USA vs. Canada Live Blog

I will be live blogging for the USA vs. Canada gold medal game which starts in about 15 minutes. Jeremy Roenick just said "this is the biggest game in hockey history". The environment in Canada hockey place is guaranteed to be incredible.

1st Period
2:30 - And we're off!! Canada won the face-off and it has been pretty much back and forth since then with no great scoring chances for either team.

6:39 - USA has had a great forecheck so far which helped them get a few slap shots from inside the zone. Canada has been able to block most of the US shots which resulted in a few odd man opportunities for them.

11:00 - Dustin Brown makes a great move past Drew Doughty on the left side and gets a great scoring chance that Roberto Luongo barely stops with his skate. Scoring chances are 4-1 USA.

12:50 - Canada gets on the board first thanks to a rebound goal by Jonathan Toews. Mike Richards' shot bounced off Ryan Miller right to Toews who buried it. Canada is 4-0 when scoring first in these Olympics.

14:02 - Canada will go on the PP as Bobby Ryan takes out Dany Heatley's legs.

End of the 1st period - USA had a good scoring chance with a few seconds remaining but couldn't convert. Shorts are 10-8 Canada with the advantage as they lead 1-0. After the buzzer Corey Perry punched Jack Johnson in the back of the head that was dirty and brought the teams together in a small scuffle. No penalties were called.

2nd Period
2:33 - Ryan Malone was called for a high sticking penalty as he got his glove and stick in the face of Corey Perry.

4:41 - The US killed off the Canada PP, blocking a bunch of the shot attempts in the process. Canada's Eric Staal was called for an interference penalty and the US will go on the PP.

7:13 - Canada makes it 2-0 as Ryan Getzlaf makes a nice centering pass that goes off a US defender's stick, straight to Corey Perry who wrists it past Miller.

8:25 - Jonathan Toews is called for tripping and the US will go on their 2nd PP of the game. They desperately need to get something going.

12:44 - USA finally gets on the board as Patrick Kane wrists one on net and Ryan Kesler deflects it in.

End of the 2nd period - Canada's Eric Staal had a breakaway with bout 50 seconds remaining but shot it wide. Shots are Canada: 25, USA: 23. The US started to pick up their game the last 10 minutes of the period and hopefully they continue that into the 3rd.

3rd Period
3:40 - Canada is really outplaying the US right now and have 6 shot attempts this period (none of them have been on net).

8:40 - USA coach Ron Wilson has changed up the lines a little bit to try and create some scoring chances. Hopefully it pays off.

14:55 - Both teams have had good scoring chances with the edge to USA. The US needs to put a puck in the back of the net in the next 5 minutes or Canada will skate away with the gold.

18:43 - USA pulled Ryan Miller and had a few good scoring chances close to the net but couldn't get anything past Luongo. The US used their timeout and both teams are drawing up plays. This offensive zone face-off is huge for the US.

19:35 - GOOOALLLL USA!! Zach Parise found a loose puck in front of the net off a rebound and buried it to tie the game with 24.4 seconds to go. This one's going to overtime!

Overtime
7:40 - Crosby took a pass from Iginla in the offensive zone and puts it 5 hole past Ryan Miller for the gold. Great game by both teams and the US will go home with the silver, more than they were expected to get 2 weeks ago but a disappointment today.

Overall it was a great tournament that definitely got hockey a lot more fans. Side note, Ryan Miller's head looks tiny in his huge pads.

USA vs. Finland Live Blog

I will be live blogging during the semifinal game between the USA and Finland.

1st Period
2:04 - USA dumps the puck towards Kiprusoff and Jack Johnson skates in fast forcing Kiprusoff to make a terrible pass straight to Ryan Malone who wrists it into an empty net from the top of the circle.

6:22 - Paul Stastny makes an awesome pass to Zach Parise who absolutely roofs it over a diving Kiprusoff on the PP to make it 2-0 USA!

8:36 - USA gets its 2nd straight PP goal 2 minutes later to make it, 3-0 not even 9 minutes in. This time it was Erik Johnson from Joe Pavelski and Ryan Malone. (The announcers are mentioning the Fins should pull Kiprusoff.

10:08 - 4-0 USA!!! This is getting outrageous! This time Patrick Kane finally makes a good play and pretty much does all the work himself and backhands it past Kiprusoff. Kiprusoff immediately skates off and pulls himself out of the game. There has been so much scoring I don't need to make other updates! Niklas Backstrom is now in net for Finland.

12:31 - 5-0 USAAAAAA!! Patrick Kane takes an awesome pass from Rafalski and roofs it over Backstrom's right shoulder

12:46 - 6-0 USA before I can even finish the 5-0 post. That makes 2 goals in the last 15 seconds!!! Paul Stastny takes a pass from Jamie Langenbrunner and roofs it top right. Is there a mercy rule???

18:00 - Finland is finally getting a few chances but they are all 1 shot and done.

End of the 1st period - USA got a penalty (Brian Rafalski - kneeing) with 11.8 seconds to go so Finland will start the 2nd on the PP. I'll try to recap some stats from the 1st. Shots - USA: 13, Finland: 4. Kane 2G, Malone/ 1G/1A each, E. Johnson 1G, Langenbrunner/Pavelski 1A each, Rafalski 2A

Al Michaels with a great quote during the intermission, "This is the equivalent of a football team leading another team 42-0 midway through the 2nd quarter".

2nd period
1:50 - The USA penalty is over and Finland only managed 1 shot on net.

7:52 - Finland's Jarkko Ruutu gets a 2 and a 10 misconduct penalty for roughing so we won't see him on the ice for the rest of the period. Well after the play Olli Jokinen came in and tried to take out Kane's feet and sort of put him in a semi-headlock. Dirty play by a frustrated player.

15:51 - The entire period has been pretty even back and forth with a lot of play in the neutral zone. Still 6-0 USA.

End of the 2nd period - As Chrissy from Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County would say, this game is "O-V-E but not R" with the USA leading 6-0. The US had some good scoring chances in the last 2 minutes but couldn't get one past Backstrom. Shots 2nd period - USA: 9, Finland: 7.

3rd period
0:22 - Finland's goalie Backstrom gets an interference penalty for hitting away Patrick Kane's glove when he was trying to pick it up. Selanne will serve the penalty.

2:43 - USA couldn't get anything going on their PP and now Finland will go on the PP after Ryan Malone is called for high sticking.

5:10 - The US killed off the penalty without a problem and then Brooks Orpik and Jackson Johnson put a HUGE sandwich hit on a Finland player.

8:29 - Sami Lepisto gets a penalty for a stick to the face. The US just pulled Ryan Miller and replaced him by Tim Thomas who is seeing his first action of the Olympics. Miller received a standing ovation and stick cheering from the team. Smart move.

11:08 - Bobby Ryan took a shot off the side of the head and went down but skated to the bench on his own. He has his helmet off on the bench with his head down and ice on it. Hopefully he's alright.

14:46 - Finland finally gets on the board with a PP goal from Antti Miettinen. Shot was from the top of the circle and went over Tim Thomas' left shoulder. 6-1 USA.

End of the 3rd period - This game is O-V-E-R!! Final: 6-1 USA as they advance to the gold medal game Sunday at 3EST to face the winner of the Canada vs. Slovakia game later tonight. Finland outplayed the US in the 3rd period and outshot them 14-3 but it was too little too late. Final shots were even at 25 a piece.

Canadian Women Hockey Players Know How to Party

Despite the fact that I despise all things Canada, I must admit their woman's hockey team knows how to party after a big win. They beat the US women Thursday 2-0 to win the gold medal and immediately brought beer, champagne, and cigars onto the ice to celebrate. This sounds like my type of woman. How bad ass is that - smoking cigars and drinking alcohol on the ice in front of thousands of people right after you won gold at the Olympics. Oh ya, some of the players are under the legal age of drinking in Vancouver (19). I guess that's why the IOC is getting all worked up. They (the IOC) have already said they will be looking into the matter and I'm sure nothing good will come of it but I say who cares - let them celebrate. Baseball teams routinely pop open bottles of champagne on the field after playoff series wins. I guess the only difference here are the few underage players, but who didn't drink when they were 18? It should be noted that Marie-Philip Poulin, who scored both of Canada's goals, is from Quebec where the drinking age is 18. Although female sports are like playing male sports underwater, I might just have to watch the next Canadian woman's hockey game to see if they turn it into a frat party after. I must note that I am not condoning underage drinking.


(photo from ESPN, Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

The full story can be found here - http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2010/icehockey/news/story?id=4947716