Arena 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic thread.

Ugh. Your post is so full of ridiculousness I don’t even know where to begin.


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It's related to the scoring changes, I believe. There's no more requirement for artistry (for the most part), so unless you're Carolina Kostner and can do orders of magnitude better performances than everyone else the impetus is to do as hard a routine as possible with as many jumps as possible in the back-half of the routine.

Because of that, it tends to favor younger, smaller women.

 

Tara Lipinski was a twiggy little baby Groot when she completed at the Olympics.

 

Yeah, and 14 which will never, ever happen again (since the age was raised to 16). But that's why she was able to beat Kwan in '98... there was a great article about it just the other day...

https://deadspin.com/20-years-ago-this-week-michelle-kwan-did-not-win-olymp-1823173036

 

Michelle Kwan not winning the Gold Medal in Nagano was a centerpiece of an episode of the TV show Fresh Off The Boat where the mom on the show convinced her kids that it was a fake Kwan on the ice that night.


Speaking of that night, Johnny and Tara commenting on Tara's Gold winning performance. So cute.

 

Well, that wouldn't have made a difference in my case since I have no interest in hockey. Or most other team sports outside my college football alma mater

 

I'm a bandwagon hockey fan, so when the San Jose Sharks go deep in the playoffs is when I jump on.

I like John Feinstein's take on professionals hockey players in the Olympics in the audio clip from CBS' Sports Minute.
https://omny.fm/shows/cbs-sports-minute/02-21-john-feinstein-cbs-sports-minute-on-olympic

 

Enjoyed that, thanks for posting! Would love to see them do commentary on one of Johnny's old performances too.

I like Tara, but I remember being really sad that Kwan didn't win in '98. I liked the section in the Deadspin article about that:

Kwan was such a class act!

 

I was up until 2am watching the hockey game and another hour just trying to calm down. What an amazing game.

And Anne, totally agree about the 4x6km biathalon. That was super thrilling. Congrats to Sweden!

 

Especially if you remember the choke 4 years ago and the shameful loss of the men's team, 0/5 on the PK, omg. NHL really needs to release their players next time.

 

Yeah I definitely was watching the women's game four years ago, so I was extra nervous.

And yeah, the NHL basically ruined the men's competition for this Olympics.

 

Enjoyed Choi Da-Bin's skate. I think they said her score was a personal best--nice to see her do well in front of her home crowd

 

Was hoping Vonn would've gotten another gold too. She is a skiing legend.

Wow, these ice skaters are so talented. Kinda hard to believe people can skate like that. I would've cracked my skull open on the ice lol.

 

Why the US men Hockey never won any Olympic gold after the miracle of Ice?

 

People don't realize the talent that squad had. It was hard to duplicate a team with that much talent with amateurs while since 98 they won two silvers but the Canadians unless something flunky happens like 98 and especially 2006 are going to be nearly impossible to beat. Like the USA squad in 2014 had a quite a bit of all stars on it. The Canadians are literally all all stars with a bunch of HOF. Even a team as strong as the US is bringing a knife to a gun fight when they play.

 

Why the US men Hockey never won any Olympic gold after the miracle of Ice?

The short answer: because the USSR/Unified Team/Russia/OAR/Whatever We're Calling Them This Olympics, Canada, Finland, the Czechs, Sweden... everybody is awesome at Ice Hockey. Long Answer under the spoiler tag...

Spoiler

I might not be helping with this Ice Hockey Answer, but here goes... 1984 Saraejvo went to the USSR where the USA did NOT make it out of Group B. For Calgary... the USA was again in Group B, and gold again went to the USSR. For Albertville in 1992... the Bronze Medal was lost to Czechoslovakia, and Gold went to the Unified Team (USSR, but because the Soviet Union fell... you get the idea). For 1994... you're expecting me to say Russia? No. No, the Three Crowns took the gold from the Maple Leaf. ("For temporarily shocked Canada, the Silver. But for eternally proud Sweden, their first ever Gold!" And I should hide the olympic tapes from myself...) Bronze medal game was won by Finland... over Russia.

For 1998... the USA did not make it out of the Quarterfinals, and Canada lost the Bronze Medal game to Finland. The Gold went to the Czech Republic, silver to Russia. (Also, Luke02 mentioned Talent being a factor... Wayne Gretzky was on the 1998 Canada squad. It's not all about talent.)

For 2002... there were at last some very happy Canadians, and USA men won Silver. (Where was Russia in this mix? Bronze.)

Torino... oh. Hee. (I remember the Figure Skating falling down drama from Torino, and not the Hockey...) Sweden (gold), Finland, (silver), and the Czech Republic (Bronze... over Russia with a 3-0 victory.)

As to the original question of why the USA Men don't win the gold that often, even with NHL players... **points upward** We are not the top players of Ice Hockey on the planet, and even Canada, for whom Hockey is basically a national sport... well it was fifty years between gold medals, but they were always somewhere in the top five or so...

 

Until the NHL players were allowed in, and, equally importantly, the Berlin Wall came down, the answer was simple - Warsaw Pact countries, Russia especially, could send their best players because they were “amateurs”. The US had to send college kids, the majority weren’t good enough for the NHL. It’s why the Miracle in Ice was one - that team had had no business being in the same rink as the USSR’s All Star team. I saw their Red armyteam play the NY Rangers in the mid70s, it wasn’t a contest, the Red Army Team wipes up the floor with one of the best teams in the NHL. They did the same a few nights later with the gold standard of NHL hockey at the time, the Montreal Canadians.

 

@yankee8255

For all the underrated talent the 80’ team had (especially on defense they had some very good players on the blue line), if it weren’t for Craig standing on his head and the Russians doing some really stupid things, that game would been 8-3. Don’t underestimate the brilliance of Herb too who pulled every string right during that whole process including having the Americans play the Soviets just before the Olympic tournament started at MSG. The game went EXACTLY how Brooks wanted (except OC getting injuried which really prohibited him from playing in the Olympics..little known fact but he played only seven minutes in the Soviet game, he really was on one leg which makes the win even more incredible since the US only had 5 and 1/2 defensemen), the Soviets absolutely mopped the floor with them. It served two purposes:

1. The boys had been on absolute roll leading up to Lake Placid. I think they won like something like 35 out of 40 pre-Olympic games (or something like that...maybe it was 35-6) so the team in Herb’s mind was getting too big for it’s britches and needed to be brought back to reality some and be focused during every game/every shift.
2. It made sure the Soviets did not see the US as any type of problem. The Soviets thought they could roll out of bed hungover and beat them handily and rightfully so. They won the MSG Game 10-2 and as Al Michaels who was there said, that made the game sound closer then it was. Didn’t help either the director of Olympic sports for the Soviets told the team after the qualifying round ended that he “wasn’t congratulating them but it is pretty much in the bag”. The Czech hockey team who was consider the only threat to the Soviets at all in 1980 did not even make it to the medal round. The Americans again were a bunch of kids that they could literally beat any time/anywhere including hung over while the other matchup was Sweden/Finland and neither one of them had a very strong team.

The team had no idea that was Herb’s plan until looking back on it though Craig said they should had an idea that he wasn’t totally displeased with the butt whopping they took in MSG as it literally the only time they do not remember being yelled at by Brooks after a loss (matter of fact, he often yell at them after a win if he felt they still hadn’t played well enough). The team was expecting to get absolutely chew out by Brooks after they stomped at MSG. Instead Herb walk in smiling and told them about a place not too far away that was open late and had great cheeseburgers. He suggested they should go eat, maybe a beer and realize the slate is clean going into the Olympics just like everyone else. Whatever their pre-Olympic record did not matter.

Again Brooks did everything right for that team that cannot be overlooked.

 

But the NHL players didn't win a gold as well.

 

Lol, Canada have lost to Germany.

Again it's not the players' fault, blame NHL.

 

Congratulations!

 

So, I found the womens Free Skate event for the Gold Medal as dramatic and emotional as the womens Hockey Gold Metal game, as it really came down to the two Russian skaters; Alina Zagitova, the 15-year-old and Evgenia Medvedeva, the 18-year-old. It was helped with the intro of previous figure skating rivals. I mean, there was a climatic build to when these two skaters hit the ice as they was a lot of hype on Zagitova for beating an injured Medvedeva months earlier who was considered before then, unbeatable, and because Zagitova pulled off five triple jumps in practice like it was no big deal. And you had Medvedeva trying to reclaim the title of world's best figure skater and holding off Zagitova. Zagitova's performance was brilliant and smart as she didn't risk a fall by trying to follow up a triple jump with the standard double jump. Other than that, she was technically perfect. The artistic side of her free skate was pretty flawless well as it was very well choreographed and by the end of the performance the crowd was cheering her name. And the tv production was on point, as before and after Zagitova's performance they would cut back to Medvedeva back stage pacing and preparing for her time on the ice like a prize fighter waiting to enter the ring. And Zagitova's scores were revealed and they were outstanding and of course put her in Gold Medal position. But before Medvedeva took the ice, there was Kaetlyn Osmond of Canada, whose free skate was very good as she conveyed a free spirit and perhaps a farewell performance. It was enough to earn her the bronze to which she was very delighted to receive considered the competition. And course, the camera would again cut back to Medvedeva back stage again pacing and preparing. When Medvedeva finally hit the ice there was alot of anticipation, electricity and drama as she would have to skate nearly perfect to take home the gold. And you could tell by the look in her eyes and her body language she was ready for the moment and not collapse under the pressure. Medvedeva was excellent with her technical skating and breath taking with her artistic side of her skate as she conveyed her emotions and determination. And when she was done, the commentators had to catch their breath and what they witness. Johnny thought she did enough to win, but Tara felt it wasn't enough to beat her rival Zagitova. Now, the winner of the gold medal would be in the hands of judges and thus a very compelling and climatic build to Medvedeva's combined scores of the short program and free skate. And when the final score was revealed their was an even amount of cheers and gasps of disappointment as Medvedeva's score was not enough to beat her training mate and skating rival, Zagitova. Medvedeva broke down in tears like the womens Canadian Hockey team as she didn't win the silver but just lost the gold. Tara and Johnny referred to the matchup as the best ever figure skating because of the talent, artistry, ages and scores, which is hard to argue against.

I really felt sorry for Canadian skater, Gabrielle Daleman. She fell like 5 times during her free skate. I thought she might have recovered after her first fall, but it was like she was in quicksand; the harder she fought, the deeper she sank. But she finished strong and held her head up, despite the tears.

The US womens team just simply didn't perform well. As mentioned in the broadcast, the worse finish by a US team as no previous US skater had ever finished below 6th place.

There was some crazy moments in the womens speed skate with the two Korean skaters bumping into each other. And in the mens team speed skate with the Korean skater losing his footing and crashing into the wall leaving the team with no chance of a medal.

Shocking news that the Canadian Mens hockey team was defeated. Hopefully, the next Olympics, the NHL players will return.

Looking forward to Mens US team in the curling gold medal game.

 

NHL really should release their players next time. Now it's likely another gold for the Russian.