MEDALZZZ


Featuring: Almost no good players. **** the NHL owners!



Group A


Canada



McDavid - Crosby - MacKinnon
Marchand - Bergeron - Stamkos
Tavares - Toews - Hall
Benn - Getzlaf - Seguin

Doughty - Subban
Keith - Pietrangelo
Giordano - Burns

Price
Holtby

A slightly more rag-tag group looks to build off of a successful Spenger Cup tournament, led by ... Andrew Ebbett? I dunno.

Chris Kelly, Gilbert Brule, Rob Klinkhammer, Wojtek Wolski, Quinton Howden, Rene Bourque, Max Lapierre, Mason Raymond (paging Wraneman!), Linden Vey, Derek Roy ... loads of "oh that, that guy" / recent Vancouver Canucks to be found (the latter being very much not a good thing). Among all the teams, really.


Czech Republic



Was Jammy Jagz released just in time to make a grand entrance in Korea? Damn I sure hope so. Otherwise it'll be Roman Cervenka and Marty "I was recently traded for perennial NHL all-star Filip Forsberg" Erat leading the way. So, uh ... good times?


South Korea



I'll be honest, I have heard of any of these guys, other than their two coaches, Jim Paek & Richard Park, who both played in the NHL. Not even the 6 Canadians and 1 American that are on this team.

No wait, that's a damned lie. I've heard of this Alex Plante guy that the Edmonton Oilers drafted 15th overall in 2007 ... he played 10 NHL games over 3 seasons during the run when they were picking 1st every year. #LOiLers


Switzerland



A team made up entirely of players plying their trade in the Swiss league, which last I checked was still decent. Then again, they haven't won the Spengler Cup in a couple years now. Jonas Hiller in net and Raphael Diaz on the blueline lead the way for this group. I would have expected a better list of names to be honest, but they'll probably be very solid, and could easily medal. Hop Suisse!



Group B


Slovakia



Did you know that Ladislav Nagy is still playing hockey? Well now you do. Led by Canadian coach Craig Ramsay, they only feature 2 KHLers on their roster (Michal Cajkovsky & Patrik Lamper), with everyone else playing in Slovakia or the Czech Republic. But as always, they should be a feisty group.


Slovenia



So Kopitar's good for nothing brother couldn't even make this team? For shame. Well at least the Rodman brothers, David & Marcel, will be there. Did Dennis not make it known that he was very willing to go back to Korea for this?

Come on guys, do it for Melania!


Olympic Athletes from Russia



They got the Magic Man Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya "GOAT 2+2 draft pick" Kovalchuk, Mikhail Grigorenko who I forgot was bounced from the NHL, Vyacheslav "Vayweather" Voynov, "La Femme" Nikita Nesterov, and even that Vegas Golden Knights mojo with Vadim "Shippy Shove" Shipachyov. Yes all the stars are out for Olympic Athletes from Russia!

But the guy I'm most excited to see in this is Minnesota Wild prospect Kirill Kaprizov. He could be a legit NHL player if he gets out of his contract and comes over here in a year or two.

The tournament favourites should walk to the title, but the Commies haven't won since they were Commies, basically. Take a hint. Anyway, they'll continue not winning because they're the Olympic Athletes from Russia, or they'll choke like they always do. Sick freeroll for everyone else.


United States



Another team loaded with familiar names like Brian Gionta, Chris Bourque, Jim Slater, James Wisniewski, Bobby "I Was Drafted Directly Ahead of Claude Giroux & Semyon Varlamov" Sanguinetti, Mark Arcobello, and Matt Gilroy.

And like Team OAfR, this team features a top prospect of the Minnesota Wild in power forward Jordan Greenway, as well as college prospects Troy Terry, Ryan Donato, and Will Borgen. Kind of surprised more teams didn't go the youth route, at least sprinkle in a couple guys like this. Of course with USA#1 having 4 college players (probably all legit NHL prospects), be sure to brace yourself for NBC playing up the MIRACLE ON ICE angle. You have been warned. Also, hide yo hotel rooms!



Group C


Germany



A team led by San Jose Sharks alums Christian Ehrhoff & Marcel Goc ... what could go wrong?

All of these guys play in DEUTSCHLAND, so I dunno, you tell me.


Finland



Familiar names like Karri Ramo, Sami Lepisto, Lasse Kukkonen, and Petri Kontiola mean that Leijonat / Lejonen (which are we going with here guys?) should be in with a chance as always, but of course the big draw here is the two kids with the potential to be NHL stars in sniper Eeli Tolvanen (Nashville Predators) and D-man Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars).


Norway



Not only is Patrick Thoresen still alive and kicking, but he's kicking it as the lone Norwegian in the KHL. Good for him! And I'll assume that Steffen is his brother, and that Ken Andre & Mathis Olimb are also related. Lots of family connections in this as well. Enjoy the experience, boys.
(by which I mean the Village, before they run out of condoms)


Sweden



Last but certainly not least we have another serious medal contender in Tre kronor. Captain "Handsome Henrik's brother" Joel Lundqvist leads the way yet again, joined by familiar names like goalies Jhonas Enroth & Viktor Fasth, D-men Staffan Kronwall & Erik Gustafsson, and forwards Joakim Lindstrom, Viktor Stalberg, Oscar Moller, Anton Lander, and Linus Omark. And let's not forget Dick Axelsson!

But of course, the highlight here, and for the tournament really, basically the only damn reason to watch this thing, is that likely #1 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft Rasmus Dahlin was rightfully added to their roster. Thank the gods! Now if something should happen to him, I'm gonna lose my freaking mind. Well, not really, I'll probably just go back to not caring about this thing at all.





So, who ya got!?



_{Note: I've also been informed that there is a 2-team women's tournament taking place as well...}

This is gonna suck

First time I feel really cheated by nhl and ioc since usually by now I'd be almost as giddy as just before a world cup, instead we get this abortion. Nor even excited about Germany participating. **** off

staaaahhhpppp

update: Jammy Jagz likely not appearing


http://nhl.nbcsports.com/2018/02/02/...from-finished/


guess they have a couple weeks to change his mind, but not looking good


another one bites the dust...

He went from one league that doesn't pause for the Olympics to another.

read up on this a bit (since obv I have nothing to do on saturday night). Can really count the names I recognised for most team one one hand. Also, bet365 odds seem quite a bit different (presented in the only viable way of putting odds)



I'm sure you'll recognise the countries

For Germany, there's some players that could play at least NLA, like Reimer, Hager, Kahun (who rode shotgun with Draisaitl in junior), but since german players get a premium in the DEL because of the foreigner limit, they're not really incentivised to. There's one german prospect playing in sweden (think supposed to go somewhere 2nd round in 2018) who the national team coach basically told to gtfo and away from the german development system if he wants to improve.

I'll be at Korea vs Canada on Sunday the 18th. Sucks about the players but I'm hoping the atmosphere will still be cool.

What are the best streaming options for Olympic Hockey?

does NBC offer up streams of everything or nah?

They say you can get every event streaming live on app or website. Probably some charge though. Also VOD of everything.

Should this thread be for women's too? USA's first game just started vs. Finland. Men's rosters look like such a dumpster fire that I'm wondering if this will be more enjoyable.

Tuned in to Switzerland-N+SKorea earlier today, good lord is that Korean team horrible. They got a couple power plays early on and that was the only point in the game when the teams looked evenly matched.

Is this thread for the womenz too?

Damn those pesky Fins nearly shocked the big ole' USA. Who knew the Fin womenz would show up with an ace in the hole goalie. Raty was unreal.

Meh, not really, they had a lead for like half a period while being thoroughly outplayed throughout the game. I thought Finland looked really good in the first, but by the second period the US forecheck seemed to be wearing them down a lot. Goalie was indeed sick though.

Women's hockey is pretty decent to watch imo. Compares much better to the men's game than in sports like soccer or handball. Have never watched women's basketball but hear it's terrible.

Too bad there's only two teams worth a damn though. OAR can't get out of their zone against Canada.

Yeah, third period of the women's Finland vs. USA game was a solid watch. Swiss vs Korea was a bloodbath tho. Kinda think there should be some sort of mercy rule when you're down 8-0

The Fins could have easily tied the game in the 3rd while it was 2-1, they had several good chances to do so. Yes the US outplayed them but a bounce here or there and it could have been very different.


btw thx for the Marlot he's a beauty.

not impossible she could be playing in the Olympics aorn

actually think that soccer, basketball, and tennis are probably among the best women's sports actually

golf probably the best? i know they play shorter courses, but they seem to put up good scores

some of the hockey players are pretty good, but most of them seem quite bad

Lol at women's hockey. You cannot be serious.

Hah, gtfo with that (bolded) swedish oppression ****. Interest level in this tourney all-time low, sucks. Guess I´ll fire up the VHS and re-live Teemu sinking the swedes 2-1 and then Bure making fun of our D and goalie repeatedly.

D- troll

lol, ya wiki wasn't sure, and neither was i, so

c'mon, you got Eeli & Miro!

more than most...





don't want to totally derail the thread, but i wasn't trolling

20+ years or whatever of the WNBA means that women's basketball is pretty good, relatively speaking

obv they can't compete with the men, especially athletically, but they have some skillz, can hit an open shot, etc (BIG FUNDAMENTALS)

it's superior to most women's sports iyam

Stupid question: if the Ruskies come in first place, do they get the gold or does the 2nd place team take the gold medal?

They get gold. It's just be in the records as "The Olympic Athletes from Russia" winning instead of "Russia." It's pretty lol

Well, technically, if the players from Russia win the gold, Russia (the country) does not get the gold medal. The players, who so happens to be from Russia, but is not associated with the Russian country for this particular Olympics, wins the gold.

I do concur with Nofear. When you think of it like that, it is pretty lol.

True, might end up being fun games but just so depressing thinking what could be. Not that we´d win but would be sweet. Haha that Bure fellow, pretty sure Myllys still having nightmares.