Mark Johnson (pictured above, left), part of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” men’s Gold-Medal Olympic hockey team is going to share his experience this year as the coach of the 2010 women’s Olympic hockey team. Johnson, who played for Wisconsin during college and for 11 seasons in the NHL, is currently the head coach of the Wisconson women’s hockey team, a team he led to the NCAA title game for the last three seasons, winning twice. Johnson will be taking a year’s leave of absense from his regular coaching duties for this Olympic opportunity.

“I just get goose pimples. I just get really excited,” Johnson told the “Associated Press” this week. “It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m going to have a blast doing it.”

Tryouts for the team begin on August 10 in Blaine, Minnesota. The run-up to the Olympics includes ten exhibition games, starting September 25 as well as the 2009 Four Nations Cup in Finland in November.

^{(photo © Newscom)}

Post from: EveryJoe

Johnson to Lead US Women’s Hockey Team

The Beijing Games are barely over, but ESPN is already looking to 2010 with their picks for athletes to watch in Vancouver. They mention that the host country always has an advantage (due to patriotism and strong support from the crowds) and that Canada always excels at the Winter Games. Look for a particularly strong showing from the Canadians at the Vancouver Games. The Canadian men’s hockey team, the “north of the border” equivalent to the US men’s basketball team, is sure to be in the mix for the Gold Medal. Others to watch include:

Apolo Anton Ohno - This will be the third Olympics for the US speed skater. He already has five Medals, two of which are Gold.

Shaun White. This flamboyant US snowboarder (pictured above), dubbed the “Flying Tomato,” is sure to wow the crowds again in Vancouver as he attempts to defend his Gold Medal in the half pipe.

Julia Mancuso. We’ve already mentioned Mancuso as someone to watch in Vancouver. The 23-year-old skiier won the Gold Medal in the Giant Slalom in Turin.

Jeffrey Buttle. This 25-year-old Canadian figure skater won the Bronze Medal in 2006 and is the current World Champion. He’ll likely be seeking Gold in Vancouver.

Mao Asada. Mao Asada from Japan is the current women’s world champion figure skater. The 17-year-old is likely be the one to beat in Vancouver.

Lindsey Jacobellis. Jacobellis is perhaps best known for her dramatic fall just at the end of her 2006 snowboarding routine in Turin. She ended up with the Silver Medal, but she’ll be looking for Gold again in Vancouver.

Of course, the Olympics bring out the competitive spirit and there are sure to be yet unknown skaters, skiiers, and snowboarders that rise to the occasion as the Games approach.

Post from: EveryJoe

Athletes to Watch for at the Vancouver 2010 Games

Baptism of snow for the Olympic Games

Chris Chelios hasn’t given up on the team for a fifth Olympics

Yea, this weekend’s been a “Valentine weekend” for some but I guess as it draws to a close, work week will soon commence, I recommend a bit of a read to drain some of the “romance” out of your system. LOL.

Happy reading!

Post from: EveryJoe

Speedlinking for 02-17-2008

Team USA forced five straight Russia penalties to start the game and eventually capitalized on a five-on-three power play at 11:31 when Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo./University of Denver) put home the rebound of a shot from the center point by Jordan Schroeder (Prior Lake, Minn./U.S. National Under-18 Team). Kyle Okposo (St. Paul, Minn.) also drew an assist on the play. The United States, which outshot Russia 18-7 in the period, had several other golden opportunities in the stanza, but was held at bay by Russian netminder Sergei Bobrovsky.

The only goal of the second period came at 8:36 when Alexei Cherepanov put the puck past a helpless Jeremy Smith (Brownstown, Mich./Plymouth) off the rebound of Nikita Filatov’s initial shot from near the bottom of the left circle. Rhett Rakhshani (Huntington Beach, Calif./University of Denver) nearly put the United States back in the lead with under eight minutes to go in the period, but his shot from the low slot rang off the post. Two minutes later, Mike Carman (Apple Valley, Minn./University of Minnesota), who was foiled at least twice in the first period, had a good chance from point blank range but was stopped by Bobrovsky.

Team USA recorded a pair of goals in the first half of the third period to open up a two-goal lead. James vanRiemsdyk (Middletown, N.J./University of New Hampshire) recorded the first on the power play at 3:01 when he sent an innocent-looking shot toward the net that Bobrovsky got a piece of, but then had deflect off his pad and into the net. Then at 7:44 Carman grabbed a loose puck at the side of the net, came out in front, and found the back of the net. Blake Geoffrion (Brentwood, Tenn./University of Wisconsin) and Chris Summers (Milan, Mich./University of Michigan) also gained assists on the play. Russia made it interesting when Viktor Tikhonov beat Smith at 14:36, but Team USA played strong down the stretch and gained the victory.
Smith made 28 saves to pick up the win, while Bobrovskky had 46 stops in a losing effort.
Team USA will finish preliminary-round play Monday (Dec. 31) against Finland at 12 p.m. EST in Liberec. Regardless of the outcome, Team USA has earned a bye into the semifinals of the tournament and will play a yet to-be-determined opponent on Friday (Jan. 4).
NOTES: Defenseman Chris Summers was named Team USA’s Player of the Game …Team USA did not allow Russia a shot on goal through the first 14 minutes of the game … All Team USA games in the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship are audiocast live on usahockey.com with Jack Swanson and Jeff Sauer calling the action. In addition, all games of the medal round will be televised live by the NHL Network in the United States … Brian Strait (Waltham, Mass./Boston University) is Team USA’s captain, while Chris Summers (Milan, Mich./University of Michigan), Blake Geoffrion (Brentwood, Tenn./University of Wisconsin) and Tyler Ruegsegger (Lakewood, Colo./University of Denver) are alternate captains.
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring By Period
USA1-0 -2 –3
RUS0 -1 -1 –2

First Period – Scoring: 1, USA Ruegsegger (Schroeder, Okposo), 11:31(5×3 pp). Penalties: RUS, Dadonov (hooking), 2:50; RUS, Sayustov (hooking), 3:05; RUS, Bobrovsky (delay of game), 5:01; USA, Carman (slashing), 8:22; RUS, Filatov (roughing), 8:22; RUS, Kalimulin (hooking), 9:58; RUS, Doronin (hooking), 10:27; USA, Cole (roughing), 18:54.
Second Period – Scoring: 2, RUS Cherepanov (Filatov, Anisimov); 8:36. Penalties: USA, Pacioretty (tripping), 3:34; RUS, Kurbatov (interference), 11:25; USA, Carman (hooking), 16:52.
Third Period – Scoring: 3, USA vanRiemsdyk (Rahkshani), 3:01 (pp); 4, USA Carman (Geoffrion, Summers), 7:44; 5, RUS Tikhonov (Korolev, Sayustov), 14:36. Penalties: RUS, Filatov (hooking), 1:55; USA, Carman (tripping), 4:11; Tikhonov (holding), 8:27; USA, vanRiemsdyk (high–sticking), 8:36; RUS, Milekhin (hooking), 11:29; USA, Carman (hooking), 14:53; RUS, Tikhonov (slashing), 16:19; RUS, Filatov (roughing), 20:00.
Shots by Period123Total
USA 18102149
RUS 7111230

Goaltenders (SH/SV) 123Total
USA, Smith, 60:00 7-711-1012-1130-28
RUS, Bobrovsky, 59:49 18-1710-1021-1949-46

Power Play: USA 2-11; RUS 0-6
Penalties: USA 7-14; RUS 12-24
Officials: Referees – Christer Larking (Sweden), Ulf Ronnmark (Sweden); Linesmen – Petr Blumel (Czech Republic), Jeff Jobson (Canada)
Attendance: 4,654
Team USA 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship Schedule
Dec. 26-Jan. 5• Liberec & Pardubice, Czech Republic

Date Opponent Venue Time (Local/EST)
Dec. 18 Western Michigan University (Ex.) Lawson Ice Arena W, 4-2
Dec. 22 Czech Republic (Ex.) Ceska Trebova L, 2-5
Dec. 26 Kazakhstan Tipsport Arena W, 5-1
Dec. 28 Switzerland Tipsport Arena W, 4-2
Dec. 29 Russia Tipsport Arena W, 3-2
Dec. 31 Finland Tipsport Arena 6:00 p.m./12:00 p.m.
Jan. 4 Semifinals CEZ Arena TBD
Jan. 5 Gold/Bronze
Medal Games CEZ Arena TBD

Venue Locations: Lawson Ice Arena (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Ceska Trebova (Ceska Trebova, Czech Republic), Tipsport Arena (Liberec, Czech Republic), CEZ Arena (Pardubice, Czech Republic).

Source

Post from: EveryJoe

Press Release | U.S. National Junior Team Downs Russia, 3-2

According to the SLAM! Sports article that I read, Teemu Selänne had claimed that winning the Stanley Cup is far better than winning a gold in the Olympics. Quite interesting.

To give him credit, he did say that “The Olympics is only one game for the gold. The Stanley Cup is 30 teams in the league and how much you play and how much you travel. You can go a long time without ever having a chance. And you can no longer just go out and find a team to win a Cup.”

He did raise a good point. But I wonder, wouldn’t a team need to qualify in order to play in the Olympics? Don’t the athletes play not for the money (ideally :lol: ) but purely for the sport? Wouldn’t the Olympics mean higher a higher level of competition since the team WILL play against the world’s best hockey players?

I reckon Selänne should give the Olympic Games the credit due to it. That’s IMHO. :mrgreen:

Source

Post from: EveryJoe

Selänne says Stanley Cup is a tougher win than the Olympics

But this hockey player is not the focus of this post but Teemu Selänne aka “The Finnish Flash”. He also is a player for the Anaheim Ducks. But according to the post, he has a grand slam record for playing in a losing team. Finland has lost World cup final, WHC final and Olympic final with Teemu.

Makes you wonder, eh?

Let’s ask Mark’s opinion, he blogs over at Hockey Beat. ;)

Source

Post from: EveryJoe

Teemu Selänne, Grand Slam Loser?

January 25, 1924

It was held in France, 83 years ago!

But, of course, they didn’t know what it was while it was going on. The IOC just named it as such afterwards. Originally, the competition was called International Sports Week 1924.

Trivia: First event to be decided on was the men’s 500m speed skating where Charles Jewtraw (US) won the first gold.

There were 258 athletes (11 women, 247 men) of 16 nations competed in 16 events of 6 sports (Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Curling, Ice Hockey, Skating and Skiing).

Source: www.olympic.org

Post from: EveryJoe

When was the 1st Winter Olympic Games Held?

They are the first country to win both the Olympic gold and the World title in the same year. They beat Finland in the last Winter Olympics in Torino and beat the defending champion, Czech Republic in the Hockey World Championships.

Quite impressive, eh? Well, wait till you hear that no team has ever managed to win the double in international hockey. There have only been six instances that the Olympics and World Championships were played on separate tournaments in the same year.

Sweden made it into Hockey history.

Canada, who won the title for two consecutive years, 2003 and 2004, before losing to Czech Republic last year, failed to place this year, a first in four years. They lost the bronze to Finland.

ESPN

Post from: EveryJoe

Sweden, Hockey’s Finest

The former plays for Washington Capitals and the latter for Pittsburgh Penguins. Both are contenders for the NHL rookie of the year.

If you’re big on this scene, you would’ve heard of the Ovechkin-Crosby debate, which is over an intrigue as to whose fresh face to put to the league’s new, carefully crafted image.

Does that face, though, belong to Crosby, the polished, media-savvy, all-Canadian boy, or Ovechkin, the edgy Russian with the smoky visor and a Darth Vader-like nasty streak?

I reckon they’re having this ongoing rivalry since the article something about their stats.

Ovechkin staked his claim to rookie honours by becoming just the fourth player in NHL history to score 50 goals in his debut campaign; the 18-year-old Crosby countered by becoming the youngest player to score 100 points when he tallied 39 goals and 63 assists.

Hmmm. Interesting.

Both Hockey players are stars in the NHL. Playing in the international scene is optional but beneficial. But since the Capitals and Penguins failed to qualify for the post-season, both are available for National Team duty. So, off they go to their respective countries and represent in the world championship stage.

While dodging rivalry questions thrown his way, Ovechkin works on upping his game and making use of the international exposure to develop his skills in preparation for the Stanley Cup.

It’ll be the same for Crosby since on top of the Cup, he is also expected to take a leadership role when Canada hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Source

Post from: EveryJoe

Ovechkin and Crosby, Reluctant Rivals

And it was a unanimous decision, mind you.

Aside from the fact that he was the only candidate, he does have with him fantastic credentials. Heh. ;)

He’s the former Soviet goaltender. He won ten world titles and three Olympic titles for the all-conquering Soviet hockey team in the 1970s and 1980s and was also featured in the 1972 series against the NHL All-Stars. He also happens to be a member of the parliament. Ha. Oh, yea — he is the first Russian to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Let’s just say he has been representing Russian hockey for quite a bit now. First as a player and now as a public official.

There are a couple of items on his To-Do List now that he became the president of the RIHF.

• Eligibility of Russian players in the NHL for the Russian Team in the upcoming World Championships
• Decision on national team coach Vladimir Krikunov’s future after a disappointing showing at the Winter Olympics in Torino, where they failed to win a medal, as soon as the World Championships are over.

Tretiak succeeds Alexander Steblin, who ruled Russian hockey for the last 10 years.

Source

Post from: EveryJoe

Former Olympian holds top post in the RIHF