Ode to Women's Hockey

 Well we had quite the exciting weekend of hockey.  We were able to take in 3 games this weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  In fact we enjoyed it so much that we got the girls tickets to the gold medal game on Tuesday night.  After the Suomi (Finland) vs. Canada game on Friday night drew a record (and boisterous crowd) on Friday night, I would expect the arena to be electric for the gold medal game.  That's assuming the Canadians take care of business against the Russians tomorrow night.

I'm pretty excited for the girls and my wife who is planning on taking the girls - that is assuming Mimi our youngest is sufficiently recovered from her bout with an ear infection which has turned her into a bit of a Mommy-suck this week.  I'm especially excited for my wife who played hockey competitively right through her college years.  It'll be nice for her to have a chance to see the best women hockey players in the world do their thing.  Here's hoping Hayley Wickenheiser is healthy enough to play - that'd be a real treat as I've heard time and again how she's pretty well the greatest women's hockey player ever.  It'd be akin to the time I got to watch Brett Favre play  in Lambeau in 2004 when I thought he was on the verge of retirement.  Of course now I know that I actually had years left to see him play...

In the other semi-final game tomorrow Finland gets another shot to try to knock off the Americans.  They'll be in for some tough sleddin'.  As the son of a Finlander (my mom was born in Alajarvi and spent her first 9 years there) I can't help but cheer for the Finns (I even wore my Teemu Selanne Finnish national jersey to the Canadian game).  However I acknowledge they have an up-hill battle.  One thing seemed to clear to me as I watched the two European teams battle against our North American women.  Team Canada and team U.S.A. just seemed
a step ahead of their European counter-parts.  This is not to knock individual skill or athletic levels - to be sure they are all elite athletes.  Nor do I think it is a matter of heart or effort.  As a team though, the North Americans were simply more aggressive when it came to taking shots on net.  I felt bad for the Finnish and Swiss goalies.  They were outshot something like 3:1 and 6:1 respectively.

Now I know from talking to my brother-in-law, who was a stand-out goalie for the Royal Military College back in his day, that it sometimes pays to be patient, move the puck around and wait for the right shot - like on a power play.  But when that's not working and when the dump and chase strategy fails to yield quality or quantity shots, I say let 'em rip.  Take the shot and crash the net - hope for a rebound, a loose puck or a funny bounce.  Give the puck a chance to get in the net.  Often it is the shots that you do not take that you end up regretting.  The shots you do take, well...while they may not be perfect and the results may be unpredictable just steel your mind to the fact that you can and will deal with the consequences.

To be sure I'm no hockey expert (nor even a player) and my style of play (if I have a style of play) is gritty, messy and probably unorthodox.  So I'm not one to be dishing out advice as if I know.  So take my observations with a pound of salt.

I do hope the Finns can pull off an upset and I'll tell you why - because it goes beyond patriotic pride in my mother's land.  I understand that there was debate regarding the future of women's hockey in the  Olympics due to the lack of competition. That honestly is the dumbest thing the Olympic committee could do.  What incentive would these women and      the thousands of girls playing hockey have to get better if there isn't something shoot for?  These women are elite athletes and deserve to have a stage to compete on.

Admittedly, there is presently a noticeable gap in the competition but this is still a young sport and I have no doubt that the other nations will narrow that gap and eventually close it altogether.  If the Finns could make it to the gold medal game then perhaps that would be an indicator that competition is alive and well and still developing.  What if the Finns do make the gold medal game?  Well I love the underdog story and would be ecstatic if they won, I just can't bring myself to cheer against our women, on home ice no less (which is why I can't hope for the Russians to make it to the gold medal game).  I do think it'd be amazing for the game of hockey if the Finns surprised everyone by making it past the Americans and then beating clearly the best players in the world in their own backyard, thought that would certainly sting as a proud Canadian.
The lack of competition argument could really be used to nullify the whole point of the Olympics on a macro-level.  Do you realise that since 2000, the top three countries in regards to total medals won has always been U.S.A., China and Germany?  And since 1998 (when women's hockey was first included in the Olympics) the top team country has always been Germany or the U.S.A. with these countries being 1-2 for the past three Olympics!?  But no one's saying we should do away with the Olympics (well maybe they are but those people cite more eco-political reasons I believe - like the gross commercialisation of the games) because that'd just be crazy!!

I digress...I love women and I dig hockey - more specifically I love my lil' women who like hockey, and I now love women's hockey.   I'm looking forward to watching the game grow and my girls along with it.

Keep your stick on the ice!