Sochi 2014: Tournament in review

Sochi 2014: Tournament in review

The dust has settled on yet another Olympic hockey tournament, and for the 2nd consecutive games the Canadians have taken the top prize. But first we're going to look at what happened in the knockout phase (The next logical step after last weeks preview).

We'll start with the two feel good stories this round threw at us. The plucky Slovenians and Latvians. In game two of the preliminary round the Slovenian team shocked the world when they thrashed Slovakia 3-1 to claim their first ever Olympic win. They then went on to top the Austrians in the qualification playoff before being dismantled by Sweden in the Quarter Final. The Latvians lost all three prelim games but entered the qualification playoffs as the 11th seed avoiding hosts Russia and, in a Slovenia-Slovakia style shock, beat Switzerland 3-1 to advance to the last eight. They were beaten by Canada with goalie Kristers Gudlevskis giving a superhuman 55 save effort to hold the Canadians to a 2-1 victory.

In the other two qualification playoffs hosts Russia gave false hope, scoring one third of their total goals in beating bottom seeded Norway 4-0. The hapless Czechs did similar to the Russians as they beat the even more hapless Slovakia 5-3.

ELIMINATED: Austria, Norway, Slovakia, Switzerland

The tightest game on paper heading into the quarter finals was Finland against Russia, which it was despite the 3-1 win for the Fins, if you take the score away and focus on the stats of the Canada-Latvia game. The US and Sweden played the Czechs and Slovenia, and both did to the other team practically the same as what each other did to the other team. Confused? (US: 5-2 vs Czech, 5-1 vs Slovenia. Sweden: 4-2 vs Czech, 5-0 vs Slovenia).

ELIMINATED: Czech Republic, Latvia, Russia, Slovenia

In the first semi final Swede goalie Henrik Lundqvist and Finnish goalie Kari Lehtonen each put up 24 saves, each goalie gave up one goal that shouldn't have got throught their equipment. Lehtonen faced one more shot than "The King" and thus conceded one more goal. 

The second semi final was a repeat of the 2010 gold medal game and the highest attended game of the tournament, Canada vs USA. In a defensive stalemate the Canadians outshot the Americans 37-31. The sole goal of the game came off of a precision pass and a tip in. Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars redirected St Louis Blue Jay Bouwmeester's pass beyond Jonathan Quick. Carey Price, behind a mountain of defensmen, shutout the US and Canada advanced to the gold medal game.

ELIMINATED: Finland, USA

The bronze medal game between the Finnish and Americans could have been better. After the loss to Canada the Americans looked as though once behind they didn't want to be there. Shutout for a second game in a row. The 5-0 scoreline whilst deserved is also flattering of the way the game was played. Teemu Selanne scored two goals as he bows out of Olympic hockey with a bronze medal.

In the gold medal game Sweden and Canada both started fantastically. Just over midway through the first period Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews opened the scoring, five seconds after the point in the game he opened the scoring in the 2010 gold medal game. 

Just like in the semi final the Canadian back line was a brick wall. The Swedish team huffed and puffed until Sidney Crosby broke away and tucked the puck beyond Lundqvist to double the lead with just under five minutes left in the second period. The Swedes still had hope, that is until Chris Kunitz found the back of the net and effectively killed off the game midway through the third.

Sweden were missing Nicklas Backstrom after he violated the IOC anti-doping rules. He admitted to taking Zyrtec-D, an allergy medicine. He has taken one pill per day for years. The pill contains pseudoephedrine, a banned substance.

STATISTICS

Phil Kessel finished joint top of the points leaders with Erik Karlsson each scoring eight. Joint third were Mikael Granlund and James van Riemsdyk on seven. Remarkable for Kessel and van Riemsdyk as no American scored a single point in their final two games.

Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price was the top goalie. Playing in five of Canada's six games, Price gave up three goals against Norway, Finland and Latvia before shutting the door against the US and Sweden. He also recorded a 0.59 GAA and 103 saves giving him a .972 SV%.

Finland's Teemu Selanne won tournament MVP. Directorate awards went to Carey Price for best goalie, Erik Karlsson for best defenseman, and Phil Kessel for best forward.

The international media voted on a team of the tournament. The team was: G - Henrik Lundqvist; D - Erik Karlsson & Drew Doughty; F - Teemu Selanne, Phil Kessel & Mikael Granlund.

With the conclusion of the games comes the excitement of the return of the NHL. As well as the hope of new fans getting into the sport (no matter how much Seth Bennett and Brent Popes's commentary put you off).

The NHL returns on Tuesday when the Carolina Hurricanes take on the Buffalo Sabres. Also, the Between The Pipes podcast will return on Tuesday recapping the Olympics and getting ready for the return of the NHL, the Stadium Series and Heritage Classic next weekend, and we are just ten days away from the trade deadline.

Congatulations Canada!!!