I am not a hockey expert, neither is the author of this article. So, I ask you guys, would it be unusual for someone to intentionally throw an Olympic hockey game? Are we naive? Is this just good strategy? I guess in America we would call this "Sandbagging".
Frankly, I’d prefer a little less truth DAVE BOLING; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Published: February 23rd, 2006 02:30 AM
TURIN, Italy – Calling it lying would be harsh; I consider it situational honesty.
From the time of the ancient Greeks, coaches and athletes spoke in predictable platitudes, concocting sugary fabrications out of habit, out of accepted protocol, and mostly out of respect for their opponents.
Everyone knew it was baloney, but it was palatable and expected.
Honesty, the unvarnished, straight-from-the-gutI delivery, has been among the worst policies for those in sports because truth always seemed to have its consequences.
On the first day after the bulletin board was invented, coaches were pinning clips of opponents’ statements on it to motivate their teams.
Well, welcome to the 20th Winter Olympics, where no one is burdened by unexpressed emotions.
Nobody is actually behaving differently, it’s just that they’re now willing to share it all. It’s as if they fear that after their drug test they also will have to pass a polygraph.
In previous eras, athletes certainly competed with hangovers, but they didn’t talk about it on national television.
They hot-dogged in crucial situations, but never admitted it.
They might have secretly despised a teammate, but they kept their claws sheathed in public.
They have tanked games 1) if it meant getting an easier opponent the next game; 2) to land a higher draft pick; 3) to rest their stars after playoff positioning has been secured.
But it was rarely proclaimed openly to the masses.
What, next you’re going to tell us that some of the guys on injured lists aren’t really hurt?
The latest controversy generated by unexpected honesty arose when Sweden’s men’s hockey coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson speculated that it might be beneficial if his team failed to beat Slovakia on Tuesday because it would mean a pairing the next game against Switzerland rather than more powerful clubs Canada or the Czech Republic.He didn’t exactly announce a plan to tank the game intentionally, but he nonetheless veered dramatically off the accepted path of saying: “We look forward to a tough game against Slovakia, and we’ll be there to give it our best.” And then going out and sitting his star players, who developed sudden minor injuries that were expected to heal in a day or so.
Not only did some infer that his statements hinted of “throwing” a game, but they also seemed a slam of the Swiss that would cause them to rise up and smite them if they eventually were paired.
The International Ice Hockey Federation immediately jumped in, announcing that it would place an observer at the game to be certain that nothing “could potentially harm the integrity of the tournament.”
So, the Swedes went out and dropped a 3-0 contest to Slovakia, with enough apparent enthusiasm to satisfy the observer, and they got the preferred pairing with the Swiss.
Swedish star Peter Forsberg said Wednesday that “we know we played a hard game (against Slovakia).”
Enter the Swiss. Almost from the start, those watching the game saw what Gustafsson was getting at. The Swedes had 17 skaters from the NHL, the Swiss had one.
And it seemed that the Swiss were unable to generate the appropriate aggressive hockey attitude. Perhaps it’s all those years embracing neutrality.
If the Swiss were motivated by any perceived slight by Gustafsson, it didn’t pay off as a motivator as they fell, 5-1.
“It’s just talk,” said Swiss goalie David Aebischer. “It doesn’t matter; it’s what happens on the ice that counts.”
Did the Swiss use it to work up an emotional lather? “Maybe a little bit, but the important thing was we didn’t play as well as we did in other games.”
Forsberg, who had two assists, one on a creative sideways flip through traffic to the goal mouth, said the Swedes had no problem with their coach making such pronouncements.
“Our team didn’t try to think about it at all,” Forsberg said. “I don’t care. Us players, we don’t care about it at all.”
Swiss coach Ralph Krueger, who initially responded to Gustafsson’s statements by suggesting they would go a long way to firing up his team, said after the loss that he actually did not exploit the comments. “I’m the type of coach to concentrate on what we want to do,” he said. “We build on positive things in our program.”
And Gustafsson? “Nothing changes that situation,” he said. “(To) anybody who knows hockey, you put those teams beside each other, they would pick Switzerland (as an opponent).”
Just stating a fact.
Speedskaters Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis have helped turn part of these Olympics into a five-ring circus with the candid statements of their feelings.
Snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis conceded that she was showboating a bit before a fall that downgraded her from gold to silver.
If this era of full disclosure further erodes some of the already endangered notions of sportsmanship and respect for the opponent, then it will be a shame.
It would be nice to believe that a degree of competitive civility can be maintained.
What can’t be disputed, though, is that this avalanche of candor and honesty makes the interviews a lot more interesting.
POSTCARD from Turin
The news conference after the men’s 1,500-meter speedskating race was screwy from the start. Americans Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis would later get sideways to the extent that Davis walked out of the interview.
But at the start, a group of drunken Dutch speedskating fans, half a dozen perhaps, got into the interview room stinking of beer and heckling the athletes. How, you may ask, does that make them different from some others in the room representing the media? Mostly, they didn’t have credentials.
But it became obvious by their presence that credentials are not always checked at these Games. After making a few untimely and inappropriate cracks, the interlopers were booted out.
Dave Boling: 253-597-8440
dave.boling@thenewstribune.com 
CKA Super Elite 
Now it's time to get back to serious stuff....like getting our trophy's back in the arcade. 
Payback time. 
Active Member 
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