Two days and six games into the Olympic Games in Vancouver, and we're still awaiting our first upset. The Americans, Canadians, Russians, Finns, Swedes, and Czechs all took care of business in their first games of the tournament, just as expected.
Here are a few thoughts concerning the first six contests...
The Americans were far from impressive in their 3-1 victory over the Swiss. Their chemistry on defense looked disjointed far too much of the time, their big guns failed to do much offensively, and they made Ryan Miller work harder than he should've had to against a Swiss team that doesn't bring much to the table offensively. I thought the Swiss played a sound defensive game, and didn't look out of place when they opened it up a bit in the third period...
Ryan Whitney was simply atrocious. I doubt he sees much ice against Canada. The U.S. defense, as a whole, is going to run into a lot of trouble when they take on the Canadians on Sunday...
For the Canadians, everything was status quo versus Norway. They had a good all-around effort in a game in which they were relatively untested. Jarome Iginla (three goals) looked great when moved to the top line with Sidney Crosby (three assists) and Rick Nash (two assists). Patrice Bergeron (assist) looked good, as well, sliding into Iginla's spot on the fourth unit - expect that switch to stick...
Defensively, I thought Drew Doughty, Chris Pronger, and Shea Weber had very strong outings...
The Russians, too, were relatively untested in their opening game versus Latvia, winning by a score of 8-2. Their game tonight against Slovakia (who has to play their second game in less than 24 hours...against Russia...rough) should serve as a better measuring stick...
Mikko Koivu (three assists) and Niklas Hagman (two goals) led the way for the Finns as they took down Belarus 5-1. As usual, the Finns competed hard and played a savvy 60 minutes...
Sweden didn't bring their "A" game against Germany yesterday, but still got out of there with a 2-0 victory. Germany had their chances on an extended 5-on-3 advantage early in the second with the scoreboard reading 0-0, but failed to convert. Jochen Hecht hit a post, followed by a crossbar off of the stick of Christian Ehrhoff...
I understand that Mattias Weinhandl is a great friend of Henrik and Daniel Sedin, played on their line during their junior days, and has some long-standing chemistry with the two brothers. But having him penciled into the right wing spot with the Twins is just criminal considering you have Johan Franzen wasting away on the fourth line. Weinhandl played a relatively smart game, but was pushed off of the puck easily and wasn't able to make himself a big enough target in the middle of the ice for the Sedins...
Nicklas Backstrom's assist on Loui Eriksson's tally was a beauty. The Eriksson - Backstrom - Daniel Alfredsson line should be a force in this tournament...
The most entertaining game of the first six took place last night with the Czechs upending the Slovaks 3-1. Tomas Vokoun played an excellent game in net, coming up big at numerous times, and Jaromir Jagr led the charge for the Czech Republic up front with the game-winning goal and an assist. Jagr took a physical pounding - as always, especially in international play - but didn't relent. Like I said in my predictions - the big guy's going to have a great tournament...
Jagr got away with what could've (should've?) been called a hooking penalty on Marian Hossa right before being sprung for a break which resulted in a Jagr strike. Hossa had hit pipe seconds before Jagr's goal made it a 2-1 hockey game...
Marian Gaborik played...and started the game on a line with Zigmund Palffy and Jozef Stumpel...why? Later in the game he was reunited with his usual linemates of Hossa and Pavol Demitra, and subsequently scored a typical Gaborik-type goal on a nice feed from Hossa...
Tomas Kaberle was shooting the puck early and often. Maybe he's trying to send a message early in the tournament that teams can't just expect him to always dish the puck on the power play? Kaberle's always been one of my favorite players - he has poise, smarts, and is an elite puck moving defensemen...
Lastly, what's the deal with these boards in GM Place? The safari theme seriously couldn't be harder on the eyes...
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