Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit

"Unity, Justice, and Freedom." The national motto of Germany, a very eerie omen for the boys from Deutschland.

You haven't heard from me in months, and I apologize for my absence. However, I was not about fill the View From 311 with mindless babble about how much Morris and Wideman, and well pretty much everyone else was driving me bananas since before christmas. The Winter Classic soured me on hockey for awhile. It's true, it was a great experience and I wouldn't have traded my attendance for the world. But something about the way the B's played that day irked me, and then the great inevitable slide to the bottom of the conference. However a 4 game win streak to head into the Olympic break, and now some of that Olympic hockey has brought me back, I'm in for the long haul loyal blog readers. Let's do this preview, German style.....

Einigkeit (Unity)- Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer. Or for you non-German speakers, one People, one Reich, one Leader. Well they sure have the one leader, Uwe Krupp, former NHLer (700+ games played) with 6 different teams as recently as 2003 with the Thrash in HOTlanta. Krupp was the first German born player to win a Stanley Cup with the '96 Avalanche, scoring the Cup clinching goal for the Avs. However for the rest of the team, not so much. 7 of the "German National Team" members are foreigners! 4 Canadians, 1 Czech, 1 Austrian, and a Kazakh. The foreigners play for German League teams, but does that make it right? Doesn't much matter me thinks, with only 5 NHLers on the roster anyhow, Germany is looking at a pounding like 1944.

Recht (Justice)- Well justice they might not find either. Stuck in a group with both the Fins and Swedes, we're looking at a pretty much screwed German team unless Sturmface becomes a 2010 Olympic Craze. The only chance at a win in pool play is that against Belarus. One upset of either Finland or Sweden could earn them tournament play in the first round, but it would have to coincide with the same team losing to FIN/SWE.

Freiheit (Freedom)- Freedom will come for the Germans, I assure you that, and a sigh of relief if you happen to be a Bruins fan. As far as I'm concerned, Sturmy gets 9 days off starting this Sunday. Sturm and Jochen Hecht are your two best players with your starting goalie.......wait for it...... the starting goalie for the Worcester Sharks.

So we'll say losses to Sweden and Finalnd and they'll squeak one out against Belarus. Not a great trip to BC for the Germans. Stay tuned for coverage of at least one of these games. (They will show it on TV right??)

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