February 13, 2006
Weather Keeps Most Of Team USA Grounded
The so-called "Blizzard of 2006" is turning out to be a bit problematic for USA Hockey. With the league not wrapping up its pre-Olympic schedule until last night, ESPN was reporting that only two members of the squad had been able to make it to Torino, and that the bulk of the team won't be touching down in Italy until Tuesday morning, a mere 24 hours before the team's opening game with Latvia.
I know there isn't anything you can do about the weather, but this underlines a point that Joe Tasca and I made on our most recent Off Wing podcast -- that the compressed Olympic hockey schedule is an unfair burden on the athletes.
Think of it this way: In 2002, Team Canada, Team USA, Russia and Belarus* played six games total in order to determine the medal winners. This time, each team will play five games in the preliminary round, and every serious contender will play a minimum of six games before the end of the tournament. For the top four squads, it will mean nine eight games each over ten or 11 days to determine the medal winners. Click here for the ridiculous schedule.
That's too much to ask of these players in the middle of the season. One more time: Cancel the World Juniors in Olympic years and send the kids to skate for gold.
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*Of course, we must not forget that the schedule was even worse for Belarus, who had an entire week's worth of games to play just to qualify for the medal round before the big six of world hockey got to Salt Lake City.
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I disagree with all of the recent dumping on NHLers in the Olympics.
- half those games will be against 'lesser' teams, clubs the contending teams shouldn't have a problem beating under any conditions
- the main reason the Olympics are such a burden this time around is where they're being played
- the bulky NHL schedule is as much to blame as anything, as a more reasonable 72-76 game schedule would be able to accomodate an Olympic games better
Posted by:
at February 13, 2006 12:04 PM
Anyone who has played a game in the NHL should not be playing in the Olympics.
It was more competitive when the games were attempting to be amatuer only, and the NHL players have the World Cup and the World Championship if they want to represent their countries in international play.
Posted by:
at February 13, 2006 04:18 PM
The problem with sending amateurs is the same as the one they had in the seventies - countries which don't typically send their elite players to the NHL (such as the former CCCP) slaughter the other teams because those teams are running inexperienced juniors in their place.
I also feel that it's cheating the spirit of Olympic competition, which is supposed to be a way to see the best sportsmen and women of the world competing against one another to find the single best competitor in the world; just like the World Championships, only this brings all the sports together. If you're an Olympic Gold Medalist, it means a lot more to your grandparents than being a World Champion. Not to mention that there's a wider breadth of competition at the Olympic level.
Though I understand a natural opposition to the format from an NHL fan's point of view, as well as the feel-good "Miracle on Ice" aspect all over again, but personally, I watch the Olympics to see the best sportspeople in the world.
Admittedly, I'm heavily biased. As an Aussie Preds fan, I barely get to see any hockey, and the Olympics allow me to see the best of the league all at once (though since Australia never qualifies, Hockey doesn't get the most extensive coverage).
My solution is to both slim down the NHL season (half the number of games would be more than enough before the post-season, particularly when they let so many teams INTO the playoffs), and to remove the World Cup (which, though, exilerating, doesn't exactly have any specific purpose that isn't absolved by the World Championships). At the very least, the NHL should have stopped NHL competition in time for Torino's opening ceremony.
Posted by:
at February 13, 2006 07:36 PM
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