Del Rio Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Canada is one of the favs. Russia only has 2 scary lines and Sweden is missing Henrik and franzen. canada has the best forwards, defenders and 2nd best goalies. Only USA has better. Just remember, this tournament is never a cake walk. No matter how great we all think Canada is, it has been a battle always. In 2010 the difference was 1 goal, not 5. It is not shocking anymore to see any team win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everybody Hates Raymond Posted February 12, 2014 Author Share Posted February 12, 2014 Hey Don .. this just in .. wars are disasters, Olympic's are about money As if wars haven't been fought over money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kassians_fist Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I love Don Cherry. He's like your alcoholic uncle who always says something embaressing at family functions but it's OK because that's just the way he is, plus he can tell a great story. Haha I know, right? He says something totally offensive and you can't help but laugh and shake your head. Love the guy lol His super Canadian accent makes it even better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldnews Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 The language barrier is probably a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustapha Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I really like Canada's forwards, but after that the team isn't head and shoulders above the other top 3 or 4 nations. I have to admit, I don't like the defence selection for Team Canada. I like Dan Hamhuis, but there's no way I am taking him over Brent Seabrook. Doughty makes Subban expendable IMO, and I guess him and J-Blow make the team because after the top 6 it gets a bit thin. There isn't anything glaringly wrong with Canada's goalies, but they aren't exactly proven champions like the previous generation of Olympic NHLers like Roy or Brodeur. Luongo and Price especially are both known for being Jekyll and Hyde between the pipes in big games, they either stand on their head or stink up the joint, generally no in-between performances. I also have this hunch that Russia (as the host team) will end up in the gold medal game. It's a conspiracy theory yes, but time will tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
people please Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Loved the last part, I feel him when he's talking about the homeless dogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me_ Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 http://www.torontosu...ster-don-cherry Entire article at the link, please read it before jumping to assumptions based solely on the title. Don admits that his idea of how Russia was is completely wrong and he's enjoying his time there, doing little more than drinking Budweiser. Win it for Grapes! This is an excellent article. Reading it was time well spent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Me_ Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 As if wars haven't been fought over money. Takes money to go to war... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOMapleLaughs Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I agree. The team is that stacked. Every other team has holes. Sweden is missing Hank. Big hole. USA might be our strongest competition again, health-wise, but they're a step behind us in every regard except goaltending. Russia still has too many KHL guys, a sluggish defense, and Datsyuk's health is in question. Czech Rep. could surprise, but then again Jagr's on borrowed groin injury time, and he'll have to be their leader again. Finland is missing Filp and Koivu. Slovakia's missing Gaborik and Visnovsky. Those guys were key guys in 2010 and weren't replaced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jatylo Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 I agree with timberz anything can happen in a short single game elimination. All it takes is one off game and Canada will be walking home empty handed. The US,Rus, and Swedes are very close to the level of Canada, while teams like Fin,Czech, and Slovakia have the talent to pull off upsets. We need to get out of the Gold or bust mentality and enjoy the show. I give the Swedes the favorites as they find chemistry faster than any other national team Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monty Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Don't think it would be a disaster. As someone mentioned, not much parity between countries now. All it takes is for a goalie to get hot and a team can win 1-0 or 2-1. As good as the US was in 2010, Miller was incredible. Had he not been playing like he was, US would have been down and out very quickly. Nobody can rule out teams that only have two lines (Russians), injuries (Sweden), one to two lines (Czech, Finland), or half a line (Switzerland) when all have goalies that can catch fire over a short amount of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etsen3 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 But it wouldn't be a disaster...The Russians and Sweds are favs and IMO have just as good a chance as Canada I disagree. Russia will be motivated but they only have 2 lines that can compete with NHL superstars. Sweden is the only team that comes close to Canada on paper. Now obviously anything can happen in a single game knockout tournament. But at least on paper, it's a stretch to say anyone other than Canada is the favourite. I love Don Cherry. He's like your alcoholic uncle who always says something embaressing at family functions but it's OK because that's just the way he is, plus he can tell a great story. So much truth. He may not be the most articulate, but he's popular because he's one of a kind and entertaining. You may not like him but you can't ignore him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goat James Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Canada is one of the favs. Russia only has 2 scary lines and Sweden is missing Henrik and franzen. canada has the best forwards, defenders and 2nd best goalies. Only USA has better. No way in hell Canada has the second best goaltenders. Finland, Sweden and the USA are better. Russia's goaltenders are just as good aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimberWolf Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 We need to get out of the Gold or bust mentality No we don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toews Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 In a one game elimination tournament, it is very tough to win. Sweden, Russia, US and even Finland are all strong enough to pull off a win against Canada. There is a huge element of luck to this that everyone always ignores. There will be a lot of whining and finger pointing if we don't win which will be sad as it always is. I hope we win just so we don't have to hear all the complaining from all topics ranging from refs/IIHF rules/Holland/not taking Giroux/Yzerman/Hockey Canada. This will all end in a discussion about how big a flop Chris Kunitz was and how it was stupid to bring him along just because he happens to be Crosby's scrub linemate. I am actually for the idea that the NHL should stay out of the Olympics. Then I can go back to not caring and the media will stop crying if we end up losing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Langdon Algur Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Canada is one of the favs. Russia only has 2 scary lines and Sweden is missing Henrik and franzen. canada has the best forwards, defenders and 2nd best goalies. Only USA has better. Finland's goalies are pretty damn good too and Sweden has Lunqvist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyville88 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Don Cherry is from an era where Canadians (and the rest of the world) were taught to hate and even fear the Russians (or rather the Soviets). His comments are likely stemming from that hatred. I think "disaster" is a bit much though. We bombed in Torino and the sun still came up the next day. Obviously, we don't want that to happen, but it is just a sport. At the end of the day, we'll be just fine win or lose. There are a few other teams in contention who have just as good a chance as we do of winning. Disaster would be if we were by far the best team and then we lost. But we are no heavier a favourite than USA or Sweden or Russia. I don't think it's fair to put that kind of pressure on our players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nas19 Posted February 12, 2014 Share Posted February 12, 2014 Canada should win Gold with no problem. We are so stacked it's almost unbelievable. The only way we won't win is simply because we don't work hard enough. We have the most depth and are probably the fastest team there. You have teams like Switzerland who don't have any where near the talent that Canada has, yet they always play a competitive game against us because they work their asses off. Working hard is so friggen key. You don't work hard, you won't be rewarded. Simple as that. IF this team works their ass off we will win Gold. If they don't however then we probably won't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YaK Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 When I heard they were taking Cherry to Russia I had hoped it was all part of some sneaky plan to leave him there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slappipappi Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 But it wouldn't be a disaster...The Russians and Sweds are favs and IMO have just as good a chance as Canada The Swedes? Look at the team. Kruger is a nice 4th line center for CHicago, but do you think he'd sniff a Canadian team even if they sent 5 teams? Daniel Sedin manning the first line? How many of Sweden's forwards would even make team Canada. Maybe a couple. But in a series decided by one game playoffs, randomness ensures that anyone has a chance. The best team is never guaranteed even winning a 7 game series, much less a one game series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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