Olympic Game Day: Switzerland vs. Canada 7:30PM EST. Thurs. Feb 18, 2010

I'm quite impressed with the Swiss as well, that should be said loud and clear. They played a tight game.

N4L wrote:Nope, just not a complete hypocryte.

As for cheering for the name on the back vs the logo on the front, they still represent you as Canadians. They dont represent myself, thank God for that.

So keep cheering for your "hero's" haha. I'll cheer for the true athletes in this Olympics, the ones where their life long goal is to compete in them. The ones that represent what I believe. As for working their Donkey off to get to the Olympics, no they dont, they work their Donkey off to play in The NHL and play for their clubs teams, thats what they are supposed to do. I'll even through out a scenario, say The NHL doesnt take a break for Russia in 2014, how many Canadians are goign to skip out? I would say close to none, how many Russians or Swedes will...? garenteed there will be more then The Canadians.

As for the same Dung kool-aid, meh, I dont care if you or anyone else buys what I say, fact of the matter is I know exactly who I want representing me and it is for sure not that Canadian Olympic Hockey Team.

You're so off and so clueless I'm starting to feel bad for you. Let me re-introduce you to a word that you may or may not know: expectations.

Expectations - that's what the Olympics are about. While some athletes are naturally more gifted than others and others use insane amounts of hard work to become good at their respective sports - the defining characteristic of Olympians is expectations.

They expect the best out of themselves. And while they are there wearing their countries flag on their uniforms and helmets, they are still there to win.

Do you think athletes like Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Jeremy Wotherspoon, Michael Phelps, etc. are there exclusively to represent their country? Maybe initially, before they become the best at their respective sports, there is a certain awe factor associated with being chosen to represent their country at the Olympics - but, here, today and now? These guys are here to win. They are here to represent themselves just as much as they are here to represent their countries.

And to cluster hockey players into one sweeping generalization - and frankly it's hilariously hypocritical that you think you can speak to their state of mind as if you are in the know and are privy to information that everyone else isn't - is ridiculous and dumb.

To be honest, I don't care what your nationality is, because the values you represent leave you in a pretty well-represented group of people - idiots.

Devo wrote:Iginla was not playing well and deserved to be benched. That move may help Canada more than you know. He basically said (and may have also said in the dressing room after), you may be a star on your team but you're just like everyone else in this room. If you're not going to play hard every shift, then plant your Donkey at the end of the bench.

Funny enough I did the same thing to the captain of the team I coach...benched him for the last 1/2 of the 2nd and 3rd period. He is by far our best player and one of the top 3 in the league, and we were losing by 2 goals at the time (both his fault).

The guys responded with 3 3rd period goals and dominated the other team.

Laughing during the shootout with a few others guys was sickening to me. You would never see another country laughing like that in a shootout against a team they should be beating. Just a microcosim of what's wrong with Team Canada.

PKC wrote:

N4L wrote:Nope, just not a complete hypocryte.

As for cheering for the name on the back vs the logo on the front, they still represent you as Canadians. They dont represent myself, thank God for that.

So keep cheering for your "hero's" haha. I'll cheer for the true athletes in this Olympics, the ones where their life long goal is to compete in them. The ones that represent what I believe. As for working their Donkey off to get to the Olympics, no they dont, they work their Donkey off to play in The NHL and play for their clubs teams, thats what they are supposed to do. I'll even through out a scenario, say The NHL doesnt take a break for Russia in 2014, how many Canadians are goign to skip out? I would say close to none, how many Russians or Swedes will...? garenteed there will be more then The Canadians.

As for the same Dung kool-aid, meh, I dont care if you or anyone else buys what I say, fact of the matter is I know exactly who I want representing me and it is for sure not that Canadian Olympic Hockey Team.

You're so off and so clueless I'm starting to feel bad for you. Let me re-introduce you to a word that you may or may not know: expectations.

Expectations - that's what the Olympics are about. While some athletes are naturally more gifted than others and others use insane amounts of hard work to become good at their respective sports - the defining characteristic of Olympians is expectations.

They expect the best out of themselves. And while they are there wearing their countries flag on their uniforms and helmets, they are still there to win.

Do you think athletes like Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Jeremy Wotherspoon, Michael Phelps, etc. are there exclusively to represent their country? Maybe initially, before they become the best at their respective sports, there is a certain awe factor associated with being chosen to represent their country at the Olympics - but, here, today and now? These guys are here to win. They are here to represent themselves just as much as they are here to represent their countries.

And to cluster hockey players into one sweeping generalization - and frankly it's hilariously hypocritical that you think you can speak to their state of mind as if you are in the know and are privy to information that everyone else isn't - is ridiculous and dumb.

To be honest, I don't care what your nationality is, because the values you represent leave you in a pretty well-represented group of people - idiots.

Not clustering hockey players, Im clustering Canadian hockey players and the Canadian hockey fan, such as yourself, which is ignorant beyond belief. Kind of sad really.

So strap on that Canadian jersey buddy because that's basically all you have it seems. Canadian hockey is over rated by this country and you know when people say to The Americans "everyone hates you" and then they say it's because "you just hate us because we are the best", same thing applies. Rather sad you can ignore that and pretend like these Canadian hockey players truly care about the every day Canadian. Some do, like I said, but a lot less then people want to believe.

When people outside of Canada say they hate Canadian hockey, it's not because Canada wins, it's because they actually hate our attitudes and the lack of respect we show everyone else.

Oh, and I'm 100% Canadian.

N4L wrote:

PKC wrote:

N4L wrote:Nope, just not a complete hypocryte.

As for cheering for the name on the back vs the logo on the front, they still represent you as Canadians. They dont represent myself, thank God for that.

So keep cheering for your "hero's" haha. I'll cheer for the true athletes in this Olympics, the ones where their life long goal is to compete in them. The ones that represent what I believe. As for working their Donkey off to get to the Olympics, no they dont, they work their Donkey off to play in The NHL and play for their clubs teams, thats what they are supposed to do. I'll even through out a scenario, say The NHL doesnt take a break for Russia in 2014, how many Canadians are goign to skip out? I would say close to none, how many Russians or Swedes will...? garenteed there will be more then The Canadians.

As for the same Dung kool-aid, meh, I dont care if you or anyone else buys what I say, fact of the matter is I know exactly who I want representing me and it is for sure not that Canadian Olympic Hockey Team.

You're so off and so clueless I'm starting to feel bad for you. Let me re-introduce you to a word that you may or may not know: expectations.

Expectations - that's what the Olympics are about. While some athletes are naturally more gifted than others and others use insane amounts of hard work to become good at their respective sports - the defining characteristic of Olympians is expectations.

They expect the best out of themselves. And while they are there wearing their countries flag on their uniforms and helmets, they are still there to win.

Do you think athletes like Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Jeremy Wotherspoon, Michael Phelps, etc. are there exclusively to represent their country? Maybe initially, before they become the best at their respective sports, there is a certain awe factor associated with being chosen to represent their country at the Olympics - but, here, today and now? These guys are here to win. They are here to represent themselves just as much as they are here to represent their countries.

And to cluster hockey players into one sweeping generalization - and frankly it's hilariously hypocritical that you think you can speak to their state of mind as if you are in the know and are privy to information that everyone else isn't - is ridiculous and dumb.

To be honest, I don't care what your nationality is, because the values you represent leave you in a pretty well-represented group of people - idiots.

Not clustering hockey players, Im clustering Canadian hockey players and the Canadian hockey fan, such as yourself, which is ignorant beyond belief. Kind of sad really.

So strap on that Canadian jersey buddy because that's basically all you have it seems. Canadian hockey is over rated by this country and you know when people say to The Americans "everyone hates you" and then they say it's because "you just hate us because we are the best", same thing applies. Rather sad you can ignore that and pretend like these Canadian hockey players truly care about the every day Canadian. Some do, like I said, but a lot less then people want to believe.

When people outside of Canada say they hate Canadian hockey, it's not because Canada wins, it's because they actually hate our attitudes and the lack of respect we show everyone else.

I'm not going to argue with you anymore, it's impossible to argue with someone who only uses sweeping generalizations and fallacious statements to make their case.

You don't even know what you're arguing anymore, and it shows.

This dissing of the Canadian team is sickening to me. Sweeping generalizations galore.

No they didn't play their best game last night, a couple of people were good, a couple of people were awful, we see this in the NHL all the time.

Fact of the matter is, our team is made up of some of the best players in the NHL, most of whom have never played together. I don't think they're a "team" yet, they're feeding off pre-existing chemistry off some of the players.

But I think the Switzerland game was a wakeup call, they've finally faced some adversity, since the Norway game was largely a joke.

I don't think that they "don't care"(if they didn't they wouldn't be in Vancouver) but I do think they need to wake up to the fact that other countries are bringing their A++ game against us because let's face it, we are the team to beat.

We're going to find out how good the leadership core of this team actually is.

Nope, not at all. I dont know that Im complaining about Canadian hockey and The Canadian hockey fan. Both of which, for the most part show a total lack of respect for other nations and truly believe we r the best. Thank God for the WJ's eh and team captains like Cormier.

Canadian hockey has a lot of work to do on and off the ice. Canada could get place 8th and people will still say "Canada is still the best".

Good chat though but really, really sad in more ways then one because you are like the majority of Canadian hockey fans and until that changes along with Hockey Canada in that they dont respect anything else but themselves, just expect the same hatred from other nations and fans.

All that needs to happen in for Neidermayer to take Crosby out to dinner tonight, nice and relaxed, and tell him unequivocally that this is his team, take hold of it. Crosby and co. need to unleash their talents, screw trying to 'build' a chemistry, that will come through games like the Swiss.

The talent is there. The Canadians will win Silver bare-arsed minimum, but I fully expect them to compete for Gold. After all, everyone knows that the Russians and Swedes are going through the exact same thing right now. That's why there are meaningless games, to get into the swing.

Everything's gonna be fine, everyone is getting a little too worked up IMO.

N4L wrote:Nope, not at all. I dont know that Im complaining about Canadian hockey and The Canadian hockey fan. Both of which, for the most part show a total lack of respect for other nations and truly believe we r the best. Thank God for the WJ's eh and team captains like Cormier.

Canadian hockey has a lot of work to do on and off the ice. Canada could get place 8th and people will still say "Canada is still the best".

Good chat though but really, really sad in more ways then one because you are like the majority of Canadian hockey fans and until that changes along with Hockey Canada in that they dont respect anything else but themselves, just expect the same hatred from other nations and fans.

You got the last word, congrats you win. Let's move on before things get (more) out of hand.

The idea of the last word is that when you "give" someone the "last word" you remain quiet after they "said" their last word. Otherwise you just keep it going.

Hoags wrote:This dissing of the Canadian team is sickening to me. Sweeping generalizations galore.

No they didn't play their best game last night, a couple of people were good, a couple of people were awful, we see this in the NHL all the time.

Fact of the matter is, our team is made up of some of the best players in the NHL, most of whom have never played together. I don't think they're a "team" yet, they're feeding off pre-existing chemistry off some of the players.

But I think the Switzerland game was a wakeup call, they've finally faced some adversity, since the Norway game was largely a joke.

I don't think that they "don't care"(if they didn't they wouldn't be in Vancouver) but I do think they need to wake up to the fact that other countries are bringing their A++ game against us because let's face it, we are the team to beat.

We're going to find out how good the leadership core of this team actually is.

Well, there are two other nations that would argue that. If these games were in Russia, Canada would not be "the team to beat". They would be a large threat but 2nd best to The Russians, maybe even 3rd best to The Swedes.

Im giving an unbias opinion as well, Canada is not the best team in this tournament as much as people want to think they are. It's almost impossible to come together in 2 weeks. The Russians, Swedes, SLovaks, so on, they are always the same core players and then they add youth here and there, Canada just puts a team together by who ever is playing the best at the time.

How many Europeans turn down the WC's? Now, how many Canadians do? That is the difference between Canada and The Europeans, that's where teams like Russia, Sweden, so on build their core a lot of the time. They are out of the playoffs and as a Sens fan that pisses me off to no end because that's what I believe is important and that's why Canadians for the most part are the guys that show up come playoff time.

SpezDispenser wrote:All that needs to happen in for Neidermayer to take Crosby out to dinner tonight, nice and relaxed, and tell him unequivocally that this is his team, take hold of it. Crosby and co. need to unleash their talents, screw trying to 'build' a chemistry, that will come through games like the Swiss.

The talent is there. The Canadians will win Silver bare-arsed minimum, but I fully expect them to compete for Gold. After all, everyone knows that the Russians and Swedes are going through the exact same thing right now. That's why there are meaningless games, to get into the swing.

Everything's gonna be fine, everyone is getting a little too worked up IMO.

+1 for me...

That's exactly right. Neidermayer, Pronger need to make it clear they are only here for a supporting role, and that the future is now for Bergeron, Crosby, Toews, Richards...step up and take the tournament over.

To quote Herb Brooks...

"Now go out there and take it"

N4L wrote:
Canadian hockey has a lot of work to do on and off the ice. Canada could get place 8th and people will still say "Canada is still the best".

Hockey is a matter of national pride in Canada. We believe we're the best because that's what we're told. It's not a lack of respect as much as ignorance IMHO. We have to be the best because our national pride demands it. If we're not the best at hockey what are we the best at ?

Can we be the best ? Yes we can, we certainly have enough homegrown talent to do it. But we have to bring it for 3 periods, take nothing for granted and bleed just like anyone else.

Look at the other Olympic sports, are they dominated by the same countries that dominated them in past Olympic games ? no not really. It's highly competitive in all sports, not just hockey. The gold is anyone's for the taking.

N4L wrote:
Well, there are two other nations that would argue that. If these games were in Russia, Canada would not be "the team to beat". They would be a large threat but 2nd best to The Russians, maybe even 3rd best to The Swedes.

It doesn't matter. We are the host country, our reputation precedes us. Maybe we're not the best team in the tournament but not a single team in the tournament will underestimate us and give us an inch. We're Canada, we will never ever be treated as an underdog.

Hoags wrote:

N4L wrote:
Canadian hockey has a lot of work to do on and off the ice. Canada could get place 8th and people will still say "Canada is still the best".

Hockey is a matter of national pride in Canada. We believe we're the best because that's what we're told. It's not a lack of respect as much as ignorance IMHO. We have to be the best because our national pride demands it. If we're not the best at hockey what are we the best at ?

Can we be the best ? Yes we can, we certainly have enough homegrown talent to do it. But we have to bring it for 3 periods, take nothing for granted and bleed just like anyone else.

Look at the other Olympic sports, are they dominated by the same countries that dominated them in past Olympic games ? no not really. It's highly competitive in all sports, not just hockey. The gold is anyone's for the taking.

Don't bother man, he doesn't actually understand what he's arguing about. He's just flapping his gums aimlessly and he thinks that he's right because he keeps repeating what he's saying.

Does anyone remember Gretzky's speech in 2002 after the tie? I remember vividly the comment he made that the other teams in the tournament hate Canada more than Canada hates them.

Every team goes into a game against Canada, hyped up thinking of nothing than putting it to them, but really how many games does Canada do that for.

Hoags wrote:

N4L wrote:
Canadian hockey has a lot of work to do on and off the ice. Canada could get place 8th and people will still say "Canada is still the best".

Hockey is a matter of national pride in Canada. We believe we're the best because that's what we're told. It's not a lack of respect as much as ignorance IMHO. We have to be the best because our national pride demands it. If we're not the best at hockey what are we the best at ?

Can we be the best ? Yes we can, we certainly have enough homegrown talent to do it. But we have to bring it for 3 periods, take nothing for granted and bleed just like anyone else.

Look at the other Olympic sports, are they dominated by the same countries that dominated them in past Olympic games ? no not really. It's highly competitive in all sports, not just hockey. The gold is anyone's for the taking.

I agree 100% with that statement but we are not the only nation that believes that, not even close. That's probably the most educated statement that has been posted in this thread, but the fact remains Canada does show a lot of disrespect to nations like The Swiss, it cost them in Turin and it almost cost them last night. They obviously respect and have to respect The Russians, Swedes, U.S other wise they will get their teeth knocked in.

Canada absolutely can win Gold in Vancouver, there is no doubt about it but that doesnt mean that what a lot of that team represents should be supported.

I'll ask this question again, how could people vilify Heatley then cheer when he scores a goal for Canada? If he got the OT winner in the gold medal game and I was cheering for that team, Id be sick and honestly question myself as a person.

Devo wrote:Does anyone remember Gretzky's speech in 2002 after the tie? I remember vividly the comment he made that the other teams in the tournament hate Canada more than Canada hates them.

Every team goes into a game against Canada, hyped up thinking of nothing than putting it to them, but really how many games does Canada do that for.

I think the better question is WHY dont they?