Tag Archives: winter Olympics

Why Worry? We Didn’t. Canada Will Win Gold.

Did we not tell you? There was nothing to worry about. This Canadian men’s hockey team at the Games of the 21st 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.

My Bad. Wrong Guy.

Evidently, I screwed up.

It wasn’t James Duthie who started the excuse machine (see yesterday’s rant), but it was someone. My eyes are not as good as they once were, but my ears are still pretty good.

I received this missive from Greg McIsaac at TSN:

Hi Scott,

In your blog at rivercitysports.com yesterday you quoted James Duthie as saying “We shouldn’t blame the athletes for failing to win medals at these Games.  It’s not all about medals.”  At no point has James Duthie said (or hinted) anything close to this.  We would appreciate if you would write a retraction and or an apology on your blog.

While we appreciate your right to criticize our broadcasts, we would also appreciate you ensuring that your facts are accurate before publishing them.

Thank you,

Greg McIsaac
Director of Communications, TSN

Greg, you’re welcome. I’ll go back through my PVR and make the correction. For now, it wasn’t Duthie. But it WAS somebody.

Let’s not make excuses for athletes when in fact, it wasn’t the athletes who created this “I-Beleive-Own-the-Podium,” hogwash. Canadians were sold a bill of goods. Canadians were led to believe there were a load of medals out there, when it’s now becoming very clear that the Winter Olympics isn’t that easy.

To win seven medals, three gold, in the first eight days of the Games is miraculous. A little truth in advertising would have made this entire exercise much more enjoyable.

For now, my apologies to Duthie who is a great broadcaster. I will find the exact source and address it accordingly.