With the Olympics underway in Vancouver and being a few days closer to the start of Men's Ice Hockey, we should all be getting increasingly excited. To continue, here are reasons 6 - 10, we should all tune in starting Tuesday, February 16th to watch.
#6 - Teammates face off against each other
Firstly, yes- pun intended. But seriously, all 30 NHL teams are represented in the Olympics. Teams like USA and Canada have entire rosters of NHL players. Almost every game is going to have teammates playing against one another; forwards firing on their own goalies, defensemen checking their own forwards. For these two weeks, NHL sweaters don’t matter as pride in your country supersedes that.
#7 - Jagr back in the spotlight
After leaving the NHL spotlight to play in a Russian league, nobody has heard shit from Jagr. I’ve just assumed he played his games then spent his other days/nights off partying in Russian strip clubs for weeks at a time until the morning hours like that other hired killer in The Bourne Supremacy. Regardless, the world will be looking to see if Jagr still has what it takes as he suits up for the Czech team.
Rumor has it that varying opinions on that mullet may have been what split up Czechoslovakia.
#8 - Best thing on ice
If you don’t want to watch Olympic hockey then you are left with figure and speed skating. Really, Hockey is just those things combined, but with a set of testicles attached (figuratively and literally- I am talking about Men’s hockey here). If you’re going to skate fast and twirl around, why not make it after a puck or directly into someone? And really, if you WANT to watch figure skating, you might as well watch Women’s hockey, they’re essentially the same… Just kidding, but really if that’s the case, I’m not sure why you’re even here reading a SPORTS BLOG, you’re clearly confused.
#9 - Sunday February 21 - 7:45pm, USA vs Canada - Ultimate battle of North American Supremacy
The only 2 teams of the ’10 Olympics to be 100% NHL players and they square off in one of the last games before the medals. Jamie Lagenbrunner, of our own NJ Devils, captains the USA against, former NJ Devil, Scott Niedermayer who will lead his merry band of Canadians. Neither team had an impressive run in Torino but both are legitimate threats every year. And regardless of how important this game is to the medals, Americans are dicks enough that they always want to shove anything they can up Canadians' asses… because fuck ‘em its Canada right?
#10 - Relive the glory of 1980
I literally just watched Miracle to get psyched for these Olympics. Bad news is the USA have not won a gold medal since that year and have only won 1 medal since (silver in 2002). Good news is USA has another solid team that has a shot at doing something. Other bad news is there will never be a story like that of the 1980 Olympics again; so much was happening in the world to lead up to that. I mean, unless Osama Bin Laden has a hockey team that dominates the world for 30 years, then the USA steps up and puts them in their place too.
So there you have it. Ten solid reasons to watch Olympic hockey. First game is Tuesday, February 16th, 3:00pm EST with the USA taking on Switzerland. Should be a dirty start for the USA team.
Games are everyday from there on until Sunday the 21st at 3pm, 7:30pm and 11:55pm. First rounds of those games can be found here
Playoffs take place on the 23rd, 24th and 26th, with the medal games to be played on the 27th and 28th.
My predictions?
Gold -Russia
Silver - Canada
Bronze - Sweden
Regardless, its going to be great games. Be sure to watch and stay up to date.
Olympic Hockey Schedule and Results
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