Olympic Women Hockey

[Doc]

Am I the only one embarrassed by the lack of sportsmanship demonstrated by the Canadian women's hockey team? So far it's 7-0 in the first period. This is NOT sport. When did "shooting fish in a barrel" become a "sport"??

[Inverted2]

Reminds me of that year the US mens basket ball team was all stacked with NBA stars. Some of the teams were practically in awe they were getting to see let alone play against Michael Jordan etc!

[iflyforpie]

Maybe they could take lessons from the Harlem Globetrotters and keep the score more even whilst providing entertainment.

[grimey]

Complain to the IOC and IIHF, not Canada. Until they remove goal differential and goals scored from the criteria to decide rankings coming out of the pools, and decide they with tie-breaking games instead, it makes no sense for the teams to hold back.

[Dust Devil]

Am I the only one embarrassed by the lack of sportsmanship demonstrated by the Canadian women's hockey team? So far it's 7-0 in the first period. This is NOT sport. When did "shooting fish in a barrel" become a "sport"??

Is it sportsmanlike to treat your competitor like a child? I'd rather see them play full out for the whole game and worry about the score when the game is over.

Good on the girls for having enough respect for their competitor not to ease up.

[taylor498]

Complain to the IOC and IIHF, not Canada. Until they remove goal differential and goals scored from the criteria to decide rankings coming out of the pools, and decide they with tie-breaking games instead, it makes no sense for the teams to hold back.

+1

Although I do agree that the score must be somewhat embarrassing for the other team.

[Doc]

Should women's hockey even be in the Olympics with so few countries that are even competitive? Other than the USA, the other countries remind me of the Jamaican bob-sled team when playing hockey.

[Jastapilot]

How about we get rid of the Ice Dance first, as an olympic sport before we go after women's hockey? Good job, girls, don't let up for a second!

[taxiway_matthew]

You losers will find anything to complain about, eh? This is PROFESSIONAL sport, not Peewee hockey. Its win or lose, no matter how big or small the differential. Not time to treat everyone like a child, where the only goal is to have fun.

[Brewguy]

Is it sportsmanlike to treat your competitor like a child? I'd rather see them play full out for the whole game and worry about the score when the game is over.

Good on the girls for having enough respect for their competitor not to ease up.

+1 (OMG, I can't believe I just agreed with Dust Devil)

In any case, I remember this topic coming up in the media during the last Olympics. I recall one of the Canadian team members being interviewed about it, and that was precisely their take on it. It would be an insult to compete against another nations team, at the Olympics, and not give anything but your best.

Besides, its up to these other nations to make the decision to take the sport seriously, ad up their game. That's what Canada did. We recognized there was an Olympic event with little serious competition, and made a determined effort to dominate the sport.

[Doc]

Oh, I hear you. I agree with most of your points. It's just not much fun to watch. Competition, it's not. Grimey brought up a valid point with the remarks on points scored being part of the equation. On the bright side.....I'd rather win by 18 goals, than lose by 18 goals.

[Jastapilot]

Don't worry, Doc, the let's-not-hurt-anyone's-feelings hockey is alive and well at the 5 year old level. The good kids are only allowed 3 goals per game, then after that if they score it won't count. Also, if the score is too lopsided, they won't put the real score on the clock. The numbers vary, but usually it won't show more than a 4 goal spread on the scoreboard. Ain't dat nice?

[JakeYYZ]

I can also recall teachers sending a note home to parents telling them to bring enough Valentines cards for the whole class, so as to eliminate the hurt feelings issue. It was weird.

[Slats]

Actually Doc, in the Olympic qualifying games (in 2008 I believe), Slovakia (the team that was handily put away by our women 18-0) bare-bottom spanked Bulgaria 82-0. Yes, that's right 82-0. So I don't think you will hear them complaining about running up the score. Also there is the issue of goal differential being a potential deciding factor in international hockey tournaments. I think it would be disrespectful both to their opponents and to our athletes themselves if they were to treat their lesser skilled opponents with kid gloves. It doesn't serve the athletes, the team or the sport to "go easy" on them. As Cassie Campbell pointed out during the game, alot of these lesser teams come from countries with very little support for women's hockey. The only thing that will get the attention of the folks back home and show them that they need support is to show them just how far they have yet to go.
At any rate, for the non-North American teams, international women's hockey is really a competition for the bronze. It's not nearly as competitive as mens. Barring a major meltdown, the US and Canada have a lock on silver and gold, it's just a matter of which country gets which colour.
GO GIRLS!

[Brewguy]

...As Cassie Campbell pointed out during the game, alot of these lesser teams come from countries with very little support for women's hockey. The only thing that will get the attention of the folks back home and show them that they need support is to show them just how far they have yet to go...

Or their national Olympic committees will decide they have too far to go, are not contenders, and will have their funding cut completely.

Olympic dollars are hard to come by, and most countries spend in the sports they feel will give them the best chance.

I can definitely see both sides of the argument (go easy vs. not). I tend to agree with not going easy on them, even though such thrashings can be painful to watch. Personally, I'm cheering for the Swiss tonight ... hoping they at least get something.

[The Old Fogducker]

Doc:

Play this music track in the background while reading my dissertation ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyBcHUe4WeQ

Its all about feelings.

There should be no competitors on the ice .... only close friends with interests in the pure unadulterated sport of women's hockey. No scores kept, no body checking, no stick handling, no admiration for someone who skates faster than everyone else, surely there shouldn't be any joy found in "winning" a game.

Its all about equal outcomes, the thrill of representing your country should be sufficient, and the joy of having played with the world's greatest should be the world's reward. The act of having a single person standing on a podium is actually a crime against all of humanity. Competition "sends the wrong message" to our children. They need to see that life can indeed be fair. Regardless of things like natural talent, work ethic, desire, willingness to sacrifice to achieve a goal, etc ... that they too can become equal partners in the opportunities, and outcomes of life.

Why even Hillary Clinton believes in that philosophy ... after all, it's not a game, its not about who's up or down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVlwH7-05Fk

The Old Fogducker

[iflyforpie]

Play this music track in the background while reading my dissertation ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyBcHUe4WeQ

This one works better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCayacFcCX4

Even if you're ugly, only know one word, and have limited vocal range; you can still be lead singer in a band in front of hundreds of people.

[The Old Fogducker]

Pie ... now you're just making fun of this situation! Its obvious that "you just don't understand."

OFD

[CL-Skadoo!]

Well Doc's not having fun again tonight, girls take their game 10-1.

Here's a video of a little dog running down the stairs, to ease your pain.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=36b_1266250968

[The Old Fogducker]

Jeeze ... I remember when I could run down stairs like that myself!

[Invertago]

I'm really torn between not keeping score so as to avoid having a "loosing team" or simply flogging the loosing team once for each goal they lost by. The carrot or the stick... hmmmm.

[AUGER9]

Does no one remember the lopsided victories by the mens squad in it's early olympic days? Beating Denmark 47-0?? Game with 100+ goals? It's not/wasn't just the women's game, it needs time to grow.

And no, it won't be takin out of the olympics. The IOC have said themselves recently that the only way to get many hockey Federations to support/fund a women's program is to dangle an Olympic opportunity in front of them. Thus why they expanded the field to 8 teams from 6 after Nagano.

And, Doc, have you never played sports? It's far more embarrassing to have an opponent just give a half ass effort and play keep away from you the entire game then it is to lose 18-0.

[5x5]

It's far more embarrassing to have an opponent just give a half ass effort and play keep away from you the entire game then it is to lose 18-0.

+100
That kind of behavior is the height of disrespect. It may seem strange to those of you who haven't played much sports, but you can actually rally around "Let's keep them from getting 20!" and feel good at the end having done it.

[CL-Skadoo!]

It's far more embarrassing to have an opponent just give a half ass effort and play keep away from you the entire game then it is to lose 18-0.

+100
That kind of behavior is the height of disrespect. It may seem strange to those of you who haven't played much sports, but you can actually rally around "Let's keep them from getting 20!" and feel good at the end having done it.

Spot on guys, spot on. I was a goaltender for very sub-par Junior team back in my glory days. Nothing would bother me more than going out to play against a top team and having them dink around with the puck for 60 minutes. "Oh well, we only lost 3-0 and they had 30 shots, wow we must be getting better!".

There is something to be said about not giving them number 10, some nights that's all I could ask for and the 60 shots I faced definitely didn't hurt my game any.

[200hr Wonder]

It's far more embarrassing to have an opponent just give a half ass effort and play keep away from you the entire game then it is to lose 18-0.

+100
That kind of behavior is the height of disrespect. It may seem strange to those of you who haven't played much sports, but you can actually rally around "Let's keep them from getting 20!" and feel good at the end having done it.

Gotta agree. I played on a softball team that was awful, but we did have an awful lot of fun. Least tournament of the year and we had not one a single solitary game. We where playing another team that need to *win* to get into the double knockout. We beat them and it was just as sweat being a spoiler for us as winning the darn thing.