Ohhhhh Canadaaaaaa! from jeff hamada on Vimeo.
This was the scene on Granville street Tuesday after Canada's 8-0 waxing of Norway. Seriously, tens of thousands of people filled the streets to watch what was essentially a full speed scrimmage. I can't WAIT for the gold medal game! It's going to be the biggest party of this decade!
Baggedmilk and I have a special place reserved in hell for the Swiss national hockey team. You see, like any good 20 somethings that have been forced to get jobs, join the real world and have become experts at being lazy, 90% of the hockey we play now-a-days takes place via an Xbox. One time, 2 or 3 years ago, as we often do we cracked open a couple beers and proceeded to play a little digital puck. Usually we play each other but every once and a while we'll throw all logic out the window and try to play together on the same team. We figured we'd get an easy game in first to get our legs underneath us, so naturally we picked Team Canada and we figured Team Switzerland would be a formidable but easy task. Next you thing know we're down 2-0 in the third period, firing off our 60th shot on net and cursing the day we ever discovered video games. I think someone working at EA was/is some kind of Swiss National or something because there is no way Martin Gerber should have been that amazing. Cause I mean, it's not like Martin Gerber shut out the Canadians in the Olympics in real life or anything. That's just silly.
Another reason I'm not a big Swiss fan; After the Canada game on Tuesday night the boys and I headed out on the town. We went to Granville Island to try and catch the free Trews show at Atlantic Canada House. Little did we realize that the Swiss house is also on Granville Island, and boy were they rockin' that night. They had won a couple medals or something and they were ready to party. Long story short we didn't end up getting into the concert so we headed back downtown to see if we could somehow cancel the Alexisonfire concert. We hop on the seabus and who joins us? 10 random members of the Swiss Olympic team. I'm pretty sure they were all coaches and shit because they were pretty old. Anyway next thing you know they start chanting "Switzerland, Switzerland, Switzerland!" We obviously rebuttal with "Canada! Canada! Canada!" to which they respond by yelling at the top of their lungs and stomping their feet. We got fucking out chanted in our own god damn country. DAMN YOU SWITZERLAND! If it wasn't for your amazing chocolate, beautiful women and masterfully crafted time pieces you'd easily pass Trinidad And Tobago to take over 30th spot on my "Countries I Dislike" list.
I've actually been nervous about this Swiss team for a few weeks now. They just give me a real uneasy feeling. They seem like one of those teams that could squeak out a couple close wins and next thing you know they're beating Canada in the semi's to advance to the gold medal round. Oh god, can you imagine? Suicide rates in Canada would be at an all time high. And then after the sports media finished offing themselves the rest of us would probably feel pretty cruddy too.
Jonas Hiller is a solid goalie, and his just beginning his ascent to the top of the NHL goalie mountain. Hnat Domenichelli is a turncoat asshole with a stupidly hard name to spell. Seriously you can't just be born in Edmonton, play for Canada in the World Jrs, and then again in 2006 at the Spengler Cup, then all of a sudden turn around and be all like "Yeah, I've lived in Switzerland for 3 years, Olympic team here I come!"
They've also got Portland Winterhawk, and solid young defenseman Luca Sbisa and Islander Mark Streit holding down the back end. They remind me a lot of Streit's New York Islanders team. They've got a few decent pieces here and there but on a whole they can't quite keep up with the big dogs. But again, this is what makes me nervous about them. They have players that the Norway's and the Germany's don't have. They're in that weird gray area. They're better than the shitty teams, but not good enough to be lumped in with the contenders. Thankfully though I can't really remember the last time a middle of the pack team made some kind of unexpected, Cinderella-esque run. Especially during the Olympics.
This game should be more interesting than that Norway game, but there's no way Canada loses this. In fact it won't be near as close as the Swiss/USA game on Tuesday. Canada is going to impose their will early on and never look back.
jeanshorts prediction: Canada 7 - Switzerland 0
GO CANADA GO!
IYWT
-jeanshorts
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