89. "The puck just wouldn't stay flat." In response to In response to 88 Sun Feb-23-14 06:17 AM by denny
It was on it's side the whole game which was kinda frusterating from an aesthetic point of view.
But like you said...it was a purely tactical game. I read an interesting article somewhere about how Babcock's team basically ignored Vancouver and only used Turin/Nagano etc to prepare. They really sapped all the ego out of the team. I saw several instances where Crosby had the chance to make a patented cross-iced pass in the offensive zone but instead fired a simple snap shot on Quick. Every shot was on the net (and high) and nobody was allowed to make any sort of pass that would risk a counter attack. They basically played the entire game in the aims to avoid any odd-manned rushes. Theoretically, Canada could've played a B team and there wouldn't have been THAT much a difference.
Not sure what Blysma could've done to counter that. Perhaps sent a floater to circle around centre ice while the puck is in their own end? Beats me. They needed a break and couldn't get one. I did get the sense that they needed to start taking some risks in the third and didn't.
In any case...I had the early, early Olympics shift and just got off work in time for the game. They opened all the bars in TO for the game but methinks Imma stay home. Canada/Russia would've been more poetic....but this is probably the game that had to happen. Just cracked a brew....go-time.