Posted on 02/22/2014 11:19:09 AM PST by rickmichaels
Jonathan Quick will leave Sochi empty handed, but not quietly.
Humiliated after a 5-0 loss to Finland in the Olympic bronze-medal hockey game Saturday, the U.S. goaltender harshly criticized his team’s effort a day after losing to Canada in the semifinals.
“It shouldn’t be too hard,” he told NBC. “We do that all year long. We’re professionals. We play back-to-backs all year long.
“There’s no reason we show up and not piss a drop.”
Quick also took responsibility for his own play.
“My job is to stop the puck, and I didn’t do that very well,” the Los Angeles Kings goalie said. He gave up all five goals Saturday on 29 shots. “Team effort. We weren’t good.”
Quick put in a remarkable performance Friday against the Canadians – he stopped 36 of 37 shots – but received no offensive support as the Americans were shut out in their last two games.
It was quite disappointing to watch both yesterday and today.
From 20 goals the first four games to Zero the last two.
They have a reputation for being a "Gold or nothing" team that quits and mails it in once they are eliminated from gold medal contention.
The performance from all the skating sports was down right embarrassing. I hope they got their participation awards.
If that's true, then he's an A-hole and has no business criticizing anyone else for their effort.
“Show me a graceful loser and I’ll show you a loser.”
Leo Durocher
The USA skaters were pathetic in the Canada game, they either mailed it in, or just didn’t have it. Quick kept them in the game, their performance was so poor I didn’t even make an attempt to see todays game.
“There’s no reason we show up and not piss a drop.”
What a strange turn of phrase.
These are all pros? Do all the Countries that are major contenders field all pro hockey teams?
Because I hate that.
Didn’t that guy manage in baseball for something like 50 years, with only a single World Series championship? LOL.
Not much of a hockey expert but it seemed we lacked a bit on the offensive end (perhaps that’s why we had the same guy take no many shootout shots vs. Russia)on this team. As for the Canada it was perhaps the most lopsided 1-0 game I ever saw. In the 3rd period they never gave one the impression they were going to tie the game. I did not see this mornings game but was not surprised at the lose.
Not a great talent as a player, but as a manager, Durocher won pennants with the Dodgers in the late forties, then won pennants with the Giants in 1951 and 1954, even though the Dodgers had far superior talent. In the fifty four world series, his Giants beat the heavily favored Cleveland Indians in four straight games.
I believe the 1954 World Series was the only one Durocher ever won as a manager. It’s ironic that a guy who was such a fixture in Dodger history never won a championship with them, but did win one while managing their hated cross-town rivals. LOL.
Just wasn't impress with coaching - line changes should have been made midway through the 2nd period. But hey....Quick was the bomb!
The biggest criticism against the U.S. should be brought on their coaching staff, more than anything else. For those Freepers who aren't hockey fans, hockey has an interesting rule that gives a subtle advantage to the home team in a game. It's called the "last change" rule, and it works like this: Before every faceoff after a stop in play, the coach of the visiting team sends his players out onto the ice. The referee then raises his hand to indicate that the visiting team cannot change any players at that point, and the home team then has the option of changing their own players based on who is on the ice for the opposing team.
The implication of this is that the home coach should always be looking to match his lines up in a way that works to his advantage. If the visiting team puts their best offensive players on the ice, the coach of the home team will try to respond by putting his best defensive players out there. The reverse is also true: when the visiting team puts their best defensive players out on the ice, the home coach will try to keep his best offensive players on the bench until he can get a more favorable matchup.
Obviously, this strategy only applies after whistles when the play stops, and all bets are off once teams start "changing on the fly" while the puck is still in play.
When the U.S. played Canada yesterday, the U.S. was the "home" team. And yet U.S. coach Dan Bylsma never tried to use this line-matching strategy to keep the top U.S. offensive line away from the Toews-Marleau-Carter line that played so well defensively for Canada.
Any of the 4 semifinalists could win the gold....the US played 2 crappy games, and Quick kept CAN from blowing out the US
They seemed very dejected after yesterdays loss. With both the USA Women & Canada and with the USA Men in Canada yesterday they just couldn’t get it in the net . . . it was like some invisible shield/force was keeping the puck out and THEN today . . . it was hard to watch.
USA Choked on ICE This Olympics in Sochi Hockey Speed Skating etc..and the Freak Johnny Weir wearing Lipstick and Tiaras and Pearls turned me off from the Winter Olympics
Durocher’s greatest regret was not being able to win a pennant for Cubs Phil Wrigley, the Cubs owner. He had a lot of respect for Wrigley (probably a first for Durocher). The Cubs seemed to be on their way to a their only pennant in 1968, but the Miracle Mets blew past them late in the season and couldn’t be caught. That really hurt, said Durocher.
I just could not take Weir. I had to leave the room or change the channel when he was on. God, NBC should be ashamed, but you know they are patting themselves on the back for being so “gay friendly”. I hope that a few of the NBC types were gagging along with the rest of us, but I would not bet on them having enough stones to say so.
Durocher was a loser of a human being.
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