It is, of course, terrible news that the U.S. just lost at the championships to Denmark. (I don't want to hear any dissent, my Canadian colleagues. ;-) )
But check out the goalies. Chris Rogles (Clarkson '93) came off of the bench after Ryan Miller got torched for 3 goals on 4 shots in 15 minutes. Quite a blast from the past, eh, RichS?
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/boxscores/?game=91502001
While I am glad that there is an ECAC alum on the roster (at least two, actually), I am appalled that the USA can't fill out a roster from the NHL. Compare the US and Canada rosters to see which country cares more about the competition.
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/teams/roster.ihwc?team=USA
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/teams/roster.ihwc?team=CAN
And Team Suisse loses to the Russkies by the same score :-/ (much less of a surprise, of course). And so two of my three favorite national teams square off tomorrow both needing a win.
It actually doesn't bother me too much that the US team is not a bunch of NHL superstars; I kind of enjoy watching the unsung heroes on the world stage. In fact, a ragtag bunch of ex-college and minor-league players did a number on a "team" of Russian stars in 2000, the last World Cup for which I had access to Eurosport:
http://lists.maine.edu/cgi/wa?A2=ind0005&L=Hockey-L&P=R90&I=-3
On the subject of the lack of coverage of the IHWC in the USA, here's a letter to the editor I wrote in response to a Bernese newspaper article on this subject, whose title roughly translates to "The Ignorance of the Yanks":
From whelan@itp.unibe.ch Sat Apr 26 21:32:20 2003
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 13:03:51 +0200
From: John Whelan
To: leserbriefe-bz@btm.ch
Subject: Leserbrief (Sport)
Ich habe Urs Frischknechts Kommentar vom 10.5.2000 («Die Ignoranz der
Amis») gelesen und seine Kritik gerecht doch etwas missgerichtet
gefunden. Als amerikanischer Eishockeyfan freute ich mich sehr, so
viele Weltmeisterschaftsspiele auf Eurosport und SF2 am Fernsehen
sehen zu können. Auch habe ich mich in Amerika oft beklagt, dass nur
der «Marquée» Sport gut abgedeckt wird. Aber es ist nicht nur eine
Frage von amerikanischem gegen internationalen Sport. Die Medien
wählen bloss ein paar Sportarten aus, die viele Zuschauer
interessieren soll, und konzentrieren sich darauf.
Zum Beispiel finden die US-College-Meisterschaften in Basketball und
Eishockey beide im März statt. Der «March Madness» der
Basketballmeisterschaft ist überall ad nauseam zu sehen, doch die
Hockey-Meisterschaft wird fast ignoriert. Viele Amerikaner täuschen
sich darin, dass sie meinen, die NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic
Association) sei nur eine Basketball-Liga. Der US-Sportsender ESPN
überträgt das NCAA-Eishockey-Finalspiel jährlich, und in einem Jahr
meinte während der Drittelspause ein ESPN-Kommentator im Studio: «Wir
hoffen, Sie geniessen diese Vorspeise», deren Hauptgericht die
Basketball-Halbfinale seien, die an jenem Abend durch einen anderen
Sender gesendet wurden.
Die Übertragungen der olympischen Spiele ist für den wahren Sportfan
in den USA immer ärgerlich, denn die Sender, die sie in den letzten
Jahren gezeigt haben (CBS 1988 und NBC bis 2008) beschäftigen sich
mehr mit Klatsch-Geschichten als mit Sport. CBS verpasste dabei in
Nagano die Gelegenheit, den historischen Erfolg der US-Girls im
allerersten olympischen Fraueneishockey-Turnier zu präsentieren.
Die Geschwister-Netzwerke ABC, ESPN und espn2 leisten bessere Arbeit:
1994 und 1998 sendeten sie jeden Match der Fussball-WM live. Auch bei
der Frauenfussball-WM letztes Jahr in den USA wurde die überwältigende
Mehrheit der Spiele live gesendet, der Rest als Aufzeichnungen. Im
Vergleich hatte Eurosport nur ein paar Livesendungen im Programm, von
denen fast keine tatsächlich stattfand. Während dieser Zeit war der
Sender ausschliesslich mit acht Stunden pro Tag Motorrad-Rennen
beschäftigt.
Zuletzt beweist die Abdeckung des kanadischen Senders TSN, dass die
Behauptung nicht genau stimmt, dass «Eishockey-Freaks auf dem
nordamerikanischen Kontinent» nicht wissen, «dass dieser Sport auch
anderswo auf der Welt gespielt wird.» Dieses Thema lasse ich aber
meinen kanadischen Brüdern.
Mit sportlichen grüssen,
John T. Whelan, Ph.D.
Bern
(031) 332 55 23
Thanks, John. I learned a lot from that letter. ::rolleyes::
Yeah, I remember Chris pretty well...came from St. Louis area and had a better career than first expected at Clarkson. Has been in Europe for awhile i think.
I see his "partner" at Tech...Jason Currie a couple of times a year...Chris's name always comes up.
Good luck to the USA team!
Well the US team lost again today, 1-0 to Denmark (EDIT: Switzerland). Ryan Miller with the loss again (although this one probably wasn't his fault like yesterday's was).
I'm pretty sure that eliminates the US from the tournament (because Denmark and Switzerland's game will produce a loser who holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the US team - correct me if I'm wrong). Oh well.
Post Edited (04-27-03 20:41)
Today's loss was to Switzerland, not Denmark. Team Suisse has been rather strong in recent years, last year's olympic disappointment notwithstanding.
Oops, you're right - I meant Switzerland; Denmark was yesterday :)
Post Edited (04-27-03 22:06)
A 1-0 loss to Switzerland is a lot more respectable than a 5-2 loss to Denmark, IMHO.
IIRC getting knocked out in this round is really bad news for the US, since it drops them into a relegation round where there's some (slim) danger of getting dropped down the next level.
As I understand it, the "relegation round" consists of the 4 fourth place teams (the last place team in each of the four groups). They proceed to play a round-robin format and the top two teams in this group qualify for the 2004 tournament, while the other two do not.
I kinda wish they did this tournament after the NHL playoffs were over. Then maybe they could televise it or something (which they do in Canada, by the way, on TSN).
Denmark is apparently for real, having shocked Canada with a 2-2 tie in the next round:
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/recaps/index.ihwc?artId=1423
Meanwhile, the US dismantled Slovenia as a first step towards avoiding an embarrassing relegation:
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/recaps/index.ihwc?artId=1422
Tomorrow Switzerland plays Latvia in what's actually a pretty crucial game, since they need to finish in the top four out of a six-team group including Canada, Russia (whom they've already lost to), Sweden, Denmark (whom they've already beaten), and Latvia. Denmark's tie of Canada complicates things somewhat, but a win over Latvia and a lack of any more upsets would be enough to get them through to the 1/4-finals. Hopp Schwiiz!
A good day for my teams, as Switzerland handled Latvia 4-2:
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/recaps/?artId=1446
This, together with Sweden's win over Denmark, clinches Swiss a berth in the quarterfinals. Next up for Team Suisse: a big game with Canada this evening. With the next two games against Canada and Sweden, the Swiss have the opportunity to move up in the seeding, but it's a tall order.
Meanwhile, the US avoided relegtion by beating Belarus 4-2:
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/recaps/?artId=1448
The last game is against automatically non-relegated Japan, and a chance to end the tournament 3-3.
Oops, I spoke too soon. With Latvia's upset win over Russia
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/recaps/index.ihwc?artId=1464
and Switzerland's loss to Canada
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/recaps/index.ihwc?artId=1466
there is a chance for a three-way tie for third among Switzerland, Russia, and Latvia. It requires the Swiss to lose to Sweden, Russia to lose to Canada, and Latvia to beat Denmark, none of which would be a huge surprise. But Team Suisse has a nine-goal lead over the Latvians in the next tiebreaker, net goals, so one or both of their games would have to be blowouts for the Swiss not to survive that tiebreaker.
BTW, Michigan State alum Anson Carter had the GWG for Canada today.
Well, the US crushed Japan to finish taking out their frustrations in the relegation round.
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/recaps/index.ihwc?artId=1483
Meanwhile, Canada beat Russia to finish in first place in group F, heading into a quarterfinal matchup with Germany or Finland.
http://live97.ihwc.net/english/article/recaps/index.ihwc?artId=1484
Offense is duly taken at the characterization of Canada's last two opponents (Demark and Switzerland) as "weak". (Tell that to the US, who lost to both of them.) Hopefully Team Suisse can upset Sweden to take second in the group and then crush Team Suomi in the quarters and show those Finns a thing or two.
Russia is left to scoreboard-watch for the Switerland-Sweden and Latvia-Denmark games tomorrow.
Canada wins gold, 3-2 over Sweden, on an Anson Carter overtime goal. I guess the [OT] in the topic should be considered foreshadowing.
Nice to see Canada win a gold medal game over Sweden for a change.
BTW, since I know you're all dying to know, Switzerland lost to Sweden to take fourth place in the group (ending up in a three-way tie with Russia and poor Latvia), then fell to Slovakia in the quarterfinals. A break-even tourney for the Swiss (which is more than I can say for my own national team).