Olympic Hockey Wrapup: Weber, Suter pick up assists as US, Canada roll

by Chris Burton on Feb 16, 2010 10:47 PM EST

The men's hockey tournament got underway today, and with it comes a feature that we'll be running throughout the tournament here at On the Forecheck. We'll be concisely recapping each men's game and providing Preds-related Olympic news. Tip o' the virtual hat to Aditya in the comments for directing me to some better statistical sources.

United States of America 3, Switzerland 1

The young Americans put together a decent performance against Jonas Hiller and the Swiss, but will need an extra gear in order to compete with Russia and Canada. Near the end of the first, Anaheim Duck beat Anaheim Duck as Bobby Ryan went top shelf on Hiller. In the second, David Backes scored on a beautiful coast-to-coast goal that left Yannick Weber looking like a road cone. Finally, Ryan Suter provided the point shot on the power play that led to Ryan Malone's goal, and recorded the primary assist. Suter had the second highest TOI for the USA with 19:03, and had one shot on goal. Next up for the US is Norway.

Canada 8, Norway 0

In a game that took a while to get going (no goals in the first frame), the gold-medal favorites eventually waxed the poor Norwegians. Canada received goals from Dany Heatley (2), Jarome Iginla (2), Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, Corey Perry, and Rick Nash. Shea Weber picked up a secondary assist on Mike Richards' goal, which was essentially shorthanded. You really couldn't tell he was in the play, though, as Richards scored on a rush off of a Patrice Bergeron rebound. Weber had the Canadians' second highest ice time, as well, with 19:40, to go along with 4 shots on goal. Canada's next game is against Switzerland on Thursday.

Russian Federation 8, Latvia 2

The Russians got off to a good start as well, getting 2 goals from Alex Ovechkin and Denis Zaripov, and one from Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexei Morozov, and yes, Alexander Radulov. Evgeni Nabokov let in two, so it will be interesting to see if Ilya Bryzgalov gets the call on Thursday. Sergei Federov had 2 assists in just 11:05 TOI. Truly shocking, though, was that Russia was 1 for 8 on the power play. I was anticipating a monumental special teams showing against Latvia considering the personnel that they can ice. Russia plays Slovakia on Thursday.

Other notes

The Swedish lines were released today, and Patric Hornqvist will be on a line with Henrik Zetterberg and Peter Forsberg. Quite an honor for our young Swede.
Sweden opens play tomorrow night (6:30 CST, CNBC) against Marcel Goc, Alexander Sulzer, and Team Germany.
Martin Erat and the Czech Republic play Slovakia at 10:55 CST on CNBC.

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Comments

Weber was tied for the team lead in shots

with 4

Graphic Designer/Researcher/Writer at Music City Miracles.
Official Graphic Goon of On The Forecheck.

by Aditya T (smashville) on Feb 16, 2010 10:51 PM EST reply actions

The US played better than the score

I think they’ll give Canada a good fight. I hope.

Hooray for Partric.

by Sam Page on Feb 16, 2010 10:52 PM EST reply actions

And Chris, TOI stats can be found on vancouver2010.com

Suter was second in defensemen with 19:03,
and Weber was second on the entire team with 19:40

Graphic Designer/Researcher/Writer at Music City Miracles.
Official Graphic Goon of On The Forecheck.

by Aditya T (smashville) on Feb 16, 2010 10:56 PM EST reply actions

awesome

Thanks, didn’t know about that site. Looked all over various sporting sites, NBC, etc.

On the Forecheck-where Patric Hornqvist is never underappreciated.
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by Chris Burton on Feb 16, 2010 11:03 PM EST up reply actions

Predator contributions

Add a goal for Radalov to the points amassed by predator players. Contributions from every player – good for Preds!

by EXPECTATIONS on Feb 17, 2010 12:25 AM EST reply actions

I would rather the traitor not score

Graphic Designer/Researcher/Writer at Music City Miracles.
Official Graphic Goon of On The Forecheck.

by Aditya T (smashville) on Feb 17, 2010 12:34 AM EST up reply actions

"predator contributions"

have to come from true predators. players who actually wear the sweater and fight every game along with the other TRUE PREDATORS

by flyalder on Feb 17, 2010 12:45 AM EST up reply actions

Came through the system – don’t necessarily condone his actions – just that his success is partly due from his association with OUR PREDS.

by EXPECTATIONS on Feb 17, 2010 8:10 AM EST up reply actions

Ugh

That makes me root for him even less

Graphic Designer/Researcher/Writer at Music City Miracles.
Official Graphic Goon of On The Forecheck.

by Aditya T (smashville) on Feb 17, 2010 10:18 AM EST up reply actions

^this

I hate him defecting, but what I hate even more is that he’s actually good.

I’m not sure what I’m gonna do if he ever comes back.

On the Forecheck-where Patric Hornqvist is never underappreciated.
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by Chris Burton on Feb 17, 2010 10:27 AM EST up reply actions

It will be interesting to see what the team does if he comes back. Will they stand up for him? Or will poile trade him off first chance he gets?

by flyalder on Feb 17, 2010 10:46 AM EST via mobile up reply actions

There are only a handful of current players (that contributed) that have actually played with him… most of the younger or free agent players would probably not care less. But Poile would not give him a contract extension until he played the last year of his current contract anyways.

by VApreds on Feb 17, 2010 1:55 PM EST up reply actions