(above) DU Alum Paul Stastny's goal and two assists helped the US Hockey team crush FinlandFrom: Denver Post
Barely two minutes into the game, Finnish goalie Miikka Kiprusoff was staring at the ceiling in disbelief.
It turns out he was just getting started.
Ryan Malone raced into Finland's zone, picked off Kiprusoff's ill-advised pass and scored into an empty net. The U.S. rout was on.
What happened next in this semifinal jolted Canada Hockey Place: The Americans scored four times on Kiprusoff in a six-goal first period Friday, winning 6-1 and surging into the gold medal game.
The U.S. will meet Canada on Sunday, 50 years to the day after capturing Winter Olympics gold in 1960 at Squaw Valley, Calif. Canada beat Slovakia 3-2 to advance.
It turns out he was just getting started.
Ryan Malone raced into Finland's zone, picked off Kiprusoff's ill-advised pass and scored into an empty net. The U.S. rout was on.
What happened next in this semifinal jolted Canada Hockey Place: The Americans scored four times on Kiprusoff in a six-goal first period Friday, winning 6-1 and surging into the gold medal game.
The U.S. will meet Canada on Sunday, 50 years to the day after capturing Winter Olympics gold in 1960 at Squaw Valley, Calif. Canada beat Slovakia 3-2 to advance.
6 comments:
I'm ashamed to admit it - but I just have no interest or joy in watching 3 weeks of "NHL All Star" games in Vancouver. Why can't we go back to having college kids in the Olympics?
That's what the World Junior Championships are for. The best players in the world under 20 years old.
Next year the USA will be hosting the WJC in Buffalo Dec 26-Jan 5.
I feel the same way as 9:09. I am watching the games, but I can`t get excited about a tournament where the players arrived from all directions just in time to start game 1. Despite how NBC hypes the games.... let`s face it.... The players are on vacation, albeit a working one.
I am having friends over to watch the Gold medal game tomorrow, but it`s more about just getting together than anything. I think we`re all looking forward to the college postseason, where actual teams that train and play together will be putting it all on the line. No, there won`t be an Olvechkin or a Jagr or a Crosby in the WCHA or NCAA playoffs, but there will be a passion and an atmosphere that Mens Olympic hockey can no longer provide. With apologies to Humphrey Bogart, "We`ll always have Lake Placid."
PS: During the Canada-Slovakia game my friends and I got online to research how many Olympic hockey players are former WCHA players. Not only are there dozens of them, many of them are showing up on the scoresheets.
Truth be told I can go either way on how the team is constructed.
Having college kids out there representing the USA above all else, then the NCAA and their school is so thrilling and exciting. Like this past year in the world juniors... you don't know how much crap the Canadians give college hockey in general. They think it's a joke compared to the juniors. It was a slap to the face when we took what they consider their birth right this past year.
As for the NHL... I also love seeing NHL stars getting a chance to represent their country and laying it all on the line.
There's no such thing as "amateur" athletes anymore, even in US colleges.
DU players on "full rides" receive scholarships & housing worth almost $200,000 with coaching, weight training, medical care, insurance, facilities, travel and perks worth untold thousands more.
All this is tax-free so its a pretty big advantage compared to athletes from other countries.
Stastny interview:
http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=979&id=61175
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