USA/NY Islanders at the Olympics Day by Day Updates:
Islander overaged prospect Dimtri Upper played for Kazkahstan.
http://www.iihf.com/news/OG06/torino1051.htm
USA gets first win by dominating Kazakhs by 4-1
DiPietro wins, Blake, Parrish, Upper-No points..
It may have gotten the job done, but this pedestrian 4-1 win by USA over Kazkahstan was hardly a work of art. Nonetheless, it gave the Americans their first win of the Olympics and put them on firmer footing for advancing to the quarter-finals next week.
The Americans continued to pound away the rest of the period, using their superior size and skills to advantage while goalie Rick DiPietro stood mostly idle 200 feet away. They were rewarded a third time, again with the extra skater, when Brian Gionta tipped in a point shot by John-Michael Liles while Keith Tkachuk caused havoc in front of the Kazakh goalie.
Russia 5, Sweden 0...
Yashin assist/Jonsson played for Sweden
Nowadays, games between Sweden and Russia are often tense, cautious affairs with tactics worthy of Gustavus Adolphus and Peter the Great. Thursday's Preliminary Round meeting between the two nations, however, was more of a throwback to the 1980's when the Russians routinely obliterated Tre Kronor. In front of 8,530 fans at the Palasport Olympico, the Russians blew the game open with three second-period tallies and never looked back in a 5-0 win.
Ice hockey: Slovaks take control of group with win
(No points for Satan)
Marian Hossa had two goals and an assist as Slovakia skated past Latvia 6-3 on Thursday to take control of Group B in the preliminary round of the men's Olympic ice hockey tournament.
DP GETS FIRST OLYMPIC WIN
Yash Records an Assist on Thursday
Islanders and United States goaltender Rick DiPietro got his first Olympic win in his first Olympic start as the USA defeated Kazakhstan 4-1 on Thursday. DiPietro made 11 saves on just 12 shots, while Jason Blake and Mark Parrish were scoreless. The only thing that stood in between DP and the shutout was a third period power play goal by Kazakhstan.
Earlier in the day, Islanders captain Alexei Yashin recorded his first point of the Olympics as he notched an assist in Russia’s 5-0 victory over Sweden. In other action, Miroslav Satan was scoreless in the Slovakian’s 6-3 victory over Latvia.
After two days, the United States sits in second place in Group B with a 1-0-1 record and three points. The American’s next game is on Saturday when they faceoff against Satan and Slovakians.
I have missed Kenny since he didn't return to the NHL. Seeing him play again for the first time in two years makes me miss him all the more. He looks steady as ever on the Swede blue-line.
I don't think he is officially Islander property anymore.
Mike Emrick several times in this game mentioned Upper is an Islander prospect and compared him with Claude LaPointe with an edge to his game.
Technically Upper is still Islander property because as a European prospect they retained his rights indefinately under the old cba, however the new cba put an end to that by this summer's draft signing deadline or next summer and all prospects must now be signed within a designated amount of time.
Some special guidelines were also announced recently for Russian prospects only because they did not come to an agreement with the NHL/IHHF.
"We don't consider ourselves world beaters now," forward Mike Knuble said. "We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish."
"Based on what happened [against Latvia], we had to win tonight," forward Keith Tkachuk said.
U.S. goalie Rick DiPietro stopped 10 of 11 shots in his Olympic debut. The Americans outshot Kazakhstan 30-9 in the first two periods and 36-12 overall, all the while learning their defensive scheme on the fly.
U.S. puts doubts on ice
Rebounds to crush Kazakhstan
But in his stars-and-stripes pads and helmet adorned with paintings of Iwo Jima and the helicopter his father Rick captained in Vietnam, DiPietro played with more authority than Grahame - the pre-Games designated No. 1 goalie - had the night before. Asked afterward if he believed the American net was up for grabs, DiPietro said: "I don't know. I don't think so.
"I thought John Grahame played extremely well against Latvia. He made a bunch of critical saves and I thought gave us a chance to win. I'm just happy about the result tonight."
U.S. coach Peter Laviolette was similarly complimentary of Grahame's work against Latvia. However, Laviolette has some decisions to make before the competition steps up a notch tomorrow against Slovakia. And, when given the chance, he did not reiterate his declaration that Grahame was the No. 1 goalie.
He won't soon forget U.S. 4, Kazakhstan 1, and how he came close to pitching a shutout last night, and how he helped the Americans win a game they had to have, and how he didn't get much action despite playing the entire game. "A win's a win," DiPietro said. "To see 60 shots and lose wouldn't be a good feeling. I'll take this any day."
"On one hand, it's fun to sit back and watch the likes of Mike Modano and Keith Tkachuk do their thing," he said. "But as a goalie, you like to stay sharp and keep your focus, and that was hard to do out there tonight. You just try to focus on the puck, whenever it comes. It was a challenging mental game for me."
Even if DiPietro doesn't see much action from here, he seems satisfied with his Olympics so far. "I was nervous at first," he said. "That's gone now."
I know that he didn't face many shots, but still a great win for DP! I look at it as the perfect "get your feet wet" game for him and will hopefully lead to him winning a few more games with Team USA!
I know that he didn't face many shots, but still a great win for DP! I look at it as the perfect "get your feet wet" game for him and will hopefully lead to him winning a few more games with Team USA!
GO USA!!!
GO DP!!!
I'm just glad DP & USA got the win. I don't envy Laviolette for having to make the goalie decision on this team.
The one goal against DP was a great pass to an open guy skating right across his doorstep, if anybody remembers playing NHL 94 that was pretty much an automatic goal most of the time, and for good reason since the player with the puck can very easily force the goalie to commit.
So if you're Lavy, what do you do now? Go with the guy who saw more rubber and tied, or go with the guy who saw a lot less rubber and won? Both teams should have been beaten. The team played a much better game the 2nd time around.
I'm partial to Ricky and I think he has certain intangibles here, but like I said I'm partial for obvious reasons. I found it interesting that he said it was a tough mental game for him to stay focused without facing many shots (I found it more interesting that he said it, not that it was actually a challenge.)
I'm just glad DP & USA got the win. I don't envy Laviolette for having to make the goalie decision on this team.
So if you're Lavy, what do you do now? Go with the guy who saw more rubber and tied, or go with the guy who saw a lot less rubber and won? Both teams should have been beaten. The team played a much better game the 2nd time around.
From all indications and both DiPietro/Laviolette's comments, John Grahame is team USA's starting goaltender so I fully expect to see Grahame Saturday. Most Islander fans of course want to see our goaltender in net representing the US and I do think he has the best potential and ability to steal a game but Grahame played well in his game and did nothing to lose his spot and he has posted the better numbers the last month and has earned his place.
From all indications and both DiPietro/Laviolette's comments, John Grahame is team USA's starting goaltender so I fully expect to see Grahame Saturday. Most Islander fans of course want to see our goaltender in net representing the US and I do think he has the best potential and ability to steal a game but Grahame played well in his game and did nothing to lose his spot and he has posted the better numbers the last month and has earned his place.
I agree. Like in a heavyweight title fight, you can't tie to win the belt, you have to win it. Having been named the incumbent starter before the tournament started, Grahame will either have to falter or Dipietro will have to steal a win for this to change. Neither of those events have happened, so you stick with the original gameplan.
But Rick'll almost certainly get one more chance to see if he can do it and Grahame most likely has two chances to lose it. But as long as both goalies are winning, I don't care who gets the start.
Heh, I don't miss it. I still play it from time to time.
Ditto!!! In fact in NHL 2006 on the Playstation they have a classic mode that lets you play NHL 94 but all the names are changed to these ridiculous generic names.
I still have my Genesis laying around too
Long Live NHL 94.
On topic: There's an article on NHL's website that does list DiPietro as the probably starter (either NHL or ESPN's site, not too hard to find and I have to run out the door in a minute so I can't go find it and link it right now, maybe later )
"I'm not that surprised," said Slovak winger Miroslav Satan of the Islanders. "We knew we have some offensive power. For us, it was just a matter of putting the team together and jelling and playing a system with good execution on the ice."
"We're getting our first shots and the goalie was making the save and the second shot was sitting right there for us," said Islanders winger Jason Blake. "I thought we played well. It just didn't go in for us tonight."
Slovakia required far fewer legitimate chances to put two pucks past Rick DiPietro. The Islanders' goaltender played a strong game in his second straight start and appears to have seized Team USA's No. 1 job from opening-game starter John Grahame.
Nothing like waking up at 6am for hockey. I had no idea former Islander Uwe Krupp was the head coach for the German team in the Olympics, good for him.
Nothing like waking up at 6am for hockey. I had no idea former Islander Uwe Krupp was the head coach for the German team in the Olympics, good for him.
One word: TIVO!
Anyway, nice to see so many Isles and former Isles making an impact at the Olympics.
Alexei Yashin, Evgeni Malkin, and Alexander Ovechkin added to the total in the third. Mikelis Redlihs scored a meaningless goal for Latvia near the end to make it 9-2.
DP has looked outstanding in these Olympics. It gives you a pretty good picture of where he is in his development if he had a defense in front of him. Blake looks great and has had several scoring chances. He shot wide a few times although I will admit I couldn't tell by how much he is missing. Parrish, invisible. I don't think he is cut out for this big ice surface. I would have liked him in front of the goalie on the 5 on 3's instead of the periphery where Gionta and Gomez were playing.
Nothing but net
Team USA's medal chances lie squarely on DiPietro
DiPietro is going to have to win a 1-0 game sometime in these Olympics unless the U.S. shooters take a side trip from Turin to Lourdes.
The dysfunctional Islanders might be among the worst training grounds imaginable for embryonic greatness, but six time zones away, that ceases to be an excuse. Indeed DiPietro has handled himself, if not all knuckleballing pucks, well in Turin, staying at home and not roaming the defensive-zone countryside as he often does on Long Island. He just needs to find something a little more profound, a stand-on-the-head performance that will make this crazy goal drought irrelevant.
The task is daunting, maybe even unfair. But you see those proud stripes on his pad? On Wednesday, DiPietro gets a chance to earn them.
Nothing but net
Team USA's medal chances lie squarely on DiPietro
DiPietro is going to have to win a 1-0 game sometime in these Olympics unless the U.S. shooters take a side trip from Turin to Lourdes.
The dysfunctional Islanders might be among the worst training grounds imaginable for embryonic greatness, but six time zones away, that ceases to be an excuse. Indeed DiPietro has handled himself, if not all knuckleballing pucks, well in Turin, staying at home and not roaming the defensive-zone countryside as he often does on Long Island. He just needs to find something a little more profound, a stand-on-the-head performance that will make this crazy goal drought irrelevant.
The task is daunting, maybe even unfair. But you see those proud stripes on his pad? On Wednesday, DiPietro gets a chance to earn them.
Those are some high expectations on DP. Talk about putting the pressure on. I believe in him.
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