Canada+USA vs. the World

Have you noticed in recent Olympic Winter Games, Canada has two gold’s and one silver and USA has one gold and two silver’s in women’s hockey? This year, they both will be competing in the Gold Medal game, guaranteeing them a gold or silver medal. Canada and USA have dominated the women’s ice hockey tournament, at the Olympic Winter games, with Sweden, with one silver and one bronze, and Finland, with two bronzes, are the only other two nations with medals. But I’m going to explain to you why this might be different, not in 2014, but in 2018 and 2022 by adding a women’s professional league. And also why this may not happen.

In the men’s tournament, Russia dominates with a 2-0-1-0 and has a GF-GA of 13-6 but, in the women’s tournament Russia is 1-0-0-2 and has a GF-GA of 3-19. A big difference. But I think that this might change along with the Slovaks and Chinese, joining in on the medal hunt. I also think that the one factor that would help women’s hockey the most would definitely be making a women’s professional hockey league. This is why we have men’s teams like Kazakhstan and Denmark trying to get to the Olympic Winter Games, because they have one, two or more professional players on their teams whereas teams like Canada, USA and Russia have all their players from professional leagues, either the NHL or the KHL.

It may be different in 2018 or 2022 in women’s hockey, but it could not happen possibly… If Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and Russia can improve, then Canada and the USA can improve, right? But Canada’s women’s hockey organizations are growing every year, with as many as 1,000 more girls joining this great ice sport. Canada and the US are still winning in the U-17, U-18 and Junior tournaments meaning that the next generation, will not be the changing of the guard, making other countries stronger and more competitive.

So, I think that unless other countries get better quickly or Canadian and American girls’ hockey comes to a standstill, Canada and the US are going to be the best for a long time. On the men’s side, from 1920-1952, Canada won every gold medal except one, and the year that they didn’t get the gold medal, the Great Britain team was mostly Canadians, 11 in total. So maybe it will take 10-20 more years for the teams to get to become more developed and more competitive in women’s hockey.

And questions or comments just leave them below! THANKS, WYATT!!

The Luge Accident at the Olympics

Last Friday, a Georgian luger, Nodar Kumaritashivili, died in a tragic luge accident at the Whistler Sliding Centre. He was coming around the sixteenth and last turn, when he lost control of his sled, hitting a wall and flying into a steel pole. He died later in hospital. This turn is called the Thunderbird turn because it’s the most dangerous and fastest corner in the track that puts 5 Gs of pressure on your body. But luge hasn’t been the only sport with crashes in it. The Snowboard Half pipe is bigger and the athletes get more air off these jumps. There is an athlete in a coma right now supposed to be competing with Shaun White for the gold. So, do you think, in Sochi Russia 2014, that they should make their sliding centre slower and less dangerous? Also, are the Winter Olympics more dangerous than the Summer Olympics?

The Sochi 2014 Olympic organizing committee already stated that they will make their sliding track less dangerous and slower than the Vancouver 2010 track. Do you think that this is right, or that this course should still be fast and dangerous, putting the sliders live on the line? I don’t think this is. We should think of peoples’ lives before we think of a cool fast show for the people to watch.

If you have been watching or listening to the news lately, or even not lately, that when you hear of somebody getting hurt through sport, it is a winter sport mainly that the athletes get hurt in. You don’t hear things like, ‘In the 100m Sprint Usain Bolt died in the last 20m of the run.’ No, you’re more likely to hear something like this, ‘In Short Track Speed Skating, 4 competitors crashed and all of them are seriously injured.’ Now I know that neither of those sound nice, but the second one would more likely happen, so in my opinion winter sports are more dangerous, more challenging and most demanding sports.

So what is your opinion on this whole deal? Do you think that Sochi 2014 should make their sliding track slower and less dangerous or the exact opposite? Do you think that winter sports are more challenging, more demanding and, most importantly, more dangerous than summer sports? Please leave your comments and answers, WYATT!

Burke's Rights and Wrongs on January 31st, 2010

On Jan.31^st, 2010, the Toronto Maple Leafs received D Dion Phaneuf, F Fredrik Sjostrom and F Keith Aullie from the Calgary Flames in exchange for F Matt Stajan, F Niklas Hagman, F Jamal Mayers and D Ian White. The Leafs also acquired G J.S. Giguere from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for G Vesa Toskala and F Jason Blake. The general manager of the Leafs, Brian Burke, coordinated these trades. Although you may think Phaneuf and Giguere are pretty good deals, there are some areas they could have improved further. Such as why not to trade White away and why they should have received another player from the Ducks.

Ian White at the beginning of this season was their 6^th defensemen. Over this season and until this trade, in my mind opinion, and that coach of Ron Wilson’s, White has moved up to the 3^rd or 4^th spot. He is also one of the best penalty killers the Leafs had on defense. He has a great shot from the point gathering 9 goals, 26 points and a rating of +1 over 56 games. Instead of trading White, maybe they should have traded Garnet Exelby, Jeff Finger or Mike Komisarek to Calgary, because in my mind White is more talented than other defence they could have traded. Maybe this would have had helped our goaltending and we wouldn’t have to make that Ducks trade.

I don’t think that even the stellar play by J.S. Giguere in his first two games, earning two shutouts, makes his play equal to the likes of Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala. Now Vesa, he definitely isn’t equal to Giguere but Jason Blake’s play was definitely very close to calibre of J.S. So perhaps Saku Koivu or Kyle Chipchura should have been pulling on a Leafs sweater on February 2^nd. Also Jason Blake was a first or second liner so I think that a third liner or one of the second or third defensive pair should have been sent to the Leafs.

So if the Leafs got a defensive forward like Kyle Chipchura and had kept Ian White then their defensive game would probably have improved. Most of the criticism for the Leafs is coming from them creating big leads and then, in the third period, they lose the game by giving away goals or taking penalties. With the acquirement of Phaneuf and Giguere, they improved their defence while getting a big booming shot from the point.