While it would indeed seem to be great for the sport, I’m not buying that there will be any net positive impact to the NHL - and thus I’m torn about the current debate centered around whether NHL players should go to Russia in 2014. This Olympic tournament was terrific, and not just for the Gold Medal game… the overall play in most/all of the games (at least from what I saw) was excellent… very entertaining. I submit that having the best players in the world (i.e. a lot of NHL players, even on teams other than Canada/USA) tends to help to raise the level of play. I do believe that “playing for one’s country” helps too. Yes, NHLers are trying to play for a Cup, and a paycheck, and some… even for the organization and/or fans - but playing for country, be it USA, Canada, Sweden, Russia, Finland, Slovakia, whatever… yeah, I think it brings out the best in most of these guys.

However, the Olympic game is not the NHL game. Folks who may have tuned in to watch the Olympics, even just the Gold Medal game, will be sorely disappointed if/when they subsequently tune into an NHL game - and consequently, I just don’t see the “bump” that some think will happen, or certainly that many suggest needs to happen to justify the NHL shutting down for 2 weeks in the middle of the season when it’s only major competition is the NBA (and I would argue the NBA and NHL tend to have separate fan bases) i.e. football’s done, and baseball hasn’t started yet (and I could see the NHL losing more fans to one or both of those sports, given the choice).

If Bettman is making purely a business decision, I think he’d be a fool to allow** his players to play in Russia in 2014 - or in any future Olympics, for that matter. However, I still hope he does… cuz even if it’s on tape-delay or TiVo, the Olympic hockey tournament featuring NHL players is just great, great hockey to watch.

**I heard Ovechkin say that even if Bettman doesn’t shut down the NHL to “allow” players to go play in the Olympics, he still intended on playing for his home country in 2014. I suppose the NHL and/or the team (in this case, the Capitals) could or would suspend and/or fine a player who goes AWOL to play in the Olympics, but I wonder if they would actually do that to one of the two best players in the sport (and thus by definition, probably one of only two NHL players that a majority of fans could even name). If Bettman doesn’t officially shut down, but then does nothing when Ovechkin bolts, he’s tacitly allowing anyone to leave their NHL teams for two weeks… leaving the NHL with a watered-down product akin to having replacement players suit up during a strike. If he doesn’t shut down, and then penalizes guys that leave to play for their country, he could have quite a PR nightmare on his hands - and a pissed-off Players Union (which may or may not be a big deal, since Players Unions generally get pissed at owners/commissioners of their sports anyhow).

I dunno… it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

And I’m still glad Canada won.

As for being happy that Canada won, I feel like I’m the Canada apologist in the group if there is one, and I don’t think even I would go so far as to say I’m glad they won. I also won’t go so far as to say “fuck Canada” though a la The Gonz.

I guess I’d say I’m not upset that Canada won for some of the reasons that Cliffy mentioned, but I’d have preferred that *our* team had won. I like many of those guys, and it would have validated the work that USA Hockey has done in the last decade to build a real national team program, and also the strategy of putting together a team rather than the best collection of talent. I personally think the reason that Canada played down to other teams in terms of the talent gap is they had too many damned first line centers on the team. Except for the San Jose line of Heatley, Jumbo Joe and Marleau (how does one team in the NHL have a line that good, btw?), the rest of the team was basically first line centers. And it showed. Iginla and Crosby had no chemistry until the last play of the games. That said, that team was stacked, and it would have taken a lot to beat them on home ice, and our guys almost pulled it off. They should be proud of that.

All in all, the whole thing was really great for the sport, so that’s good too.

Since I am still a novice as far as hockey - quick question….Does the Crease rule apply in the Olympics, because Parise was definitely in the crease.

Oh, well…