Team USA and Team Canada are meeting on Sunday afternoon for the gold medal.  It is exactly 50 years to the day when Team USA won the Gold Medal at Squaw Valley. 

Team USA won last week 5-3.  Martin Brodeur didn’t play his best and Miller stood on his head.  What will happen?  It will come down to goaltending and who wants it more.  Both teams are worthy except for “Drunken Dany” Heatley who killed his teammate, Dan Snyder (RIP).  Heatley wasn’t legally drunk but had been drinking and convicted of second-degree vehicular homicide.  Heatley should be in jail, NOT competing for a gold medal.  I am not looking for perfection from athletes but except some decency.  It sends the wrong message to young hockey players all around the world.

If Canada wins, it will be the first time a team will have won on home ice since Team USA in 1980 during “The Miracle on Ice”.

Posted by The Tank 

Team USA scored six first period goals enroute to a 6-1 rout of Finland on Friday afternoon .  6 goals?  Wow!

Miller left the game with a 6-0 lead.  A late Finnish goal went off the skate an American player.  Otherwise it was a perfect game.

Weber shot the puck and it went off Marleau's stick for Canada's first goal at 13:30.  Was Marleau's stick too high?  After video review, it was ruled a goal.  Canada 1 - Slovakia 0.

A short time later, Morrow redirects a puck for another goal at 15:57.  Canada 2 - Slovakia 0.

The first period ended 2-0.  Slovakia had some chances but Luongo was awesome.  He has taken Martin Brodeur's job from him.  Wow!  What a surprise!

Getzlaf scored on a rebound during the power play at 16:54 in the second period.  Canada 3 - Slovakia 0.   That's how the second period ended.  Canada outshot Slovakia 11 to 5.

The third period wasn't too eventful.  Canada's defense held.  "We want the USA" chant started to ring out with 14 minutes left.

Slovakia scores two late third period goals to close the deficit to Canada 3 - Slovakia 2.  Can the Canadian defense hold?  Can they get any offense going?

Slovakia pulls their goalie with a minute left.  They pressured Canada but they missed their chance.  Canada 3 - Slovakia 2.  Wow!  What a game!

Posted by an excited Tank.

Team USA fought the good fight but they lost to Team Canada tonight 2-0 in the Women’s Gold Medal Hockey Match on Thursday night.  Canada was heavily favored and did what they needed to do.  Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Wayne Gretzky, and other Canadian luminaries cheered them on.

Can the Canadian Men’s Hockey Team follow the ladies?  Tomorrow is the semifinals for the American and Canadian men.  If they both win, they will face each other on Sunday in the Gold Medal Match. 

Posted by The Tank.

Sandy Koufax visited the Mets earlier this week.  He is very close with the Mets ownership.  He is also a Bernie Madoff investor and had to renegotiate his divorce with his wife.  I hope the Mets are paying him a consulting fee.

Anyway, as for the baseball side of Koufax’s consultancy, he only to told Johan to “stay healthy.”  Oliver Perez seems to be in great shape and focused.  We can only hope he listens to Koufax.

Derek Jeter addressed the media yesterday.  He said that he wants to be a Yankee for the rest of his career.  He won’t answer any more questions about his contract status till after the season. 

What a difference a year makes?  It was literally a media circus complete with a tent last year for my buddy A-Rod.  He confessed to steroids use.  He played clutch in the playoffs and earned his first World Series ring.

Posted by The Tank.

Team Canada bounced back from its 5-3 loss to Team USA on Sunday.  They routed Germany 8-2 on Tuesday.  Canada will now play Russia in the next round.  As for this writing, Team USA beat Switzerland 2-0 on Wednesday.

Posted by The Tank.  

Team USA beat Canada 5-3 on Sunday night in Vancouver.  I wrote about the Lake Placid “Miracle” yesterday.  Was Sunday a Miracle?  No, it was an upset.  Canada is more experienced and on home ice.  Both teams have professionals unlike Team USA was a bunch of college kids while the Soviet team were professionals in 1980.

I want to draw attention to the “Forgotten Miracle” was 1960 when Team USA beat Canada, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union.  It was before my time.  Will it be a miracle if USA wins this year?  No, they are a medal caliber team.  On Steve’s FaceBook page last week (February 14 at 2:19 am), I wrote the following:

“Markus/Sondre/Steve, After close analysis, I predict Team USA to beat Norway on Thursday. Markus is right that Norway's medals are nordic skiing versus hockey. Norway maybe a closer team but USA has more NHL stars, firepower, and better goaltending.

“Richard, You are correct. Canada is the favorite to win gold though it will have to get past Russia in the Gold Medal match.  Brodeur needs to play better than he has in the last few games for the NJ Devils. Ovechkin and Malkin maybe too much for Brodeur.  Brodeur has more NHL wins than my hero Patrick Roy but Ovechkin and Malkin are scary and getting better. Brodeur will need help.

“All, The best teams are Canada and USA (Group A), Russia and the Czech Republic (Group B), and Sweden and Finland (Group C).  The Czech Republic, USA, Finland, and Sweden will compete for the bronze. Slovakia and Switzerland are my dark horses because of their groups will seed them lower in the quarter-final round.  If Lundqvist stands on his head as he did in 2006, Sweden can win it all.  Like in baseball, pitching (goaltending) wins championships.  Long live sport! Enjoy!”

The Tank’s Bottom Line: I didn’t think Canada would have lost on Sunday night so that hurts him getting to the Gold Medal Match.  I was right Brodeur needs to play better.  He doesn’t have Stevens and Davydenko playing in front of him.  He will be benched for tonight’s game.  I think Brodeur will get some rest and clear his head.  He’ll be ready for tomorrow night (if Canada wins tonight).  He’s bounced back from much worse.

Team USA is helped that Russia and Canada will meet before the Gold Medal Match.  If Ryan Miller plays as he did on Sunday, Team USA will win.  Goaltending wins championships.  Henrik Lundqvist did it for Sweden in 2006 and Dominick Hasek did it for the Czech Republic in 1998.  When I was returning from the North Pole, I took a brief side trip to Sweden from Denmark.  King Henrik gives the standing Swedish monarchy a run for its money.  Since Dominick Hasek played for the Sabres (like Ryan Miller), a Buffalo based friend got a deluxe tour of Prague in the 1990s.  He didn’t even know or meet Hasek, only that he was from the same town.  Hockey matters that much in those countries.

I am looking forward to the rest of the Olympics. 

Posted by an excited Tank.

Today is 30 years since a bunch of American college kids beat Soviet professionals 4-3.  The importance of the match could not be over hyped.  America was down and almost out.  She was in a political and drug induced stupor after Vietnam, Watergate, 2 Oil Shocks, and the Iranian Hostage Crisis.  President Carter described the period as one of "Malaise".  I remember the time well.  No time for touchy feely bed time stories.  My Dad used to tell me the background of Israeli-Arab hatred leading up to the Mideast Peace Accords.

No one gave the America team any chance.  Team USA lost 10-3 in its last exhibition game less than two weeks earlier to the same Soviet team at the Garden.  The Soviets had won all four Olympics and 11 of 15 World Championships since 1964.

Championships are won on the field or ice of play, NOT paper.  All that mattered was that 20 college kids and their disciplinarian Coach Herb Brooks believed in them.  They played 60 Exhibition games in the year leading up to the Olympics.  He drilled them hard and they were the best conditioned team.

The game was known for broadcaster Al Michaels' "Do you believe in miracles?" call as time expired.  I'll always remember where I was when I heard the news of the victory.  I was having dinner with my parents, brother, and sister when the news cut in during "Barney Miller".

Yes, I believe in miracles.  I was fortunate to train and compete in team handball at the US Olympic Center in Lake Placid.  If you ever have a chance, please go to Lake Placid in beautiful Upstate New York.  You'll hear the echos of Al Michael and the euphoria of those college kids and the fans that cheered them to victory.  You’ll be glad you made the trip.

 
Posted by a reflective Tank still basking in the glow of “The Miracle on Ice” 30 years ago today.

Steve here reporting from his last day at Vancouver 2010. Too bad Steve has a job and has to head home to Hong Kong (and then off immediately to India.) I will pass the torch back to the Tank and hopefully can pop in for some posts sometime before the Tank and I head to the World Cup in June.

What a week it has been. I highly recommend going to the Olympics to anyone who is a die hard sports fan. The Olympics is a shared experience, you walk down the street and see a guy with a Russian flag wrapped around his body and you and him start a conversation about Hockey or the Olympics in general. Everyone is hanging out and talking about the games. Also it is an excuse to show a lot patriotism. Buy your air tickets like 10 months in advance and stay an hour or so outside of the city to save money. Go to as many events as you can make it to.

My last day yesterday was an Alpine day watching the ski jump and women’s aerials. Totally awesome. Check out this Canadian jumper’s height.

Getting to and from the mountain took time but we went back downtown and hung out and spent the evening at an men’s Ice Hockey game: Latvia v Slovakia. Slovakia had a few NHL players and just skated faster. Latvia played well, but in the end could not pass and set up the shots and committed a few too many penalties. The game ended 6-0. While lopsided, it was fun to watch since Latvia kept it interesting until the 3rd period and took about 25+ shots on goal.

Hopefully the pilot will give us updates to the USA v Canada hockey game today. I am flying AIr Canada, I think that they will not be happy with my USA Hockey jersey. :)

Posted by Steve, reporting live from his last day in Vancouver, BC at the 2010 Olympic Games!

Today is Steve’s birthday.  I am grateful he is covering the Winter Olympics for SATT.  I hope he arranges a meeting with the beautiful women curlers and me.  :-)  Seriously, he better as he always talks about all these beautiful women at these far flung IT conferences but doesn’t produce photos or contact info. 

Though Steve missed last night’s fifth 2005 Antarctica Marathon anniversary dinner, he was a main topic of conversation.  There were several stories and remarks which could only be put in the Premium Content Area of SATT whenever it is built.

What I can share is that Kal encouraged me to manage Linda in roller derby as part of my post full marathon career.  Kal is a mind reader as I attended roller derby last year and I plan to blog on it soon.  I will have a very active post full marathon career as I am super agent to future sports stars like Kai in baseball and Gautam in football plus managing Linda to roller derby super stardom.

Posted by an excited Tank.

This is Steve reporting again from the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

Today was a great day. We visited downtown Vancouver and saw the Olympic Torch.

Some of our group watched a great Czech Republic v Latvia game as well as joined the main group for Women’s Curling. You may say “women’s curling?” but take a look at the Danish team before you judge. :)

The world champion Chinese team played against the beautiful Danes and kicked their butt 11-1. Steve made friends with a group of Chinese viewers in the row in front of him and he led them in a cheer in Chinese (after much coaching in the pronunciation.) In addition, Steve led the entire arena of 8,000 people in the wave.

The US was playing a much more powerful Russian team and played well.

The beautiful blonde in the middle for Team USA swept awesome and led the team to victory on the absolute last throw.

Come back tomorrow since tomorrow we have Women’s Aerials and Men’s Ice Hockey (Latvia v Slovakia-who just beat gold favorite Russia!)

Posted by Steve, live from Vancouver, BC at the 2010 Olympics.