The Road to the Gold

Captain Cloquet Minnesota, Jamie Langenbrunner, became a national hero last night. Everyone is giving Rafalski and Miller all the credit (and deservedly so, but i'm going to point out what Jamie did too). On the first shift of the game, Jamie wins a battle on the boards, feeds his point and hustles across the ice to create traffic. Sidney Crosby picks him up and ends up deflecting Brian Rafalski's shot in for the 1-0 lead. Later on in the first, Marty Brodeur makes a bad decision and bats the puck to a hard-charging Rafalski at the blueline. Jamie goes straight to the net, provides the screen, Rafalski fans on the shot, but Brodeur doesn't see it because of Jamie providing traffic and Brodeur ends up deflecting it into the net off of his left toe. If you look back at the replay, you'll see Rafalski was aiming high glove, but took a stick to the hands just before release that caused him to partially fan and send it along the ice. This is also why Brodeur looked bad on the play - he was positioning himself for a shot to the top corner. Finally, Jamie was once again providing traffic in front of the net on the game-winning goal and it hit his skate and deflected into the net. I can't put it into words how proud I am that he is from my hometown. What a great win for USA hockey. However, they haven't won anything yet...they need to use this momentum and find a way to win when it counts in the medal round.

Because the Swedes defeated the Finns last night, the USA gets the #1 seed for the medal round. This is the best possible place to be because of how everything else fell. On Wednesday, the USA will play the winner of the Belarus/Switzerland in the quarterfinals. Both teams are capable of beating the USA, but this certainly is an easier opponent compared to what the rest of field faces in the quarterfinals. The other three quarters will be SWE/SLO, RUS/CAN, and FIN/CZE assuming the Czechs, Canadians, and Slovakians take care of business on Tuesday against weaker opponents. So, let's say the USA gets the job done in the quarters. They will play the winner of the FIN/CZE quarterfinal on Friday. This will be an extremely tough game no matter who it is, but I would rather face one of these two teams than Russia or Canada or even Sweden for that matter.

If they can pull that off, they're in the gold medal game against whoever advances out of this "group of death" on the other side of the bracket: Canada, Russia, Sweden, and Slovakia.

Buckle up and enjoy the ride. USA hockey has already given us something we will never forget, but it COULD get even better.

PS - I was wrong about Chris Drury. He is playing the consummate team game and doing whatever it takes out there and he got rewarded with a huge goal last night. Congratulations to him.

PSS - On a Bruins note, Phil Kessel proved to me last night that the Bruins made the right decision in letting him go. He is not a big game player because he cannot handle physicality. He was a liability in the defensive zone last night. It led to one of Canada's goals and could have led to another if not for Ryan Miller. Ron Wilson took him off the Pavelski/Malone line after Canada scored the 2nd goal with that line on the ice as well he should have. Congratulations Peter Chiarelli on officially coming out WAY AHEAD in that deal with Toronto.

Ho-Hum

The USA got an opening win, but certainly didn't look like world beaters.  They mustered just 2 shots on goal in the 3rd period as the Swiss took the attack to them.  Chalk it up to nerves and getting used to each other and let's hope they get better.  Timmy was in the all-too-familiar role of door opener on the USA bench.  Comeon Ron, put him in there on Thursday!  Bobby Ryan opened the scoring with a sweet release from the high slot.

David Backes scored the eventual game-winner with a nice end-to-end rush off a Ryan Miller save (where's his assist? - tough scorekeeper).  He made sometimes Hab, sometimes Hamilton Bulldog Yannick Weber look silly.  Ryan Malone had the 3rd USA goal on the PP by banging in a rebound.

Funny hearing Jeremy Roenick talk about Jamie Langenbrunner after the game (teammates in 1998)...Legend has it in my hometown that Jeremy Roenick was primarily responsible for the disgraceful incident in the Olympic Village in Nagano back in 1998.  Also, Mike Millbury giving Jeremy Roenick a hard time was pretty entertaining.  I'm hoping they drop the gloves at some point.

Man, do we get screwed as hockey fans here in the states.  CNBC carries the USA/Japan Women's Curling match IN IT'S ENTIRETY and pre-empts the majority of the 1st period of Canada/Norway.  Amazingly, still 0-0 after the first period!

Sidebar, as the Morale Officer has stated multiple times leading up to the Olympics, this version of the USA Women's curling team is a little too "housewifey" compared to the young, blond-haired, blue-eyed team from my home state in 2006.

Team USA Preview

Cue the NBC Olympic music. I'm getting pumped. It helps that the Bruins went into the break with a 4-0 roadtrip so I'm no longer considering ballet and yoga in lieu of being a hockey fan. I'm covering Team USA because captain Jamie Langenbrunner was just 3 years ahead of me on the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton Lumberjacks in Northern Minnesota. The amount of pride in my hometown for Jamie is immense - my mother says the local paper devoted a big spread to him the other day.

Here's the schedule:
Tuesday, Feb 16 - Switzerland @ 3 PM EST
Thursday, Feb 18 - Norway @ 3 PM EST
Sunday, Feb 21 - Canada @ 7:40 PM EST

Obviously, the USA is heavily favored in the first two games, but they better be ready because Jonas Hiller and Switzerland could easily surprise them. Teams in all three groups will be competing for points (using the three-point system) and the top 4 overall earn a first round bye. The USA/Canada game will likely have a bye at stake (though it would be possible for both teams to earn a bye). This is big because if you do not acquire a bye, you will be forced to play Tues-Weds-Fri-Sun to win the gold instead of just Weds-Fri-Sun.

The three-point system! Take notes Gary Bettman. This is how the NHL Standings should work because the current system is ridiculous. Winning in regulation garners 3 points. Making it to overtime gives 1 point to each team and the team that wins in overtime or the shootout gets an additional point. This makes EVERY GAME worth three points! A novel idea. If applied to the NHL, teams that are skills competition specialists would not be rewarded as much they presently are.

I swell with pride when the olympics come around because I grew up with the college game. 17 of the 23 members of the USA roster got their start in the college ranks. Unfortunately, none of them are from my UMD Bulldogs, but 9 of the 17 hail from the WCHA which is easily the best conference in the college game (and I'll have words with anyone that tries to tell me Hockey East is better). There are three former Wiconsin Badgers which is the most of any one school (Pavelski, Rafalski, and Ryan Suter). For you Hockey East supporters, there are 4 reps: Quick, Orpik, Whitney, and Drury. Speaking of Drury, I don't know why he is on this team (leadership shmeadership when your game is that far in the tank) - I am hoping he is the healthy scratch forward. Count me among the many who think Tim Connolly should be there instead.

My key to this tournament is the young defensive corps. Veterans Rafalski and Orpik are going to have to provide leadership for the relatively inexperienced Johnson's, Gleason, Suter, and Whitney. If this young D corps can hold their own and Ryan Miller can regain his early season form, the USA could pull off an upset or two and make their way to the gold medal game. I'm psyched to see how this young group of forwards comes together - many of us Bruins fans will actually be rooting for Phil Kessel for the next two weeks.

And, as a Bruins fan, I'm just hoping Ron Wilson gives Timmy a chance to play in garbage time against Norway perhaps. He has to be third on the depth chart with the emergence of Quick this season.

Look for coverage of Slovakia, The Czech Republic, Germany, and Canada from other View From 311 contributors in the next couple weeks as we keep an eye on all of the Bruins...

Nice Win.

"Worship Satan" noted one brave View from 311 commenter. Perhaps we should get our pentagram tattoos ready and listen to some Slayer. In his Bruins debut, called into action earlier than expected due to Bergeron's broken thumb (out for 2 weeks), Miroslav Satan was a +2 in 14:06 of ice time. Perhaps Satan's presence had an effect on Wheels, who scored 2 goals and had an assist. Thomas was solid in net.
Also, Team USA beat Canada yesterday twice: in the Under-17 tournament (2-1 win over Canada in Timmins, ON), and in the World Juniors (6-5 OT win in Saskatoon, SK). Hey Canada, at least you still have curling. For now.