The Italian Job

Canada began their defense of a gold medal today with a convincing-but-sloppy 7-2 win over the host Italians, and amazingly, there's been no word yet from CBC commentator Brian Williams about how it's all Wayne Gretzky's fault. It's all uphill for the Canadians from here, but their play will also improve drastically from this point as the tournament progresses. They have perhaps the best schedule of any of the twelve teams, as they play the rest of their pool in the following order: Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, and the Czech Republic. With the possible exception of the German and Swiss games, each match will be more difficult than the last, giving the Canadians ample motivation to improve; starting with three of the five weakest teams at the Olympics will also give them a chance to gel and build up confidence.

Indeed, all the teams with mostly NHLers on their rosters will improve dramatically within the next few days, for three reasons. The first is simply overcoming jetlag; the rest of the teams are based in Europe and have had no such troubles, and that advantage will disappear. Likewise, second advantage belonging to the weaker five clubs - team chemistry - will quickly evaporate as the other countries' players grow accustomed to playing with their teammates. The third reason relates back to the jetlag, in the category of adequate rest - with the wonky NHL schedule this year seeing teams often playing three games in four days, the Olympic schedule will not fatigue them as it may have in the past, with as many as eight games taking place over a 12-day period, or two games to three days.

All teams will need to become accustomed to the refereeing, as the IIHF has instructed the officials to call games as the NHL does. Well, perhaps some of the European refs should have watched an NHL game beforehand, because the differences in the style of play immediately leap out at any observer. During the Canada/Italy game, there were many hits and holds on players pursuing the puck which would have been an easy interference call for any referee in North America's biggest pro league. The clutching and grabbing seems to still prevail here, and it will be interesting to watch the differences between the European referees and those from the NHL. Another area that needs vast improvement is the naming of the various penalties - whether it is the fault of the officials on the ice, or the scorekeepers upstairs (which isn't out of the question, since they seem to have an awful time not only doling out a secondary assist, but figuring out which players wears which number), calls often appear questionable because they are deemed something which they clearly are not. For example, a scrum in front of the net that might result in a Roughing penalty gets a Charging call, and a player who blatantly trips an opponent gets sent to the box for Holding. Two minutes is two minutes, and this is more a frustration than a real issue, but officiating can't be half-assed.

Before the men's hockey began, IIHF president Rene Fasel complained publicly about NHL players who pulled out of the Games with injuries, but continued playing for their club teams. Fasel would rather see all the world's best players in Torino, in order to showcase the sport's best talent and build a wider fan base. He should just consider himself lucky that he's not a part of basketball's governing body, which would surely give him fits - some American ballers have griped about not being paid to play for their country, and would rather see a monetary compensation than a piece of metal hanging from a ribbon. Now that's patriotism.

Finally, U.S. defender Angela Ruggiero lashed out at Canada's women's team for demolishing Italy and Russia by a combined score of 28-0, saying, "I'm upset that Canada has been running up the score, especially against the host nation...there was no need for that." She also accused the Canadians of "trying to pad their stats . . . Canada is running up the score for whatever reasons - personal, short-term." Perhaps no one's filled her in on the tie-breaker for home ice advantage in the elimination round: the team with the best goal differential gets home-ice advantage, meaning choice of jersey colour and the final line change. To leave something that crucial to chance, knowing that the rival Americans are essentially the only team with a chance of beating the Canadian women, would be downright stupid. The trash-talking between Team Canada and Team U.S.A. has been ongoing for some time now, but Ruggiero's two cents just come across as bitterness. To paraphrase one of the Canadian players, there would be less class involved in not taking advantage of scoring opportunities; better to give every team your best effort than to be condescending and play like they aren't worth your time.