USA will play Canada on Sunday

Just for some quick notes, the United States will look to win their first gold medal in 30 years against Canada on Sunday at 3pm EST.

Canada played tonight against Slovakia and seemed to be in control of the game, leading 3-0 after 2 periods. Canada kept getting power plays, and if Slovakia was lucky enough to even get a shot off on Luongo, Luongo was impossible to break through.

About halfway through the game, Slovakia finally was able to get one shot past Luongo to make the game 3-1. But after this, Slovakia suddenly obtained more opportunities down in the Canadian zone, and with 5 minutes to go, Michal Handzus scored for Slovakia, and they were only down by 1 goal.

The rest of the game was spent in the Canadian defensive zone, and had Pavol Demitra not BARELY missed a wide open net, the game would have gone into overtime. Who knows what would have happened then?!

Nonetheless, Canada held on and won 3-2.

People get your drinks up, it's "Hockey Day in North America" - via @stlblueschica on Twitter.

USA wins 4-2 against Canada.

A very shaky Canadian team that hasn't quite gelled yet, a confident and determined Team USA with Ryan Miller in net should aid in a gold medal for the Unites States of America.

I haven't really thought about it, but I woul dhave no clue as to how I will react if Team USA was to win it all. It would probably be extremely surreal, so it probably won't hit me for a bit. Regardless, expect me to be super happy and doing something silly.

Unfortunately, the silly thing would not be having the privilege to miss my psychology midterm on Monday; my professor is Canadian. No way I'm gonna get out of that one.

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On a side note, in regards to the Canadian women's celebration, I have mixed feelings.

I'm okay with OPENING the bottle of CHAMPAGNE on the ice, to be honest. I mean, after all, it is their home ice, and it must be pretty special.

But, on the other hand, BEER? Really ladies? Beer on the ice? And trust me, being a lady who is used to hanging out with the boys, I'm not mad at them because they are women and drinking. But that's just not classy. If the men won the gold medal there, I would oppose them drinking on the ice as well, especially beer. I mean, rappers don't pop beer anyway.
Either way, I'm not a fan of the move by the Canadian ladies.

They were wrong, and I hate that they even apologized, because a.) they weren't sorry; therefore, b.) the apology was half-assed. Their "apology" is not accepted by me.

We're exposing a lot of impolite and hostile things about our "peaceful" neighbors. LOL... of course I love all my Canadian folks though. You all are fantastic and DIE-HARD fans. *whisper voice* but we're beating you Sunday ;).

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Finally, I looked on ESPN, and they had Zach Parise talking, but had labeled it was Jamie Langenbrunner speaking. Sigh... Even at this point, they still give hockey the poop-end of the stick.

From here on out, GO USA! (And props to Slovakia! I have them winning bronze)

USA for the Gold

The Americans are kicking global ass in the Winter Olympics, leading the world with 32 medals and 8 gold medals. Next in line, the Germans, are 12 back with 20 medals. So it's pretty clear that the United States is awesome in sports.

Team USA can do no worse than silver after they throttled the Finnish 6-1 in today's semifinal match. The United States will be aiming for the gold, however, to add to the country's totals on Sunday. We are currently waiting on their opponent, who will come out of the Canada/Slovakia match later on tonight.

I've emphasized it all week, but now that it has been confirmed that Team USA is in the gold medal game, Americans can really get their hopes up.

I hesitated to get amped for the Americans playing in the final because of how inconsistent almost every team in the Olympic tournament looked. Teams like Canada, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and especially the Russians should have blown teams like Norway, Latvia, Switzerland, and even Slovakia out of the water. However, that was not the case.

The Russians got a whipping from Canada, losing 7-3; Sweden lost to the elderly... er, aged Slovakian team; Canada struggled heavily offensively until the Russian game; and just to throw it out there, Switzerland lost expectantly, but gave a LOT of teams trouble, thanks to goalie Jonas Hiller.

The United States was supposed to be growing and building toward the next Olympics - well, in the eyes of the public. Even I fell for that trick. But Brian Burke, forever unsatisfied with the team's performance despite the USA being the top seeded team in the tournament, had other plans. Burke stated from the start that they would be competing for the gold medal. I laughed it off, but look where Team USA is!

In regards to the final game, Team USA will play either Slovakia or Canada. I would say I'm pulling for Canada because I'm loving the hatred from my normally loving Canadian friends. However, think about it: would you WANT to play Slovakia if they beat Canada? I wouldn't want to.

So for all purposes, let's say Luongo and Team Canada play the United States. Luongo has indubitably been the best goalie for Canada. He is seemingly impenetrable, but if the United States were to start the game similarly to the one they played today, that would be ideal.

Of course, I hardly see the Americans getting six goals in ten minutes likely against Luongo. But if Team USA could score as quickly and early as they did against Finland, maintain the same pressure and momentum on the Canadians, the United States would be set for a victory.

I would advise Team USA to keep a level head, and to prepare for the toughest match yet in this tournament.

I'm ready, and so are my hockey watching buddies...

In fact, you could be just as ready as I will be by following this fun little set of "Games".
Just check it out. It's hilarious.

Gotta say though, I LOVE hockey. These are reasons why. GO TEAM USA!

USA Defeats Switzerland 2-0

If you thought the USA vs. Canada game was thrilling, then you were peeing in your pants watching the United States barely but surely earn the victory against the Swiss by a score of 2-0.

The game was a very fun and exciting game to watch from the standpoint of a fan. It was scoreless until the last second of the second period... well, we thought the tie was broken. Unfortunately for the Americans, time had expired before the puck crossed the line, so the goal was disallowed.

A few people's nerves were worked up after that incident, and were worried that Team USA wouldn't be able to penetrate the Swiss wall that was Jonas Hiller and might lose.

The third period had another instance where the puck went into the net. This time... it was the same result. USA goal was disallowed, except this time, it was because Ryan Kessler interfered with Hiller. This came right after Switzerland also had a disqualified goal because the puck went off the inside of the post, and never crossed the line.

Team USA disproved all critics though, as Zach Parise of the NJ Devils finally scored about 2 minutes into the third period.

For the rest of the game, however, the game went back and forth between possessions. Both teams had quality shots on net at this point, and there were so many power plays. With USA only up by one goal, it was a very nerve-wrecking experience for fans of either side. Anybody could still win this.

Then with about a minute left in the game, Switzerland pulled Hiller and went on attack in the American's zone. USA did a good job of clearing the puck out though, and eventually, Parise grabbed the puck in Swiss territory, and scored the empty next goal with 11 seconds remaining.

From a hockey mind, this game was AWFUL! Exciting still? Yes. But the American power play was atrocious. Not just because they didn't score, but they had such a difficult time setting up their power play. USA struggled with lost pucks into neutral zone, and offensive zone turnovers. The Swiss had a handful of short-handed opportunities, and that's too many for one game.

If the Americans want to prepare themselves for the winner of the Czech/Finnish game and potentially a rejuvenated Team Canada for the gold medal, they are going to have to minimize their mistakes. If the Swiss were that close to scoring on short handed opportunities, imagine a team like Canada getting the same chances.

Thankfully, Ryan Miller has been fantastic throughout the Olympics; whether he was under intense pressure (against Canada - 42 saves) or if he was not challenged (against Switzerland -19 saves). He has been the one source of consistency for the United States, and if all else fails, at least folks can rely on him to keep the score low for USA to make a move.

Team USA can also rely on their faceoff crew, who saved the team in a lot of situations where the Swiss would be in their zone.

We'll be waiting now for the Finnish team to beat the Czechs so that they can play on Friday for the semifinals. I'm ready to watch so let's go!


In other USA news, the USA women's team will play Canada tomorrow at 3:30pm for the gold medal. That wasn't really news, as we all knew the two teams would meet. But we'll see who actually wins the medal. You know how I'll pick... USA!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I'd have to say that I am utterly disappointed in the Russia/Canada game. Russia LOST the game 7-4. It was an awful, atrocious showing - or lack thereof - against Canada, who was ready to play. A team who was ready to play facing off against a team that felt like sleeping in a quarterfinal game makes for... a boring ass game like the one we just saw.

Oh well, a tout a leur to Russia. T'was fun we're moving on with Finland/Czech Republic and Sweden/Slovakia. I predict an EXTREMELY exciting finish to this tournament. GO USA!

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A little shoutout also to Finnish player Lasse Kukkonen and Team Canada's Shea Weber. Word has it they checked out this page and liked it. Whether they read it again is another issue, but hey! They read it once! Ha!

http://baltimore.sportsthenandnow.com/2010/02/alex-ovechkin-russia%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cpinch-hitter%E2%80%9D/ Peep this by the way... this is my first post on Sports Then and Now about the Ovechkin hit against Jagr in Sunday's Czech/Russian game.

Enjoy!

USA defeats Canada - A chance for USA hockey

For the first time since 1960, the United States of America defeated Canada in the men's Olympic ice hockey competition 5-3.

On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" against the Soviet Union, the United States held a lead throughout the whole game to achieve the win.

Ryan Miller had 42 saves in protection of the game, as Canada dominated in offensive onslaught through shots and opportunities to score. His performance exceeded the Canadian attack and kept the Americans in the lead to the victory.

This win not only marked the end of a 40-year drought, but brought hope for the underdog Americans to win the gold medal.

I'll admit. In an earlier post, I didn't have much faith in Team USA regarding hockey. I dismissed the team and thought they had a better chance the next Winter Olympics for silver or gold. Later on, I researched more information on the team and developed more faith in the idea that the USA was good enough to secure a spot to win the bronze medal, at most.

However, with the United States being the only undefeated team in the tournament besides Sweden, they definitely look like the best team to compete for the gold medal. For all of those people who would like to doubt the capabilities of the USA, just check out the record. THEY ARE UNDEFEATED against the SAME teams that Canada lost to. Yes. I am referring to Switzerland.

Of course, I can't guarantee a win for the Americans. That would be just as bad as the elitists saying that a certain team who is playing at home deserves the gold. But I will say that I have faith that they can do it. Thirty years celebration - I certainly hope so.

*Tidbit for the Day*All of Team USA's goals were scored by current or former New Jersey Devils players. :O

Part two coming up later today on the coverage of the win

A Lot Going On!

Hello all! It's been a while again, but I'm back!

So I just figured I'd tell you all the things that have been going on that I haven't told you about...

Agent Zero?

Yes, I mean that exactly. No, Gilbert Arenas. You are NOT a secret agent. You are NOT allowed to carry guns into an NBA arena just because you call yourself Agent Zero.

There are plenty of gun carriers of all shapes and sizes around the country. I am pretty sure that they do not choose to take their guns into their workplace - and if they did it in DC, I'm 100% sure that's illegal, being a resident here and all.

We've heard all the excuses. We know. And I still don't think Arenas gets it. Mocking and laughing at the situation doesn't make it go away. So David Stern decided to suspend him because Arenas was "unfit" to play; hence, making him a literal Zero in the eyes of his team and the NBA at this point.

Unfit in my mind means that he is mentally unstable, and needs to go seek some help. The fact that he cannot decipher what's a joke and what's not (also going off of previous pranks he's pulled in the past) is a serious problem, and not only has it become detrimental to his team and the people around him on the court, but his lack of seriousness has gotten him in trouble with the law.

If Arenas was to plead anything in the future in the court of law, real talk, I would advise an insanity defense.

USA Won Gold!

I bet none of you cared, but in the World Juniors Hockey Classic, the final was between the Canadian junior ice hockey team and the US team. John Carlson, a Washington Capitals prospect, pulled the OT game-winner about 4 minutes into the sudden death period to give the USA gold. USA won 6-5 in a wild, wild match.

With the US winning their 2nd gold medal ever in the tournament, in a perfect world, something like this would help to prove that we have homegrown talent here in the States, and then bring on a revival of young American kids playing hockey with the hopes of playing in the NHL - then again, if it were a perfect world that already would have been the case. We'll see what happens from here.

Another note I'd like to make on this was one that I'm probably going to lose a couple of friends. Not all Canadians are peace-advocating people who have no bad intentions, as many Americans like to label them. As Team Canada INVITED the United States into their tournament in Saskatchewan (I spelled that right first try by the way).

I read an article about how the Canadians booed the US team and how the "Hockey Gods" disapproved of such Tomfoolery. The US, in my mind was booed for 2 reasons:

1. The US has been "at war" for quite some time now. Many people around the world have disagreed with the US decision to go to war since the beginning. Since then, events involving the United States in Canada, some Canadians have booed the American National Anthem, protested US teams, and booed at US victories made on their turf.
2. The US junior hockey team has been clipping at the heels of Canada's junior team for some years now. The "non-traditional" market of the United States for hockey, I suppose, has given the Canadians some sense of elitism in winning games and who deserves to win the Gold, and in the NHL, the Cup. So in a way, Canada is essentially "hating on" US hockey, who's success seems to be promising.

The result of the booing? Canada loses their shot at winning a gold medal; thus, rewarding the USA with a 2nd golds medal in a decade. It's an interesting look at sportsmanship, and I advise that you check it out.

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/sports/2010wintergames/hockey+gods+wreaked+their+vengeance/2414889/story.html

The Real Punk @$$

So apparently, according to news sources today, the Manny Pacquio and Floyd Mayweather boxing match is OFF. Yes, I said it, it is supposedly NOT HAPPENING.

Now, I am not the biggest boxing fan out there (nothing about boxing in particular, it just doesn't interest me like that ), but I am still fully aware of the implications that this match had on the revival of boxing in the United States. Boxing sure isn't what it used to be back in the '90s or before that, but in a fight with supposedly the best boxer right now in Mayweather and the recent winner of the most recent last big fight in Pacquio, this was supposed to bring boxing back to popularity...

...And now it's off. Supposedly. Now I keep saying "supposedly" because of the tendency of boxers and their people to just talk, and just say things just to say things, but I digress.

It's off because the reluctance of Pacquio to agree to a full drug test, drawing blood before the fight. This requirement to fight, however, was pushed by Floyd Mayweather and his party. Now that Pacquio doesn't want to take this type of test over a more typical urine test, Mayweather is referring to Pacquio as a "punk a**".

My question is: Who is the REAL punk here?

Of course the obvious answer is both of them. But one is clearly more of a punk than the other. The consensus that I have spoken to has stated that Pacquio is the punk. He can't consent to a blood test even with a bajillion dollars on the line. Whether he did it because he was scared or because he was dirty, I don't call that a punk move. If he was dirty, then sure, that dumba**, but hey he's just trying to keep his job. If he was scared, he was honest about it at least.

Mayweather, however, hides behind the "brolic" facade, when probably Mayweather himself wanted an out to the fight. For whatever reason that would be, is beyond me, but nobody just goes around trying to make somebody look like fool unless they had something to hide or if they were trying to "appear" as the tough one. It may fool his followers and fans, but Mayweather doesn't fool me.

National Championship Game

Alabama rises as the BCS Champion over the Texas Longhorns by a final score 37-21. Texas made it close toward the end, getting the score as close as 24-21, but that was all that they could muster before Alabama went in and solidified their victory.

Just to note, Colt McCoy injured his shoulder in the first half, causing him to have to sit out for the rest of his last game of his collegiate career. He returned to the sideline, however, to watch his team and cheer them on. He also handled himself well in the post-game interview, trying very hard not to cry. I don't know how he did it, because I couldn't do it.

The game was quite anti-climactic, I'm not really sure why, but I didn't feel satisfied after watching this game. I'll probably find out why tomorrow.

By the way, doesn't that smile on Nick Saban look like it hurts a little? Just a little...

Finally...

Alex Ovechkin was named captain of the Washington Capitals earlier this week. He's up for the challenge. Since then the team has won their 2 games under his captaincy and now go on a 3-game road stretch.

And Andre Dawson was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I personally would have wanted Edgar Martinez and Alomar in the HOF, but that's not my decision. Baseball writers do want to keep the HOF pure as ever anyway. So it seems as though they are very stingy with their inductions now. Another year, I suppose.