Getting My Jingo On

I’m stealing a title from Eric here for some liveblogging of USA-Canada in the World Cup of Hockey, live on ESPN2 from Montreal.

2137: And it’s final: Canada 2, USA 1. Not sure who made the most improvement over the game, the USA as a team or Jeremy Roenick as a commentator. (For some reason, I keep trying to type his name Roanoke.) The US got Esche off the ice with about 40 seconds to go, and sent one puck hard across the crease but couldn’t turn it in.

I like the US against Russia on Thursday night, with the perpetual disarray that country’s national federation has been in since 1992. Now, if we can just keep our defensemen healthy…

2134: At the time when we need to be making a push, Canada has controlled the puck. 1:00 to go, timeout, and my CANE boy Peter LaViolette is drawing things up for the USA.

2117: Quote of the day from Gary Thorne: “Brett Hull’s forechecking and Mario’s fighting. What in the world is going on here?”

2108: Aaaaaand we’re underway in the third period. Play going from end to end — it’ll be a heck of a finish.

2049: End of the second at Canada 2, USA 1, and Barry Melrose is singing the praises of the too-small 200’x85’ North American ice surface, designed when players averaged 5’10”/170ish rather than the modern 6’2”/200+. The international standard 200’x100’ would be too big, but 200’x90’ would open the game up just enough to screw with the traps, which would benefit the game tremendously.

2041: At 18:37 of the 2nd, all heck breaks loose. Brodeur tries to yank Steve Konowalchuk into the net with him after Kono crashes the net. Kono gets free, and Mario Lemieux has a flashback to Pittsburgh-Washington playoff series and LOSES HIS MIND. Refs separate those two quickly, but meanwhile Jeff Halpern and Scott Niedermayer have a go to no discernible result. Penalties are 5 each to H and N, 2 to Lemieux, and 2+2 to Kono, which is a total joke — if he were anyone else, Lemieux would get an automatic 10 for third-man instigator. (The World Cup is played by NHL rules.)

2035: Canada is wearing heritage jerseys from its 1920 Olympic gold medal-winning team that are… how do I say this… baby-poop yellow. In play, the US has picked it up and basically dominated play ever since the score. Unfortunately, it looks like Brodeur wasn’t lulled to sleep by our early inability to challenge him.

2025: SCORE USA! Bill Guerin puts it mid-height glove side past Brodeur, and that’ll bring our heads back into the game.

2016: FIGHT, no result, and now Mike Modano has gone to the bench?!

2012: At 25 minutes in, Esche has 22 saves. The USA has not registered a shot in the second period, and the “chances” are eighteen to nothing in favor of Canada. Ugh. We suck.

2006: Joe freaking Sakic. Canada 2, USA 0.

2005: Canada kills off an American power play to start the period without allowing a shot, and Team USA immediately commits another penalty in desperate play in front of its own net. Argh.

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VT-USC: What Did We Learn?

Number 1 Southern Cal beat Virginia Tech 24-13 Saturday night in Landover, MD, in a game far more competitive than many expected. So what did we learn from this first game of the season?

• The kids are alright
  Out of 75 players dressed for the game, 24 were freshmen, and some played key roles: WR Josh Hyman, WR/KR Eddie Royal, LBs Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi (before Adibi tore a bicep, a probable season-ending injury), and kickoff man Jared Develli. All acquitted themselves well, which bodes well for the coming years.
• We might have a placekicker
  Last year, the kicking game was a struggle. Then-senior Carter Warley never really recovered from his sophomore year back troubles, and every so often replacements were tried out: Jon Mollerup, Brandon Pace, Nic Schmitt, none of whom distinguished themselves. This year, sophomore Brandon Pace secured a starting spot in the preseason and hit two nice field goals Saturday night. It’s a little early to get excited, but the indications so far are good.
• The defensive line is scary good
  The VT front four absolutely dominated USC’s young offensive line. This and the defensive backfield are perhaps the only units that aren’t young on this Hokie team, and the return of Jim Davis solidifies an already good group here.
• We have tight ends
  Tight end has usually been an afterthought in VT’s offense, but Jeff King ran wild on Saturday, catching four balls for 65 yards that made him VT’s leading receiver; Jared Mazzetta tacked on another 22-yard reception.
• Referees hate us
  ‘Nuff said.

What do you think? Let’s hear it.

The BTN 2004 Hokie Football Preview

It’s a new season and new surroundings for Virginia Tech, as the Hokies make their way from the Big East into a conference against whose window their noses have been pressed for 50 years. It’s an apt season in which to do that, as this season would have been a change of pace by any standards. Gone from the headlines are RB Kevin Jones, CB/PR/WR DeAngelo Hall, WR Ernest Wilford and (for now) QB Marcus Vick; other contributors who will be sorely missed include unanimous All-American C Jake Grove (1st rounder to the Raiders), rover (SS) Michael Crawford, K Carter Warley and P Vinnie Burns.

So for the Fanblogs ACC crowd, here’s your chance to get to know one of the new guys; for my BTN Hokie crew, this is a not-so-quick primer on what’s changed and what stays the same.

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Seattle/Vancouver Scorecard

Actual content (like a football preview) coming very soon. Meanwhile…

• United standby rules 1, originally-scheduled 12:18 AM PDT (3:18 AM EDT) arrivals SEA 0
• Evergreen-flanked highways 405, concrete jungles 5
• Canadian Olympic coverage 99, US coverage 5
• Canadian Olympic medals 7, US medals 76 (at last count)
• Canadian border at White Rock, BC 60, US border at Blaine, WA 10 (low score wins here)
• Pacific Northwest/Lower Mainland rain 2, Vancouver touring plans 1
• Modern technology 1, freshman BT bus schedule confusion 0 (press one button and say my name in Blacksburg, and within seconds I’m talking to you from a fish-and-chips shop in west Vancouver, British Columbia)
• Josh’s Canadian coin collection 7, circulation 1 (still couldn’t find the St. Croix quarter…)
• Garmin iQue several million, geographic confusion 0
• Seattle high 68°, Richmond high 85° (again, low score wins)
• Josh’s Denver-mint state quarter collection 2, circulation 20 (yeah, that didn’t work so well)
• New states on the return trip 1, delays :45
• Said state’s sales tax at SFO about 9%, Josh’s wallet 0
• Hotwiring a Dulles hotel $83, 1:20 AM IAD-Richmond drives 0

America's Broken Rings

A good chunk of the blogging universe has had its say on the US Olympic basketball team’s humiliation versus Puerto Rico yesterday in Greece. Eric McErlain mentioned this morning that he’d gladly trade a basketball bomb-out in Athens for a 2006 World Cup, and I have to agree with him — partially because of my hatred for pro basketball, and partially because our soccer players would actually care about the accomplishment.

It’s been strongly rumored that the NBA’s marketing department played a large role in selecting the US team, even as many of the best players in the league declined invitations for medical, personal or security reasons. Whatever the reason, the result of the selection process, according to ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons (the only NBA writer I read, and the sole reason I know anything about that league at all), was a doomed collection of big names rather than a team geared to win in the international game. The run of play Sunday revealed the team’s complete lack of outside shooters and its consequent reliance on the NBA’s signature one-on-one drive-the-lane game, while each whistle showed us star players that couldn’t come to grips with not getting the deference they’re used to from NBA referees.

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