IIHF World ChampionshipDiscuss International Tournaments like the WJC, Olympics, and World Cup, as they take place, or discuss past tournaments. performances.
Let's be reality, was US the underdog going into the final?
View Poll Results: which best describes your thinking
Team USA was an undefeated juggernaut that already whipped Canada once -- Huge Favorites
Let's be reality, was US the underdog going into the final?
I honestly have no idea when I'm being trolled here anymore. Now that the game is over and the chest pumping from both sides has died down a bit, pick one.
I was under the impression that the USA team was playing great hockey and wasn't an underdog at all -- and I thought the game reflected that. Maybe I'm wrong!
They were the underdog for sure, no doubt about it. But, like their first win against Canada, it wouldn't have been a shock or "miracle" if they won. The game was actually a lot more evenly matched game than the first game against Canada in which Miller was outstanding and Brodeur was lousy.
I'd say the US was the underdog going into the Final.
If it had been played in the States, like in Salt Lake, maybe you'd see the opposite.
But the big turnaround was the Canada-Russia game. A very confident Canadian team manhandled the opposition.
And while Slovakia kept things excruciatingly close, I'd say the general perception was that Canada underestimated the Slovakian team. They did not underestimate the Russians nor would they the Americans in the gold medal final.
If Canada had eked by Germany, Russia and Slovakia, barely holding it together, you may have seen people expect Canada to lose given the US result against Finland.
But the fact that Canada was at home, and had achieved a couple of fairly one-sided results, meant that the US would be the underdog for sure.
They weren't underdogs, but if it marginalizes Canada's win and makes them feel a little better about the loss, then sure, why not.
It's just nice to know that they can't label themselves underdogs from now on. They'll be expected to perform well in future tournaments. If I were an American, I wouldn't be happy with anything less than a Silver
the general feeling among people i talk about hockey with was that "holy **** the USA Team is playing great and Miller is in beast mode, if we are to win we need to play insane -- the Slovak game gives me no confidence".
not that we thought Team Canada was the underdog, but i never thought we had an advantage. on hfboards i've run into both arguments that "the Canadian team should have won, they were huge favorites!" and "the US team outplayed the Canadian team all game and all tournament".
i'm just looking for a general consensus on hfboards so i know im not taking crazy pills.
The way I see it, there was no real underdog. Arguments could be made both ways.
Argument for Canadians being underdogs: America won the first game, and they were a true team, who played better than the sum of their parts for the entire tournament.
Argument for USA being underdogs: Canada was the best on paper, and they were on home ice.
There was maybe a slight edge to Canada, but there was certainly no underdog.
the general feeling among people i talk about hockey with was that "holy **** the USA Team is playing great and Miller is in beast mode, if we are to win we need to play insane -- the Slovak game gives me no confidence".
not that we thought Team Canada was the underdog, but i never thought we had an advantage. on hfboards i've run into both arguments that "the Canadian team should have won, they were huge favorites!" and "the US team outplayed the Canadian team all game and all tournament".
i'm just looking for a general consensus on hfboards so i know im not taking crazy pills.
Most people I spoke with thought that Canada had the better overall team but that the US had the better goalie and were playing well as a team.
For the record, virtually everyone I spoke with thought it would be close, and it was.
However, the general thinking was that Miller would have to make a lot of big stops, much as he did in the first USA-Canada game.
to be devil's advocate here: i think it could be easily argued that the team who is undefeated and has beaten their rival previously would be considered the favorite to win the subsequent game.
to be devil's advocate here: i think it could be easily argued that the team who is undefeated and has beaten their rival previously would be considered the favorite to win the subsequent game.
Were you not on the forums after the win? Noone gave the USA any credit for the win. They were underdogs from the start - before the rosters were picked up until the start of the game. Every accomplishment this tourney was discredited for various reasons.
If anything changed it was both teams were viewed as having an equal chance of winning the gold game. But if anyone had the edge, it was still Canada. But make no mistake - with a ridiculous roster like Canada (especially after they finally started to click), there is no way they weren't favored to win.
Nearly any idiot who could read the names on the back of the sweaters knows who the underdogs were.
I'm glad to know that the US hasn't cornered the market on idiots.
But this much is true: this US has proven that they're no longer even with the Czechs, the Finns, and the Slovaks... They're up there with the Swedes, and the Canadians.
The stories going into the next Olympics, if NHL players are involved, will be (i) whether the Russians can reconstitute their team to be competitive, and (ii) how, not whether, the veteran US team led by Captain Zach Parise challenges for gold.
just wanted to put my 2 cents. Im in Australia now and a few americans have been making it seem as if the US was Latvia coming into this tournament. Along with "it isn't our sport"
1- Hockey is a shared north american sport. both countries have a considerable amount of tradition in it.
2- the US also beats Mexico in soccer on a consistent basis, and it that definitely isn't "their sport"
They can't play down with a serious face the fact that they have over 300 million people an investment potential that can only be described as being surreal. I'd say even that the US were slight favorites to win last night.
