As with Salt Lake, the format of this tournament stinks. What's the point of a tournament where 5 of the 8 games mean nothing? This is just a marketing event which gives high profile non-performers a second roll of the dice.
The two undefeated teams, Finland & Slovakia, should get a bye to the Semifinals. Instead, they get the same lottery ticket as a couple of teams with loosing records - USA & Czech Rep - teams who should be going home. Canada & Sweden haven't really played well enough to deserve a berth in the playoffs either.
Who else gets second chances like that in the Olympics? A skier or a skater falls down - too bad, try again in 4 years. But here, a 5-1 team can be out of the medals, while a 5-4 team could win a bronze!
This was the case in 2002 as well. Frankly, Canada didn't really play well until the final; two games - one of those was againsrt BELARUS - which is by far the luckiest gift anybody ever got in the history of international sports.
If this kind of crap is the price of having NHL & NBA players in the Olympics, then I say do away with it. There is no way that a squad with more than one loss should be able to do any better than Bronze - even if it means an embarassing result for a marque team.
The two undefeated teams, Finland & Slovakia, should get a bye to the Semifinals. Instead, they get the same lottery ticket as a couple of teams with loosing records - USA & Czech Rep - teams who should be going home. Canada & Sweden haven't really played well enough to deserve a berth in the playoffs either.
Who else gets second chances like that in the Olympics? A skier or a skater falls down - too bad, try again in 4 years. But here, a 5-1 team can be out of the medals, while a 5-4 team could win a bronze!
This was the case in 2002 as well. Frankly, Canada didn't really play well until the final; two games - one of those was againsrt BELARUS - which is by far the luckiest gift anybody ever got in the history of international sports.
If this kind of crap is the price of having NHL & NBA players in the Olympics, then I say do away with it. There is no way that a squad with more than one loss should be able to do any better than Bronze - even if it means an embarassing result for a marque team.
