Daily Archives: February 25, 2010

Did we not tell you? There was nothing to worry about. This Canadian men’s hockey team at the Games of the 21^st Winter Olymooad is about as good as it gets.

It only took a little controlled scrimmage against Germany on Tuesday night to get all the ducks in line.

After what happened on Wednesday night, I just hope our Canadian boys are practicing their podium dance.

For the first time in 50 years, Canada has beaten Russia in an Olympic hockey game. The last time Canada beat Russia in an Olympic hockey game, it was Squaw Valley in 1960. However, for what we got to watch Wednesday night, it was well worth the wait.

Corey Perry scored twice as Team Canada drilled Russia 7-3 in a quarterfinal match that had a lot of Canadians worried. But why? This was a dominating performance by the Canadians who outshot their old rivals 42-28. Canada will now meet Slovakia — that’s right Slovakia — in the semifinal on Friday night. Slovakia managed only 14 shots on goal but still beat defending gold medalist Sweden 4-3 in the late game Wednesday, a game that ended on Thursday morning.

In the other semifinal, the United States will face Finland. The Canada-Slovakia semi goes tomorrow at 8:30 live on 92-CITI-FM.

Well, you know what? If Sidney Crosby, Chris Pronger, Joe Thornton and Scott Niedermayer show up for this Olympic hockey series on Friday, there is no telling what Canada will do to its opposition.

On Wednesday, during that 7-3 win over the Russians, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Toews, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaff, Shea Weber and Duncan Keith, the younger players on the team, were absolutely outstanding as Canada moved into the semifinal. If the the big, veteran stars show up and play to their potential this weekend, no other team will be close.

When you consider that on Tuesday night, Head Coach Mike Babcock was able to work out his line matchups, get his team some confidence with Roberto Luongo in goal and just allow his boys to go out put up an eight-spot in that game against Germany, it was almost a lock that in 24 hours the Canadians would follow that up with another big win. They’re on a roll now and that roll started on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, as we expected, Canada blew out the Russians and now our country’s best hockey players have a nice, clean skate to the gold. Stop worrying, friends.

Here’s my only prediction: It will be Canada-Finland on Sunday afternoon.