US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

[pgb-ohio]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

The morning after, and it still hurts.

Yeah, the most talented team won. And thinking we could overcome the huge home ice advantage twice in 8 days was a stretch. Still, we were so close...

Aggravating matters is the fact that it may be quite a while before we get a similar shot at Team Canada. To hear Bettman tell it, it's distinctly possible that the NHL will shun the Sochi games. If so, what does the 2014 hockey competition become? A minor pro all-star series? A battle of the beer league champs?

OK, I'll settle down a little bit. The powers that be will probably find a way to ensure a reasonably high level of play. But my fear is that 2014 will wind up being akin to the World Championships. In other words, a competition that very few people in North America care about -- on either side of the border.

We've just experienced a great tournament. And a Silver Medal is a fine result. But we are long going to rue the missed opportunity.

 

[Twisted Wrister]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

Umberger was the missing piece

 

[TimU]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

We've just experienced a great tournament. And a Silver Medal is a fine result. But we are long going to rue the missed opportunity.

For me, it's hard to be too upset about losing to that team, in that manner, on that day. They had the best players, they were in the best possible location, and they were playing their best hockey.

 

[BUT09]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

For me, it's hard to be too upset about losing to that team, in that manner, on that day. They had the best players, they were in the best possible location, and they were playing their best hockey.

Exactly. I had such low expectations of the US coming in that it is incredible what they did.

However, the way they tied it up and then lost on an almost fluky goal hurt. As a BU fan, it would have been close to what I would have felt had BU not scored the OT goal in D.C.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

We were home team in name only. The crowd was a huge factor for Team Canuck.

 

[DownEastblkbearfan]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

The hockey game should have been like everything else in the olympics we should have been posted a two goal lead from having beaten them before.

 

[HockeyMan2000]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

The two things I took away from the series is that the players are still millionaires and Jeremy Roenick is a blithering crybaby.

Seriously, why of all the players did NBC pick Roenick -- who didn't show up in Nagano except to trash the hotel room -- to do some analysis? He has zero credibility and hearing him comment on how any player performed in these Olympics was just utterly laughable.

 

[Yelnick]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

The morning after, and it still hurts.

Yeah, the most talented team won. And thinking we could overcome the huge home ice advantage twice in 8 days was a stretch. Still, we were so close...

Aggravating matters is the fact that it may be quite a while before we get a similar shot at Team Canada. To hear Bettman tell it, it's distinctly possible that the NHL will shun the Sochi games. If so, what does the 2014 hockey competition become? A minor pro all-star series? A battle of the beer league champs?

OK, I'll settle down a little bit. The powers that be will probably find a way to ensure a reasonably high level of play. But my fear is that 2014 will wind up being akin to the World Championships. In other words, a competition that very few people in North America care about -- on either side of the border.

We've just experienced a great tournament. And a Silver Medal is a fine result. But we are long going to rue the missed opportunity.

Players like Ovechkin and Malkin have already said that they are going to go and play, no matter what the NHL says. My fear is that if the NHL says no to the games, those players and other top end guys in the NHL from Europe will let their contracts expire and go back and play in Europe (KHL, Swedish Elite League, etc) so they can play. That'll leave a bunch of the best American and Canadian players who won't be able to go and we'll end up with national teams made up of college and junior players and get smoked. Gee that'll be fun.

That being said, I don't think Bettman will let the top end Europeans leave the NHL and they'll end up playing in 2014. I think now that the NHL players have gotten a taste of the Olympics, they won't want to let it go.

 

[dggoddard]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

The NHL owners are afraid that players might get hurt in the Olympics. The owners are also probably thinking why should the IOC get rich off NHL players with the TV money.

The players wouldn't have to let their contacts expire, they could just take off before the Olympics, but they would be risking their contracts if they got hurt.

Guessing there may be easy solution to part of this. If the players had some sort of insurance policy that protected the teams that might be a workable solution.

Guessing also that they 2014 Olympic TV deal will be far less valuable without NHL players participating.

 

[Puck Swami]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

We've just experienced a great tournament. And a Silver Medal is a fine result. But we are long going to rue the missed opportunity.

I agree 100%. This morning hurts much more than it should, becuase deep down in our hearts, we know that the American Olympic hockey afterglow is very short in a 500 channel universe when you win silver. All those journalists could have been writing an epic American story yesterday that could have been the greatest shot in the arm for hockey since Lake Placid. But the only 'legend' coming out of this tournament will be Sydney Crosby, and the legend will be North of the Border where hockey is already king, and Zach Parise and Ryan Miller will go back to the NHL, where they are known to hockey fans, but will soon be forgotten by Americans outside of Buffalo and Northern New Jersey. The journalists are already moving on to the Wonders of Tim Tebow's Vertical Leap at the NFL combine, the optimism of Spring training and Tiger Woods' next appearance.

Even if the NHL players do go to Russia in 2014, the games will tape delayed or shown at ungodly hours. And I don't think we'll see another North American hosted winter Olympics until 2018 or more like 2022, so it may be many years before average Americans gather to watch a hockey game the way they did yesterday.

And of course, Canadians are using this win to reaffirm themselves as kings of hockey and smugly dismiss the American Olympic effort with a pat on the head -- a mere sideshow in comparison to their birthright superiority in "Our Game." I don't want to hear how Canada "needed" that gold medal for their self esteem as hosts. Canada kicked major azz in this Olympics with 14 gold medals, and they have proven themselves as a great winter sports power country and a great Olympic hosts.

America may not 'need' hockey the way Canada does, but tell that to the 23 players wearing red white and blue, and the few million Americans who follow the sport closely. We've watched our sport plateauing for years now in registrations, and we've watched our sport moving further and further away from daily relevance in this country as the sport disappeared from ESPN. A Gold yesterday could have changed that (or it least stemmed it), but the Olympic moment has passed into Canadian legend and lore rather than American legend and lore, and hockey will keep slipping away, just as the Lake Placid footage continues to get grainier and the gold medalists from 1980 get grayer and grayer. NASCAR, MMA, Soccer and extreme sports continue to rise as they pass us, and hockey continues to fade deeper away.

A missed opportunity indeed.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

Guessing also that they 2014 Olympic TV deal will be far less valuable without NHL players participating.

Really? If the U.S. hadn't been in the game yesterday, the hockey would have been a footnote and hardly watched at all.

As good as we did this time around, we could easily finish 5th in Russia. I assume that the games there will be played on Olympic sized ice which would not favor us or the Canucks.

Pretty sure that hockey doesn't factor all that much into what the TV deal is worth. Especially since there is no guarantee that the U.S. will be there at the end.

 

[blockski]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

The NHL owners are afraid that players might get hurt in the Olympics. The owners are also probably thinking why should the IOC get rich off NHL players with the TV money.

The players wouldn't have to let their contacts expire, they could just take off before the Olympics, but they would be risking their contracts if they got hurt.

Guessing there may be easy solution to part of this. If the players had some sort of insurance policy that protected the teams that might be a workable solution.

Guessing also that they 2014 Olympic TV deal will be far less valuable without NHL players participating.

1. The players do have insurance, that's not the issue. I'll bet you have homeowners insurance, too - but that doesn't mean it's ok for your house to burn down.

2. It's not TV, it's also tickets. There are a lot of hockey games, and they are what makes the games make financial sense. They're relatively cheap to put on and bring in a lot of revenue to the organizer - this is why they utterly rejected the proposal to move hockey to the summer games (besides the obvious climatic mis-match).

3. Bettman isn't stupid, he knows how much the NHL benefits from having the players in the tournament. He also knows that the NHL is essentially taking all the risk (even with the insurance) and getting very little of the reward. His comments about 2014 are clearly positioning the league for negotiations with both the IOC and NHLPA.

Some potential solutions would be to make the NHL a co-equal 'sponsor' of the tournament with the IIHF, sharing TV rights with the NHL network, putting the NHL logo on the ice or boards, different kinds of cross-promotion, etc.

 

[BUT09]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

Some potential solutions would be to make the NHL a co-equal 'sponsor' of the tournament with the IIHF, sharing TV rights with the NHL network, putting the NHL logo on the ice or boards, different kinds of cross-promotion, etc.

How could they get away with doing that without having the logos of the KHL, Swiss Elite League, Swedish Elite League, etc?

The IOC won't even allow "Miller Time" on Miller's helmet, and you think they'll allow that?

 

[blockski]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

How could they get away with doing that without having the logos of the KHL, Swiss Elite League, Swedish Elite League, etc?

The IOC won't even allow "Miller Time" on Miller's helmet, and you think they'll allow that?

I'm not saying the IOC will go for it, but are you really asking why not the Swedish elite league? How many players from the Swedish elite league were on the ice for yesterday's gold medal game?

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

Players like Ovechkin and Malkin have already said that they are going to go and play, no matter what the NHL says. My fear is that if the NHL says no to the games, those players and other top end guys in the NHL from Europe will let their contracts expire and go back and play in Europe (KHL, Swedish Elite League, etc) so they can play.

Unless the NHLPA and the players that want to play present a package of concessions to the owners, let them go and they will eventually realize how good they have it right now in the NHL. The league is far from perfect, but better than average players that leave the NHL for Europe aren't going to be as coddled nor as well paid as they currently are in North America. In fact it won't even be close.

I want to see NHL players in the Olympics as much as the next guy, but I'm a fan and not an owner and I think the Olympics advance the sport very little. The last time the impact were huge, the roster was comprised of amateurs and not pros. If I were to believe that hockey in the United States would legitimately receive a shot in the arm from this event, a silver medal winning performance witnessed by that many Americans, in a game in which the team gave their heart and soul to win, while playing against a team of giants, will go just as far. If the silver given all those circumstances cannot help I don't think the gold would have done much more long term.

 

[Puck Swami]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

1. Some potential solutions would be to make the NHL a co-equal 'sponsor' of the tournament with the IIHF, sharing TV rights with the NHL network, putting the NHL logo on the ice or boards, different kinds of cross-promotion, etc.

The IOC might throw a few bucks the NHL's way but that would be as far as I would see it going. The Olympic Brand is the most recognized brand in the world with more global awareness than the Christian Cross, Mercedes Benz or McDonalds. Sponsors pay hundreds of millions for the rights to be associated with those rings, and the rings are worth far, far more than the NHL brand. The IOC would never relegate its rings to a sport co-brand, let alone that of a North American sports league.

 

[BUT09]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

I'm not saying the IOC will go for it, but are you really asking why not the Swedish elite league? How many players from the Swedish elite league were on the ice for yesterday's gold medal game?

I'm just saying the IOC would never go for it if it wasn't fair and equal to all organizations sending players.

Actually, I don't think they'd go for it at all, since it's not in the spirit of the games, but that's beside the point.

 

[ck1969]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

I agree 100%. This morning hurts much more than it should, becuase deep down in our hearts, we know that the American Olympic hockey afterglow is very short in a 500 channel universe when you win silver. All those journalists could have been writing an epic American story yesterday that could have been the greatest shot in the arm for hockey since Lake Placid. But the only 'legend' coming out of this tournament will be Sydney Crosby, and the legend will be North of the Border where hockey is already king, and Zach Parise and Ryan Miller will go back to the NHL, where they are known to hockey fans, but will soon be forgotten by Americans outside of Buffalo and Northern New Jersey. The journalists are already moving on to the Wonders of Tim Tebow's Vertical Leap at the NFL combine, the optimism of Spring training and Tiger Woods' next appearance.

Even if the NHL players do go to Russia in 2014, the games will tape delayed or shown at ungodly hours. And I don't think we'll see another North American hosted winter Olympics until 2018 or more like 2022, so it may be many years before average Americans gather to watch a hockey game the way they did yesterday.

And of course, Canadians are using this win to reaffirm themselves as kings of hockey and smugly dismiss the American Olympic effort with a pat on the head -- a mere sideshow in comparison to their birthright superiority in "Our Game." I don't want to hear how Canada "needed" that gold medal for their self esteem as hosts. Canada kicked major azz in this Olympics with 14 gold medals, and they have proven themselves as a great winter sports power country and a great Olympic hosts.

America may not 'need' hockey the way Canada does, but tell that to the 23 players wearing red white and blue, and the few million Americans who follow the sport closely. We've watched our sport plateauing for years now in registrations, and we've watched our sport moving further and further away from daily relevance in this country as the sport disappeared from ESPN. A Gold yesterday could have changed that (or it least stemmed it), but the Olympic moment has passed into Canadian legend and lore rather than American legend and lore, and hockey will keep slipping away, just as the Lake Placid footage continues to get grainier and the gold medalists from 1980 get grayer and grayer. NASCAR, MMA, Soccer and extreme sports continue to rise as they pass us, and hockey continues to fade deeper away.

A missed opportunity indeed.

Excellent post. But at least we had the country's attention for a couple of weeks. It was a magnificant tournament and being a avid hockey fan, yesterday was fantastic even tho the result wasn't what we hoped. Honestly, I haven't been that excited and anticipated a hockey game that much in years. I can't remember the last time I literally jumped up out of my seat like I did when the US tied it up. Good stuff. Wish I could experience that feeling every time I sat down to watch any sport.

 

[blockski]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

The IOC might throw a few bucks the NHL's way but that would be as far as I would see it going. The Olympic Brand is the most recognized brand in the world with more global awareness than the Christian Cross, Mercedes Benz or McDonalds. Sponsors pay hundreds of millions for the rights to be associated with those rings, and the rings are worth far, far more than the NHL brand. The IOC would never relegate its rings to a sport co-brand, let alone that of a North American sports league.

I'm just shooting out ideas I've seen elsewhere.

The IOC may not like it, but hockey is (literally) the bread and butter of the winter Olympics, and they need the NHL a lot more than the NHL needs the IOC. Bettman knows this, and he wants a piece of the pie - whether that's cash, hockey media rights, free ad time to use Olympic TV audiences to promote NHL games after the break, etc.

 

[Gurtholfin]

Re: US Olympic Hockey - Let's Stick It To The Canucks Again!

Excellent post. But at least we had the country's attention for a couple of weeks. It was a magnificant tournament and being a avid hockey fan, yesterday was fantastic even tho the result wasn't what we hoped. Honestly, I haven't been that excited and anticipated a hockey game that much in years. I can't remember the last time I literally jumped up out of my seat like I did when the US tied it up. Good stuff. Wish I could experience that feeling every time I sat down to watch any sport.

I jumped out of my seat when the U.S. won the WJC and was just as excited for that tourney as I was for this one. Also the World Cup in '96.

As far as having the country's attention, I don't care about that and agree with others here who don't think that this Olympics will have any bump effect nor would it had we won gold.

Non-hockey people watched yesterday because it was for a gold in the Olympics, not because they have a sudden interest in the sport of hockey.

If lacrosse were an Olympic sport and we made it to the gold medal game, I'd watch and really want us to win, but it's very unlikely that I'd continue to be interested beyond the closing ceremonies.