Hockey Nation

I'm always hungry at this time of day, approximately two hours before the office lunch hour begins. I guess when you eat breakfast around 7:15am that is not too surprising but lately it's kind of killing me. I appreciate that the office lunch begins at 1pm because by the time I come back at 2pm there is only a mere 3 hours to get through, but sometimes my stomach puts up a very good protest about this arrangement. I think I'm going to have to bring extra fruit or something to tide me over on the longhaul to lunch.


So... Canada, as expected, is dominating the hockey at the Torino Olympics. There's been a lot of criticism in the media focusing on the women's team especially since they are racking up a lot of goals which some feel is unsportsmanlike towards their opponents. I feel like these women worked hard to get there, so as athletes, wouldn't it be cheating themselves to not give it their all when they go out to perform, especially at an event like the Olympics?
The rules of international hockey seem to provoke teams to hammer on each other because home ice advantage in the finals is determined by your record in the tournament, how many goals you've made and how many have been taken against. One American hockey player this week criticized the Canadian team for racking up points, but if the American squad could do the same, wouldn't they? Would they seriously sacrifice a precious gold medal to be more 'sportsmanlike'? It's almost like a role reversal has occurred and the Americans are playing the martyrs and the Canadians are seen as the aggressors, which is not really how it is.
To be fair, several members of the Canadian team have spoken of how they are aware that a team like Italy for instance has never played at the international level and while they didn't want to humiliate the Italians or make them feel badly, they still had to go out and do what they do because there would be tougher teams to face later on. And on behalf of the Italian team, it's kind of cool that they even had a hockey team that was willing to enter the tournament, seeing as it's not a major sport in that country. Perhaps after this kind of exposure to how good women can be at hockey, more effort will be put into training. This brings up the fact that women's hockey is just starting to take hold in many countries and it could take years for other national teams to develop their stride. Russia dominated men's hockey for years at the Olympics, but eventually other European nations caught up and now that competition is quite healthy. But was men's hockey ever debated for being dumped from the Olympics in the same manner that women's hockey is right now? I doubt it. But regardless of these issues, I am sure the Canadian women will do their best without being tacky about it. After all, they themselves feel that this year's roster is even stronger than the 2002 Salt Lake team.

And now for a reflection on the men's team... Has anyone come to the conclusion that the whole betting scandal naming Wayne Gretzky's wife as a gambler amongst NHLer's and Rick Tocchet was kind of an elaborate scheme to disillusion and distract Canada from being a powerhouse at the Olympics? It's evident now that Wayne Gretzky was not involved in this scheme and was completely flabbergasted when he found out that his wife was so bored she was dropping $75'000 on the Superbowl and $5'000 on a coin toss (amongst other bets). However, what about the 6-8 other NHLers who have supposedly been implicated in the gambling ring but not outted? Why were they given the chance to come forward on their own accord but Janet Gretzky was sacrificed to the media? It all screams of a conspiracy to me. But I think Wayne's doing just fine although I really question his decision to bring Janet to Torino. Won't she be tempted to bet there? Or perhaps he's keeping an eye on her. Regardless, the team found it's legs in that first game against Italy and I'm betting some more good hockey will come out of them.
But then of course, the latest blow to Team Canada is the lawsuit that Steve Moore launched against Todd Bertuzzi and the Canucks yesterday. You've just got to love the strategic timing of it all... as if this particular fortnight of 2006 is the absolute most crucial time for Moore to deliver his deathblow.
Now, I personally don't believe that Bertuzzi should be representing Canada on this squad because of the simple fact that amongst classy hockey players he is a total goon (I've heard this confirmed by people who knew him growing up in Sudbury as well), but seriously, someone thought he should play there and in Torino he is. I'm hoping this attempt at distraction will fail once again and that the men are going to keep their focus on gold. After all, we do have to prove that Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press were wrong in their predictions for hockey medals.