The rules of international hockey have not changed with regards to the shootout and I don’t expect them to change anytime soon. This isn’t the first time that rule has bitten Canada in the ass.
That said, I was more upset with the officiating than just about anything. A couple of cheap calls against Canada and a couple of non-calls for the US.
Change in plan: the women’s curling team will sail straight into Vancouver, to distract everybody while the women’s hockey team sneaks in through the Nunavut route.
AND THE US IS PLAYING FOR CURLING GOLD!!! Canada 3 - 5 USA!!! Steal of 2 in the eighth resulting from a massive mistake by Canadian skip Kevin Koe. Curling history for the US!!
Yeah, kinda pumped. 
The women’s hockey team has no reason at all to hang their heads. Indeed, it’s a bit disrespectful to the USA women’s team to suggest otherwise. :mad:
I think I might go out to a sports bar and watch the other semi-final; should be on about lunchtime. I think NBC gave away the winner in the post-game interview with Shuster, but it’ll be nice to watch a game without getting so stressed out about the result. I’ve got to see when the final is and figure out where to watch it.
I believe they are showing Sweden v Switzerland at 12:30 pm EST on NBCSN.
The men’s final is at 1:30 am on Saturday.
God what a curling disaster for Canada this has been.
As to the women’s hockey team, they have nothing to be ashamed of; they lost a tough game to a magnificent opponent. Sucks not to win gold but the USA is the superior team.
Marie-Philippe Poulin should have gotten a game misconduct in the third period and didn’t even get a minor, so the non calls went both ways.
Guess I’m staying up tomorrow night.
That is what I heard this morning. I did fall asleep during the second intermission so I missed that. But yeah there is no shame in their performance at all. Curling is a different matter and I find myself being disappointed with no gold medal for men or women.
That could limit the social options.
In the meantime, this video just dropped. It attempts to explain the physics of a curling stone. And it was shot at my club.
As a Canadian, I’m pretty disappointed with a Silver for woman’s hockey. I hated the shoot-out, but honestly it was probably the only way for Canada to win.
The US just plain out skated Canada. The 4-on-4 was painful to watch on the large ice surface, again with the Canadians being out skated left and right.
The curling is killing me! No medal on the woman’s side, and a bronze at best on the men’s! Crazy.
I don’t necessarily think Homan was the best team Canada could send, I personally think Jenifer Jones could have done better. I’m okay with Koe representing the men, better then Brad Douche-O (I mean Gushue). I think Canada rested on their curling laurels a little too much and the world has caught up to them skill wise. I think every game Canada lost was relatively close.
Edin’s team is curling unbelievably well, I think all 4 members are 90% for the whole Olympics. I think team USA will get crushed. With that being said team USA has certainly improved over the last couple of years. It’s nice to see Shuster focusing on conditioning.
MtM
The “double gold would have been pretty gangster” quote is indeed for real:
Right here. Haven’t found a video yet, though.
Yep, she said exactly those words. I saw it on TV. My wife said to me afterwards, “What a hippie!”
As of two weeks ago there was no reason whatsoever to think that. Homan’s rink was absolutely the best in Canada. Hindsight is 20/20, after all.
Sometimes you blow it. The Falcons blew Super Bowl 51. The Yankees blew the 2004 ALCS. FOUR NHL teams have choked away a 3-0 playoff series lead. Greg Norman pulled maybe the greatest choke job in sports history at the '96 Masters. It just happens; sports are only marginally predictable and sometimes a month of Sundays hits the calendar.
I see that one of the Canadian women’s hockey players was a bad sport and took her silver medal off as soon as it was put around her neck.
Geez, silver means that at that point you are second best in the world, nothing to be ashamed of.
It reminds me of that French figure skater who did the same thing some years ago. While the Canadian gal may have been emotionally overcome, you could see that the French girl was a real snot. I can’t quite remember her name, but I’m going to go look it up.
On edit, that was Surya Bonaly.
Shockingly bad - but probably not the worst choke even in professional golf.
That would belong to Jean Van de Velde at the 1999 British Open: He arrives at the final tee (on a hole he has played in birdie-birdie-par) needing only a double bogey to win the championship. Through a combination of bad shotmaking, incredibly poor decisions, and bad luck, he has to make a 6-ft putt for a triple bogey. This qualifies him for a 3-way playoff, which he loses.
I came in to say that that reminded me of Snoopy not winning the Daisy Hill Puppy Cup.
Not praiseworthy, but I’m inclined to cut her some slack.
You probably don’t get to contend for an Olympic gold medal without being intensely competitive. If that intensity sometimes proves hard to shut off at exactly the optimum moment, I think we can say she’s only human.
More than that, the Olympic Women’s Hockey tournament is really just a two-team competition for gold. The rest of the teams are playing for bronze. The loser of the US-Canada gold medal game has lost the only meaningful game for that team in the tournament. The US women haven’t been particularly gracious in “winning” silver medals in the previous 4 Olympics, and I cut them slack at the time as well.
That was a hell of a game. My hockey-playing son stayed up much too late to watch the end (overtime? Free hockey!). The U.S. speed advantage became more apparent in OT with only four skaters, when the Canadian’s more physical approach wasn’t as effective. It seemed like a U.S. win was a foregone conclusion a couple minutes in, although the penalty kill for the last 90 seconds was tense.
Agreed. Refusing to shake your opponent’s hand after the game is poor sportsmanship (US Men’s hockey coach, I’m looking at you). But taking off a disappointing medal is an entirely personal gesture and doesn’t disrespect your opponent at all. Totally OK.
Here’s a gif of that. For those who weren’t watching, the U.S. player was face-down on the ice for a few minutes after that hit. Who ever said Canadians were nice? Damn. 
