ooooh... a topic I can get into! I went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out! We have an excellent minor league tem here, won their pennant five years in a row or something like that... everythings bigger in Texas, even the lies... anyway. We went to a game last year and they ended up with 6... 6!!! guys in the penalty box. There was only a few guys on the ice! What a game!

I used to watch Olympic ice-hockey, but stopped after perestroika. It got boring then.

Speaking of Olympics, I must say I was disappointed by the decision to award gold to the Canadians pair. The Russians were technically and artistically better, their routine was much harder. Why don't the Canadians just accept the judges decisions and prove themselves at the next Olympics or Wold Championships? The Russians have been victims of dubious judging decisions in previous tournaments, but they just shut up and skated better the next time. Who said it's just a game eh? Canadians are sore losers...boo!

not six guys from the same team... three from one, three from the other... they still had three guys on the ice (including the goalie) One had a ten minute major! It was a really rough game.

The proudest I've ever felt towards any sports fans, was when the Edmonton Oiler hockey fans gave a two minute standing ovation to the great Wayne Gretsky on his first trip back there in a L.A. Kings uniform, after being traded from Edmonton to the Los Angeles team. Now that was class.

I am very happy that I was privileged to watch that hockey match on TV.

I couldn't stand Gretzsky, only because I was an LA fan at the time, and all he did was hang back and wait for the puck... no checking or taking checks. Everyone else did the work and he got all the glory. And he really wasn't as useful as the Kings organization thought he was going to be, only one STanley cup while he was playing. But that being said... got his autograph anyway LOL!!!

Well, we don't complain when the restof the world listens to country music...

Yeah, to their own kind.

Sorry, couldn't resist that. Yeah Jehanne I know that most Canadians are nice. It's just I was so disgusted with those two skaters...totally unsporting, shallow behaviour. And they were rewarded for it.

If only Canadians could rid themselves of the French quarter, they would be perfect! (Blame Canada!)

I think it's pretty wierd to have hockey teams in Arizona too... LOL... I mean here in Houston, we are practically in the swamps and yet, they are building three more ice rinks and one more hockey arena. We have like 3 arena's. It is wierd.. but hey, I love hockey, so I try not to complain too much. I can't believe that NASHVILLE got OUR (houston) hockey team... not fair. It's Nashville for cripes sakes! We even have better Rodeo's than they do... I want a hockey team!!! waaaaaaaaaaaah! I hate driving for 4 hours just to see the Stars play the Kings (Dallas sucks as a city to visit, BTW). Houston rocks...

I think the reason hockey appeals to us (rednecks) is because it's lots of almost normal guys who play. You wouldn't believe the people who get personal trainers for their kids to play baseball or football in Junior High preparing for their careers in the sport! Hockey is just hockey. It's one of the only real sports left. It's just fun and entertainment. We don't take it tooo seriously (you would not believe how seriously they take baseball and football here in TX).

I'll see your Jersey Devils and raise you the Toronto Maple Leafs.

or the Bruins, despite them being drunken, unwashed, atheist, Communist thugs who eat babies, kick puppies and tear the wings off butterflies... (they're still from Boston and I always root for Boston)

oh well, Canada beat the US. Too bad for us, but yay for Canada, since it means a heck of a lot more to them. I bet Toronto was chaos after the game. Well played, fellas (and maybe this will get Wayne to stop whining.)

and the Olympics are over again. No more good hockey for a while...

Well the pairs skating incident was a disaster from the start, so I don't blame them for being upset about that. I don't know how I would have solved the mess, but I don't really think that just saying "well, you tied then" was a very helpful decision.

But they really have no cause to complain about the women's skating (and they won the men's). Irina had an off night and made several mistakes. Minor ones, but minor errors really count in a close contest like this one was. And Sarah Hughes skated a more difficult routine cleanly and with enough energy and artistry that it really shouldn't have surprised anyone when she won. It was a star-making skate. And even though Irina looked upset when she first got her scores (she hadn't seen Sarah skate, after all), her interviews since haven't implied that she felt cheated at all. So I think this one is trouble from the officials (revenge for S&P) rather than a legitimate excuse. I like Irina, but it just wasn't her night.

As for Lazutina- what bothers me is that she was DQ'd for abnormally high hemoglobin levels, but she insists she hasn't been doping. Okay, well, if that's true, why hasn't her team gotten her to a doctor? There are other, non-drug-related reasons for her hemoglobin to have been that high, and they mostly aren't good. If they love her so much (and I know she's a hero, so they must), why immediately assume everyone else is lying? I'd at least get a second opinion just to make sure she's okay.

They aren't the only ones to complain about the hockey refs- the Canadians did too, and other may have (I stopped keeping track). But it's a bit disingenuous of them to insist that the refs were all North Americans and therefore more familiar with the North American players (poor Mexico, btw). In the Russia- USA game, for instance, the refs were two Canadians (okay) and a Finn (oops), and they were familiar with several of the Russian players from previous international meetings and even NHL games.

I know that they're also bitter than they won so many fewer medals this time than in the past. But the Russian sports machine is no longer what it once was. In the Soviet days they had their pick of athletes from all the republics and the state eagerly paid for it all. Now all those republics are competing against them (how the heck did Belarus get in the hockey finals anyway?) and the state doesn't have as much money to prove its ideological superiority through its healthy sporting types. So while some of their complaints have merit, some don't, and overall their timing was off. It wasn't fair to threaten to pull out of the games when Irina had to skate in a few hours, the skiers were on the mountains already and the hockey players were a day from playing the hometown heroes and medal favorites (Canada and the US had almost even odds going in).

That "too much blood drawn from the skier" thing is just weird (and creepy). Not sure it's a plot though. Sounds more like plain old malpractice. Unfortunate, but probably not deliberate.

It's just too bad that so many others (not just the Russians- the other Canadians to an extent, the South Koreans, the Lithuanians) decided to follow S&P's example. If a team publically expresses outrage at how they (S&P) acted, they probably shouldn't emulate them ten minutes later. The American public isn't that bright and they'll just think the team is being whiner-copycats, no matter how legit their issues.

Well I think that it was a combination of many different incidents that caused the Russians to finally lash out - they were pretty quiet up to the point Rostovtsev' blood was drained. Then they blew up. Sure, I believe that they got carried away, and that any suspicious incident after that became a red flag, but they genuinely felt victimised.

I blame IOC - the speed with which they capitulated to the media/S&P's demands didn't help either - nor did their reaction to other countries' complaints. "This is not as important" said one IOC bloke when the Russians complained about the individual skating results. That, I think, more than any other incident, stung the Russians. Is it only important if North American competitors were involved? Or only if NBC said so? Like after the pairs skating - if the Russians (instead of Canadians) were 'cheated', would the North American press raise as much fuss? Don't think so - I don't believe in Pravda's favourite 'North-American conspiracy' theory anymore than you, but it does seem terribly unfair to the rest of the world.

Well, the Games are over now so it doesn't matter anymore. Bring on the World Cup! Let's see if the French can get away with poisoning their opponents' star strikers again...

AMEN

I've never watched any hockey match in my life, very sorry for it, but I don't see what I've missed, frankly. :P
I'll retire and leave you in peace now. :grin

Oh Shucky Darn! I was rooting that the Stanley Cup would be returned with the Flames to Canada where it belongs, instead of now moving on down to Tampa Bay where the only naturally found ice is in cocktail glasses. Well at least the playoffs went seven games and had many overtimes so we got our money's worth. I hope the NHL get's its act together so that we can again have hockey next season; it doesn't look very good at the moment. I'm still an Oiler fan from the days of watching 'The Great One' playing there. (We've had a Canadian cable TV channel for about twenty years.)

GO PISTONS!!! ALL THE WAY!!!

(If you don't already know, I'm from Detroit )

Anyone watching the playoffs?

I edited the above post to add the slashes "/" to turn off the three styles of highlighting.

Mainly Ice, but field hockey may be discussed here too if anyone wishes. Though I doubt if the old joke applies to it, that being: 'I went to the fights, and a game of hockey broke out!'