Should NHL players participate in the 2014 Olympics?

Russian Hockey Powers United In Support of Sochi Olympics One of the hottest topics surrounding the NHL for what seems like forever has been the league’s two-week hiatus every four years, when it loans its best players and biggest contracts to the Winter Olympics. The topic has been a point of interest at this year’s World Hockey Summit in Toronto, where lines are becoming more clearly drawn between those who support professional players joining the contest and those who don’t.

Crosby scores game winner in Over Time, Canada wins Gold medal

Canada wins Gold Medal on Crosby’s OT winner *Sidney Crosby’s storied career just took another turn towards greatness scoring the game winning goal in overtime as Canada defeated the United States 3-2 to claim the Gold medal. Crosby who was quiet for much of the game, beat Ryan Miller under the pads from the low left circle to give Canada their coveted Gold medal. Fans quickly chanted “Crosby, Crosby, Crosby” afterwards as Canada’s face of hockey has a story book ending to the Olympics. Third Period Updates 0:00: Heading to overtime after thrilling end of the third period as the Canada crowd is in shock. 0:24: Parise scores with 24 seconds remaining in the game. Game tied at 2-2. 1:17:

USA going for Gold; Crush Finland 6-1

The United States will appear in their second gold medal game in eight years as the Americans scored six-first period goals en route to a crushing 6-1 victory over Finland in the semi-finals Friday afternoon. Ryan Malone scored just 2:04 into the game and the Americans never looked back, getting first period goals from Malone (2:04), Zach Parise (6:22), Erik Johnson (8:36), two from Patrick Kane (10:08, 12:31) and Paul Stastny (12:46). Ryan Miller (5-0) made 18 saves on 18 shots before being taking out of the game late in the third period. Miller has not surrendered a goal since last Sunday’s preliminary game against Canada. Miller currently has a 111 minute, 38 second shutout streak going into gold-medal game.

Canada dominate in rout of Russia

The highly anticipated game between Canada and Russia was over about five minutes into the second period as Canada jumped out to a 6-1 lead with more than 15 minutes remaining in the period, en route to a 7-3 victory For the Canadians, their 7-3 rout of Russia was a dominating performance in all facets of their game as the Canadians overwhelmed the Russians physically. Concerns coming into tournament was Russia’s depth upfront and their lack of physicality from their backend and those concerns were evident against Canada. The Canadians were the deeper team and Russia had no answers for Canada’s depth upfront. Canada scored 7 goals with their best player Sidney Crosby not recording a point. “We played an

Quarterfinals showdown: Crosby, Canada to knock off Ovechkin, Russians?

No. 3 Russia vs No. 6 Canada The Hockey world gets their dream matchup a bit earlier than expected as Canada meets Russia in the quarterfinals tonight in what is an unexpected matchup between the two powerhouses. However, the hype is at a gold medal game level, one team will be going home as the Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry now goes global in what is the most anticipated game since the 2002 Gold medal game between the United States and Canada. All eyes are clearly going to be on Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. On the big stage this is the type of game that Crosby leads his team to victory but is 2010 Alexander Ovechkin’s year? The Russian’s possess more star

Road to Gold Medal Game: USA will avoid Sweden, Russia and Canada

The United States stunning victory over Canada Sunday night had major implications. The United States not only secured the No. 1 seed but they also avoid Russia, Sweeden and Canada in their bracket. Play in games include 5. Czech Republic vs 12. Latvia, 6. Canada 11. Germany, 7. Slovakia vs. 10. Norway, and 8. Switzerland vs 9. Belarus. 1. United States, 2. Sweden, 3. Russia, 4. Finland have all earned byes The Americans who earned a bye into the quarterfinals will play either 8. Switzerland or 9. Belarus in the quarterfinals and their road to the Gold medal game will likely go through No. 5 Czech Republic or No. 4 Finland in the Semi-Finals. Meanwhile, Canada’s road to claiming a

USA shocks Canada, 5-3

The United States pulled off what many are considering its biggest Olympic hockey upset since the Miracle on Ice, stunning gold medal favorite Canada 5-3 on Sunday, advancing to the quarterfinals. Goaltender Ryan Miller had a performance of the ages making 42 saves, including a number of exceptional saves late in the game to preserve Team USA’s lead. Defenseman Brian Rafalski had two goals and an assist and the Americans got production up and down their lineup as Chris Drury, Jamie Lagenbruner and Ryan Kesler also scored. Canada out-shot the Americans 45-22, including a 19-6 advantage in the first period but it was the Americans who held a 2-1 lead after the first period. The Americans took advantage of early

Malkin, Ovechkin fuel Russia’s 4-2 win over Czech Republic

Evgeni Malkin scored twice and Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves leading Russia (2-0-0-1 7pts) to a 4-2 win over Czech Republic (2-1-0-0, 6 pts) Sunday afternoon. Rivals Evgeni Malkin (2 goals, 1 assist) and Alexander Ovechkin (1 assist) played on the same line for the first time in the tournament, combining for 4 points as the Russians rebounded from a disappointing loss Thursday night to Slovakia. Ovechkin was limited to only one assist but fueled the Russian’s win with a game changing shoulder-to-head open ice hit on Czech Republic star Jaromir Jagr that led to an odd-man rush for the Russian’s and Evgeni Malkin netting his second goal of the game to give Russia a 3-1 lead. Czech Republic’s Milan

Hockey Olympics Buzz: Canada survives a scare

Hockey Olympics Buzz Updated Standings Team Canada survived a major scare Thursday night, needing a shootout to upend a less inferior team in Switzerland. Canada regarded by many as the overwhelming gold medal favorites, surrendered a two-goal lead to Switzerland but it was Sidney Crosby and Martin Brodeur who saved Canada from a potential shocking loss as Crosby scored on his second shootout attempt and Brodeur went 4-for-4 in the shootout to give Canada a 3-2 win in the extra session. Unlike NHL shootout rules, players are allowed to shoot twice in the Olympics. After Crosby failed to score in his first attempt and Canada was 0-for-3 in the first round of the shootout, head coach Mike Babcock went back

Malkin has two point night in Russia’s 8-2 win

Russia 8 – Latvia 2 Alexander Ovechkin scored twice and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov made 18 saves leading Russia to an easy 8-2 victory over Latvia in preliminary round action. Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist for Russia. Malkin got better as the game progressed, scoring a power play goal late in the second period and setting up linemate Iyla Kovalchuk for a third period tally. Russia’s roster consists of a number of NHL and KHL players and they got production from both ends Tuesday night. KHL forward Danis Zaripov scored twice and Alexander Radulov added a goal for Russia. Former Penguin Alexei Morozov also scored for Russia. Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar was pointless. The Russians return to