The column is intentionally late this week, as I wanted to see the US-Canada hockey game and report on it – and boy, am I glad I waited, because that was a classic game! We’ll discuss that game and other Olympic events from week 1 of the Games, as the USA has jumped out to a very strong start in Vancouver. Obviously there are too many events to cover them all, but below are some of my favorites from week 1.
Alpine skiing:  The U.S. ski team has rebounded quite nicely from a disastrous performance in 2006 (only two medals total) with EIGHT total medals already – no other nation has more than two! Bode Miller has been a poster boy for the team, as he has totally refocused and rededicated himself after uninspired performances in 2002 and 2006 – he has a gold (his first ever), a silver,  and a bronze in 2010. On the women’s side, Lindsey Vonn has overcome a painful shin injury to capture downhill gold and a bronze in the super-G.  With only two events remaining, it’s clear that the U.S. will be the most successful ski team in these Olympics. A note on the course – it was EXCEPTIONALLY fast for the downhill, with skiers reaching speeds of 65 MPH and several racers losing control and crashing hard. It’s clear that on this course you have to ski very close to the edge of control to win – play it safe even a little and you won’t medal, but push it too far and you’ll crash. That knife-edge line between aggressive and out-of-control was very interesting to watch.
Snowboarding: I am not really an ‘X-Games’ type of guy, but Shaun White’s performance in the halfpipe deserves mention. Having already locked up the gold with a dominant run, he essentially got a free ride to finish it off (snowboarders get two runs and only the best one counts) – and he chose to unveil a crazy double-flip move and pull it off even with almost no speed. His dominance over the rest of the field was shocking. Also shocking (and not in a good way) was NBC’s lack of a 7-second delay – before White’s last run, once he knew he had won the gold he and some fellow team members celebrated with some rather…colorful language, which was transmitted without any censoring right into the ears of my 8-year-old son. Come on, NBC, its primetime coverage, it’s snowboarding, there WILL be kids watching – excited athletes might let a bad word slip out – why not delay??
Luge/Bobsled: I watched some of both events…but not much, the track is simply too fast and has too many curves at the bottom. One turn has gained the nickname ‘the 50/50 Curve’ because the racers themselves feel it’s 50/50 whether they will manage to get through it without wrecking. I’m all for challenging courses, but there’s a limit and Vancouver passed that limit. I hope that the organizers in Sochi, Russia take note for 2014.
Figure Skating – I know an American man (Evan Lysacek) won gold for the first time in ages (1988), but I didn’t watch it – I watched pairs skating with my wife and was so baffled by the scoring that I decided not to watch anymore. I saw skaters falling but still winning medals over other skaters that never missed a jump. I know the scoring rewards aggressiveness, but there should be a LARGE penalty for failing to hit a move, making it much more risk-reward than it was. I’m not a huge fan of judged/scored events anyway – too easy to let bias determine the outcome (example: Shaun White. He hit all his moves and was clearly the best, but what if he had been shaky? Would he have still won based on reputation?). I prefer the timed events to the judged events.
Biathlon: I only want to express my admiration for the skill level. These people ski for almost two miles, stop, and have to shoot five targets with a .22 rifle at 160 feet – and in some races, repeat this four times! I cannot imagine how hard it is to ski 15 kilometers and stay steady enough to hit five targets with a rifle. The U.S. didn’t fare well in biathlon, but simply to compete in this grueling competition is impressive.
Curling: Time for an admission – I’m in love with curling. I have recorded every curling event available on TV, and in a week I’ve probably spent 10-15 hours watching it. I admit, to the untrained eye it seems like a questionable sport – but the more you watch the more you realize how deep the game is. The strategy makes it almost like chess – but unlike chess, even if you know the exact strategy to play, you still have to throw a rock 93 feet down a sheet of ice, often within a tolerance of an inch or two, in order to make a winning shot. I would LOVE to give this sport a shot someday – the similarities to golf are many, it’s a lifelong sport, it combines athletic ability with the need to think your way through the game, and staying calm and smooth is very important. Both U.S. teams have struggled, particularly the most important players, the 4th (last) shooters or ‘skips’ – to the point that both skips have been replaced in the lineup, a development almost unheard-of at the Olympics. Even though both teams have a lot of losses, they have been involved in a lot of close, exciting matches and there have been a lot of amazing shots throughout the tournament. If you also have liked the curling, or even if you despise it, please leave a comment below – I’m interested in how many readers have also enjoyed the sport.
Hockey: A quick note on the women’s hockey first –the US plays Sweden in a semifinal matchup at noon Monday, with a win setting up a likely gold-medal matchup with longtime rival Canada. The women’s field is not deep at all, it will be a major shock if any other team is in the gold medal game. Still, the U.S. women’s squad has looked very strong thus far and is a strong bet for gold.
On the men’s side, as you no doubt heard (or hopefully saw), the U.S. earned the top seed for the elimination round, going 3-0 and defeating Canada 5-3 Sunday night. 70% of the credit has to go to goalie Ryan Miller, who made 42 saves and was big in the third period when his team needed him most. He let in three goals, but none were soft, and he was under constant pressure for most of the first and third periods. The win was huge for the American medal chances – it got them a bye to the quarterfinals, where they will either play Belarus or Switzerland. The Swiss in particular have proven to be a tough team, but the U.S. will be heavily favored to beat them (again – they beat the Swiss in their first game last Tuesday). Then they would likely have to face #4 seed Finland in the semis, avoiding the powerhouse Russians, Canadians, or Swedes until the finals.
The loss is DEVASTATING for Canada – they have to play an extra game now, granted against a poor German team, but it’s a lost day of rest nonetheless – and then they face Russia, a top team, with the loser out of medal contention. With a win they will almost certainly face Sweden in the semis, then Finland or the U.S. in the finals should they get that far. Suddenly the deck is really stacked against the Canadian team, and they have to be considered a long shot to win gold given the difficulty of their schedule from here on in. Canadian fans have to be upset after dominating most of the game yet losing – they got outplayed badly in goal, as Martin Brodeur was out of position on one goal and let another ‘soft’ goal slip under his left pad – and I’d bet that you will see Roberto Luongo between the pipes against the Germans, possibly even Fleury given the back-to-back game scenario that Canada faces. However, Canada need not panic – they are still the deepest team in the field, and if they play more sound positional defense and finish a few more of their chances at the other end they will be fine.
Among other teams, the most interesting HAS to be Russia – they lack depth on defense, but their top-end scoring is the best in the world. Malkin and Ovechkin are playing on the same line and are proving impossible to stop – the play of the tournament thus far was Ovechkin’s open-ice hit on Jaromir Jagr, which led to a goal a few seconds later by Malkin. They will get their chances, the question is can they play enough defense to win against a team like Canada? I suspect we will find out later this week – that will be a game you won’t want to miss for sure!
Predictions for the elimination/medal round: I think that the Russians will win the gold. They have a tough path, true, but they get the extra day off and that will be enough to get them past Canada. On even rest I’d favor the Canadians, and it’s a shame that such a marquee matchup has to occur in the quarterfinals, but both teams had awful games (Russia to Slovakia, the Canadians losing a point by going to OT against the Swiss) to set this up. Russia is a bad matchup for Sweden, whose strength is defense and not scoring – if they get behind early it will be tough for the Swedes to come back against the high-flying Russians. I think the USA will get by Finland and get to the gold medal game, but have to settle for silver. Sweden will beat their rival, Finland, for the bronze. Again, I’d love to see your predictions in the comments below…the second week should be even more exciting than the first in Vancouver, make sure to catch some of the action!
 
Dave Glass can be reached at buggyracer@verizon.net, or preferably by leaving a comment below.
