OLYMPICS: Precious Metal Awaits USA

Vancouver, BC - Be it gold or silver, the Team USA hockey team is guaranteed to be coming home with medals around their necks after destroying Team Finland earlier today at Hockey Place.

Some game notes and observations:

* In the thousands of games I've witnessed in the last 20 years I don't recall ever seeing a goalie pull himself from the game, but it sure appeared that way after the U.S. scored their fourth goal. Calgary Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff skated away from his Finish goal crease, he made a beeline for the bench and proceeded directly to the locker room. One of the strangest things I've seen during the Olympics. Like Russia on Wednesday, I would have bet the team was switching goalies when they called the timeout. Nope. They left him in there and the results were pretty much the same.

* Poor Dustin Brown. He's having a solid tournament, no complaints. Big hits, solid passes, the whole nine. But, damn - he can't buy a goal in the tourney so far. His line mates are cashing in, yet it's a big fat zero in the goal column for #32 after five games. Perhaps he's saving up for a big finish on Sunday.

* Jack Johnson on the other hand - he's reestablished himself as a rock solid dman. Doughty has deservedly taken the spotlight in LA over the last 18 months, but there is no doubt about it...Jack is on a mission to make a point here.

* I just can't say enough good things about Ron Wilson. I've had tremendous respect for many, many years. Heck, after the '96 World Cup he pretty much can do no wrong in my book. That said...he's found a way to take it to the next level. He has shown such patience and poise it's amazing. He's matched the guys up with line mates in ways that allows each of them to play their own game and play as a unit. Today he used the youth and speed of Team USA to dominate the experience of Team Finland. He deserves a ton of credit for getting the Americans to the game on Sunday.

* More on Wilson - nice move by the coach to put Tim Thomas in net for the third period. Obviously, the U.S. had the game in hand and it was a courteous thing to do - let the guy get some real action on the ice, after Ryan Miller had taken the team this far. Class all the way.

* And Wilson part 3 - taking nothing away from Terry Murray, just thinking back... the Kings fired Marc Crawford a few summers ago and looked around to see who was available to coach in LA. They hired Terry Murray. Either the next day or two days later the San Jose Sharks surprisingly fired Ron Wilson. Just think. If things had gone different by a few days, he PERHAPS could be the coach of the Kings. Again, taking nothing away from Terry Murray. He's doing a more than fine job. Just kinda reminds me of that movie Sliding Doors. Mere minutes one way or the other can change your life.

* The EuroKings are back for one more go at it tonight. Two funny stories about the last Slovakia game. One, I'm wearing an old school Slovakia Palffy jersey (when he was wearing #33, rather than the #24 he's wearing this time) and a guy walks by me in the lobby of Hockey Place - only seeing the number on my jersey - and says "Bad call, everybody hates Chara!" Then, during the next intermission a guy comes up to me as I'm leaving the restroom and says "Oh I love Ziggy, too bad this will be his last game in North America." I usually just ignore these type of people, but I turned and said "I think he has a few more in him." Thankfully, I was right. Slovakia downed the heavily favored Swedish team...or the Euro Red Wings if you prefer.

* Dustin Brown and Jack Johnson will have to battle one of their LA King teammates on Sunday for the gold. Will it be Doughty and Team Canada? Or will it be Michal Handzus and Team Slovakia?

* Can the EuroKings do it? Can Ziggy, Stumpy, Zues, Lubo and the gang rally one more time? It would be incredible on so many levels. To see Canada go down in flames would be crushing for the red leaf army. More importantly, to see the EuroKings play for the gold would be one of my personal high points of the tournament. And before you write me - yes, I'll be pulling for Team USA on Sunday regardless of their opponent.

* On Sunday - GO RYAN!

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/Mayor119

For more Olympics coverage on MayorsManor - including some exclusive pictures - simply type OLYMPICS in the search box near the top left corner of this page.

OLYMPICS: Be careful what you wish for...

Vancouver, BC - That's all I kept thinking when the guy behind me kept screaming "We Want Russia" early in the third period. Sure, Team Canada was dominating Germany. But, come on. All in good time brother. The game will be epic - Sid vs. Ovi...the NHL has to be thrilled.

Before we get to that game though, let's start with the morning game: Switzerland vs. Belarus.

Igor Larionov was in the house to catch the game. I had a chance to chat with him for a few minutes and he remains very high on Kings prospect Andrei Loktionov. You may recall Loktionov was working out with the Russian legend when he first came to North America. Larionov also played with Loktionov's father as a youngster in Moscow.

Along with the sold out Hockey Place (it will return to 'GM Place' after the Olympics), he was treated to a rather dull game for the first forty minutes. Belarus came out with all guns blazing in the third and turned it into a thrilling finish. They came up short though, still tied after 10 minutes of overtime...and eventually losing in the shootout. The Ducks' Jonas Hiller was in net again for the Swiss. He and his countrymen will now get a rematch with the U.S. in the Quarterfinals on Wednesday at noon PST.

All of Canada was probably secretly holding their breath for the 4:30pm game with Germany. Sure, they were supposed to beat them soundly. However, if the sea of red maple leaf wearing fans have learned anything this past week, it's that nothing should be taken for granted.

That said, things finally went according to plan for Team Canada - as Scotty Bowman looked on from one of the many corporate suites. Not to far away was a collection of former Oilers in another suite - Craig MacTavish, Kevin Lowe and some guy named Gretzky.

On the ice, Jumbo Joe Thornton had the only goal in the first, giving Canada a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes. They must have taken a giant exhale during the intermission because from that point on it was all Canada and they came in waves. When it was all said and done, the 8-2 victory earned them a game with Russia tomorrow at 4:30pm PST. Can you say big game?

LA Kings phenom Drew Doughty was his usual stud self. He finished the game with 1 assist and was a +4 in just over 15 minutes on the ice. He seemed to do no wrong and even had a couple of near miss goals. One thing I can't stress enough is how much the Canadian fans LOVE this kid. They can't stop talking to me about him. Praise, compliments, astonishment and more - all rolled up into one. Some guy said to me tonight 'You watch him every night - is he really this good all the time or is he just having an outstanding tournament?' and before I could even answer he added 'He's probably been our best defenseman.' I keep hearing this over and over this week. The secret is out folks.

The night cap was the Euro Kings (Team Slovakia) vs. the upstart Norway team. For some reason all the Canadians in the arena were cheering hard for Team Norway. Perhaps they fed off the energy because some how Norway made a game of things. LA Kings (underrated) forward Michal Handzus put Slovakia up early 1-0. Former Kings Stumpel, Palffy, Lubo and Demitra seemed to be on the ice all the time in the first half of the game - each picked up an assist before the night was over. The Euro Kings won 4-3 and will face off with Sweden tomorrow evening. That could be a tall task for the Slovaks.

Interesting game note - Ziggy is playing with a wooden stick. Don't see much of that anymore.

At the other arena across town it took overtime, but the Czech Republic knocked off Latvia to advance to Wednesday's Quarterfinal game vs. Finland.

More soon...

The Mayor
www.twitter.com/Mayor119

For more Olympics coverage on MayorsManor - including some exclusive pictures - simply type OLYMPICS in the search box near the top left corner of this page.