Open Thread – Sochi Olympic Spoilers – 2/12

Submitted by MGoGrendel on

S-O-S!! Spoiler results are posted here

 

Do not continue past the picture below if you don’t want to know early results.

 

Some of today’s events:

  • Women’s Ice Hockey: US vs. Canada
  • Ladies’ Downhill with Julia Mancuso.
  • 1000 m Speed Skating with Shani Davis
  • Ladies’ Halfpipewith Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark
  • Luge Doubles (even darker Darker Blue)
  • Eleventeen Curling Matches!

Your moment of Zen: Women’s Ski Jumping is a brand new sport for this Olympics.  Who’s the first women to take an official jump?  Our own Sarah Hendrickson of Park City, Utah in the U.S. of A!  She’s 19 years old and the defending world champion!

LSAClassOf2000

February 12th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^

Next round of qualification matches for the men starts in an hour or so, I believe - 

Germany vs. China

Great Britain vs. Switzerland

Russia vs. Canada

Denmark vs. Sweden

The US has already played, I believe. 

goblueram

February 12th, 2014 at 9:50 AM ^

Tough loss.  Close game (with a garbage second goal) and fun to watch.  I was impressed with the quality of play for women's hockey, it's just getting better and better.

In other news, Czech Republic - Sweden should be a fun one, with tons of Red Wings ties of course.  Also, looks like Quick is getting the start over Miller and Jimmy for USA.  

Trebor

February 12th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^

Shani Davis will fail to medal in the 1000m. Disappointing performance, but he's 31 so it's not a huge surprise that he's not as fast as he was in 2006 or 2010.

E: Davis ends up 8th, Netherlands continues their dominance on the long track by winning gold and bronze. That makes 8/9 medals in men's long track going to Dutch skaters (sweeping the 5000m and 500m events already).

Trebor

February 12th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^

Yes, but he's also one of the few skaters who is world-class at more than one distance (both 1000 and 1500). I think there's little doubt that Kramer is the top skater in the world right now, with the way he's dominated the 5 and 10k distances.

Davis has also admitted that he's noticed his age more this season, and on the slower ice in Sochi, every little bit is magnified.

MGoGrendel

February 12th, 2014 at 1:37 PM ^

Kelly Clark finishes first in heat 1 and qualifies for the finals.

Hanna Teter finishes second in heat 1 and qualifies for the finals

Kaitlyn Farrington finishes fourth and goes to the semi's.  She finished first in the semi's and moves on to the finals.

Arielle Gold did not compete.

 

Finals start 12:30 EST.

 

edit:

After the first run:

Hannah  (90.50) is in first

Kaitlyn (85.75) is in second

Kelly (48.25) is in 11th, the same spot as Shaun after his first run.

 

Final:

Kaitlyn (91.75) jumps to first

Torah Bright (91.50) of Australia finishes second

Kelly (90.75) recovers and finished third

Hannah (90.50) finishes fourth; her second run was bad

 

TWO MOAR MEDALS FOR THE USA! USA! USA!

 

 

 

 

stephenrjking

February 12th, 2014 at 1:00 PM ^

Well, clearly the Czechs aren't the same team that won in '98 anymore.

Wait, what? Jagr, Elias, etc... They pretty much *are* the same team, except 16 years older. And Hasek would Probably be an upgrade in net, too.

Avant's Hands

February 12th, 2014 at 1:06 PM ^

Time for the Swiss and Latvia. I've always liked watching Latvia. They always seem to have a solid keeper and hang with teams longer than they should. I used to enjoy watching Arturs Irbe which probably has something to do with it too

goblueram

February 12th, 2014 at 1:25 PM ^

I remember in 2010 I got interested in Latvia.  Turns out, the vast majority of their team (at least then) comes from their one professional team in the KHL, Dinamo Riga.  That really goes a long way in creating chemistry against teams that have only had maybe 3 practices together going into the Olympics.  

Of course they always have a couple NHLers also.  I almost forgot Sandis Ozilinsh existed until I saw him carry in the flag in the opening ceremony. 

Avant's Hands

February 12th, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^

What an awful break for Latvia. Swiss win the game with eight seconds left on a tip that went in off a Latvian defenseman. That puck was going no where near the net until the deflection.