Welcome to the first of what should be a regular feature throughout the Olympic break, an open thread to discuss all that is going on in the sport of hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
The New Jersey Devils will have 5 players and 2 coaches representing their respective nations at the Olympics. Players include Patrik Elias (Capt. of Czech Republic); Jamie Langenbrunner (Capt. of United States); Zach Parise (United States); Ilya Kovalchuk (Russia); and Martin Brodeur (Canada). Jacques Lemaire is an associate coach for Canada and Tommy Albelin is an assistant coach for Sweden.
Per an email from the team's communication director, the Devils are stepping up online for additional coverage. The official site has a hub for the Olympics; complete with a schedule for both tournaments. The team site also has a blog written by team correspondent Scott Modrzynski called The Devil is in the Details. All posts are listed on the hub; just scroll down past the players and you'll see it on the side. Of course, the team's official Twitter feed (@NHLDevils) and Facebook page will have updates too.
For these posts, I'll include whatever commentary that I think I can contribute, mostly about the USA team, admittedly. More admittedly, I don't know all that much about Women's Ice Hockey short of that Canada and the United States are dominant. If you do know more about the Women's tournament or some of the less-known Men's teams, feel free to educate us all in the comments (or even in a FanPost).
The Men's Ice Hockey tournament begins on Tuesday. Today begins the first round of games for Group B, featuring the also-favored American women going up against China. The second game could be a more competitive game, as well as crucial in getting that second place spot in Group B.
Special Rule: Do not use these posts to complain about how no one cares about Women's or Men's Ice Hockey. This isn't the place for that. Violators will be banned until March 1 assuming no other rules were broken.
Please use this post will be used to collect for all your comments, analysis, and thoughts about today's hockey games in both Women's and Men's Ice Hockey today. Not the other Olympic sports, just today's hockey games here.
February 14, 2010 Schedule (Check your local TV listings for coverage on NBC and their family of networks)
3 PM EST/12 PM PST - Women's Ice Hockey Group B: USA vs. China
Final Result: United States 12 - China 1. Official Boxscore
Most Impressive Player (from the boxscore): Jenny Potter, 3 G, 2 A, 5 SOG, 15:24 TOI
7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST - Women's Ice Hockey Group B: Finland vs. Russian Federation USA TV: CNBC
Final Result: Finland 5 - Russia 1 Official Boxscore
Most Impressive Player in my opinion: Nina Tikkinen, 2 G, 6 SOG, 18:44 TOI