11/05/24
February 13, 2006
Wake me for the final: Olympic women's hockey? : "Three medals, two teams. ... This is not competitive imbalance. This is farce."
posted by the red terror to other at 10:24 AM - 35 comments
Do you believe in miracles?
posted by rcade at 10:46 AM on February 13, 2006
It is a farce - but I agree that the Winter version of the Olympics needs the programming for the TV deals, so Women's Hockey stays. It's flat out embarrassing to watch, however. Wake me up for the finals.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 10:48 AM on February 13, 2006
Guess what? It used to be the same way with Olympic men's hockey, except there was only ONE very good team. Canada used to dominate the other nations in similar ways. They were scoring 20+ goals all the time. Heck, one Olympic tournament involved all the OTHER teams competing to see who would play Canada in the gold medal game (since they were given a bye to the finals). From 1920 to 1952, Canada won the gold medal, except in 1936 when a bunch of ex-pat Canadians with British citizenships won the gold for Great Britain. However, other nations started to field better teams and things became much more interesting. It'll take time, but Sweden, Finland and (my wildcard guess for 2018) China will be much more competitive.
posted by grum@work at 11:05 AM on February 13, 2006
American defenseman Angela Ruggiero Shouldn't that be American Defenseperson Angela Ruggiero?
posted by HATER 187 at 11:24 AM on February 13, 2006
At least it's a team sport, so a country can't take more than one medal. I'm watching Women's Luge and it's Germany, Germany, Germany. You want farce, there's your farce. Same with the newish type sports like Snowboard Halfpipe -- where the American's were very close to sweeping all three medals. Again. Inbalance happens with new sports. It'll grow and it'll get better.
posted by mkn at 11:56 AM on February 13, 2006
grum makes a good point. Also, I should point out that US basketball has been through this twice; first, the amateur players used to pound the world by ungodly scores ... then the world's amateurs caught up and passed them ... and then, the NBA players started demolishing everybody ... and now that's a pretty even competition, too.
posted by Amateur at 12:01 PM on February 13, 2006
grum has got it, except for that I'd bet that China will be contending long before 2018. They'll be on the radar by the time Vancouver rolls around.
posted by chicobangs at 12:33 PM on February 13, 2006
Heck, the first time Women's hockey was in the Olympics there were only six teams (including China and Japan who are not in it this time) so the interest level is increasing. It'll take time.
posted by gspm at 12:36 PM on February 13, 2006
For the most part you can only get as good as your hardest competition. As long as these lesser teams get to play against the Canadiens and US more often it should not take too long for them to become competetive. I also noticed a few of the players for the other countries are playing college hockey in the US. If that becomes a trend it should also help speed up the process.
posted by njsk8r20 at 12:43 PM on February 13, 2006
maybe it would help if the rink was smaller. although i don't know how feasible it would be to have separate venues for men's & women's hockey at the olympics. and as far as watchability, it would help if they let the women play a bit more instead of calling all those damn penalties. that US/GER match yesterday was like watching a high school field hockey game, what with all the whistles.
posted by goddam at 12:58 PM on February 13, 2006
Hater I saw an interview with her Sunday and she called HERSELF a defenseman.
posted by scottypup at 02:04 PM on February 13, 2006
It's one thing if this was a yearly league or something, and two teams were destroying everyone. But it's once every four years. It's up to the other countries to get better. They don't like being destroyed? Train better then. I have very little sympathy. It's not like it's a surprise that Canada is good at hockey. I'm personally finding it hilarious to see the Canadian womens team score 28 goals in two games. It's once every four years. The other teams need to get their acts together. The World Cup happens this year as well. (Soccer.) It's EXTREMELY rare to see this kind of imbalance there.
posted by Drood at 04:52 PM on February 13, 2006
and as far as watchability, it would help if they let the women play a bit more instead of calling all those damn penalties. that US/GER match yesterday was like watching a high school field hockey game, what with all the whistles. Right on, goddam. Watching that game was like riding in a car with a bad clutch. Let 'em play.
posted by BullpenPro at 05:43 PM on February 13, 2006
and as far as watchability, it would help if they let the women play a bit more instead of calling all those damn penalties. that US/GER match yesterday was like watching a high school field hockey game, what with all the whistles. No doubt! A friend of mine and I were putting a new wall in my bathroom and I had the game on in the other room. I swear, every two minutes we heard either the penalty chime song or that damn Monkees song. Hey, at least I got me a new wall.
posted by NoMich at 06:10 PM on February 13, 2006
GO FINLAND YAY!!!!!!!!!
posted by united-soccer at 06:59 PM on February 13, 2006
^ That's what's gong to happen. The Finns and the Swedes are going to draw a lot of fans come the medal round. Actually, Canada/Sweden & USA/Finland are tomorrow. Curious to see what the fans will be like in the arena for that. I can guess.
posted by chicobangs at 08:21 PM on February 13, 2006
tomorrow's games should be a bit more competitive (the us/finland one anyway).
posted by goddam at 09:04 PM on February 13, 2006
Canada/Sweden should be competitive too. It was a 2-1 game pre tournament, mostly on the heels of their goaltender.
posted by mkn at 11:01 PM on February 13, 2006
Yeah, mkn, but I think the shots were like 50-10. That's not exactly an evenly matched game, although I'd welcome any uncertainty at this point. BTW I should just mention that an old classmate of mine and the alternate goalie for the Canadian team is writing a blog from Turin.
posted by Amateur at 07:35 AM on February 14, 2006
Think I'll find a cave and hybernate till FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do us all a favour. Stay in your cave for good.
posted by grum@work at 08:47 AM on February 14, 2006
italy scored a goal!
posted by goddam at 08:55 AM on February 14, 2006
Think I'll find a cave and hybernate till FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See, and here I was, assuming you lived in one already.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 09:42 AM on February 14, 2006
I'll have the roast duck, with the mango salsa.
posted by njsk8r20 at 10:40 AM on February 14, 2006
CAN 8 - SWE 1 -- that didn't turn out to be very interesting. The Finns, on the other hand, actually have had 1-0 and 2-1 leads ... interesting!
posted by Amateur at 02:14 PM on February 14, 2006
Looks like alot of penalties in that game. They actually have to call it "women body-checking"?
posted by njsk8r20 at 02:52 PM on February 14, 2006
The ghost of Tammi Granato shows itself. However, a small blip - we all know what the final is going to be.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 02:53 PM on February 14, 2006
Wow, that's a crappy box score design. I can't seem to find anything better though. Edit: That's a little better.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 02:59 PM on February 14, 2006
They actually have to call it "women body-checking"? It's not the most elegant name, but at least it's self-explanatory. Also: Finland 2, USA 1 after two periods. This could be interesting.
posted by chicobangs at 03:11 PM on February 14, 2006
thanks. drj. actually this is the box score. the other link is the live results.
posted by goddam at 03:13 PM on February 14, 2006
Ahhh, excellent point. I miss my Yahoo! live box score. These ones are new and strange to me.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 03:26 PM on February 14, 2006
3-3 in the 3rd. Sounds like a good game and I forgot to wear my USA jersey to work. I'll keep my "holding the stick" to myself.
posted by njsk8r20 at 03:31 PM on February 14, 2006
6-3! i wish i taped this game.
posted by goddam at 03:43 PM on February 14, 2006
7-3 Final. Thanks for the link goddam.
posted by njsk8r20 at 04:28 PM on February 14, 2006
I can't argue with much here, except for the opening: "at the Olympic women's hockey tournament, 90 percent of walking away with a bronze medal draped around your neck is just showing up. Some lucky team, likely the Finns or the Swedes, is going to be honored on the podium on Feb. 20 basically for being there." The competition for the bronze medal will actually be evenly matched between several second-tier teams. I think a more valid statement is that either the US or Canada will win the silver medal just for showing up. On the other hand, sometimes these things happen faster than you think they will. I remember arguing with my roommate during the 1992 Olympics about whether the US men's basketball team with NBA players would ever lose a game, and that dominance has been eroded pretty quickly. The problem here is that even countries that care a lot about ice hockey and a lot about the Olympics can't seem to generate much enthusiasm for women's hockey. Did I hear during the Canada-Russia game that Russia has 250 registered women's hockey players!?!