Something Of A Hockey Preview

((HT: Sportsnet))

There is an amazing amount of pressure put on the home team to win a gold medal...

And the Russians will have an interesting chemistry issue to deal with. The KHL players on the squad all practiced together before the NHL players even arrived in Sochi, so there is almost two factions at play here...

The Kovalchuk/KHL faction and the Ovechkin/NHL faction and how they will interact will be an interesting subplot to the whole thing...

There are four teams (maybe five, if you include the Czechs) that will be fighting for the medal stand- USA, Canada, the Russians, and the Swedes...

The HQ believes in defense first when putting these squads together, so goaltending will keep teams in the medal race long before any other aspect of togetherness...

Thus, we look at Lundqvist and Miller over Fleury...

Hockey Central discusses...

Ronaldo In, Zlatan Out...

Your run to Rio had an interesting turn today...

It was Sweden versus Portugal... which means that it was a case of Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic...

Winner is in and the loser goes home...

Portugal qualified after a hat trick from Cristiano Ronaldo secured a 3-2 win over Sweden and a 4-2 victory on aggregate...

Here's how it happened...
((HT: ESPN))


Ibrahimovic admitted postgame that this may have been his last chance to attend the world competition, and the last two berths are up for bid tomorrow- and unless something happens of an earth-shattering variety, it looks like Uruguay and Mexico will go in to complete the 32-nation field...

Does Zlatan Even Like Zlatan's Goal...???

((HT: ourmatches.net/youtube))

All the HQ is really going to do is let you watch this absolutely obscene bicycle kick from the Swede's 4-2 win over England in a friendly this afternoon...


Okay...

If thata's not a Goal of the Year candidate, the HQ will NEVER know what is...

Swedes Win World Juniors

And, sometimes, you just have to have the local guys call the game...
The Russians were peppered all night long, before a golden goal situation in overtime...

This is priceless...
((HT: TSN/IIHF/youtube))


Hey, that's what happens when you win a title for the first time in 31 years...
And, by all accounts, the play-by-play guys were sober...