The whole Hockey world expected, and Canada were able to deliver, as they marched off with a second successive Olympic gold. Not since the days of the USSR/CIS in 1988/1992 has a nation won back-to-back Olympic gold medals. Canada quietly set about their job clearing every hurdle put in their way, as the media hype centered over their main opponents.
The first to fall were the minnows of Norway and Austria. The Scandinavians relied on physical, even dirty play at times to keep themselves in games and not even their one and only NHL-star Mats Zuccarello could conjure up some magic to get passed the hosts. A lot was expected of the Austrians with their NHL line of Grabner, Vanek and Raffl, but they too were humbled in the playoff round. Switzerland were another team who had enough NHL-ers on their roster to make people think they were a dark horse. They relied on shutting teams down, only three goals were scored in games involving the Swiss during the group stages. They played a brand of hockey that saw them steal a lead and then defend it, if they once fell behind in a game they were screwed as there was no plan B, and so it proved crashing out to Latvia. Slovakia were a disappointment right from the off. Thoroughly embarrassed by USA they only decided to play in the final, meaningless group game against Russia. They were duly silenced by their near neighbors, the Czechs in the playoff game. Considering they had Stanley Cup winners Marian Hossa and Michal Handzus it was surprising to see one of the so called big-seven nations go out of the tournament with a whimper.
If some of the big names struggled it was a breath of fresh air watching both Slovenia and Latvia play. Not much was expected of either of the two smallest nations at these finals, but in former Stanley Cup winners Anze Kopitar and Sandis Ozolinsh both teams were able to advance to the quarter finals and gave great accounts of themselves. The Czechs arrived looking old and lacking an offensive punch, that being said it was 42-year old Jaromir Jagr who rolled back the years to lead his team. Petr Nedved however looked like a woeful selection, especially considering the likes of Radim Vrbata were left behind, who would have offered so much more offensively, especially if he was paired with his Phoenix Coyotes line mate Martin Hanzal.
The biggest disappointment were the hosts, Russia. Having watched Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin both score on their opening two shifts against Slovenia, it looked like it would be a walk in the park. How wrong I was. Slovenia woke up and shut down the hosts and even came back at them during the game before Russia eventually ground out a win. The Russians then gave their best performance in the grudge match against USA, losing a penalty shoot-out that never should have happened after a dubious disallowed goal and a power player goal that should never have happened for the Americans. Perhaps feeling the disappointment of the loss to USA and the pressure of President Vladimir Putin's declaration of only being interested in an Olympic Gold for the Hockey team, Russia found it hard to beat a Slovakia team on penalty shots in the final group game, who themselves had a very disappointing tournament. Another hard-fought win over Norway ensued, before they left the competition, surrendering meekly to Finland.
A lot of questions need to be asked. Ovechkin who should really be named Ovi-Rated once again went missing in the big games, when his country needed him the most. In fact most of the big stars failed to impress. Malkin was only marginally better and former New Jersey sniper Ilya Kovalchuk was also quiet. In fact at times it was almost as if those three players were not even there. It was left to a semi-fit Pavel Datsyuk to carry his country. Not many people probably realised the Detroit Red Wings forward was carrying an injury going into the tournament, but that made his goal scoring exploits against America all the more amazing. Another big issue for a lot of people was the inclusion of so many KHL based players. Firstly there were only four of them in the forwards line-up so hardy an excuse. One of which was Kovulchuk who up until last May was an NHL player. Radulov, who was much maligned during the tournament actually was the most productive player for his country and linked up well with Datsyuk. In fact he was one of only a few players who came out of these Olympics with any credit for Russia. The fourth line of KHL-ers Popov and Tereschenko complimented the youthful force of Valeri Nichushkin of the Dallas Stars and they proved to be another plus point, but the likes of Anisimov, Kulemin and Tarasenko (all NHL stars) were invisible throughout. For me though a lot of the blame has to fall at Ovechkin. He was the poster boy of this Russia team, and although a proven NHL goal-scorer he seems to lack the leadership to carry a team to success. I am still of the opinion he will never win a Stanley Cup while at the Washington Crapitals, and if indeed he ever wants to win one should do so by signing for a team such as the Boston Bruins or the New York Rangers. Having watched him myself this season in Glendale, AZ. I am surprised why he generates such adulation. He is quite possibly the most over-rated hockey player I have ever seen in the NHL, and his performances in Sochi further backed that up.
Finland surprised me the most. I know they have a rich international history but with both Saku and Mikko Koivu missing along with Valteri Filppula I thought this might be a struggle. Shows how much I know, as Finland were the most entertaining team to watch, scoring goals for fun and led by Teemu Selanne who was awesome at times. From a personal point of view it was great to see two guys from my teams win bronze. Step forward teenage defensive sensation Olli Maatta of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Lauri 'Korpido' Korpikoski of the Phoenix Coyotes.
America had a lot of talent, and was one of the more likeable teams they have brought to an Olympic Games. The line of Joe Pavelski, James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel combined for most of the teams points, but Ryan Kesler and Patrick Kane also showed their 'raw' talent at times. USA arrived at Sochi with revenge on their minds from four years ago in Vancouver, and despite their offensive talents just could not break down a resolute Canadian team in the semi finals. In the bronze medal game with Finland, USA looked like a team who didn't want to be there and the 5-0 scoreline to the Finns seemed to back that up.
Sweden worked wonders to make it to the final. It was a case of the missing Henriks, as Sedin pulled out on the eve of the games having not recovered from an injury sustained playing for the Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings star Zetterberg who suffered a serious back injury after the Swedes opening game against the Czechs, putting him out of the tournament. Zetterberg's team mate at Detroit, Johan Franzen was another who missed out due to an untimely injury. Despite these set backs Sweden easily progressed to the gold medal match, looking to add a third straight tournament success on European Ice after Lillehammer 1994 and Torino in 2006.
Canada took a roster full of talent. Even with captain Sidney Crosby having another quiet tournament he was ably assisted by having a group of Centers to help him. If Ovechkin is Ovi-Rated, then Patrice Bergeron is massively underrated. The Bruins star was one of the hardest working guys on this Canadian team. If that wasn't enough Ryan Getzlaf and Jonathan Toews created a fine quartet of Centermen. A lot of club partnerships helped, Crosby had Chris Kunitz from Pittsburgh, Toews had Chicago line-mate Patrick Sharp, and Corey Perry of Anaheim linked up with Getzlaf. When you add the quality of Patrick Marleau (San Jose), the rugged work-horse Jeff Carter (Los Angeles) and the never say die attitude of Tamba Bay's Marty St. Louis it made for an exciting line-up. Not to mention Dallas' Jamie Benn who wasn't even invited to join the summer training camp last year, yet formed such a great partnership with Tyler Seguin that it was impossible to ignore him. Benn's winning goal against USA was the reward for his hard work. Corey Price lead the goaltending for Team Canada and formed a formidable last line of defense to breach.
From a personal viewpoint, it was great to see Mike Babcock, win his second-straight Olympic gold as coach. Babcock started off his coaching career at my local team, the Whitley Warriors, who were at the time in the British Premier League. Babcock combined assistant coaching duties with patrolling the blue-line and helped the team to a runner-up spot in 1987-88, scoring 34 goals and 98 assists for a points total of 132 in just 36 regular-season games. Having realised how good he was at the coaching side of the game, Babcock worked his way up though the Junior Canadian program before landing his first NHL job in Anaheim and took the Ducks to their first Stanley Cup final in his first season in 2003. By 2009 he had taken the biggest job in hockey, and lead the Detroit Red Wings to back-to-back finals, beating Pittsburgh in 2008 and losing to them a year later. In 2010 he lead Canada to Olympic Gold on home ice in Vancouver and completed a remarkable double in Sochi 2014.
Although born in Saskatchewan and sporting a strong Canadian accent eh? Babcock is rightly claimed as one of our own on the wrong side of the pond, giving our small team some amount of fame from his time here. It is great to see his success given he came from such humble begins in the hockey world. It was also great to hear that having won a Stanley Cup it didn't turn him into a big-time Charlie like say Jeremy Roenick would have been. He returned to Whitley Bay and met up with some of his former team-mates at a meal celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the 1988 season. You can take the man out of Whitley but you can't take the Whitley out of the man.
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