After so much promise, the US hockey team hits a wall against Canada and Finland, ending up with no medal to show for it.  The Dudes are already over it, and looking forward to the imminent return of Raffi Torres and Logan Couture.  But how will they fit under the cap?

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With no NHL hockey in the past week, the Dudes turn their attention to the Olympic tournament.  The marquee game so far has been the US beating Russia in a game for the ages.  Canada and Sweden also look like medal contenders, with Finland also playing well.  The Dudes review the Sharks participating, and try to predict the next two rounds.

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So many things to talk about this week!  The Dudes start it off with the great Olympic goal medal game between the U.S. and Canada, and how the loyalties were split just a little bit.  After talking about the loss to the Devils, which the Sharks managed to climb back into, Mike and Doug dive headlong into the trade deadline, because who likes talking trades more than the Dudes?  Lots of Pacific Division action, and there are some winners and losers on trade deadline day

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I don’t mean to sound too negative here, because the USA-Canada game yesterday was probably the best hockey game I’ve ever watched.  It’s hard to beat the suspense of multiple overtimes in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but this one came close.  It had a Game 7 feel with even more talent.  It seems some people are very crushed the US lost, but not me.  I’m disappointed.  Even amidst the disappointment, I’m still very happy about the results- most didn’t pick the USA to medal.  They still beat Canadan once, the most talented team, and held with them into overtime, creating an Olympic moment people will remember for many years to come.  It’s truly a victory for American hockey.  Even more so than 1980 because that game was a triumph of a system, philosophy, and coaching.  This tournament had the top teams all on roughly equal ground to start.

Now that it’s over, it’s time to attend to some Sharks business.  The trade freeze has been lifted, and trades have already started, with Jordan Leopold being dealt to the Pens.  It’s possible the Sharks could make big waves, but I think it’s less likely.  Boston is reportedly in the hunt for Dan Hamhuis.  Kaberle has re-re-reconfirmed he isn’t waiving his NTC.  Corvo is reportedly in the mix, but I would think that would have been part of the Wallin deal if it were in the cards.  We should steel ourselves for the fact that the Sharks could look very similar on Thursday.

That may not be a great thing, especially since Pollak has confirmed that Vlasic does in fact have a knee “tweak” (props to Fear the Fin on calling that one), and hasn’t skated yet.  With a whole host of Sharks not completely healthy for the playoff run last year, this provides a feeling of deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra would say.  At least he’s not trying to play through it, which is more than we could say for Patrick Marleau late in the season last year.  The last thing the Sharks need is to be more rickety on defense, trying to compete against the great Western Conference defensive corps of  Calgary, Detroit, Chicago, and L.A.

We’re waiting for the trade deadline to pass before we do the podcast this week, so look for that Wednesday night.

Three great matchups, three great games.  Maybe the Sweden-Finland game was a shade under “great”, but I’d still say the day lived up to its billing.  And of course the story of the Olympics so far is the U.S. upset of Canada 5-3; it was yet another game where the Canadians vastly outshot their opponent and didn’t win in regulation.  They did the same against the Swiss, but Jonas Hiller had a great performance.  They must be frustrated that the same thing happened last night against Ryan Miller.  Gabe Desjardins had a great post that showed the out-and-out dominance the Canadians had over the Swiss, and here’s a bit of a taste of that about last night’s game.

What to say about last night?  It seems to be a triumph of will vs. skill.  Or maybe it was just superior goaltending giving the U.S. a chance to get some gritty goals and steal it.  Either way, it was incredibly exciting.  I’m still not sure if any of the American players would have made Team Canada if they were all magically transformed into Kraft-dinner eating, Celine Dion-loving Canucks, but somehow they won.  Even if you take out the “Miracle On Ice 2” or whatever they are calling it, it was an extremely pivotal game for the Americans in terms of their medal chances.  Given they won all three games in regulation and have the best goal differential, they have the easiest path through the tournament by far.  Here’s the bracket:

As we can see, Belarus will be our likely opponent in the quarters, with either the Finns or the Czechs a potential semifinal matchup.  The U.S. will avoid the Canadians, Russians, and Swedes until the goal medal game.  That’s what I call a sweet bracket.  While I still can’t say we are the favorites to win gold, now I’d say that I’d be disappointed if the U.S. didn’t medal.  Actually, I’d say the silver is probably more likely than the bronze at this point.  I like our chances vs. the Czechs over any of the Big 3.

Despite the major media coverage, I wouldn’t say this game had any real “national significance”.  Unlikely 1980, there’s no political ideology at stake, and no real underdog status here.  One team made up of NHLers beat another team of NHLers.  And while I’m happy the game was close and exciting, I don’t hold much hope that casual watchers of the game last night will be converted into hockey fans.  We didn’t get an NHL ratings bump after Torino, and we won’t see it this year either.  Frankly, that’s fine by me, because if hockey got popular, that might mean more NBC coverage.  If I hear Ed Olczyk say “active stick” or “puck in the back of the net” one more type, I’m going to start wishing for more Mike Milbury, which will rip open the very fabric of space and time.

I hardly watched any of the Super Bowl yesterday.  Football is marginally interesting to me, but I had other things to do.  Besides, the game always seems to take way too long, with extended commercial breaks and the long halftime show.  Being a big Who fan, I did watch that, but not because I specifically planned for it.  I turned on the TV, and there they were.  Slightly less embarrassing that I thought they would be.  Given they’re all in their late sixties, I guess that’s a victory of sorts.

Now that all that football crap is out of the way, I’m looking ahead in the hockey schedule, to the Sharks’ last four games of the month, and of course, the Olympics.  The first two hockey games for the USA are at noon on work days, so that kind of sucks.  I’ll end of TiVo’ing those, and trying to avoid TSN, which is tough for me.  However, looking ahead to February 21, I see a true sports Super Sunday:

• 12:00 pm – Russia v. Czech Republic.  Nabokov and Ovechkin vs. Vokoun and Jagr.  And that might be the weakest matchup of the day.
• 4:45pm – USA v. Canada.  There’s nothing I can say here that would hype this more than it already is.
• 9:00pm – Sweden v. Finland.  A recap of the 2006 gold medal match.

There should be plenty of motivation to watch all of these games, besides the fact that each will contain current (and sometimes former) Sharks.  This will be the best hockey the world has to offer.  Like hardcore basketball fans love the first round of March Madness, this great day of international hockey may be better than the medal round matches, because they’re all in one day.  I’ll get a dozen bags of chips, a gallon of dip, and a couple of cases of Molson for this one.  The wife won’t be pleased.  Note to self: fill out a vacation request for 2/22.

Happy New Year, and the Sharks are on a roll again.  They’ve now won six straight with their latest- an impressive win over the powerhouse Washington Capitals.  Maybe some of the other wins on this streak weren’t as impressive, but the Dudes break it all down.  All that plus Mike and Doug recap their trip to see the ECHL Stockton Thunder, discuss the various Olympic hockey teams, touch on the World Juniors, and launch the very first contest to win your own limited edition Dudes on Hockey t-shirt.  You’ll have to listen to the podcast to get all the details.

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San Jose is the new Regina!

A quick congratulations to Dan Boyle, Patrick Marleau, Thunder Joe and Dany Heatley for making Team Canada for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics! Hard for anyone to argue that they all don’t deserve it and it would be surprising if Babcock didn’t use the Sharks top line as a unit in Vancouver.

Has Mike Green’s Norris Trophy status dropped that much? Has the reported locker room drama in Calgary prevented their three All-Star blueliners from being on the team? How funny is it that the worst team in the West (Anaheim) has three guys on the toughest team to make in the world? That doesn’t bode well for how badly Murray has screwed up their supporting cast.

Who got the Olympic shaft the hardest, Dudes?

This Thanksgiving episode discusses the crushing loss to Chicago, and the quality wins versus Philly and Anaheim.  The Dudes also address the outstanding questions about Sharks in the Olympics, like whether the Thornton-Heatley-Marleau line will be on Team Canada intact.  Also, be sure to listen to the ChompTalk radio program on AM 1220 on Sunday, December 6 from 8-10pm- hear and talk to the Dudes live!  In other news, there will be a caravan on Sharks fans going down to Anaheim on March 14, 2010, see details here, and a great video of the last roadtrip here.

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