, they never would have gotten that chance. For those guys, I bet it was an unexpected dream realized for probably all of them. And with the structure of how the team games go you have a bronze medal game and the team that wins, wins the bronze. And then you have the gold medal game, and the team that wins, wins the gold. There is no silver medal game because the silver medal is given to the loser of the gold medal game. In the moment, it's a consolation prize for falling short of the big prize. I know retrospect, I'm sure these athletes will look back with pride for the accomplishment but it's a very different feeling in that moment. 1 Link to comment
galaxygirl76 February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 I'm pretty sure there are Russian flags all over that arena. 1 Link to comment
opus February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 Germans have it down to a tied one period game. 1 Link to comment
galaxygirl76 February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 I wonder how many of those guys are going to test positive /yes I'm bitter 6 Link to comment
Cindyluwho February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 Ugghh...So close Germany! Maybe one if the notRussians will fail the pee test and they will lose the gold. 3 Link to comment
Mittengirl February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 My bumblebees lost! I had no idea that Germany had never won gold in hockey before. That surprised me, and made me want them to win even more. Damn gutless IOC. 2 Link to comment
walnutqueen February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 I've expended all my energy trying NOT to say something totally churlish about this ... (I'm bitter, too @galaxygirl76). :-( 4 Link to comment
xaxat February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 JR was right. The only thing Germany should have been worried about during that power play in the last couple of minutes or regulation was possession. I really got worried when they took a long shot on goal. 3 Link to comment
stealinghome February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 Especially since they basically had a power play to kill regulation! All they had to do was pass it around the Russian zone and play keep-away! I get wanting to play aggressive (to win, not to not lose) but at some point you have to be smart too. Once Russia scored with like 10 seconds left I knew they were going to win in OT. Germany had nothing left in the tank and kinda looked defeated already. 1 Link to comment
opus February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 Heartbreaking for the Germans. So close. After all the hoopla over the Canadian woman and the taking off of the silver, quick prediction for woman's hockey in Beijing... U.S-Canada gold medal game. The winner will be happy and smiley. The loser will be sad and upset. 2 Link to comment
ShellsandCheese February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 (edited) 12 hours ago, galaxygirl76 said: I wonder how many of those guys are going to test positive /yes I'm bitter Probably none. To my knowledge there has never been a doping scandal tied to Men’s Hockey in Russia. The majority of their team are veterans who have previously played in the NHL, have previously played in The Olympics, and/or currently play in the Russian leaugue. I get it. What Russia did in Sochi was beyond the pale but is it shocking? No. Only an idiot would have been surprised and it’s not the first or last time the IOC has had to deal with Federation and State sponsored cheating. What has annoyed the piss out of me is the self righteous hand wringing about it all. Especially considering all of the doping that was going in USA Track and Field just a few years ago - and their was no collective punishment then either. The IOC made the decision to ban The Russian Olympic Committee and to allow Russians without a history of doping to participate. Maybe take it up with the IOC. That being said, that Gold Medal Hockey game was fantastic! Much better without NHL players. I hope they go back to not allowing current NHL players to participate and I wish Olympic basketball would go back to not allowing NBA players and other professional leagues. In fact if we want to get corruption and cheating out of the Olympics, it should go back to be strictly for amateurs, no more official medal counting, just let people compete and take the politics out of it. Edited February 25, 2018 by ShellsandCheese Link to comment
galaxygirl76 February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 2 minutes ago, ShellsandCheese said: In fact if we want to get corruption and cheating out of the Olympics, it should go back to be strictly for amateurs, no more official medal counting, just let people compete and take the politics out of it. The dirtiest Olympic race and probably still the biggest doping scandal took place when they were technically still 'amateurs'. Russia got banned because it was a state sanctioned program, and lets be real that dates back to the Soviet block era, also back when they were amateurs. As long as there is sports there will be cheaters, amateur or not. 6 Link to comment
xaxat February 25, 2018 Share February 25, 2018 33 minutes ago, ShellsandCheese said: What has annoyed the piss out of me is the self righteous hand wringing about it all. Especially considering all of the doping that was going in USA Track and Field just a few years ago - and their was no collective punishment then either. What the Russians did in Sochi was on a whole 'nother level from the individual level of cheating we have seen before. The former head of the Russian anti doping organization admitted his participation not only in helping athletes devise better PED cocktails, he also detailed how Russian intelligence helped to swap out potentially dirty samples with clean ones. This was a government operation, not an individual, sport or coach organized one. And then there is the whole hacking thing. 16 Link to comment
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