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

[alfablue]

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

I remember hearing Stastny from Denver, but I didn't hear anything about UND, Minnesota or Wisconsin. They did mention that Pavelski is from Wisconsin, but they weren't talking about the school, I don't think.

Well, outside of Miller's MSU, I really think I heard J Johnson from Michigan way more than anyone else. Again, I do appreciate that, but geez- there are a lot of other colleges represented out there, on both teams. It would be nice for more mention of that- to show that college is a viable way to get somewhere in Hockey. WE all know that, but I'm sure the US general public really doesn't.

Not that I can go back and change anything....

 

[bigblue_dl]

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

Well, outside of Miller's MSU, I really think I heard J Johnson from Michigan way more than anyone else. Again, I do appreciate that, but geez- there are a lot of other colleges represented out there, on both teams. It would be nice for more mention of that- to show that college is a viable way to get somewhere in Hockey. WE all know that, but I'm sure the US general public really doesn't.

Not that I can go back and change anything....

For some reason, I'm not that disappointed that they never mentioned that Jarkko Ruutu went to Michigan Tech....

 

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

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

For some reason, I'm not that disappointed that they never mentioned that Jarkko Ruutu went to Michigan Tech....

Well, he only played for us for a year (95-96), but yeah not exactly an association I'd want either.

 

[MadCityRich]

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

You Michigan boys gotta take off the blue and green ear muffs. I watched EVERY game and heard Pavelski, Suter, Rafalski mentioned several times that they attended UW. JJohnson yes, Miller yes, Parise @ NoDak, Stastny @ Denver, Backes @ MSU-'kato were all mentioned a few times, but not so much on Sunday. Those were the ones that stood out, but I'm sure I missed some. I do not recall one American player who's MJ team was mentioned.

Edzo mentioned "so & so, the pride & joy of ......." many times, however not referring to a school.

I don't recall hearing Kessel (did say he was from Madison) or EJohnson @ MN, but maybe I had my red ear muffs on!

BTW 28,000,000 US households watched the game.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

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

You Michigan boys gotta take off the blue and green ear muffs. I watched EVERY game and heard Pavelski, Suter, Rafalski mentioned several times that they attended UW. JJohnson yes, Miller yes, Parise @ NoDak, Stastny @ Denver, Backes @ MSU-'kato were all mentioned a few times, but not so much on Sunday. Those were the ones that stood out, but I'm sure I missed some. I do not recall one American player who's MJ team was mentioned.

Edzo mentioned "so & so, the pride & joy of ......." many times, however not referring to a school.

I don't recall hearing Kessel (did say he was from Madison) or EJohnson @ MN, but maybe I had my red ear muffs on!

BTW 28,000,000 US households watched the game.

{sigh}

I think they may have mentioned that P. Kessel and E. Johnson attended the University of Minnesota.

 

[BUT09]

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

I think they mentioned Drury's Hobey Baker, but that might have been an article I read rather than the broadcast.

 

[MadCityRich]

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

{sigh}

I think they may have mentioned that P. Kessel and E. Johnson attended the University of Minnesota.

It WAS those red filtered ear muffs, Scoob!!

 

[ScoobyDoo]

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

It WAS those red filtered ear muffs, Scoob!!

Considering how awesome the contributions of the Badgers were in this Olympics, especially the way Rafalski played, throw me a bone, ok?

*I think I just threw up in my mouth*

 

[Puck Swami]

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

BTW 28,000,000 US households watched the game.

That's probably 50-75 million people when you figure in sports bars, etc.

 

[dggoddard]

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

That's probably 50-75 million people when you figure in sports bars, etc.

US Population is larger than it was in 1980, but far more people have cable TV today. All things considered pretty dang impressive. 10 million more than Salt Lake in 2002. Why such a massive increase???

From LA Times

USA-Canada hockey sets TV viewing records for NBC
March 1, 2010 | 1:05 pm

Canada's 3-2 win over the U.S. in the Olympic gold medal hockey game Sunday was seen by an average of 27.6 million, the most-viewed hockey game in any setting since the 1980 Lake Placid Gold Medal game in the year where the U.S. capped off its "Do you believe in miracles," semifinal win over the Soviet Union by beating Finland in the final game.

The tape-delayed Feb. 24, 1980, U.S.-Finland game had 32.8 million viewers, and the semifinal game against Russia (also tape-delayed) averaged 34.2 million viewers. The 2002 Salt Lake City gold medal game, also between the U.S. and Canada, was seen by 17.1 million in comparison.

“We’ve been fortunate to have a front-row seat to observe a nation of fans that appreciates winter sports, is proud of their winter sport heritage and celebrates success, no matter which country wins. So it was only fitting yesterday when Sidney Crosby scored the goal to give Canadians the gold that meant so much to this country,” said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. “ ‘O Canada’ will never be the same.”

According to the Nielsen Co., the viewing audience peaked at 34.8 million viewers between 2:30 and 3:06 PST, when Team USA's Zach Parise sent the game to overtime with 24.4 seconds left in regulation.

The 27.6 million who watched the hockey game is more than the 24 million who saw the Rose Bowl or the 17.6 who viewed the 2009 NCAA basketball championship game and even more than the 25.9 million who watched the 2010 Grammy Awards.

If you missed the game or forgot to record it, Universal Sports will re-broadcast it Tuesday and Wednesday at 5 p.m. PST and again at 8 PST.

Not surprisingly the game was most popular in the U.S. in three cities with traditional hockey followings -- Buffalo (home of U.S. star Patrick Kane), Pittsburgh (Crosby is its Penguins star) and Hockeytown itself, Detroit. Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Denver and Philadelphia round out the top 10.

 

[Slap Shot]

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

I disagree with your pessimistic assessment here. Sure, a gold is better than a silver, but hockey got exposure and the US team did not look outclassed. Whether the US wins gold or silver yesterday, it's still a rough stretch for youth hockey in this country due to the overall economic climate (especially in places like Michigan) and the economics of the game itself.

I know we all want to see hockey, especially youth and college hockey, expand to other markets, but this is not likely to happen even if Team USA does happen to pick up the occasional gold medal on the world stage. It's a sport primarily played in the Upper Midwest and the Northeast, and as long as the rest of the country obsesses over football, basketball, and non-sports such as NASCAR, it's pretty much going to stay that way.

Maybe I'm just too cynical, but I can't see how winning the gold would have made all that difference. Are you saying that because we lost, little Jimmy isn't going to want to play hockey where he otherwise would have based on watching this one game?

Winning yesterday wouldn't have changed any of the factors that make hockey the distant fourth most popular sport. It wouldn't have built a rink in Alabama, it wouldn't have made ice fees less, it wouldn't have put the NHL on ESPN or college hockey on a station where anybody could find it, it wouldn't have created a generation of adults who played and now have their kids play, it wouldn't have eliminated football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, soccer, video games, pot and all the other things that kids do instead of hockey.

I can't believe that you'd attach that much significance to one game. I come from a non hockey family and my parents watched the game yesterday. I've taken them to more than a few Badger games over the years, but they're not gonna tune in to see how this NHL season turns out based upon the USA Hockey team winning a gold medal or not.

For non hockey Americans, the game yesterday was an event because of the stage it was on. It wasn't gonna be a life changer based upon winning or losing. If some kid got the bug during these games, I find it hard to believe that it would disappear because we lost in O.T.

Oh yeah, and Julia Mancuso is still HOT, even though she only took the silver medal. I'm still inspired.

So wait. American teams have won 16 straight Stanley Cups, including teams in California and Florida. Attendance this year is down to 93% from 97% across the NHL this year. The NCAA Frozen Four routinely sells out 16-20,000 seat arenas. We won the U-17, U-18, WJC, beat Canada in Canada, and lost in the gold medal game in overtime and American hockey is on the decline?

When the hell was it at an apex, then?

The Olympics aren't that important after they're done. People watch stuff for two weeks that they don't plan to for another few years because it's a national pride thing. You don't see track, swimming, even with Michael Phelps, or figure skating as huge TV shows, despite the fact that the latter was the first thing to beat American Idol, ever.

Things aren't growing in this country because the economy sucks. Wayne State and Findlay didn't fold because there aren't enough hockey players. They did it because there isn't any money.

An article last week implied that there are 19 NBA franchises in some sort of trouble. The NFL juggernaut has 3 teams (Buffalo, St. Louis, Jacksonville) that could be moving, despite a billion dollar TV contract. MLB is just a pile of crap, where most of the league is little more than feeder organization to a dozen or so franchises with more money than God, and those franchises give money back to the rest of the league that pockets it.

When (if ) the economy recovers, you'll see growth. But no, people aren't going to shell out $600 or whatever to sign their kid up to play hockey when they're scraping money together to pay the mortgage. And unless we were all going to get a chunk of gold because the US won yesterday, the outcome wouldn't have changed that.

Most of this is what I was getting at, but you three expertly expanded beyond anything I wrote. Thanks.

 

[skeptic]

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

No mention was made of Heatley's ties to Wisconsin. It would have been nice to at least mention that Rafalski and Suter, both of whom played a ton of minutes yesterday, were former Badgers. I think in the end, the USA made it's point, and the results of the game made for a joyous celebration to end the games. It was the college hockey connection that compelled me to cheer so much for this club. It happened to be one of the few Olympic events in which I cheered for the Americans.

 

[Puck Swami]

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

US Population is larger than it was in 1980, but far more people have cable TV today. All things considered pretty dang impressive. 10 million more than Salt Lake in 2002. Why such a massive increase???

I think the massive increase comes from the fact that the Americans beat Canada earlier in the tourney, and many casual fans missed seeing that game live on TV. The revenge/can-they-do-it-again factor is huge. Back in 2002, we didn't play Canada in the preliminary round.

 

[BUT09]

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

I think the massive increase comes from the fact that the Americans beat Canada earlier in the tourney, and many casual fans missed seeing that game live on TV. The revenge/can-they-do-it-again factor is huge. Back in 2002, we didn't play Canada in the preliminary round.

That definitely helped drive interest. People at work who never watch hockey discussed that game with me the next day.

 

[IrishHockeyFan]

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

(from the article) The tape-delayed Feb. 24, 1980, U.S.-Finland game had 32.8 million viewers

In that article in the LA Times they refer to both games in 1980 being on tape delay. Perhaps in LA the game on Sunday was on delay. In the east I saw it live.

 

[Yelnick]

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

In that article in the LA Times they refer to both games in 1980 being on tape delay. Perhaps in LA the game on Sunday was on delay. In the east I saw it live.

The game yesterday was live in all time zones. Not sure about the first game between the two teams, but it was on CNBC.

 

[Puck Swami]

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

In that article in the LA Times they refer to both games in 1980 being on tape delay. Perhaps in LA the game on Sunday was on delay. In the east I saw it live.

The Russian Game was tape delayed (it actually started at 5 pm EST) and was broadcast later that night. The Finland Game was shown live on Sunday morning.

 

[Timothy A]

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

No mention was made of Heatley's ties to Wisconsin. It would have been nice to at least mention that Rafalski and Suter, both of whom played a ton of minutes yesterday, were former Badgers. I think in the end, the USA made it's point, and the results of the game made for a joyous celebration to end the games. It was the college hockey connection that compelled me to cheer so much for this club. It happened to be one of the few Olympic events in which I cheered for the Americans.

In the earlier games, Heater was mentioned as an UW alumni.

Rafalski played well overall, but he directly involved in the 1st or 2nd and 3rd Canadian goals in a bad way. But he and Suter were otherwise brilliant.

Did the US use more than 4 d in the Gold Medal game? It seemed like they were doing Johnson/Johnson and Suter/Rafalski every other shift, espeically in the 3rd period and OT

 

[TimU]

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

Did the US use more than 4 d in the Gold Medal game? It seemed like they were doing Johnson/Johnson and Suter/Rafalski every other shift, espeically in the 3rd period and OT

Yes, they did. I actually thought Orpik played great.

 

[Farce Poobah]

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

In the earlier games, Heater was mentioned as an UW alumni.

Rafalski played well overall, but he directly involved in the 1st or 2nd and 3rd Canadian goals in a bad way. But he and Suter were otherwise brilliant.

Did the US use more than 4 d in the Gold Medal game? It seemed like they were doing Johnson/Johnson and Suter/Rafalski every other shift, espeically in the 3rd period and OT

Stats linky:
http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympi...e---game-30_ihm400101nUSA-vgame_stats-gH.html

For the game as a whole:
Suter 32 minutes
Rafalski 28
JMFJohnson 23
Erik Johnson 20
Orpik 15
Gleason 15
Whitney 3

Playing time for the USA (defense and forward) in the 3rd period was pretty lopsided. With two offensive lines and 4 offensive D, down a goal, Wilson really had to tilt the playing time. (Other games weren't nearly so lopsided.)