What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Blackbeard said:
I agree about the visual effect but I've been told by someone with more knowledge than me that it is very common for the time out to be handled by the assistant coach(es) for the team that did not call the time out primarily because there was nothing that that head coach thought was important enough to call a time out for. A second reason is that if that is the way that that head coach always does it, she would have no reason to change the procedure regardless of the present circumstance.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the additional info. Truth is, I haven't been aware of this protocol at my friendly neighborhood ECAC rink in Allston, MA.
 
Last edited:
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

KTDC said:
I don't feel like I know if the US was out-coached, but I do think that it's possible for coaching to impact the outcome of a game. On the Harvard thread the posters often comment on Stone using a short bench and they believe it often hurts Harvard late in the season and late in games.

Amanda Kessel was not one of the top 5 forwards used in the game. I don't know if she was hurt but I think she should have played regular full shifts.
21 Forward Hilary KNIGHT 24:57:00
16 Forward Kelli STACK 24:18:00
14 Forward Brianna DECKER 21:58
25 Forward Alex CARPENTER 20:10
10 Forward Meghan DUGGAN 20:06
28 Forward Amanda KESSEL 17:29
17 Forward Jocelyne LAMOUREUX 16:14
26 Forward Kendall COYNE 15:05
13 Forward Julie CHU 12:40
7 Forward Monique LAMOUREUX 9:16
18 Forward Lyndsey FRY 2:06
Click to expand...

This game went the way of last few preliminary games, USA gain a lead based on speed and puck control, but the forwards can't deal with the size of Canada in the D Zone as they tire. The size issue looms with the Defensive core as well. The match up in the D Zone was the real issue. No matter how good the conditioning, 3 forward lines are going to wear down based on the nature of the game's pace and physicality. A 4th line that was a threat and able to take a share of minutes would have helped the cause. Leaving Burke off the D core has to be questioned. D 5-7 were no threat and couldn't handle Canada's size and experience. This team could have won if they maintained the puck control later in the game.
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

driventoit said:
THIS 100%!

But I also would like responses from seasoned observers of crunch-time if anyone found it odd that the USA assistant coaches seemed to hold court during the last two breaks in action with +/- 3 minutes to go. Could be lots of good reasons, I guess, but for this uninitiated video viewer with no knowledge of coaching it was a striking visual, if nothing else. (Had similar question posted on the now boomed D/S thread and was seconded by a Canadian viewer who had split-screen shots of the two benches, with a fully engaged Dineen.) Don't know enough to be critical, but love the game enough to admit puzzlement.
Click to expand...

On most teams the PP and PK is handled by the assistant coaches so a late timeout is usually done to set up a PP/PK-type play with an extra attacker so the assistants tend to draw those up as well. Depends on the team and the coaching setup but I'd say this is a more common way than not, but at the end of the day he head coach is the boss so when they want to step in with a play they will.

When you see a mid-game timeout that is done to respond to a momentum shift (say after a couple quick goals), then it is usually the head coach talking because they're trying to calm the team down (or fire them up) rather than setting up any type of situation.
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

west said:
On most teams the PP and PK is handled by the assistant coaches so a late timeout is usually done to set up a PP/PK-type play with an extra attacker so the assistants tend to draw those up as well. Depends on the team and the coaching setup but I'd say this is a more common way than not, but at the end of the day he head coach is the boss so when they want to step in with a play they will.

When you see a mid-game timeout that is done to respond to a momentum shift (say after a couple quick goals), then it is usually the head coach talking because they're trying to calm the team down (or fire them up) rather than setting up any type of situation.
Click to expand...


Thanks, west. Stone going by the book here.
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

I also don't see the short bench being a thing because Dineen shortened his just as much. Only ran three lines and rode the top 4 on D.

It would be interesting to look at how the schedules were different. I know that for 2010 and this year HC has tried to make their schedule both physically and mentally draining and it sort of came to the perfect storm in late December when you threw a coaching change controversy into the mix. Canada certainly looked a lot sharper and faster in the Olympics than they did in those last exhibition games against the US and a lot of ugly games in the Midget Series heading into that pre-Olympic camp in Austria. I haven't looked into how the US schedule worked, but if I were to toss some ideas around I'd guess that a reason they looked so much better in late December is because their schedule wasn't quite as exhausting as Canada's was at that time. Something to look into I guess.

Wickenheiser, Hefford and Ouellette showed they weren't too old, every team needs their vets and they played their roles well. Oddly enough, despite people calling for more youth, this team is actually younger than the 2010, 2006 and 2002 gold medal winners (though in reality all the teams have basically the same average ages, less than two years separate them). Most great teams need a mix of youth and age, I guess this team had the right one.

It will be interesting to see the implication of bringing in Dineen for future teams (at least for the Olympic years). Once you go with an NHL-caliber coach can you really go back? It's likely that Goyette will be next in line for the national team until that decision gets made however.

Well I can say I enjoyed it, that game certainly bumped up the profile of the women's game up here, in a much different way than the 02 game did.
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

I'm skeptical of any training-best explanation for the differences between the two teams. They've been imitating each other for years, and I just don't see either team having an edge. Both programs scrimmaged boys teams and had top-of-the-line training. Both programs have talked about peaking in February and sacrificing short-term performance for that - Dineen did mention that as one major difference from the NHL.

I'm more convinced in Canada's advantage in having high-quality veterans. Canada had four 2006 Olympians who got playing time (Agosta + the three just mentioned) and also Apps & Labonte. Team USA had Chu - that's it. Of course the US can't duplicate the ability to bring in past gold medalists since they haven't been winning, but the US could conceivably do better in keeping its veterans involved. That to me is a far more convincing explanation than differences in coaching based on mythical NHL hockey insight that we can't actually observe.
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

dave1381 said:
I'm more convinced in Canada's advantage in having high-quality veterans. Canada had four 2006 Olympians who got playing time (Agosta + the three just mentioned) and also Apps & Labonte. Team USA had Chu - that's it. Of course the US can't duplicate the ability to bring in past gold medalists since they haven't been winning, but the US could conceivably do better in keeping its veterans involved. That to me is a far more convincing explanation than differences in coaching based on mythical NHL hockey insight that we can't actually observe.
Click to expand...

This article with comments from a few Canadian players would appear to support your theory...

http://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/melodie-daoust-makes-her-olympic-debut-in-sochi
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Plus Dineen says in just about every interview that the veterans made his job easy.

One tangible Dineen clearly deserves credit for is transferring the captaincy to Ouellette. It simply makes no sense to allow one person to own that position for so long when you have so many leaders.
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

OnMAA said:
Interview with McGuire the day after on TSN Radio. Very good listen. (Canadian slant).

Pick the one from Feb 21: http://autopod.ca/chum/22/podcasts/
Click to expand...

Great interview, thanks. Like I said before, sure miss him during the World Juniors. His analysis and tremendous enthusiasm for what he does just makes any game that much better to watch when he's doing the colour commentating.
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

OnMAA said:
No USA medals in Figures skating. ? :confused: Did they not win gold in Dance.?
Click to expand...

Yeah whoever put the poll together at the local paper obviously goofed up! :confused: Oh well, I suspect the result of their poll wouldn't have changed anyway...
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Anybody know what Wickenheyser was doing at center stage during the Closing Ceremonies? I didn't catch what that was about.
 
Re: 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Women's Ice Hockey Tournament

Blackbeard said:
Anybody know what Wickenheyser was doing at center stage during the Closing Ceremonies? I didn't catch what that was about.
Click to expand...

Probably had something to do with her election (8 year term) to the IOC as an Athlete Representative.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top