# 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 10, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985 "2014-02-10T17:31:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/201 "2014-02-22T20:06:30Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > They have the opposite problem in the Summer Games where they are thinking about eliminating sports because it’s getting too big. Which is why they are, er, _adding_ golf and seven-a-side rugby. There was talk about getting rid of wrestling, but only if it was replaced with another sport. (In the end, given the choices of squash, baseball/softball, or keeping wrestling for 2020, they voted to keep wrestling.) Of course, if NBC really had that much say, judo would be replaced with karate - and NBC would make absolutely sure the event was run the same way as the tournament in _The Karate Kid_. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/202 "2014-02-22T22:54:05Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Which is why they are, er, _adding_ golf and seven-a-side rugby. There was talk about getting rid of wrestling, but only if it was replaced with another sport. (In the end, given the choices of squash, baseball/softball, or keeping wrestling for 2020, they voted to keep wrestling.) They aren’t adding them out of thin air, though, they removed baseball and softball after 2008, so golf and rugby are just bringing them back to where they were. I don’t believe that removing wrestling was really intended to be an actual removal. As I understand it, the IOC was unhappy with some of the ways the wrestling federation was running the sport, the wrestling fed pretty much ignored them as they figured all the IOC could do would be to remove the sport, and they wouldn’t dare do that, would they? ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2014, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/203 "2014-02-22T23:19:25Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > I don’t believe that removing wrestling was really intended to be an actual removal. As I understand it, the IOC was unhappy with some of the ways the wrestling federation was running the sport, the wrestling fed pretty much ignored them as they figured all the IOC could do would be to remove the sport, and they wouldn’t dare do that, would they? IIRC, they wanted to replace an “outdated” sport, and I think the choice was going to be between modern pentathlon and canoeing, until the wrestling scandal hit right before the vote, and they voted to remove wrestling - but there were so many complaints that the vote for the sport to replace it including “keep wrestling” as an option. > [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I am not a fan of parallel skiing/snowboarding events - especially if they enforce a maximum time difference for the first run in a pairing but not the second (i.e. if boarder X wins the first race by 1.7 seconds but boarder Y was 1.6 seconds faster in the second race, boarder Y wins because the first difference was reduced to 1.5). Case in point: the men’s parallel slalom semifinals at Sochi - Benjamin Karl’s combined time for the two runs was faster than Vic Wild’s, but the first race has a cap of 1.12 seconds in the time difference and Wild won the second race by 1.16 seconds, so he was declared the winner. (Presumably, the time limit exists so that if someone falls in the first run because that course was just that much more dangerous, than the other racer won’t just take his time going down and be much less likely to fall.) Maybe a compromise is in order - if both racers have a maximum time difference, then whoever did better in the qualifying is the winner. If the faster qualifier wins the first race by maximum time, he can’t be beat, so there is no second run; if the slower qualifier does, he gets the maximum time difference for the second race, and whoever wins that race is the winner - which, in effect, is what happened with Wild and Karl. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/204 "2014-02-23T01:22:04Z")
Norway had the gold in biathlon relay but the last guy missed (even with exta tries) and had to do a penalty loop. Russia gets their “miracle” gold Brian ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/205 "2014-02-23T01:37:13Z")
Norway easily beat the US Mens Hockey team for Bronze. > **[Finland routs US 5-0 for bronze in men's Olympic hockey](https://www.foxnews.com/sports/finland-routs-us-5-0-for-bronze-in-mens-olympic-hockey)** > > Teemu Selanne scored two goals and Tuukka Rask had a 26-save shutout, helping Finland rout the United States 5-0 Saturday to win hockey bronze at the Sochi Games. a 5-0 rout. Did the US team just give up? US Hockey needs to train a lot harder for 2018. That silver medal the woman’s hockey team won is looking better and better. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/206 "2014-02-23T01:55:48Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Norway easily beat the US Mens Hockey team for Bronze. > [Finland routs US 5-0 for bronze in men's Olympic hockey | Fox News](http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2014/02/22/finland-routs-us-5-0-for-bronze-in-men-olympic-hockey/?intcmp=latestnews) > > a 5-0 rout. Did the US team just give up? US Hockey needs to train a lot harder for 2018. Finland, not Norway. There’s a curse - USA has not won a medal in men’s ice hockey at any Olympics in Europe since 1956. Fortunately, 2018 is in Korea. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/207 "2014-02-23T01:56:48Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Norway easily beat the US Mens Hockey team for Bronze. > [Finland routs US 5-0 for bronze in men's Olympic hockey | Fox News](http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2014/02/22/finland-routs-us-5-0-for-bronze-in-men-olympic-hockey/?intcmp=latestnews) > > a 5-0 rout. Did the US team just give up? US Hockey needs to train a lot harder for 2018. > > That silver medal the woman’s hockey team won is looking better and better. 😉 Finland, not Norway. To be fair, lots of very fine players on that team. Plus, they beat Russia much more definitively than the US did. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/208 "2014-02-23T02:03:47Z")
Finland. :smack: typing a post and watching tv takes concentration. I was distracted by chips and bean dip. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/209 "2014-02-23T03:17:11Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > There’s a curse - USA has not won a medal in men’s ice hockey at any Olympics in Europe since 1956. Fortunately, 2018 is in Korea. If the NHL pulls out of the Olympics, which is unfortunately sounding pretty likely, then the US (and Canada) are boned in 2014. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/210 "2014-02-23T03:41:55Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > If the NHL pulls out of the Olympics, which is unfortunately sounding pretty likely, then the US (and Canada) are boned in 2014. 2018 perhaps? ETA: Yeah, time flies my friend… ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/211 "2014-02-23T06:21:58Z")
If the NHL pulls out is that the end of the American and Canadian teams? Would they fill them with amateur college Hockey players? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/212 "2014-02-23T10:25:25Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > If the NHL pulls out is that the end of the American and Canadian teams? Would they fill them with amateur college Hockey players? God knows what it means. The NHL has only been involved in the Olympics since 1998. Before then, we (Canada) sent amateurs to compete with the USSR Red Army Team, which was their elite squad, but they weren’t professional hockey players: no, no, no, they were army officers who only dabbled in hockey on the side. I think most players in the AHL and CHL are signed on two way contracts with the NHL, so are they also not going to the Olympics? I have no clue. I guess you have to look back to 1980, and the USA “Miracle on Ice” game to get any indication. But if the KHL can send players, and the NHL won’t, there’s no more medals for North America again. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/213 "2014-02-23T13:51:47Z")
5-0 for the Finns? What the heck happened to the US?!? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/214 "2014-02-23T14:05:20Z")
Both teams came out reasonably well in the 1st, though you could tell they’d both taken very disappointing losses the previous day. Then the Finns scored 2 in 11 seconds a few minutes into the 2nd and the Americans just quit. They started playing individually instead of as a team, took stupid penalties, and just generally sucked. Interestingly, before the game I saw interviews of both an American (can’t remember who) and Selanne. They both said the expected things about bronze still being worth fighting for, and so forth. In the first interview I said to myself, that guy doesn’t believe a word he’s saying, but Selanne meant it. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/215 "2014-02-23T14:48:50Z")
I daresay Team Canada just put on the most dominating tournament performance by a men’s hockey team since the days of the Soviet Red Army team. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/216 "2014-02-23T14:55:34Z")
If there is a piece of music that is better to play after a hockey game than O Canada, it hasn’t been written yet. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/217 "2014-02-23T14:57:57Z")
Canada allowed more goals to Austria, Norway and Latvia than they did to Finland, the United States and Sweden… I may never see another team play such suffocating defense in my entire life. Absolutely incredible. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/218 "2014-02-23T15:16:37Z")
I think what people forgot when Canada was barely squeaking past far inferior teams (Latvia, Norway) is just how stacked Canada is on defense. It’s been said a hundred times, but the defending Norris trophy winner was sitting on the bench. Also, Crosby didn’t dominate on the score sheet but was terrific in the elimination round. ---
**Author:** ![kurtisokc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kurtisokc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurtisokc)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/219 "2014-02-23T17:45:23Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > I daresay Team Canada just put on the most dominating tournament performance by a men’s hockey team since the days of the Soviet Red Army team. I wouldn’t say that. They looked pretty lackluster during the early part of the tournament. They won, but they struggled against teams they should have beaten handily. It was only in the semifinals and finals that they seem to have gotten hot. Unfortunately, the US team is the polar opposite. It looked to me like they had the momentum going into the semifinals. But then they got beaten by Canada, and just totally collapsed against Finland. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985/220 "2014-02-23T18:23:49Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Both teams came out reasonably well in the 1st, though you could tell they’d both taken very disappointing losses the previous day. Then the Finns scored 2 in 11 seconds a few minutes into the 2nd and the Americans just quit. They started playing individually instead of as a team, took stupid penalties, and just generally sucked. > > Interestingly, before the game I saw interviews of both an American (can’t remember who) and Selanne. They both said the expected things about bronze still being worth fighting for, and so forth. In the first interview I said to myself, that guy doesn’t believe a word he’s saying, but Selanne meant it. I thought the U.S. was still potentially in it until about the third goal, in the third period. I was watching it on tape and started a lot of fast-forwarding at that point-- so did the U.S. players. But The game was, overall, definitely closer than 5-0. U.S. missed two penalty shots, for instance. I’d probably make it 3-2 Finland if I was assigning goals on merit (not counting the second half of the third period, which was pretty much all garbage time). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2014-sochi-olympic-winter-games/680985.md?page=12)