Souls are bleeding

TURIN - It really stinks when the reader writes it better.

This from Anders of Espoo, Finland regarding the four quarter-final contests in men's hockey at the 2006 Winter Olympics today. "The cruelest day in the world of hockey. And the longest.

"Souls are bleeding tonight."

True enough. A semi-final berth at the Olympics insulates most national teams from intense criticism, while a loss in the Olympic quarterfinals is a disaster. Even Switzerland, in this tournament, would be deeply disappointed to lose to Sweden today, particularly after the Swedes considered throwing a game against the Slovaks to produce a quarter-final match with the Swiss.

Don't know any throwing was done. But the Swedes certainly played like they had every intention of losing.

Last night, in anticipation of the quarters today and in honour of the gambling 'scandal' that preceded the arrival of NHLers in Italy, it was time to do a little wagering.

An informal gathering at the restaurant La Dolce Vita in northeast Turin, near the Villagio Mortara, or The Mortuary, as those media persons sentenced to hard labor at the media village have dubbed it, quickly produced a game-winning goal pool for the Canada-Russia match.

The backdrop to the pool was Johnny, the owner/ranconteur of La Dolce Vita, who was insistent on telling jokes to seven Canadians and one Finn, the highly enjoyable and intense Vesa Rantanen of the Finnish sports publication IS Veikkaaja. If you want to know what's going on in Euro hockey, you get the scoop from Vesa or the remarkably informed Klaus Zaugg of Blick in Switzerland.

At any rate, Johnny, an impish, middle-aged sort always willing to re-open the kitchen for the wee-hours-of-the-morning crowd, wanted to tell jokes, but he didn't speak a work of English.

Enter Andreas and Oliver, two Munich-based representatives of German public television. They were eager to help, although Andreas didn't speak English and Oliver didn't speak Italian.

So Johnny would deliver his jokes piece by piece to Andreas, who would translate to German to Oliver, who would translate to the audience.

The result was gales of laughter, probably well exceeding the actual humour content of the jokes themselves.

Interrupted only by these multilingual jokes and the remarkable inability of journalists to concentrate for any period of time on the simplest of matters, the pool proceeded.

Eight entrants - well nine, given that Star teammate Paul Hunter and I decided to go on the cheap and share a squad - drafted from the 40-man combined roster of Canadians and Russians. Being cheap and/or shackled by per diems, the cost per entrant was 10 Euros, the grand prize thus 80 Euros.

Almost enough to get you halfway to Milano by cab, and leaving is utmost on the minds of many media visitors at the moment despite the outrageous friendliness of the Torinese, the most welcoming and generous locals by far of the three Winter Olympiads I've attended.

We'll keep the names out to protect the dim-witted, but the first player drafted was Alexei Kovalev of the Russians, and by a native Canadian.

Alright, upon further review the drafter in question was Scott Burnside of ESPN.com.

Sorry Scott.

The last player to be selected was Russian defenceman Darius Kasparaitis, and won't CP's Bill Beacon be shocked if that turns out to be the winning ticket.

Hunter and I hummed and hawed and ultimately picked first Simon Gagne, then Vincent Lecavalier. We took a flier on Rick Nash, said what the hell on Bryan McCabe as the pickings were getting slim and at the end were stuck with Russian blueliner Anton Volchenkov.

If you get the feeling Hunter and I think Canada will win today, you'd be correct.

Why? Just a feeling, hardly based on the results of the Olympic tourney so far. Maybe it was something Brad Richards said yesterday about finally delivering a performance Canada was used to delivering against competition it was used to facing.

For decades, Canadian kids have been growing up now with the idea of playing the Russians in hockey. Those contests have usually taken place at Canada Cup/World Cup tourneys, world championships or world junior championships, and they've been pretty satisfying stuff.

But this is the Olympics, and Canada hasn't beaten a Moscow-based club since the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchman went to Squaw Valley in 1960 determined to repair the damage to the Canadian hockey psyche done by their bronze medal performance in Cortina four years earlier.

The Dutchies didn't get the gold, but did win the silver and beat the Soviet Union, 8-5, with a roster that featured Harry Sinden, Bob Attersley, Bobby Rousseau, Darryl Sly and the goaltending of Don Head.

And that was the last time Canada beat the Russians at the Olympics.

At Innsbruck in '64, Father Bauer's Canadian nationals dropped a 3-2 decision. Four years later in Grenoble, France, it was the Soviets again by 5-0 score.

After skipping the '72 and '76 Games in a fit of pique and in disagreement over the "amateur" status of European players, Canada returned to the fold for the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, lost 6-4 to the Soviets and finished sixth.

In 1984 at Sarajevo, Canada lost 4-0 to the Red Machine, and lost again, 5-0, four years after that in Calgary. In 1992 at Albertville, the Unified Team beat Canada twice, and two years after that in Lillehammer the two countries didn't meet, with Russia losing to Sweden in the semis, and Canada losing to the Tre Kronor in the final on a shootout and Peter Forsberg's postage stamp goal.

Since NHLers took over in '98, 2002 and this year, Canada and the Russians haven't met even once.

Which makes today a piece of hockey history, regardless of the outcome.

It's one of those days you feel just a little bit priveleged to do the job, even if Anders of Espoo writes it just a little better.

Comments

[Roberto]

Canadian players play their best when they are scared to lose, and for sure they should be very scared of this Russian team with the firepower they have in Ovechkin, Kovalev, Datsyuk etc.
However I agree with Damien for once, that Canada will find a way to win this game, because of the Russian defense. They looked very very vulnerable against the Americans yesterday, and only won the game because Esche was very shaky.
Markov, Volchenkov, etc are just not world class defensemen, they would not even be invited to the Canadian team selection camp .
So if we can get the puck enough from those skilled Russian forwards and pressure their defense,Iginla, Thornton and Gagne bring their A game, and Brodeur plays like he did against the Czechs, Canada wins the game 5-4.

[Jan]

This game is going to get UGLY! Russia wins by 3 at least. Hands down the worst performance by a Canadian team EVER!

[A Boodoo]

It should be a dandy! I should get home from work just in time to catch the start of the SHOOTOUT!!!
Will Ray Bourque be available to take one of the shots again this time?

[vhigge]

"Whoever scores first, Other team wins!"

Five second rule!!

Set it up!
Rebound!

Up in front!!
Frontal attack - right up the middle!
Tag Team 'em - Watch the offside!!

Ready? Go!!

You have at least three goals in you, all you have to use is two!

Go get 'em, Tiger!!

[Kent]

Russia 2, Canada 0.

Were those red or blue maple leaves on those jerseys? Hard to tell.

So is this the part where John Ferguson shrugs his shoulders and talks positively about Pat Quinn's .500 2006 Olympic coaching record?

[chris]

Quinn is a horrible coach and the team was poorly picked! Enjoy the flight home ...

[Tim Rutkevich]

Well, Canada can blame NHL Lockout. Best Canadian players did not play for whole year. Those that played in Europe did not do very well.

[Terence Higden]

Canada lost today and will not get a medal.
As a fan of Canadian Hockey all I can do is cheer. Sometimes what goes around comes around. Wayne Gretzky put the thug and criminal Todd Bertuzzi on the squad insulting those who like to think Canada has some honour and sportsmanship on the ice.
I was hoping Canada would lose in the Olympics because of Bertuzzi being allowed on the team and I'm thrilled they did.
Now I hope he loses his law suit and has to pay up.
Congratulations Russia

[Regg Struyk]

As we all now know Canada lost against Russia today and yes I am disappointed. However, let's face a few facts:
- the teams that beat us this past week played better than us period...
- Todd Bertuzzi should not have been selected to Team Canada and proved his worth today by taking a dumb penalty and the end result was a goal by Russia
- Unfortunately, Wayne does not possess magic and maybe should have listened to those who said: "YOUTH, YOUTH and more YOUTH!"

Women's hockey anyone :-)

[Trevor Kraft]

Regardless of the team picked, Canada should have won. All there is to it is that Canada didn't play with the heart a Canadian team should play with. The best players on the team were the grinders such as Doan, Smyth, and Draper. They played with the heart a true Canadian hockey player should play with. Where were Heatley, Iginla, Nash, Bertuzzi? Pronger was an embarrassment.

[Carla]

Yoikes, the schadenfreude is hip-deep around here...

[Sean]

I'm glad Canada lost, especially in light of the cruel and hateful behavior of its fans toward the U.S. last month in Vancouver. I also note that many Canadians dismissed the U.S. Olympic team as a joke--while installing their own team as a "medal favorite." For the record, Canada lost in the quarters, just like the U.S. Well done.

[Derek G.]

To be sure, I'm not superstitious, but it seems that the Fates have spoken loud and clear: Team Canada needs to clean house.

Taking the low road on the Bertuzzi choice couldn't have gone worse for the team today. It's sad that Hockey Canada can take out commercials on TV extolling the virtues of good sportsmanship on the ice, but they don't let those virtues stand in the way of their own Olympic-sized aspirations.

[Alex]

Guys, it's simple: Grit, determination and heart are not values exclusive to Canadians. They were all on display today by team Russia, who outplayed, outhustled a team that thought that they can just come to Turin and get the gold medal on a silver platter. To win, you have to play together like a cohesive team and not like a bunch of overpaid millionares. Therefore let's face it, Russia deserved to win that game and Canada has to do a lot of thinking and self-reflection on the flight home!

[Mustafa Bagci]

You guys!
What did you do? I am really shocked! In Turkey my friends and I followed Canada Hockey Team's victories with admiration. And we thought that Canada is the number 1 in the world!and has the power to beat Russia any given day. It is quite a big shock! Anyway, congratulations! If a team is great, then are the expectations, perhaps it was this pressure which brought the defeat

Mustafa Bağcı

[Fat Freddie's Cat]

Quinn is a miserable bench coach. As you can see by his recent coaching record -- the Leafs out of the playoffs, he is not much of an x's and o's coach. And strategy was needed on a larger ice surface. He's stubborn and doesn't adapt. He despises young players. His style is as extinct as Canada's gold medal chances. Quinn's way is to show up with his big reputation and hope his team will win. Leaf fans are quite tired of the act. You can bet he had a lot to do with our best young players being absent from this squad.

Aside from Brodeur, Doan and Sakic, the players were a disappointment.

In particular, Thornton, Nash and Heatley, who should have lit up the board.

There was simply not enough sandpaper on this team. And in addition, too many one dimensional scorers who couldn't score. No Brent Sutters, or Steve Larmers. St. Louis, Lecavalier, the whole bunch of them looked the same out there.

Iginla, who couldn't score, has had yet another 'soft' tournament. A no-hitter. No going to the net.

Canada did miss Niedermeyer's transition game, since the defense was pretty much immobile and painful to watch on the PP (another Quinn weakness through most of his career in Toronto).

Generally, there were too many players on the periphery. Frankly, with Quinn behind the bench, it looked just like the Leafs out there! Yikes!

Thanks Pat. Wayne, sorry about the bad time you've had the last few months. But honestly, we need a seasoned hockey exec who can blend together talent with personality and not simply slap together a few stars, to GM the next team. Maybe someone with the insight to put rising stars like Crosby and Staal on instead of some of the filler we saw this time around.

[Newton]

Canada's Next GM/Team President: MARIO LEMIEUX

Gretzky had a good run, but put too much weight in our strong showing at the 04 world cup (where we didn't lose a single game) in his selection of the 06 roster.

I also feel that the absence of Mario had a significant impact. We've never lost with the big guy on our roster 1987,2002,2004 and even though his level of play had deteriorated if healthy enough to go in Turin he would have deflected pressure from everyone else.

The Olympic Hockey Tournament is a CRAPSHOOT! We need a legitimate world cup of Hockey to determine the world's best. I figure Canada had a 42% chance of winning in Turin even if we'd played our best: 75% chance of winning each individual sudden death game x 3 games.

In Salt Lake City we played poorly and lucked out in the medal round (Belarus anyone) until finally putting together 1 good game versus the US.

Ironically Nagano was probably the best overall showing in terms of on ice performance we just happened to lose vs the Czech's in a shootout.

We need a World Cup once every 4 years that is close to a month in duration. A full Round robin should determine the top 4 teams and best of 3 semis and a best of 3 final should determine the winner.

It likely won't happen but the Olympic tourney is a farce to any intelligent Hockey Fan.