Week 2: Olympic Break

Hey everyone! So i’m sure many of you have noticed that the Winter Olympics have been underway in Vancouver for the past week and I hope you all have gotten a chance to check out the ice hockey games because they have been good ones.  There are several Avs playing in the olympics for their countries including Paul Stastny for the U.S. team. 

However, before I start talking about Olympic hockey I would like to do just a quick recap of the last two games the Avs played before the break.  Following their thrilling OT win against the Thrashers, the Avs concluded their 4 game homestand by hosting the Phoenix Coyotes on 2/12/10.  Rookie Matt Duchene notched both of the goals for the Avs as they defeated the Coyotes 2-1 to finish their homestand with a perfect 4-0 record. 

The following night the Avs headed out west to face the Los Angeles Kings in their final game before the Olympic break.  The trip ended up to be a bad one for the Avs as they were blanked 3-0 by the Kings.  Going into the break the Avs have a record of 35-20-6 and are tied for first in the Northwest Division with 76 points.  The Avs resume play again on March 1st when they host the Detroit Redwings. 

 

With that out of the way its time to talk about some Olympic hockey.  I can’t even begin to talk about how excited I was for the start of Men’s hockey in the Olympics with many of the NHL’s biggest stars playing for their native countries.  The above video is just an Olympic hockey (both Men’s and Women’s) preview that was released prior to the start of the games. Of course power houses such as team Canada and Russia were heavily favored going into the tournament, however through play so far teams such as Finland, the U.S., and Sweden having been showing that they should be counted out of gold medal talk just yet.  The U.S. team cruised through their first two games of group play by first defeating Norway 6-1 and then beating the Swiss team 3-1. 

U.S. Forward Bobby Ryan celebrates after putting the U.S. up 1-0 against Switzerland

 

Next up for the U.S. is a Sunday showdown with team Canada with 1st place for their group on the line.  This game has all the potential to be a good one and one that the U.S. can definitely win against a Canadian team that blasted Norway 8-0, but seemed to struggle and show that they aren’t quite invincible by narrowly defeating the Swiss team 3-2 in a shootout.  In another shoot out the Slovakian team was able to defeat the highly favored team Russia 2-1. Check out this link to see the highlights and shootout from this game. http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=e2709741-cab1-4f76-b0b6-6cdb12a3570e.html?chrcontext=goal#goals+game+slovakia+russia+so 

Ok guys well that about wraps it for this week.  Just a few things before I go: First, I put up a new page that shows the entire season schedule for the Avs with updated scores as games get played.  I hope to soon put up another page to keep track of current stats for the Avs and leaders in the NHL.  Be sure to take in as much Olympic hockey as you can because if its anything like it has been these past couple days, then its sure to get even better as the medal round gets closer.  Well see you all next week when I bring you another Olympic edition of my blog.

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