It's Valentine's Day! I'm not a big believer in greeting-card holidays, but this is a great opportunity to earn some bonus points with an unexpected gesture, however small.
Now, back to hockey...
With Switzerland playing Sweden head-to-head on Friday, there was no way for our Canuck Olympians to all remain undefeated. That said, both teams did their best not to beat each other for most of the contest.
The Swiss defense, including Raphael Diaz and Yannick Weber, was airtight until the 54th minute of the game, when Daniel Alfredsson took a pass from his old teammate Erik Karlsson to give Sweden the 1-0 win. Diaz was on the ice for the goal.
Daniel Sedin continues to play primarily with Nicklas Backstrom and Loui Eriksson. He's actually showing some chemistry with the centre Backstrom, but was pointless on Friday in 18:58 of ice time.
Meanwhile, Roberto Luongo and Team Canada started working on their goal differential with a 6-0 shutout win over Austria. Roberto Luongo made 23 saves, eight of which came from a defenseman named Matthias Trattnig. Jeff Carter was at his streaky best with a natural hat trick through the middle part of a game that Canada controlled from buzzer to buzzer.
Luongo was at his sarcastic best when congratulated after the game:
He also refused to accept the game puck when it was offered by Carter:
Canada's next game is on Sunday against Finland. Mike Babcock has said that Patrick Sharp and Dan Hamhuis will draw back into the lineup, but is playing coy when it comes to his goaltender. I think Luongo did enough today to get the start on Sunday. Do you?
The only Canuck not to play on Friday was Ryan Kesler. Team USA squares off against Russia in the biggest game of the preliminary round on Saturday: game time 4:30 a.m.
Other interesting notes from Friday's games: the grizzled Czechs beat Latvia 4-2; scorers included Jaromir Jagr and the guy some of you would love to see as a Canuck, Jakub Voracek. Petr Nedved had an assist—and Marek Zidlicky is all over the scoresheet for a second straight game.
Finland also tried to build up their goal differential with a 6-1 win over Norway. Lauri Korpikoski had two goals, Olli Maatta had a goal and two assists, and Teemu Selanne scored his 15th career Olympic goal, adding to his tally as the highest-scoring Olympian of all time.
James Mirtle of
The Globe and Mail has a good piece on how much we should be worrying about the goal differential issue. Though winning is certainly more important, it could turn out to be significant.
Click here to read.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts in the comments on the pros and cons of the Olympic tournament. I'm such a fan of the Games in general, I sometimes forget that not everyone sees it like I do.
Here are the things I enjoy about the Olympic tournament in its current form:
- Best players in the world
- Money is not the motivation; playing for bragging rights and national pride
- Something different—different playing style, tactical changes required
- Saves us from the doldrums of those draggy February games in a typical NHL season
- A special occasion, short and infrequent makes it seem more unique
I certainly agree that with a one-game knockout format in the medal round, it's hard to really say that one team is "best" when all is said and done, but the conditions are the same for every team. It's no different from the Super Bowl.
Hopefully I've actually gotten today's game scores correct! It's been another interesting morning, kicking off with my live coverage of the men's super combined at 3:30 a.m...
I'll do one more quick Olympic memory before I sign off for today:
Canuck Olympic History: Trevor Linden
Trevor Linden was out of action with a knee injury when Mike Keenan traded him from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Islanders on Feb. 6, 1998. He had yet to play a game for his new team before jetting off to Nagano to join Team Canada for the first Olympics to feature pro players.
Linden had just one goal in that tournament, but on a team filled with superstars, he was the only player to beat Dominik Hasek in Canada's semifinal game against the Czechs, scoring with 63 seconds to go to send the game to overtime.
Of course, Canada eventually lost in the shootout, then lost the bronze medal game to Finland. But for one shining moment, Linden was Canada's national hero.
Linden would spent about three years away from Vancouver before being traded back by Washington in November 2001.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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