Olympics: Canada vs USA

Canada vs USA was the headliner of what was dubbed "Super Sunday". There was a lot of hype going into this game and was expected to be a close game after all the trash talk between the two nations. Canada at home was the obvious favorites but the US had gotten off to an impressive start. The game started off quick, especially for the US who jumped ahead not even 50 seconds into the game by a goal from Brian Ralalski. Canada started turning on the pressure and battled it out and ended up tying the game up. The US quickly responded again with yet another timely goal by Brian Rafalski on a major fluke from Martin Brodeur who attempted to hit a homerun, that ended up on the stick of Rafalski. Dany Heatley scored early in the 2nd to once again even things up with a typical Heatley style goal. At the end of the second another American veteran got on the board with a goal ahead goal from Chris Drury. The Canadians had clearly been out shooting the US almost by a 2 to 1 margin but it was the Americans getting all the breaks. The US got another goal mid 3rd period and Sid the Kid managed to make things close with under 4 minutes remaining. Martin Brodeur was called to the bench to get the extra attacker on the ice and Canada proceded to work over the US. They held the zone for almost a minute before the Americans got the puck out and it was a foot race by Ryan Kesler and Corey Perry. Perry has the puck in reach and for whatever reason didn't make an effort to atleast push the puck into the corner was bested by Kesler who dove and swept at the puck and scored on the empty night to ice Canada's hopes at a bye. Canada could have been successful if they stayed out of the box and pulled Martin Brodeur after an awful star by the veteran netminder. Needless to say martin Brodeur and Corey Perry share this games honors in being the busts. Martin Broduer for several weak ones and Corey Perry for the bad penatly that caused the go ahead go and the weak effort all game long. On the flip side of things American veteran Brian Rafalski had yet another great game and continues to carry this US team. It's also very hard not to mention Ryan Miller who stood on his head the entire game and came up with some incredible saves late in the 3rd period to hold on.

To win the Games the Canadians are going to have to get more out of their veterans. Guys like Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, and Joe Thornton have to get going or get out of the way of the young Team Canada members. The US got goals from all three of there key vets, why cant the Canadians? Pronger looked like a Hal Gill out there, I mean a pilon. My big question to Mike Babcock would be where has Jarome Iginla been? He should be there goto guy when the going gets rough not Dany Heatley or Rick Nash. Iginla knows what it takes to win and he has better odds of getting a clutch goal than Corey Perry whose been coasting so far.

1st Period
Goal 1 - Brian Rafalski - Ryan Suter, Jaime Langenbruner
Goal 1 - Eric Staal - Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews
Goal 2 - Brian Rafalski
2nd Period
Goal 2 - Dany Heatley - Jonathan Toews, Shea Weber
Goal 3 - Chris Drury - David Backes, Bobby Ryan
3rd Period
Goal 4 - Jaime Langenbrunner - Brian Rafalski, Ryan Suter PP
Goal 3 - Sydney Crosby - Rick Nash, Duncan Keith
Goal 5 - Ryan Kesler - Zach Parise EN

In Net
United States - Ryan Miller
Canada - Martin Brodeur

Ice Scoopz: Monday Afternoon

*-> Chris Chelios has signed a deal with the Chicago Wolves to finish out the year with the AHL club. This should rule out most rumors of Chelios returning to the NHL for this season. The Canadians, Coyotes and Red Wings were the lastest teams reported interested.

*-> Last week I reported that my inside source told Me that Bryan Murray was working hard on a defenseman out of Florida. The name that was prominent was Jordan Leopold. I'm now hearing it may be Denis Seidenerg of Germany who is much cheaper for the Sens. Ill keep watching this one.

*-> Speaking of the Sens, they as well as up to 5 other teams including the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars, LA Kings, and the Isles have all been looking hard at trying to sign Roman Cervenka of the Czech Republic. He currently is ripping apart the Czech Elite League with 71 points in 48 games played for Slavia Praha. Many teams are currently scouting him as well throughout the Tournament. He hasn't really impressed Me that much but its not to say he isn't a great find, he might be having a bad tournament. Jaromir Jagr has been preaching of his talent all season long and has even gone as far as saying a package deal might be possible as he loves playing with him.

Ice Scoopz: Monday Morning

Great game last night, pretty entertaining, except the big Canada loss. Would you call that an upset? Actually 2 out of 3 games were really good yesterday, the other being Russia vs Czechs Rep. Ill have my review for all 3 later today plus lots more rumors! I've also got a trade deadline preview by division on the go as well. So stay tuned. Now on to this mornings rumors.

*-> The Boston Bruins are reportedly very close to a deal with Carolina for Aaron Ward. Many are still saying March 1st this one will be sealed. I've also heard that Dan Hamhuis has been another target for the Bs but a little out of range in price. The Bruins are trying to push Michael Ryder on Nashville.

*-> While on Hamhuis, I've also heard that New Jersey is making a huge bid to land him as wellas previously reported they appear to be the leaders in this one and they may be willing to part with Brian Rolston in order to land him. I dunno about getting rid of Rolston for him but they do have plenty of other Assets to work with.

*-> The St Louis Blues have been furiously scouting Vancouver prospect Cory Schnieder on the Manitoba Moose. The future number one clearly has no future with Vancouver with Luongo there and he's been the subject of rumors all season long. The Blues are even reportedly willing to part with Paul Kariya and a mid pick for him. This one makes sense as the Luongo situation in Vancouver and the 2 goalies flopping in St Louis. Don't be surprised if the Blues chase a goalie for next season at the deadline. IE Price, Turco or Schnieder.

Olympics: Germany vs Belarus

Germany vs Belarus was the 2nd big upset game at the 2010 Olympics coming shortly after the Russian's were stunned by the Slovaks. The Germans who played so well against the Swedes and struggled against the Finns was expected to stomp out the Belorussians in this qualification game. The Belorussians had struggled against all their opponents and was the clear cut choice to finish last in Pool C. The Germans got on the board quickly after capitalizing on a bad penalty taken by Konstantin Zhakorov with a goal by Florida Panther Denis Seidenberg. The Belorussians got back in the game however 5 minutes later with an individual effort from Aleksei Ugarov. The Belorussians kept the Germans on their feet as the period ended and it continued into the second period. 8 minutes into the 2nd period they responded again on a nice feed from Sergei Kostitsyn. Both sides started to trade chances shortly after leading into the 3rd. Belarus got a timely goal from Sergei Kostitsyn at the 11 minute mark. The Germans refused to give up however and got two quick goals from John Tripp and Marcel Goc to tie up the game. German defenseman Alexander Sulzer took a bad hooking penalty and Belarus quickly regained the lead with a shot from Ruslan Salei. With two minutes left Aleksei Kalyuzhny got his second goal of the game and ended all hopes for Germany, who now will finish last in the Pool. Great game despite it being 2 lower level teams. I enjoyed Germanys brief comeback which added a lot to the excitement of the game. I thought German was going to finish it off several times but Belarus clearly wanted this more. Sergei Kostitsyn was phenomenal again, I was throughly impressed as Belarus was suposed to be clearly weakened by the loss of Grabovsky and the elder Kostitsyn Andrei. Sergei totaled 4 points this game and now leads Belarus going into the next round with 5 points. Alexander Sulzer was this games poor performer as he lead to the tying goal with a stupid hooking call. Another major bust was the Germans top line featuring Goc, Sturm, and Hecht who was on both of the last 2 goals. Considering the line has 3 bonifide NHLers plus the defense pairing was Christian Erhoff and Denis Seidenberg it's pretty pathetic.

The Germans will need to dig pretty deep next round and the Belorussians just need to keep the momentum going and not have too high hopes and keep it simple as they were expected to finish low in the Olympic games anyways.

Period 1
Goal 1 - Dennis Seidenberg - Marco Sturm, Marcel Goc PP
Goal 1 - Aleksei Ugarov
Period 2
Goal 2 - Aleksei Kalyushny - Sergei Kostitsyn, Nikolai Stasenko
Period 3
Goal 3 - Sergei Kostitsyn - Konstantin Koltsov
Goal 2 - John Tripp - Andre Rankel
Goal 3 - Marcel Goc - Jochen Hecht
Goal 4 - Ruslan Salei - Aleksei Kalyushny, Sergei Kostitsyn PP
Goal 5 - Aleksei Kalyushny - Sergei Kostitsyn, Konstantin Koltsov

In Net
Belarus - Vitali Koval
Germany - Thomas Greiss

Olympics: Sweden vs Belarus

The mighty Swedes were expected to walk all over Belarus and get their goals for average up but ended up blowing a 3 - nothing lead against the lower tier Belorussians. The Sedin's teamed up 6:40 in the 1st to make it a 1 - nothing game. Sweden came on strong from the start and the pressure was all over Andrei Mezin and his defense. 3 minutes late Daniel Alfredsson scored on the man advantage and put Team Belarus down 2 - nothing. The "Mule" Johan Franzen added another and it looked like the Kronor would keep em coming en route to a blow out. Dmitri Meleshko cut the lead by 2 when he added a powerplay goal for Belarus. Then Meleshko added another goal quickly into the 3rd but Daniel Alfredsson iced the game at the end of the 3rd. Dmitri Meleshko was definitely the heart of Belarus with two important goals but the player of the game in my mind was the veteran Swede Daniel Alfredsson who played well all game and scored 2 important goals for Team Sweden. The bust of the game was once again special teams mainly the powerplay for Team Sweden who only achieved 1 on 4 attempts on a weak Belarus sqaud. The other bust was Vladimir Denisov who was on two out of the 4 Sweden goals and looked fairly weak the entire game.

1st Period
Goal 1 - Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin, Mattias Weinhandl
Goal 2 - Daniel Alfredsson - Magnus Johansson, Nicklas Backstrom PP
2nd Period
Goal 3 - Johan Franzen - Samuel Pahlsson, Fredrik Modin
Goal 1 - Dmitri Meleshko - Nikolai Stasenko, Aleksandr Ryadinski PP
3rd Period
Goal 2 - Dmitri Meleshko - Aleksandr Kulikov
Goal 4 - Daniel Alfredsson - Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin

In Net
Sweden - Jonas Gustavsson
Belarus - Andrei Mezin

Olympics: Slovakia vs Russia

The first official upset of the tournament featured the Slovaks and the Russians. So far my favorite game of the tournament so far for entertainment value. The Russians should have easily had this one but I personally thought they played around the 1st period and once they got the lead they underestimated the Slovaks in the 3rd and somewhat sat back. Jaroslav Halak once again held the Slovaks in the game when they needed it and Ilya Bryzgalov was near perfect up until the end of the third period. The Russians got on the board in the 2nd with a beauty one timer from Aleksey Morozov on a spectacular pass from Andrei Markov. After that goal the Russians decided they had it one and instead of shooting they tried to score on ether complicated plays or individual efforts. Half way through the 3rd period the Slovaks got some momentum and got on the board from a shot Bryzgalov should have had. After an overtime period of nothing the game went to one of the most exciting shoot-outs I've watched in a while for the Games. The first shooter for the Slovaks Jozef Stumpel tucked one home after faking a glove high shot and going to the back hand. Alexander Ovechkin answered with a shot that snuck by Halak. Then it went to a stalemate where neither shooters from ether teams even came close till Pavol Demtra ended it after 7 shooters. The one thing that puzzled me is Alexander Ovechkin was given the go 3 times for the Russians even after his first goal wasnt a really a pretty goal and he's not exactly a shootout whiz. I would have chosen Alexander Radulov or Andrei Markov who both are pretty good at the shootout? If you had to go multiple attempts from someone why not Pavel Datsyuk? The bum of the game was the entire Russian powerplay who could not score in 4 attempts this game and several more attempts the last few games. You'd think for a major powerhouse with so many weapons they'd be able to score. My player of the game was Alexander Ovechkin who although struggled during the shootout was all over the ice and crushed about 3 Slovaks with big hits. Oh ya, I did happen to notice Ziggy Palffy who I thought had a pretty good game for the Slovaks, he still looks like he's got the talent.

1st Period
No Scoring
2nd Period
Goal 1 - Aleksey Morozov - Andrei Markov, Sergei Zinovyev
3rd Period
Goal 1 - Marian Hossa - Marcel Hossa, Pavol Demitra
OT
No Scoring
Shootout
Aleksey Morozov - X
Jozef Stumpel - Goal
Alexander Ovechkin - Goal
Pavol Demitra - X
Pavel Datsyuk - X
Marian Hossa - X
Alexander Ovechkin - X
Jozef Stumpel - X
Ilya Kovalchuk - X
Michal Handzus - X
Alexander Ovechkin - X
Marian Gaborik - X
Evgeni Malkin - X
Pavol Demitra - Goal

In Net
Slovakia - Jaroslav Halak
Russia - Ilya Bryzgalov

Ice Scoopz: Friday Noon

*-> The Bruins have a deal in place for a defenseman it is rumored. The Bruins have been trying to add some help to their struggling team for quite a bit now. It's rumored they've been in talks with the Carolina Hurricanes regarding this deal. It is expected the player in question is Joe Corvo or Aaron Ward. Ward has stayed many times he'd love to be a Bruin again while Joe Corvo might be able get their powerplay back on track.

*-> Speaking of the Carolina Hurricanes their expected to have a deal in place for Ray Whitney by March 3rd. The Calgary Flames have stepped into the bidding its reported but the Canes do not want any of the freshly aquired Flames in return. The Los Angeles Kings are still in the lead although the Vancouver Canucks and the Nashville Predators are close behind.

*-> The New York Islanders are pushing Dwayne Roloson hard. They have made up their mind and see trying to trade the veteran over Biron as the value is much higher. Biron still could be an option as Philly has to be worrying about Sugar Ray Emery. The Chicago Blackhawks also have much doubt in their tandem as well. Roloson has been linked to the Blackhawks as well. The Red Wings may go after Biron if they feel they can contend this spring but only if.

*-> Lee Stemniak of the Toronto Maple Leafs is attracting interest from the Buffalo Sabres who look to bolster up their bottom 2 lines and add a bit of depth.

Awesome game last night between the Slovaks and the Russians. Ill have my summaries late this afternoon. Plus more rumors and my run down of players expected to be dealt by March 3rd.