Which country will come out on top in the Canada vs. USA hockey game?

[Hurkyl]

Sorry, there are no statistics to measure things like "clutch performances",

I'm pretty sure "clutch performance" is comprised almost entirely of selection bias and small sample size.

 

[GeorginaS]

Congrats to the Canadian Women's Hockey Team! That was an excellent game with two well-matched teams. The two Canadian goals were outstanding shots and the rest of the game was one solid competition with both sides working really hard and playing really strong. Great goal tending, both ends. Really, it was anyone's game. Well done team USA!

 

[turbo]

Congrats to the Canadian Women's Hockey Team! That was an excellent game with two well-matched teams. The two Canadian goals were outstanding shots and the rest of the game was one solid competition with both sides working really hard and playing really strong. Great goal tending, both ends. Really, it was anyone's game. Well done team USA!

Yep! No faults there. It's easy to pick apart individual plays, but on balance, both teams did well.

 

[zomgwtf]

Yep! No faults there. It's easy to pick apart individual plays, but on balance, both teams did well.

Agreed.

And way to go Joannie Rochette, Canadian figure skater taking the bronze. Her mother passed away on a visit to see her this past Sunday.

 

[MATLABdude]

Congrats to the Canadian Women's Hockey Team! That was an excellent game with two well-matched teams. The two Canadian goals were outstanding shots and the rest of the game was one solid competition with both sides working really hard and playing really strong. Great goal tending, both ends. Really, it was anyone's game. Well done team USA!

It was a good game with lots of intensity. Unfortunately, it seems the IOC is taking exception to the post-game celebrations of the team (for some reason, and I'm not being sarcastic, I just love the picture):
http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/hockey/story/2010/02/26/sp-hockey-women-drinking.html

Note that this was half an hour after the game had ended (presumably the medal ceremony, etc.) I may not have gone to a ton of hockey games, but people usually clear out pretty fast (even for championship games, and usually to the nearest non-packed bar to celebrate/commiserate). Maybe this'll be what they use to usher women's hockey out of the Olympics? I sure hope they aren't about to revoke their gold medals for this...

 

[turbo]

Today it's USA and Finland. My primary research collaborator is Finnish, so we have had some friendly email exchanges. I want the stars to align so that USA meets Canada in the gold medal game. Understandably, he wishes for a different outcome. ;-)

 

[zomgwtf]

It was a good game with lots of intensity. Unfortunately, it seems the IOC is taking exception to the post-game celebrations of the team (for some reason, and I'm not being sarcastic, I just love the picture):
http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/hockey/story/2010/02/26/sp-hockey-women-drinking.html

Note that this was half an hour after the game had ended (presumably the medal ceremony, etc.) I may not have gone to a ton of hockey games, but people usually clear out pretty fast (even for championship games, and usually to the nearest non-packed bar to celebrate/commiserate). Maybe this'll be what they use to usher women's hockey out of the Olympics? I sure hope they aren't about to revoke their gold medals for this...

Man it's messed up. I wonder who snitched on them?

Regardless I don't see anything wrong with their actions, I never knew there were rules against celebrations after the game... The IOC really has no business saying what people can and can't do on OUR property. I mean the Canadian tax payers paid for everything there... If our girls feel like they want to celebrate on that ice then GO FOR IT.

If the CANADIAN officials (RCMP or local authorities... or even the government) want to go after the girls then so be it. Smoking is probably illegal inside the arena and one of the girls was underage. (She grew up in Alberta and Quebec though so it's reasonable that she had no idea of the difference in legal age.) Before people start talking about how we can't do that because it's not fair to other countries you should ask yourself, is it REALLY unfair? Have any of the other countries done this and we said NO? I can assure you if they did Canada would not be going after their sport or their medals or their person.

IOC has been pissing off Canada for sometime now and if they DO try to take away the girls medals I think they'll have to go through an entire country.

 

[FredGarvin]

Just to chime in about the stats:
Plus-minus is a so-so metric. It is good if you only look at the + or - part. If you put in the magnitudes of the + and - then it gets less effective because it is then tied to the team's offensive output. There is nothing to distinguish between a player who is +24 and another who is +10 other than they have been on the ice for more goals. That is, at best, a so-so measure of worth.

As far as the Canadian Girls' Hockey (snoooooozzzzzeee) Team...well, that just makes them look like trailer trash. They're not cool or what have you for doing what they did. Besides, anyone who has skated knows that the beer and stogies are for the locker room. They're not going to get medals taken away or anything like that, they're just going to look bad and maybe get a slap on the wrist. The only issue is one of the girls is only 18 and she was seen drinking. Legal limit in BC is 19. I believe the IOC has already mentioned they're leaving it up to the Canadian Olympic committee.

 

[russ_watters]

I'm pretty sure "clutch performance" is comprised almost entirely of selection bias and small sample size.

Not really, no. It is different for different sports, but in "cluch" situations, the game is simply different from the rest of the game. Probably the easiest example is in football where with a few minutes left in the game, the defense on the team that is leading switches to a "prevent" defense and the offense to a "two minute offense". It provides opportunities for playmakers on both sides to make big plays (such as the interception at the end of the Super Bowl). In hockey, there isn't necessarily a big change in design tactics, but in important games and near the end of games, the energy level certainly rises.

 

[russ_watters]

Man it's messed up. I wonder who snitched on them?

Regardless I don't see anything wrong with their actions, I never knew there were rules against celebrations after the game... The IOC really has no business saying what people can and can't do on OUR property. I mean the Canadian tax payers paid for everything there... If our girls feel like they want to celebrate on that ice then GO FOR IT.

I think people need to lighten-up about the celebrations too. For most olympic medalists, winning the medal is the single greatest moment of their lives. They should be expected/allowed to be a little out of their minds.

One of our snowboarders took some heat for getting a girl on the street to kiss his medal...while he was wearing it around his waist.

 

[zomgwtf]

As far as the Canadian Girls' Hockey (snoooooozzzzzeee) Team...well, that just makes them look like trailer trash. They're not cool or what have you for doing what they did. Besides, anyone who has skated knows that the beer and stogies are for the locker room. They're not going to get medals taken away or anything like that, they're just going to look bad and maybe get a slap on the wrist. The only issue is one of the girls is only 18 and she was seen drinking. Legal limit in BC is 19. I believe the IOC has already mentioned they're leaving it up to the Canadian Olympic committee.

I'd rather you didn't call the Canadian hockey team 'trailor trash'... I don't even see how what they did constitutes being called that.

 

[zomgwtf]

Just an update on Team USA vs. Finland. First period 12 minutes in 10 shots for USA 5 goals. It's currently 5-0.

 

[zomgwtf]

Well in the 15 seconds it took for me to see that goal and type that post America scored again. I think that they can try and go for the 18 goal olympic record! There is absolutely NO WAY that Finland will be able to win a medal if they play like this.

Regardless of if they face Slovakia or Canada in the bronze medal game. Slovakia actually has a pretty solid team performing quite well so I can't wait for tonights game. Hopefully they put up a better match than the Russians.

 

[GeorginaS]

So far Slovakia's not a cake-walk for the Canadian team. No huge blow-out scores here. It's going to be interesting how this all shakes down.

I just love play-off hockey. I don't care much for it through the regular season, but make it play-off or tournament competitions and I'm there.

 

[GeorginaS]

Well that one turned into an edge-of-your-seat match in the last five minutes. Slovakia poured it on so strong, I was convinced Canada was going to lose it. I couldn't quite tell if Canada was holding back throughout the game. It looked closely matched.

And, so, here we go again. Canada vs. USA (Hockey) this Sunday. Be there or be square.

 

[zomgwtf]

Well that one turned into an edge-of-your-seat match in the last five minutes. Slovakia poured it on so strong, I was convinced Canada was going to lose it. I couldn't quite tell if Canada was holding back throughout the game. It looked closely matched.

And, so, here we go again. Canada vs. USA (Hockey) this Sunday. Be there or be square.

Hahaha, I watched up until the last 10 minutes of play at a restaurant before leaving. It was still 3-1 at that point. I would doubt that Canada had eased off that much considering it was a 2 point game still, it's not like Americas blow out game they had vs. Finland. It was a great game though none the less.

 

[Borek]

Canada vs. USA (Hockey) this Sunday. Be there or be square.

You must be joking. To watch women's curling final I had to sit till 3:40 a.m. (fact that the game required 11^th end didn't help) and I suppose at that time hockey players don't even start to warm up.

 

[GeorginaS]

I kid you not. And if you'll sit up for curling, surely hockey is a far better excuse to sit up late.

 

[turbo]

You must be joking. To watch women's curling final I had to sit till 3:40 a.m. (fact that the game required 11^th end didn't help) and I suppose at that time hockey players don't even start to warm up.

In the US, if you don't have a payed sports package, you can't see the sports in real-time. NBC embargoes the really popular stuff until prime-time rolls around. Canada vs US hockey will be no different, so I'll have to avoid forum threads and emails from Canadian friends and from US friends with good cable packages until NBC broadcasts it.

 

[zomgwtf]

In the US, if you don't have a payed sports package, you can't see the sports in real-time. NBC embargoes the really popular stuff until prime-time rolls around. Canada vs US hockey will be no different, so I'll have to avoid forum threads and emails from Canadian friends and from US friends with good cable packages until NBC broadcasts it.

www.ctvolympics.ca has live feeds, they are normally a few seconds behind... up to a full minute actually. I'm not sure if they work outside of Canada however.

There are plenty of other live feed sites but it seems NBC is going around and taking them down as they go up. Really sucks for Americans... personally I have the olympics on all day on around 12 channels. Plus a couple channels only show some events during the day.

The channels are: CTV (I think there are 4 CTV channels), TSN(2 channels + 2 extra 'player cams' during hockey games), and SportsNet which has about 6 channels. There are also aboriginal channels and other cultural channels that show the olympics but they are in different languages. I doubt this information is of any use to you though since I'd assume NBC would have put a stop to it.

You can always watch the live feed (it's not video) of the game on the olympics website www.vancouver2010.com just click on the event when it says LIVE and make sure automatic updates is turned on. It updates within 5 seconds of an event... it's how I've been keeping up with most of the olympic events actually, instead of watching them on TV. A cool thing as well is that you can chat with other people watching the event via Facebook.

 

[mgb_phys]

The Americans are going to throw the game and then invade on monday while everyone is still hungover.
With Canada's main line of defence (drunk hockey fans) out of action - they will have seized Alberta's oil fields by breakfast time.

 

[turbo]

www.ctvolympics.ca has live feeds, they are normally a few seconds behind... up to a full minute actually. I'm not sure if they work outside of Canada however.

I can't get any of the CTV feeds to load. Probably thanks to NBC. Thanks for the heads-up though.

 

[russ_watters]

USA wins the 4 man bobsled!

...slightly annoying that they don't show it live, even on the website.

 

[GeorginaS]

That truly sucks that you guys aren't getting live coverage of events. We can't get away from it.

 

[lisab]

The Americans are going to throw the game and then invade on monday while everyone is still hungover.
With Canada's main line of defence (drunk hockey fans) out of action - they will have seized Alberta's oil fields by breakfast time.

Dang it mgb...ssssshhh!

 

[turbo]

That truly sucks that you guys aren't getting live coverage of events. We can't get away from it.

Thanks to MicroSoft's unholy alliance with NBC we are pretty much stymied. The CTV feeds are all using MicroSoft's video app, and the feeds do not load in Chrome or IE. You get error messages saying that you should wait for the "temporary" glitch to be fixed while it "reloads" the feed. Sure. As long as MS is tied at the hip to NBC, residents of the US will not be able to receive live CTV feeds. NBC claims that it will lose money airing perhaps the most popular Winter Olympics ever, and the rest of the media plays along while NBC and MS denies Americans live coverage.

 

[Borek]

Just finished watching curling final (live)

Time to bed, 2:40 am.

I wonder how we will chat during hockey final.

 

[GeorginaS]

Thanks to MicroSoft's unholy alliance with NBC we are pretty much stymied. The CTV feeds are all using MicroSoft's video app, and the feeds do not load in Chrome or IE. You get error messages saying that you should wait for the "temporary" glitch to be fixed while it "reloads" the feed. Sure. As long as MS is tied at the hip to NBC, residents of the US will not be able to receive live CTV feeds. NBC claims that it will lose money airing perhaps the most popular Winter Olympics ever, and the rest of the media plays along while NBC and MS denies Americans live coverage.

Same happens coming this way too. If I recall correctly, MSNBC video feeds -- particularly coming off of the MSN homepage -- are blocked. Same with Comedy Central, although there is a site for the Comedy Channel for Canadians, so we get access to all the same stuff. But I have to say, I find it rather off-putting when I encounter sites that selectively block access by country IP addresses. I've only run into it so far, actually, with US sites. It's really annoying and definitely coloured my opinion of a musician I like a whole bunch. Her site is restricted to people in the US so, I figure, she doesn't want my business, then.

Anyway, yeah, jeez, turbo. No fair. I wonder what's driving the popularity of the winter games this time? Generally they don't get a whole bunch of attention. Well, I know that a lot of Canadians pay attention to the winter games, and I know why we're especially paying attention this year, but still. There seems to be quite a bit of interest from other places too. Which is really nice. The winter games are a lot of fun to watch.

 

[GeorginaS]

Just finished watching curling final (live)

Time to bed, 2:40 am.

I wonder how we will chat during hockey final.

You're a trooper, Borek.

 

[zomgwtf]

I like watching the winter games a lot more than I like watching the summer games. In the summer games there are wayyyy too many events and medals being awarded. I mean like America has 37 winter olympic medals this time around and that broke the previous record of 36... in the summer olympics that' the amount of gold medals they get... All I really ever get out of watching the olympics is whoever wins the most amount of medals or is smashing world records... there are a few events that I do enjoy watching but for the most part I pay no attention to them.

 

[turbo]

I wonder how we will chat during hockey final.

Probably without me. NBC sucks!

 

[turbo]

I have spent the last hour logging on to proxy servers in order to try to get access to CTV feeds, to no avail. The MS streaming app claims that I don't have the latest version of Flash installed (I do) then redirects you to a link to get the newest app, which doesn't work. I hope Bill Gates is really pleased with himself as he pockets NBC's pay-offs.

 

[GeorginaS]

I'm trying to see if I can find an online feed for the CBC, turbo. They're carrying the Olympics live too.

Sorry, I can't find any live stream on their site. The lack of online availability is interesting. This looks like a precursor to other stuff. Apparently there are sites you can pay for, which, I guess people found another way to make money online.

 

[turbo]

I'm trying to see if I can find an online feed for the CBC, turbo. They're carrying the Olympics live too.

Thanks, GS! I would really love to see that game live. Canada and the US both have strong teams, and I think the game will be a killer.

 

[rootX]

I have spent the last hour logging on to proxy servers in order to try to get access to CTV feeds, to no avail. The MS streaming app claims that I don't have the latest version of Flash installed (I do) then redirects you to a link to get the newest app, which doesn't work. I hope Bill Gates is really pleased with himself as he pockets NBC's pay-offs.

Are you using firefox?

I usually use IE for things like that.

I had to download Silverlight for watching online (I used IE)