Shannon Szabados Debuts Saturday

((HT: WTVM-TV))

Shannon Szabados has her date squared away for her Columbus Cottonmouths debut...

Saturday night against Knoxville..
FOSG Dave Platta was all over the story...
WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather

The goalie that led Team Canada to their gold in Sochi had been recruited for almost a year by some of her teammates wh were already in Columbus playing for Jerome Bechard...

Now, all we need is the gear...

Team Canada Goalie Playing For SPHL Franchise

And, no, the HQ isn't talking about Carey Price...

Shannon Szabados, it appears, is going to be spending the rest of the season as a goalie for the Columbus (GA) Cottonmouths in the SPHL- a good goalie gets a chance in the US minor leagues...

She broke the news in an interview with Sportsnet 590 The Fan's "Sportsnet Tonight" program with Jeff Sammut and George Rusic.

Catch the interview hyah...

The gold medal-winning goalie is adding the SPHL to her Western Hockey League resume and practiced with the Edmonton Oilers earlier this week.

Team USA fans would like to forget Szabados even exists after her gold-medal game performance. But the HQ will tip their hat to her as she heads south...

Here's her tour with the Oil...
((HT: The National))

Ovi Apologizes For Sochi Performance

((HT: CSNWashington))

Stand up guy...

That's all the HQ can say about Alexander Ovechkin as he came back to the States...

He did this for his home fans...


Some of the Team USA squad did the same thing, but the fan base can take count in the idea that USA at least made it to the medal round...

Dominica's Scam In Sochi

((HT: IOC/Deadspin/AP))

This looks like a really cool story- even if it's financially augmented...

A married couple living in the US represented the tiny island nation of Dominica in Sochi as skiers...


But Dave McKenna wrote a brilliant piece for Deadspin detailing how, apparently, most of the credentials of Gary di Silvestri and Angelica Morrone are either false or hiding some kind of corruption...

Neither di Silvestri nor Morrone went far in their ski competitions- citing injury- Morrone didn't even start...

Dominica lets you be a citizen by dropping $175,000 in one of their banks and paying a $3,530 tariff. The New Yorker and the Italian did that, from their house in Montana, and walked in Sochi.

As a matter of fact, a guy from di Silvestri's old high school even edited this as a source of pride for the school itself.


But di Silvestri's creds don't hold up...

McKenna went into the wrestling background and found out it didn't match, and also found that Morrone was at the heart of a scandal in the late 1990's involving car manufacturer Fiat and the buying of votes for international competitions.

So, this shows that if you've got the dollars, you can do pretty much whatever you want, even if it isn't true...

Tim And Sid Make It Famous In Britain Over Gold Medal Celebration

((HT: Sportsnet))

You remember the reaction of FOSG Tim and Sid when the Canadians beat the US in the gold medal women's ice hockey game...

Their reaction has now made it back across the pond...

Funny stuff... even if it was "Gold Medal In The Face..."

The Cruelty Of The Games

((HT: 11Alive.com))

This is what happens sometimes... and it sucks...

There are more members of a team than there are participants. And Kyle Carr of suburban Atlanta had made his dream of being on a team for the United States in short track speed skating. He had been a part of the semi-finals team that had qualified for the finals, and had been told by his coaches that he would skate in the finals.

But then, things changed... before the final Jordan Malone was subbed in and Kyle's mom was visibly upset.

FOSG Jaye Watson is over there and got the reaction first-hand...
The team finished second for the silver... and Carr will not get a medal for his efforts...

Tim And Sid See Team Canada Win Live...

((HT: Sportsnet))

Okay, we get that Team Canada won...

Tim and Sid celebrate accordingly...

Harumph...

Team Canada Takes Gold In Overtime

((HT: Sportsnet))

Yes, the HQ is full of dammit, dammit, dammit right now...

After hitting a post on what could have been an empty-netter that could have sealed the gold medal for Team USA...

It still smarts when the top two countries in the world when it comes to women's hockey trade blows into sudden death overtime...

And Team USA doesn't come out on top...

Daren Millard and John Shannon discuss what it means to Team Canada...
This is what Millard is referring to... ((HT: NBC/IOC))
Clever... and jingoistically unfunny...

What's The 411 On Canada's Lack Of Offense...???

((HT: Sportsnet))

It showed in the barrage against Latvian goalie Kristers Gudlevskis- who stopped 53 of 55 shots against Team Canada...

And the HQ has seen, like the rest of the world, that the Canadian defense has more points in the Sochi tournament than the front lines... and THAT is the cause of concern as they head into the semi-finals against Team USA

Tim and Sid discuss...
Steve Yzerman chose wisely when he drafted him for the Lightning's depth in the position...

Jamaican Bobsled Team Has No Regrets

((HT: ITN))

As well they shouldn't...

They finished 29th out of 30 squads in Sochi, but as they reach their 12th year of competing, they still hold one of the more popular teams out there...

Here's the wrap-up on their efforts from Russia...


And here's to hoping that they keep coming back to compete...

Ice Dancing Results Spark Controversy... World Shocked...

((HT: Sportsnet))

Charlie and Meryl beat Tessa and Scott...

Scoreboard... and all that...

But there are those, mostly north of the border, who feel THE DANCE VOTING WAS RIGGED!!!

Wait...what...???

Judging rigged...???

Tin and Sid discuss...

Understand something...

Davis and White's scoring difference actually increased from short program to long program...
If Virtue and Moir were supposed to repeat, then why didn't the scores end up closer from one program to the other...???

Do we need to discuss the whole Sale-Pelletier situation where the world REALLY agree about Canadians getting jobbed...???

Just asking...

Is Team Canada Already Gripping...???

((HT: Sportsnet))

Although, at first glance, the HQ would wonder why in the hockey preliminaries...

But...

By failing to win in regulation and having to take the Finland match to overtime, Canada did not clinch the top seed and a favourable matchup in the quarter-finals. It means the Canadians are the tournament’s third seed and could face Switzerland in their next game.

Sixth-seeded Switzerland and 11th-seeded Latvia play Tuesday in the qualification round.
The winner meets Canada in the quarter-finals Wednesday.

So... is there cause for alarm...???
The Hockey Central team discusses...

TJ Oshie...Again...

((HT: CrossingBroad.com))

The folks over at Crossing Broad got it right...

A mash-up with Herb Brooks (well, Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks) and the shootout from the Russia game...

TJ Oshie, Again-- CrossingBroad.com from Kyle Scott on Vimeo.

That's all, gentlemen...

Jay And Dan Unlock Canada's Biggest Sochi Secret...

((HT: Fox Sports Live))

THE BEER FRIDGE!!!

It confounds the rest of the civilized world who cannot open it unless they have a Canadian passport...

Two of our faves do...

Oshie's Winner From A Different Perspective

((HT: OBS/IOC/Timothy Burke's vine))

Here's the Russian call of the Oshie game-winner...
And it's awesome...
Especially, the fade-out by the play-by-play guy...

The Olympic Spirit Found In Canadian Speedskating

((HT: Sportsnet))

The HQ, pretty much, knows the 15-year-old figure skater from Russia will be their flag bearer for the Closing Ceremonies. We think we found the Canadians bearer as well. If it's not Gilmore Junio, then there's a problem...

Here's why...

Junio's family emigrated from the Philippines and because he was only 5-8, his sport eventually became speed skating. Junio qualified in the 1000M since Denny Morrison tripped and Junio didn't...

Morrison is a higher-rated skater internationally than Junio and, knowing Morrison would give his home country a better chance to medal, he turned his spot over to Morrison- and he won the silver in the event...

Tim and Sid discuss with Junio...


Junio wanted to race in memory of those who suffered during the typhoon of last year- remembering his Filipino heritage.

The HQ thinks that Junio will be remembered by two countries now...

Team Russia Hockey Sings For Sochi

((HT: Complete Hockey News))

Posting this little ditty just gives the HQ the chance to see Malkin, Kovy, and Ovi sing with some of the other legends of the sport- including Tretiak...

It's an effing riot...


This first came out back in November, but since the tournament is up and running, we figured we'd show it again...

Jay And Dan Investigate The Stray Dog Situation

((HT: Fox Sports 1))

Jay and Dan are still not covering everything you can't cover in Sochi

Resident snowboard analyst Andy Finch had an issue come up with the stray dogs in town...
So, that meant an investigation was at hand...

Hard To Win When It's 8 on 5

((HT: Sportsnet))

That is the jingoistic part of the HQ speaking here...

With a ref crew that didn't call two previous penalties for "too many men" and getting in the way for the breakaway goal, the larger issue today in the Team Canada-Team USA game in Sochi was the goal that made it 2-1.

Sure, it was a goal for Hayley Wickenheiser putting her on top in the history of the event for goal scoring over Cammi Granato. But the dynamic is the issue- the puck was lost under USA goalie Jessie Vetter, a whistle sounded, the puck went in to the net...

In that order...

The play was reviewed and the blindness by all the officials- on ice and off- screwed it up for Team USA in an eventual 3-2 loss.

The new approach for the medal distribution is different than most sports- qualifiers were put in the semifinals already. And both of these teams are in the final four of the event. So, now the stars and stripes have to play a tough Finnish squad in another bracket entirely to, hopefully, get a rematch against the Canadians for the gold...

Here's analysis of Round One...

So, Now's The Time For Revenge In Ice Hockey With USA and Canada

((HT: Sportsnet))

For the sake of remembering, here's the end of the Vancouver tournament...
((HT: OBS/IOC))


So, now with all the wild cards hanging around in multiple nations, the focus on this side of the world is on a gold-medal rematch between the two... leaving the home team out of it...

Here's Dan Bylsma discussing...
And on the women's side, the HQ thinks that it will be a rematch between the Teams USA and Canada- but we know that, when the two hook up tomorrow- a lot of us will be thinking about what happened in Grand Forks a month ago... ((HT: NBCSN))
The HQ admits that we're not a fan of the accelerated seeding process since we think it takes the fun out of the round-robin...

But, as supporters of Megan Bozek, we're ready to go...