Jump to content

Beijing 2022


Recommended Posts

5 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

Wait for Wumaos play the Whataboutism card and mentioning the Vancouver 2010 incident to look better. :rolleyes:

Isn't FIL to blame? Reminds me of when Sydney organisers copped bad press for the vault being set to the wrong height but in reality FIG was entirely to blame. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Danish women prove to be a surprise team in these IIHF women's Olympic qualification tournaments. They stopped Italy and now beat Austria with six points and sitting atop the Fusen, Germany-based Group D with only the host Germans standing in their way of qualification:

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp3d/news/30651/danes_dash_austrian_hopes

We can certainly forget about the South Koreans making it back to back in Olympic women's hockey participation this time as the third Asian team in the field. Sweden's Damkronorna are "[in] average five years older, five centimetres taller, and nine kilos heavier" than the much younger South Korean counterparts with only five players remaining on the 2018 squad--with four players born before 2000 (average South Korean team age overall is 19)--in an lopsided 15-0, reminded South Korea has a long way to go to attaining the high level caliber level. Another lopsided encounter between the two. Sweden overtakes also-unbeaten France in the group and in points before a winner-take-all match coming up:

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp3e/news/30658/swedes_take_the_lead

France dashes Slovakia 3-1, ready to take on hosts Sweden for all the marbles tomorrow:

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp3e/news/30647/france_remains_unbeaten

Germany defeats Italy 4-1 and eliminates the Azzurri's chances for qualification to Beijing. The German women had to in order to remain in contention to keep their Olympic qualification hopes alive after being upset by neighbors Austria in the first game on a 3-0 shutout. Now they hope to topple other neighbors Denmark:

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp3d/news/30646/germany_defeats_italy_keeps_olympic_hopes_alive

Czech Republic keeps on rolling in their bid to make their Olympic women's hockey debut and the Polish were nothing to the Czechs with a 16-0 blowout. Things was so bad that Olympic bronze medal-winning speed skater-turned forward, Karolina Erbanova, managed to score a goal and an assist for the Czech Republic. Waiting on Norway-Hungary's upcoming result to plan what next in facing Hungary in Group C:

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp3c/news/30656/czechs_keep_on_rolling

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Swedish women, aka the Damkronorna, easily wins their group on home ice in Lulea, Sweden to nobody's surprise with a 3-2 beating over France to get their ticket punched for Beijing and hopefully, the start of a long-term prominence back into the top level after 3 years. France had their chances and played the Swedes tough Clara Rozier illegally hit Lisa Johansson leaving her with a severe injury and got a major 5-minute interference penalty. The Damenkronorna kept Les Bleues in check offensively with their defense later on. 

But the story here is that both Denmark and the Czech Republic realize a dream come true and will make their Olympic women's hockey debuts by also winning their groups. In the case of the former, Denmark lost to Germany in a 3-2 shootout but the "Germans would either need to win in regulation and get a win from Italy, or defeat the Danes by a six-goal margin in the event of an Austrian victory against the Italians" in order to go to Beijing. That stunning loss to Austria in the first game of the Germany's competition came back to haunt them with Denmark on a roll with solve their defence and goalie Cassandra Repstock-Romme, who together were riding a 120-minute shutout streak. Also marks a historic Olympic debut double for Danish ice hockey with the men already qualified. Meanwhile, The Czechs cruised to a 5-1 victory on Hungary, fresh from a big comeback in their previous game to eliminate Norway's qualification hopes, with no drama needed for the team in their home stomping grounds in Chomutov with an "extremely smart game" to play. Actually, all three group winners will head to Group B with China and Japan:

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp3e/news/30688/swedish_women_return_to_olympics

https://nationalteamsoficehockey.com/swedish-women-return-to-olympics/

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp3d/news/30670/denmark_realizes_olympic_dream

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/ogqp3c/news/30681/czech_women_off_to_beijing

The Beijing 2022 women's ice hockey groupings are:

GROUP A: USA, Canada, Finland, Russian Olympic Committee/Russia, Switzerland (aka the Group of Death)

GROUP B: Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Japan, China

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/olympic-w/news/30691/olympic_groups_known

I think it's time for the Olympic women's hockey field to be expanded starting with Milan with 2 more teams.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Durban Sandshark said:

I think it's time for the Olympic women's hockey field to be expanded starting with Milan with 2 more teams.

Not very likely to happen.  The IOC won't even allow the ISU to add synchronized skating at this time with 6-8 teams made up of 16 skaters.  I can't see them adding 2 more women's hockey teams to the tournament.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/15/2021 at 9:30 PM, Karenina said:

Not very likely to happen.  The IOC won't even allow the ISU to add synchronized skating at this time with 6-8 teams made up of 16 skaters.  I can't see them adding 2 more women's hockey teams to the tournament.

That would be unfortunate. Little by little, the global women's ice hockey game continues to improve, although it would still seem to be the Canada-USA-Finland-Switzerland tier for the forseeable future. There are a handful of competitive women's hockey teams that missed the qualification cut that are good. Germany, France, Norway, Austria, and maybe Italy are among them and right there. South Korea, should the younger players continue to gain further and better international experience and get stronger, could be join them. Italy, we'll see them as hosts of course in Milan-Cortina a little over four years from now--and may turn out to be even better than the 2006 version. So the Italian women got that incentive to perform well. Maybe even the British women will get deeper by then. Definitely disappointing for Germany right now as they are building something.

Poland, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, Latvia, Slovenia, and Hungary all have some potential but got some ways to go. Would like to see even Australia go further in the next qualification rounds. Even the Mexican women are rising fast but need regular top competition but won't make the final hurdle if they make it to the final qualification stage with little pedigree coming in.

Seeing 6-8 teams of 16 skaters in the Winter Olympics would be nice to see. Maybe Sweden would get a figure skating medal here. Hear they're good in that discipline. Is the IOC worried about gigantism there too?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/15/2021 at 7:14 PM, Durban Sandshark said:

The Beijing 2022 women's ice hockey groupings are:

GROUP A: USA, Canada, Finland, Russian Olympic Committee/Russia, Switzerland (aka the Group of Death)

GROUP B: Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Japan, China

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2022/olympic-w/news/30691/olympic_groups_known

I think it's time for the Olympic women's hockey field to be expanded starting with Milan with 2 more teams.

On 11/15/2021 at 10:30 PM, Karenina said:

Not very likely to happen.  The IOC won't even allow the ISU to add synchronized skating at this time with 6-8 teams made up of 16 skaters.  I can't see them adding 2 more women's hockey teams to the tournament.

The format for the women's tournament is that the 5 best teams are in Group A and the 5 lesser teams are in group B.  Every team from Group A gets a spot in the quarterfinals, joined by the top 3 from Group B.  This is all by design.  There's no "group of death" scenario here.  And the main reason they do it that way is so there will be more games between the top teams, including a guaranteed USA-Canada game.  They're not going to add the 11th and 12th best women's hockey teams to the tournament where it's the US and Canada, Finland generally the 3rd best team, and then there's everyone else.  It's not like they'd use the men's format of 3 groups of 4 teams because it's even harder to do it in tiers then.  10 teams is where they're likely to stay

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/17/2021 at 11:38 AM, Durban Sandshark said:

Seeing 6-8 teams of 16 skaters in the Winter Olympics would be nice to see. Maybe Sweden would get a figure skating medal here. Hear they're good in that discipline. Is the IOC worried about gigantism there too?  

I don't follow synchro all that closely but Finland is very strong in the sport.  Sweden, Russia, Canada and the USA are the other countries who have medaled at Worlds in the last 5 years.

Yes, I believe the concern is about gigantism, plus the need for an arena for two extra days of competition.  Rumor is that the ISU is working on a proposal to have smaller teams (8 skaters max) for the introduction of synchro to the Olympics.  We'll see when/if that happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After two games with two different Russian KHL teams under the evaluating eyes of top-notch IIHF officials to conclude whether they are competitive enough to withstand the USA, Canada, and Germany, Red Star Kunlun, the team serving as proxy with the bulk of the players (at least 19 of them) planned to compete as hosts Team China men's hockey team, lost both games. First one Red Star Kunlun fought back valiantly from a four-goal deficit to force overtime before losing to Amur Khabarovsk 5-4 but later lost in the second trial match 4-1 loss to defending champions Avangard Omsk also in the Kontinental Hockey League. Kunlun head coach Ivano Zanatta says China is now on par with Norway, Latvia, and Denmark with "the character and the ability" to participate and become competitively strong in meeting the Olympic standard and building team spirit and strength--even with a 8-23 KHL record as of this writing. Despite public professions China will participate with players like former Colorado Avalanche player Brandon Yip and Jake Chelios, son of NHL defenseman legend Chris Chelios, expected as part of the roster, doubt since creeped back in over their participation and may get removed after all:

https://nationalteamsoficehockey.com/chinese-hockey-team-loses-1st-trial-game-for-olympics-in-ot/

https://nationalteamsoficehockey.com/chinese-hockey-team-loses-another-game-in-test-for-olympics/

Like I just said, doubts among IIHF officials over China couldn't get completely shaken off and may even be heightened. And how many foreign-born players exactly will be on the team? The IIHF plans to take a scheduled executive meeting Friday with another review on them based on those two KHL test games to recommend to keep China. Norway may still have an opportunity to get in to replace China. Wonder if the IIHF would institute a mercy rule to prevent lopsided Chinese matches like in baseball and softball:

https://www.tsn.ca/iihf-to-review-china-s-status-for-2022-games-1.1725607

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/18/2021 at 6:52 PM, Karenina said:

Yes, I believe the concern is about gigantism, plus the need for an arena for two extra days of competition.  Rumor is that the ISU is working on a proposal to have smaller teams (8 skaters max) for the introduction of synchro to the Olympics.  

With 2 skaters carrying mirrors in the bkgd to give the appearance of twice the number of skaters!!  B)

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Canada Hockey unveils its Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic hockey jerseys with the help of Nike again yesterday

Canada-Olympic-Hockey-Uniform-2022-1040x572.jpg

Fuller version with the pants and socks below. It's fusion in looks with the 2018 maple leaf with the 2010 sleeve stripes and IIHF WC national team jersey lower shoulder and numbering somewhere in the mid-2000s-early 2020s. All made by Nike. So unusual seeing the center black maple leaf on a red jersey and appears on 67% of Team Canada's jerseys here despite being under the One Leaf, One Team. One Goal campaign

team-canada-2022-olympic-hockey-uniforms-nike-sportslogosnet-750x943.jpg

https://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/article/hockey-canada-unveils-beijing-2022-olympic-and-paralympic-jerseys/

https://news.sportslogos.net/2021/11/24/team-canada-unveils-new-2022-olympic-hockey-uniforms/hockey-2/

https://www.tsn.ca/hockey-canada-unveils-new-men-s-women-s-olympic-and-paralympic-hockey-jerseys-1.1725406

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/hockey/hockey-canada-olympic-paralympic-jersey-reveal-1.6260343

https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/exclusive/jersey?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=OLY_jersey

But Canada wasn't first participating nation to show off their Beijing 2022 hockey jerseys. Finland hold that distinction for their men's and women's 2022 Olympic and Paralympic hockey teams--and they look real nice as modeled by Finnish hockey players Annina Rajahuhta and Kimmo Timonen, always showing the crowned lion carrying a sword and walking over another one from the Nordic nation’s 440-year-old coat of arms. Comes mixed in its recent history with, as far as Nike is concerned, with "keeping things simple" and trying something new and going unorthodox from hockey tournament to hockey tournament. Here it veers more traditional: white is "home" and navy is "away". Both come equipped with many navy dots pattern on the horizontal striping: 

FINLAND-2022-OLYMPIC-HOCKEY-UNIFORMS-JERSEYS-SPORTSLOGOSNET-SUOMI-750x513.jpg

https://news.sportslogos.net/2021/11/15/team-finland-unveils-2022-olympic-hockey-jerseys/hockey-2/

And it's just breaking in today a few hours ago with USA Hockey and Nike showing off their own 3-set Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic hockey jerseys under its "Driven By Pride" slogan with the usual/traditional USA chest bold-type wordmarking and an American muscle car-inspired deep blue, double striped third/alternate jersey. All sporting the 2014 USA Olympic shield. These jerseys are intended to honor the USA's industrial heritage and ingenuity and future innovation and technology represented with a red, white, and blue striping and a beveled metallic aesthetic. Not too big on these, IMO, yet may grow on me. 

usa-hockey-jersey-1040x572.jpg

https://teamusa.usahockey.com/news_article/show/1195682

https://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/article/usa-hockey-unveils-beijing-2022-olympic-and-paralympic-jerseys/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Durban Sandshark said:

Canada Hockey unveils its Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic hockey jerseys with the help of Nike again yesterday


Fuller version with the pants and socks below. It's fusion in looks with the 2018 maple leaf with the 2010 sleeve stripes and IIHF WC national team jersey lower shoulder and numbering somewhere in the mid-2000s-early 2020s. All made by Nike. So unusual seeing the center black maple leaf on a red jersey and appears on 67% of Team Canada's jerseys here despite being under the One Leaf, One Team. One Goal campaign

But Canada wasn't first participating nation to show off their Beijing 2022 hockey jerseys. Finland hold that distinction for their men's and women's 2022 Olympic and Paralympic hockey teams--and they look real nice as modeled by Finnish hockey players Annina Rajahuhta and Kimmo Timonen, always showing the crowned lion carrying a sword and walking over another one from the Nordic nation’s 440-year-old coat of arms. Comes mixed in its recent history with, as far as Nike is concerned, with "keeping things simple" and trying something new and going unorthodox from hockey tournament to hockey tournament. Here it veers more traditional: white is "home" and navy is "away". Both come equipped with many navy dots pattern on the horizontal striping: 

And it's just breaking in today a few hours ago with USA Hockey and Nike showing off their own 3-set Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic hockey jerseys under its "Driven By Pride" slogan with the usual/traditional USA chest bold-type wordmarking and an American muscle car-inspired deep blue, double striped third/alternate jersey. All sporting the 2014 USA Olympic shield. These jerseys are intended to honor the USA's industrial heritage and ingenuity and future innovation and technology represented with a red, white, and blue striping and a beveled metallic aesthetic. Not too big on these, IMO, yet may grow on me. 

 

I quite like what Nike has designed for both Team Canada and Team USA, especially Team USA.  It's a fresh design and doesn't feel old or tired.  Finland's is also nice - and I like using the white for the home jersey - harkens the Finnish flag.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With the identification of the new omicron variant as a variant of concern, travel restrictions creeping back in, and concerns the new variant could possibly evade existing vaccines, it will be interesting to see how this affects the WOGs just around the corner.

If this spreads like the Delta variant did, could we perhaps see Beijing "altering those covid playbooks" to include more athletes falling under the quarantine rule or even outright bans of certain delegations? I will concede the latter is unlikely but I could envision mandatory institutional quarantines for the likes of South Africa. I don't envision at type of postponement of the Olympics this is close to the opening ceremonies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The IIHF upholds the Chinese men's hockey team's Olympic host qualification for February with many North American-born players from Kunlun Red Star for certain death in Group A. But the IIHF never specified why it arrived at this ruling before the Chinese media feared such a potential cut would be deemed by them as "unfair". Conducted at a Zurich-based IIHF Council meeting. Thank you for waiting in line, Norway:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/article/iihf-confirms-china-can-team-2022-olympic-mens-hockey-tournament/

https://fortune.com/2021/12/08/china-olympic-ice-hockey-team-iihf-decision-winter-games-kunlun-red-star/

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/32813458/china-olympic-hockey-concerns

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/sports/olympics/beijing-olympics-hockey-china.html

https://www.iihf.com/en/news/31074/iihf_council_meets_in_zurich_(1)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Australian Kiwi said:

Canada always looks great at the Winter Olympics.

USA's uniforms always look so staid by comparison.

I think it's because they have the maple leaf icon which you can really go ham on making it look cool. We could do stripes or a star, but they're not as singular as a maple leaf is as far as design goes. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, GoNutz said:

I think it's because they have the maple leaf icon which you can really go ham on making it look cool. We could do stripes or a star, but they're not as singular as a maple leaf is as far as design goes. 

I love the stars and stripes - I think that using this as a basis for the design is always fun and undeniably American. Aside from the USA typeface the actual jersey could be any country's. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...