Will Olympics hockey boost the NHL?

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The 2010 Vancouver Olympics hockey final, with the US losing in overtime to Canada, heightened the sport's profile. Will the NHL benefit?

The phenomenal showing of the US and Canadian teams in this year’s winter Olympics could give the struggling National Hockey League a much needed boost.

Canadian star Sidney Crosby, who scored the winning goal against the US during overtime of Sunday's gold-medal game, and US goalie Ryan Miller have become household names during the 13-day games. Each will return to his NHL team this week – Mr. Crosby to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mr. Miller to the Buffalo Sabres – along with their 44 other teammates, all of whom are also NHL players.

“There’s a good chance that there’ll be some at least short-term positive effect,” says Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. “It could entice people to spend some more [time] with hockey.”

In Pictures: Top 12 inspiring Olympics moment

The league has been struggling with low viewership in recent years, especially after stalled negotiations over the league’s salary cap shut down the 2004 season.

Versus, the sports network that airs weekday NHL games in the US, has averaged about 278,000 viewers per game this season. In that respect, there is much room for improvement.

Despite the success of its players in Vancouver, the NHL remains undecided about whether to continue to allow players to participate in future Olympics. The league has to take a two-week hiatus in the middle of its season to accommodate Olympic scheduling and though players’ salaries are insured in case of injury, there’s no way to mitigate the losses a team might experience were one of its star players to suffer a serious injury during the Games.

"It's clear when you look at these Games from 30,000 feet, it's all good, but you do have to take a step back on ground level and look at the impact on our season," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters during the Games

"From an ownership standpoint, in the middle of the season, we would just as soon skip it," says Rocky Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, in an interview with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. "It doesn't add any more to our sport."

If the NHL is able to capitalize on the success of the Olympics, it’s possible the gains would only be short term.

“It depends on how the league builds on [the Olympics],” says Mr. Zimbalist. Coming out of the close of the games, they have a “small opening” to attract new fans.

But hockey is a “second-class professional sport in the US,” says Zimbalist, suffering in comparison to the popularity of other sports like football, baseball, and basketball. And the success of 1980 US hockey team against Russia – the so-called "miracle on ice" – didn’t change that.

This Olympics benefited from stellar US and Canadian teams, as well as being able to air games live in prime time because of the little or no time difference for viewers in the US. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will suffer from an 8- to 11-hour time difference for American viewers.

The decision on whether NHL players will travel to Sochi won’t be made until the league and the players sit down to negotiate the NHL's next collective bargaining agreement, which expires after next season.

Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/new-economy/2010/0301/Will-Olympics-hockey-boost-the-NHL

The 2010 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony

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MTV News dispatched a team to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and not only got the inside scoop from some of the top athletes at the games but also made some friends along the way. We asked dancer and Canadian radio personality Rachel David to blog about her experience performing at the closing ceremony, which featured performances by Michael Bublé, Neil Young, William Shatner and a host of other Canadian luminaries.

By Rachel David

Sunday night (February 28) marked the conclusion of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games here in Vancouver. But what does almost every closing to every big event have? A crazy-a-- party!

Being a hip-hop dancer for the closing ceremonies has been a party throughout every rehearsal, but Sunday was especially crazy. The entire day was such a surreal experience. From the moment I walked through security, I was greeted by happy smiling faces and those smiles continued on throughout the day.

Not only was it the last day of the 2010 Winter Olympics, but it was also the gold medal hockey match between rivals U.S.A. and Canada. I have never seen such an intense game in my life! To be backstage with hundreds of Canada's finest performers and watch them patriotically cheer on their sport was an experience in itself.

The actual closing ceremony was fascinating to watch. As a dancer, I had met all the other dancers and had seen their costumes but I didn't actually know what any of them actually did (everything was so top secret that no one was allowed to tell anyone what their actual roles were). I didn't see what everyone had been learning over the past seven months until I was backstage watching this extraordinary party.

I felt my biggest rush of adrenaline when I actually got into the stadium as I was running past artists such as Michael Bublé and Nickleback on my way to my pre-set position. It was then that everything started to really sink in. I remember standing seconds away from bursting out on stage and just feeling my heart pumping through my neon pink hoodie. As Kos started singing all I could think of was how proud I was to be performing because this was the first Olympics to ever have hip-hop and break dancing in it.

When I was on stage, I felt as light as a feather (thanks to my adrenaline) and when I got off my high continued. As I look back on this experience, all I can say is "Wow, I was just a part of one of the biggest shows ever put on in the entire world!" I can truly say dancing at the closing ceremonies was the icing on the cake and the perfect way to close my Olympic experience.

Source: http://newsroom.mtv.com/2010/03/01/winter-olympics-closing-ceremony/

Canada's pot of goldCanada's pot of gold

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It was Vancouver, then Vonncouver, then even Vancuso for a while, I think. But mostly it was rainy. And mild. It was kind of like having the Winter Olympics in Seattle, only with not as much flannel.

Unless you count the pattern on the American snowboard uniforms.

What started out tragically as an Olympics defined by the death of an athlete, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, ended as an Olympics defined by Canada's gold medal in men's hockey.

And if you don't believe that, then you didn't see the ninety-year-old grandmother sitting in her wheelchair on the curb, waiving a Canadian flag at the honking traffic. You weren't on Robson Street six hours after the overtime win against the United States, the only Yankee idiot who dared walk into the belly of the beast that late.

The hockey win gave Canada a Winter Olympics-record 14 gold medals in Vancouver. The silver won by the U.S. also set a record: Americans won 37 medals here, more than any country ever has before at the Winter Games.

It was a good 16 days for North America. (What about Mexico, you say? Well, they had Hubertus von Hohenlohe, the 51-year-old alpine skier who is descended from German royalty. He's also a photographer. And a businessman. And a pop singer called "Andy Himalaya." All true.)

About that medal count: It was being tallied everywhere here. On the way to Cypress Mountain there was even a billboard on the front lawn of a private residence that was keeping track. Only problem: They hadn't updated it. The counter said 001 and Canada had won its second medal earlier in the day, a bronze by Kristina Groves in the women's 3,000-meter speedskating race.

Also about that counter: There were three spots for numbers. Three spots? Really optimistic considering no one's ever won more Winter Olympics medals than the 37 the Americans captured here.

The counter was also wrong at Yaletown Brewing Co. last Monday night. It hadn't updated to include the gold medal won by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in ice dance.

Which was surprising, since the one thing you can be sure of is that Canadians love their gold medals. After each one of them, the Heritage Horn on top of the main press center -- that building with sails for a roof -- played the opening four bars of "O Canada."

At 115 decibels.

It's how Vancouverites know when it's lunchtime. No kidding.

We didn't hear much about the medal count until the Canadians started winning golds. But once they started, ooh boy, you couldn't get away from it. Even the volunteers got in on the act.

Suddenly, the front page of a major city paper read: "CANADA LEADS THE GAMES IN GOLD."

It was certainly an accomplishment. Before Alexandre Bilodeau won the men's moguls on Feb. 14, Canada had never captured an Olympic gold medal on home soil. The celebration that night had been building since Montreal in 1976. It was carried over from Calgary in 1988.

"Our kids are crying they're so excited," one woman, Suzanne Rose, 36, of Quilchena, British Columbia, told me.

Another woman walking to her bus that night screamed into her phone: "Dude, we won gold! And I was there!"

The Olympics were held in a big city again, and it looks like that's mostly how it will be from now on. The Summer and Winter Games have just become too big. One thing you miss: The kind of intimacy you get from a place like Lillehammer, Norway, which Olympic writers are always talking about. One thing you gain: Paragraphs like these next two.

One night British Columbia turned, well, downright British when particularly daft fellow whistling the "Superman" theme smacked us in the face with a wet British flag. He was wearing it like a cape and sprinting down the sidewalk near the trendy Yaletown neighborhood.

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/01/1780228/canadas-pot-of-gold.html

U.S. and Canada appear evenly matched

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Reporting from Vancouver, Canada - An icy dream dawned six months ago in a rink near Chicago, where candidates for the U.S. Olympic hockey team began a journey that will end today a few hours before the flame is extinguished on the Vancouver Games.

Around the same time the same dream was planted in Calgary among prospective members of Team Canada, who have shouldered the hopes of a nation that considers hockey a way of life.

The U.S. and Canada will compete today at Canada Hockey Place for the Olympic gold medal, pitting NHL teammates against each other in a rivalry that has become, to Canadians' chagrin, increasingly even.

The U.S. won the World Cup in 1996 on Canadian soil. Canada won the Olympic hockey tournament at Salt Lake City in 2002. Team USA won the teams' preliminary-round match for its first victory over Canada in Olympic play since 1960, but that was a week and -- for Canada -- a starting goaltender ago.

"Don't get me wrong. We'd like to do it for the country and we'd like to do it for everybody involved. We'd like to do it for ourselves, first," said Canada Coach Mike Babcock, whose team faltered in its early games but steadied when Roberto Luongo replaced Martin Brodeur in net.

"Someone's going to be very happy and we expect it's going to be us."

Canada has the advantage of home ice and a flag-waving, face-painting, maple leaf-wearing crowd that is sure to fill every corner of the arena.

"You come out on the ice you see everybody screaming, wearing red. It gets the guys going even more," Luongo said Saturday.

Because of that support, because Canada has enough native talent to have entered two medal-contending teams in this tournament, Canada should be the favorite.

Not so, say the Canadians. They say they're the underdogs because they were slow starters and the U.S. went 5-0 to reach today's finale, including a six-goal first period in a 6-1 semifinal romp over Finland on Friday. They were unanimous in their praise of goalie Ryan Miller and his tournament-leading 1.04 goals-against average and .954 save percentage.

"They have a good team and they have depth," said Jarome Iginla, who scored twice in Canada's gold-medal triumph at Salt Lake City.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter who's favored.

"If we play as well we did in the last game in the first period, I like our chances," U.S. defenseman Brian Rafalski said. "Both these teams are capable of winning. It's going to be who can get out there and get the job done."

The way each team was structured will determine how the job is completed.

Canada has an array of offensive options, with Joe Thornton, Sidney Crosby and Ryan Getzlaf as its top three centers on three dynamic lines. The U.S. can't match that.

But where the U.S. might have an edge is in its deliberate composition. Iginla said Canada "has four first lines." But in a short tournament like this winning doesn't require four top lines -- it requires grinders and role players like tournament faceoff leaders Ryan Kesler (76.3%) and Joe Pavelski (69.6%) and penalty killers Ryan Callahan and Chris Drury.

Kings winger Dustin Brown wasn't an obvious choice for Team USA because his stats aren't dazzling. But he's a banger, an abrasive force in front of the net. And that's where the U.S. is most likely to score, not off finesse and rushes but off deflections and screens and tips.

Callahan and Drury, he said, are "very skilled in their own right, but the penalty killing is their thing and they do that very, very well. They've been a key to our success on the PK. Maybe if you take one or two of those players out our PK is a lot worse than it is and we're not sitting here in this game."

Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane, the closest thing the U.S. has to a game-breaker, said choosing specialists instead of taking the most talented players was the right strategy.

"Look at a team like Canada -- they've got a ton of skill and highly talented players that they fit into different roles, and that's not really the situation with our team," Kane said.

"I think our team was picked on players for the situation. Guys like Chris Drury, he's an older guy and he's there for leadership and penalty killing. David Backes on the fourth line is running over guys. And myself and Zach Parise and Paul Stastny, we're counted on to produce offense.

"It seems every player was picked for a reason and they did a great job picking it, I think."

In a game that appears to be so evenly matched, one of those picks could make the difference today.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-olympics-hockey-advance28-2010feb28,0,58708.story

Despite Apolo Anton Ohno's disqualification

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VANCOUVER - Apolo Ohno thought he had earned yet another silver medal last night, but he only had himself another short-track controversy.

Ohno was disqualified in the 500-meter race final after subtly bumping Francois-Louis Tremblay of Canada, causing Tremblay to crash just before the finish line. Instead, Charles Hamelin captured gold, Sung Si-Bak of Korea was second and Tremblay won bronze. Sung also fell in the final yards, then scrambled across the line.

"There was no space to move up," Ohno said. "I kept waiting and waiting and waiting and on the last corner I ran up on the Canadian guy. I put my hand up so I wouldn't run into him. There was just no space.

"You know, it's the head Canadian referee out there and there were two Canadians in the race," Ohno said.

The night was far from a total loss for the Americans, however. Ohno and his teammates won a bronze behind Canada and Korea in a wacky 5,000-meter relay finish, with Ohno on the final leg. And Katherine Reutter of Champagne, Ill., captured silver in the women's 1,000-meter race, assuring the U.S. Olympic team of a record medal haul in Vancouver.

Reutter, 21, slipped in behind gold medal winner Wang Meng of China with one lap left in the race and held off challenges from Park Seung-Hi of Korea and Zhou Yang of China, who was disqualified.

"I feel like everything I've ever done has paid off," Reutter said. "This is my moment I've been dreaming of. I thought I might be bawling (if I won a medal), but it was just this explosion of happiness. I have put so much of myself into my sport, more than I ever thought I could."

Reutter became something of a national celebrity after she had Stephen Colbert autograph her thigh on his "Comedy Central" show. She is from the same town as Bonnie Blair, and was inspired to become a speedskater when Blair visited her high school.

As for Ohno, he went against the top three 500-meter skaters in the world in last night's final. He skated last for most of the race before making his desperate move coming off the final turn. According to the referee, Michel Verrault, Ohno had been a bit too desperate.

This was never supposed to be Ohno's strongest event, and the qualifying heats were typically crazy adventures as well. As an older skater, his sprinting speed was in question. He came into the race ranked only ninth in the world at 500 meters, and already appeared in trouble in a quarterfinal heat, skating behind the pack in fourth and last.

But short track is short track, and Thibaut Fauconnet of France lost an edge and took out Tyson Heung just in front of Ohno.

Ohno successfully hurdled both bodies and moved easily onto the semifinal, where he ran into an extremely difficult draw - against two Koreans and Tremblay, ranked second in the world.

He persevered, however. Lee Ho-Suk of Korea lost his balance on a straightaway and went down. Then Ohno sling-shotted himself with two laps to go and held on to finish first, qualifying for the final.

After Reutter took silver and the relay team bronze, the U.S. Olympic team was assured of surpassing its all-time record medal count of 34 attained at Salt Lake in 2002. The Americans already have 34 medals, and will win two more in the finals of long-track team pursuit and men's hockey.

The all-time record by any country is 36 medals, held by Germany at Salt Lake, a record the Americans will at least tie here. The U.S. is trying to become the first team since Germany in 1976 at Innsbruck to lead a Winter Olympics, wire to wire, in total medals.

The U.S. still has additional shots at medals with Bode Miller in the slalom today, and from its four-man bobsled team, which stands in first place after two of four runs.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/winter_olympics_2010/2010/02/27/2010-02-27_despite_ohno_dq_two_more_medals.html

Canada Beats USA 2-0 to Win Olympic Gold in Women's Hockey

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Canada's women's ice hockey team has beaten the United States, 2-0, to win the gold medal at the Olympics in Vancouver. The win is Canada's third consecutive Olympic title.

Canada and the United States were largely even for most of the game, but Canadian goalkeeper Shannon Szabados was the difference. The Americans fired the puck at the Canadian goal 28 times, but Szabados turned them away each time.

Marie Philip Paulin of Canada scored both Canadian goals - at 13:55 and 16:50 of the first period. USA Coach Mark Johnson said that his team is disappointed it did not win, but he is proud of the effort they put out.

USA Woman's Hockey Coach Mark Johnson, 25 Feb 2010

D. Byrd -VOA

USA Woman's Hockey Coach Mark Johnson, 25 Feb 2010

"We came up a little short this afternoon, but I think when the dust settles, the entire - everyone on our team can leave Vancouver with their heads up high," said Mark Johnson. "Unfortunately it just didn't work out today, but I think they have a lot to be proud of and I know our entire coaching staff is extremely proud of them."

The last time the USA won a gold medal in women's ice hockey was 1998 in Nagano, Japan. U.S. defender Angela Ruggiero - who has played in four Olympics and lost to Canada twice - says that she and her teammates did everything they could, but Canada was too good.

U.S. defender Angela Ruggiero, 25 Feb 2010

D. Byrd -VOA

U.S. defender Angela Ruggiero, 25 Feb 2010

"We put our best foot forward tonight," said Angela Ruggiero. "We couldn't put the puck in the net, but we are proud of ourselves. You know, disappointed that it isn't the gold. But we are proud to really not have any regrets. We did everything we could. In that sense were are extremely proud."

The win is the Canadians third consecutive women's ice hockey victory, with two of them coming over the United States. It also earned Canada its eighth gold medal of the Vancouver Games, the nation's highest ever Winter Olympic total. Earlier, Finland defeated Sweden, 3-2 to take the bronze medal.

Source: http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/sports/Canada-Beats-USA-2-0-to-Win-Olympic-Womens-Hockey-85478242.html