Winter Olympics Sochi 2014

[Murr]

 

And of course, the Men's hockey starts today

 

 

 

Saturday 15th Feb, 12:30-15:00. USA vs Russia...

 

It'll be like Rocky on Ice...(maybe billing it up too much, but still..)

[Mokong]

What was up with the Womens Downhill yesterday? Watched it when I got home, a Shared Gold Medal?

 

I know the two girls had the EXACT same time (maddness, haha) but I would have thought maybe they'd then have a race off for Gold and Silver or something.

How did they sort that with the medals? Did they just take the silver and dip it in some Gold coating?

 

Feel a bit sorry for the 3rd girl on the podium getting the Bronze, if I were her I'd be like "hey why can't I have Silver"? With the 4th place prolly thinking "hey I should have bronze"

 

 

Up a bit early this morning (baby woke me up at 5... wife fed her but I couldn't get back to sleep.... so watched a bit of Curling (still not sure bout that sport.... but some of the women are nice to look at :wink: and now watching the Mens Ski Slopestyle

[Charlie]

What was up with the Womens Downhill yesterday? Watched it when I got home, a Shared Gold Medal?

 

I know the two girls had the EXACT same time (maddness, haha) but I would have thought maybe they'd then have a race off for Gold and Silver or something.

How did they sort that with the medals? Did they just take the silver and dip it in some Gold coating?

 

Feel a bit sorry for the 3rd girl on the podium getting the Bronze, if I were her I'd be like "hey why can't I have Silver"? With the 4th place prolly thinking "hey I should have bronze"

 

 

Up a bit early this morning (baby woke me up at 5... wife fed her but I couldn't get back to sleep.... so watched a bit of Curling (still not sure bout that sport.... but some of the women are nice to look at :wink: and now watching the Mens Ski Slopestyle

 

I think it would be unfair to have an extra race to sort it out, the competition works that you do 2 runs and then the person with the fastest time wins. In this case it was exactly equal so they are joint 1st. The person getting bronze came third so she got the bronze medal.

 

And I think that they'll have extra medals of all colours fo rthis reason. :P

[Emerald Emblem]

Quite gutted for Elise Christie. Loses a silver medal in the 500m for a penalty, faces cyber bullying on Twitter and then disqualified from her heat in the 1500m for missing the finish line by 1cm. Hope she'll come back strong in the 1000m on Tuesday.

[Ganepark32]

Saturday 15th Feb, 12:30-15:00. USA vs Russia...

 

It'll be like Rocky on Ice...(maybe billing it up too much, but still..)

 

And you were quite right to build that one up. What a brilliant match! I'd argue that Russia were marginally the better team overall but it really was a big scalp early on for the US. Didn't think it should have gone on to overtime, let alone to a penalty shootout (no, I'm not going to call it Game Winning Shots or whatever they want to name it at the Olympics. It's a f**king penalty shootout!).

 

That third goal being chalked off for the Russians (which was an absolute cracker, it must be said) was a bit iffy as it looks as though they've disallowed it for the goal being marginally out of place and the reason for it having moved was Quick's fault in movement across the crease. I think it should have stood, personally.

 

Even then, why'd the US waste a power play at the end of the 3rd period when they should have pressured and gotten the win there and then? Genuinely looked like they wanted it to go to OT/Shootout and while it worked for them, it could easily have been the wrong move.

 

Anyway, great match and got both the teams running at full steam when they weren't really in their first matches. Hopefully Canada can do the same as they were hardly convincing in their first match, as opposed to Sweden who are undoubtedly favourites for the gold.

 

Well done to Lizzy Yarnold though on her gold. A medal was always likely for her and she did it so convincingly. So yeah, good job for her. But I do think that with maybe the exception of the women's curling team (who may only realistically pick up a bronze), that was probably Team GB's last medal of these games. I'd love to see more but if it is, I think we can be proud, especially of those in the snowboard events. James Woods did so well to get 5th with his injury. A real shame as he could've picked up a medal.

 

And finally, I do think Torah Bright was a little hard done in the women's halfpipe earlier in the week. I mean, well done to Kaitlyn Farrington as it was a good run but I do think Bright put down a better second run and should have edged the gold rather than missing out just for the silver. But apart from 4 or 5 of the women there, it was a pretty shoddy final as most of them bottled it.

[Ville]

Finland only has 2 silver medals so far, from women's snowboarding and ski relay. Men's hockey against Canada tomorrow, it's gonna be quite a match...

[Tales]

Is that group stage or quarterfinals? I'm not that educated in men's hockey but that sounds like a match worthy of the semi finals if I have understood the sport correctly.

 

Also tomorrow is Norway's first win or lose match in curling. With tree matches won and three losses we should win the last three if we want to make it to the semi finals. Denmark, Switzerland and GB(who are all Scots appearently)

 

And it's also Cross Country skiing Relay and Biathlon 15k mass start for men for those who want to watch sport they don't usually watch

Edited February 15, 2014 by Tales

[Ville]

Seems to be the preliminary round still, last matches tomorrow. Sweden's the only team that has a guaranteed spot in the quarterfinals. Women's hockey team got kicked out of the medal games already, unfortunately...

 

Ha, yeah everyone was wondering how you guys were left out of the top 3 in the women's ski relay. I take you have gotten other medals from cross-country skiing / biathlon though?

[Ramar]

I'm going to miss Finland v Canada, hopefully it's as good as the USA v Russia game today. Crazy shootout rules in the Olympics.

[Tales]

Yeah, the ski relay surprised everyone. If there was one and only one gold we were guaranteed to win that was it. Then we came 5th.

 

So far we have gold in Biathlon men's sprint, and Cross Country Skiing women's 15k and Sprint, and men's Sprint. I don't remember who got silver and bronze, except isn't going to include hockey :p

 

Would be lovely if we could get a medal, preferably gold, in alpine as well.

Edited February 16, 2014 by Tales

[bob]

I love the fact that the snowboarders are too cool to wear lycra, even though the first person to do so would shave like a second off their time.

 

Seriously dedicated to those baggy trousers.

[Mokong]

I love the fact that the snowboarders are too cool to wear lycra, even though the first person to do so would shave like a second off their time.

 

Seriously dedicated to those baggy trousers.

 

Lol, never thought of that.... I should take up snowboarding.... what I lack in expereince I could make up for in reduced wind resistance

 

 

I just caught the Womens Snowboard Cross on my Sky Plus.... cannot believe Lindsey Jacobellis went and did it again, out in front by a mile and then BAM, falls down.... least this was the semi and not the final like in 2006.

[Tales]

Norway and Great Britain will play a tiebreaker in men's curling to decide who gets the last semi final spot.

[Murr]

 

That third goal being chalked off for the Russians (which was an absolute cracker, it must be said) was a bit iffy as it looks as though they've disallowed it for the goal being marginally out of place and the reason for it having moved was Quick's fault in movement across the crease. I think it should have stood, personally.

 

 

What I found amusing about this, is that Putin was there watching it. Just had visions that the referee that made the call to cancel that goal out is in for some form of beating or assassination attempt in the next few days / weeks :p

[Charlie]

@Mokong - you're going to have to give up your lycra suit when you take up snowboarding. I'm watching the ski cross and apparently it's a rule that they have to wear what they wear.

 

Ski Cross madness.

Edited February 20, 2014 by Charlie

[Emerald Emblem]

I think we have a contender for unluckiest Winter Olympian in Elise Christie, disqualified in all 3 distances in short track speed skating, at least 2 were very harsh considering other skaters got away with what Christie didn't.

[yesteryeargames]

I think that the judges were looking for any excuse possible to d\c her,

It's absolute bull,

 

Also maybe I'm reading too much into it but the South Korean in 4th place went through ?

 

And Ellie took out a South Korean racer in another race , causing her to get death threats on twitter ect, maybe the officials were trying to even things out?

 

she should have been advanced.

[Ville]

Aaaand we lost to Sweden in hockey, 1-2. Quite a weird game, Finland was on the attack for the most part but I guess their defense was just too good. Same as with the CAN / USA game (1-0), really hard to make just a single goal! Tells something about the level of playing...

 

Anyway, FIN vs. USA tomorrow, hopefully bronze coming our way...

[Ramar]

Anyway, FIN vs. USA tomorrow, hopefully bronze coming our way...

 

By the power of Teemu Selanne, make it so.

[Ganepark32]

Well that was embarrassing for the USA. Can't quite decide if that lose was worse for Team USA as a whole or whether losing like they did to Canada in the Women's final was worse. Mugged on the ice all match by Finland, who made them look like a second tier team. And to say it was a bad day at the office for Patrick Kane would be a vast understatement. He should have just gone to the locker room in that 3rd period.

 

But what a match, though. Finland were superb and that performance was Gold Medal match worthy. And Rask's performance, after a 24 hour cold, was nothing short of amazing.

 

And of course amazing to have Selanne get not one but two goals in his last Olympic match was something else. Definitely a special match there, not just for him but for those watching. Undeniably one of the greatest players ever right there. Honestly, even though he's going to be 44 this year, he plays with the skill, speed and determination of someone half his age. Just amazing seeing one of the old hands showing the younger generation how to do things (and as an aside, although he did bring in some good points, it's a shame Jaromir Jagr couldn't do the same).

 

And so Canada vs Sweden tomorrow. Don't think it'll be quite as one sided but as much as I have backed Canada throughout (and for many years/Winter Olympics), I can't help but feel that Sweden will win the Gold. They just look the better team, and have done throughout. I certainly don't expect the same Canada who were taken to the wire against Latvia to turn up but they'll certainly need to up their game a bit more if they want to beat Sweden.

[Ville]

You should've seen the after-game interviews, outstanding stuff. 3 players retiring, everyone fighting off tears, Selänne thanking the people of Finland after such a long and glorious career...jesus christ the range of emotions. FINLAND vs. USA 5-0, well fucking done!

[Ramar]

Sounds like I missed an absolute classic. So happy for Teemu. Love the bloke, class act.

[Jon]

Really can't see past the Canadians tomorrow, they're just superior in every position. I've seen people talk about them being run close by Latvia, they really weren't. Sometimes you run into a hot goaltender, and the Latvian really was, stopping 55 shots. Everyone talked about the American's high powered offence and the Canadian's shut them down completely. When you consider that Sidney Crosby has to yet to make a telling contribution, I don't think that bodes well for the Swedes. I don't think their defence is good enough to keep out Crosby and co for 60 minutes.