So Long Sochi Sports Chowdah Update- Finn-ishing Strong, Sweden Shut Out By Team Canada as Suomi Bests USA for Bronze; Derek Jeter to Call it a Career

WINTER OLYMPICS- The 2014 Winter Olympiad at Sochi has come to an end, and despite the torrid start, Team USA's men's hockey team had no medal to show for it.

The much anticipated USA-Canada hockey game ended with Canada advancing to face Sweden in the gold medal game thanks to a goal from winger Jamie Benn. Despite Jonathan Quick turning aside 36 shots, Team Canada would go on to shut out the USA 1-0. This set up a USA vs Finland matchup in the bronze medal consolation game....which actually went much worse for the USA than the semifinal against Canada.

Tukka Rask turned aside all 27 shots he faced while veteran NHLer and Olympian Teemu Selanne had two goals in what was his final Olympic game as Finland cruised to the bronze medal with a 5-0 shutout of the USA. After beating the Czech Republic and Russia, the USA men's hockey team limped into a disappointing 4th place finish, losing their final two games by a combined 6-0.

Canada, on the other hand, hardly missed a beat and picked up where they left off against Sweden in the gold medal game. Canada got on the board thanks to a Johnathan Toews tally before Sweden netminder Hendrik Lunqvist gave up a one-on-one breakaway shot from Canada's Sidney Crosby to make it a 2-0 game. Team Canada's Chris Kunitz would score in the 3rd to make it a 3-0 game and put things out of reach for the Swedes.

Not only does the win over Sweden give Canada their second consecutive hockey gold medal for the second consecutive Olympiad, Team Canada swept the hockey gold with the women's come-from-behind OT win against Team USA in the gold medal game.

As the game concluded, both the NHL and IOC will deliberate over whether or not the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea will use players for the NHL. Once again, with the Winter Olympiad taking place a hemisphere away, the NHL would need to once again suspend its schedule for several weeks to accommodate players from the league to represent their respective nations in the Olympics. Prior to the Sochi Olympics, there had been talk circulating that this could be the final Olympics to feature professional hockey players.

OTHER OLYMPICS NEWS- South Korean figure skater Kim Yu Na announced that the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics would be the end of her competitive career.

Yu Na, who gained notoriety with a James Bond-inspired routine during the 2010 Vancouver garnered a gold medal for her performance. South Korean Olympic officials were hoping that Yu Na would continue skating and compete in the 2018 Winter Olympiad in Pyeongchang, essentially becoming the face of the host nation- plus she could automatically qualify as a representative of the host country in 2018.

In Sochi, Yu Na finished second to Russian skater Adelina Sotnikova, garnering the silver medal while Italy's Carolina Kostner won the bronze.

OLYMPIC MEDAL COUNT- Host nation Russia won the overall medal count- altho Gateway Pundit helpfully points out that US and South Korean 'ringers' in snowboarding and short track speed skating accounted for five of Russia's thirteen gold medals. The Russians also had 11 silver and nine bronze medals for Sochi. Like the men's hockey team, the USA came in a disappointing 4th place with nine gold medals, seven silver and a dozen bronze medals- finishing behind Norway and Canada.

MLB- After nineteen seasons with the Bronx Bombers, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter announced that the 2014 season would be his final MLB season. The Yankees captain made the announcement via Facebook on February 12th. In November, Jeter and the Yankees had agreed to a 1-year, $12 million contract. During the 2013 season, Jeter played in less than 20 games and had a batting average of less than .200.

Heading into Spring training of his final season, Jeter has a career .312 batting average with 256 homers and 1,261 runs batted in. In addition to five World Series titles, the Yankees shortstop and thirteen time All Star was also named MVP of the 2000 World Series and awarded five golden gloves. In 2009, Jeter surpassed Lou Gerhig's club record for all-time hits. Two years later, Jeter recorded career hit #3000- a home run off of Tampa Bay starter David Price in July 2011.

Heading into the 2014 season, Jeter is the last remaining Yankee player from the team's glory days of the late 1990s. Catcher Jorge Posada retired after the 2011 season while closer Mariano Rivera called it a career after the 2013 season.

RED SOX- The Red Sox and free agent Chris Capuano have agreed to terms on a one year, $2.25 million contract.

The former Dodger and W. Srpingfield, MA native went 4-7 and had an ERA of 4.26 with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season. The signing was made shortly starter Ryan Dempster announced to Red Sox management that he would not be playing during the 2014 season.

In Soviet Russia, Sports Chowdah Updates YOU- USA Leads Medal Count in Sochi; Team Canada/USA to Duke it Out On The Ice; Topless Lebanese Skiier in Hot Water; Bruins Shut Down Sens Before Olympic Break; BC Takes The Fifth in Beanpot; Syracuse Falls to Boston College

I swear, I'm not boycotting the Olympics- although a casual glance of this blog since the Winter games got underway in Sochi might lead one to that conclusion. On the other hand, Wyatt Earp of Support Your Local Gunfighter is keeping track of the compelling human-interest stories concerning the athletes competing in Sochi.

WINTER OLYMPICS- Despite the highly publicized gaffes such as reporters checking into hotels still under construction and a technical miscue during the opening ceremonies, the Winter Olympiad at Sochi got off and running last week.

US Snowboarder Sage Kostenburg won the first gold medal of the games in the men's slopestyle event back on Feb 8th. Well beyond the halfway point of the 2014 Sochi games, Team USA currently leads the overall medal count with 23 (7 gold, 5 silver and 11 bronze). Both Russia and the Netherlands trail the USA in the medal count by one while Norway has the most gold medals with a grand total of nine.

Of most interest to me is the Team USA Men's hockey- which got off to a stellar start with a 7-1 thumping of Slovakia on Feb 12th for their Olympic debut. On Saturday, the USA needed a controversial disallowed goal and OT to get past a heavily favored Russia team, with St Louis Blue Center TJ Oshie becoming something of a cult hero with his game-winning shootout goal to give Team USA the 3-2 win.

On Wednesday, Dustin Brown got the game-winning goal for Team USA as they cruised past the Czech Republic by a 5-2 final while host Russia was eliminated from medal contention by Finland in a 3-1 loss. Team Canada got by a very game Latvia, winning 2-1 to set up a semifinal contest with Team USA on Friday. The winner of the USA/Canada men's game will go on to face the winner of the Sweden/Finland men's semifinal game for the gold.

For those of you who can't wait until Friday for some good ol' USA-on-Canada puck action, the women's hockey gold medal game will feature the USA taking on Canada on Thursday at 12:00 ET for all the marbles. The game will be televised on NBC and streamed on the NBC Olympics website.

ELSEWHERE IN THE OLYMPICS- Lebanese downhill skier Jackie Chamoun has reportedly raised the ire of politicians in Beirut after topless pictures of her were circulating online. Lebanon's interim Sports Minister reportedly called upon the Lebanese Olympic Committee to launch an inquiry and 'take the required steps to avoid harming Lebanon's international reputation'.

Chamoun has her defenders both inside and beyond Lebanon's borders, and after condemnation from Islamic clerics and demand for a parliamentary inquiry, social-media savvy Lebanese took to twitter and Facebook- sometimes posting pictures of them topless or seminude- using the hashtag #StripForJackie.

NHL- Of course, all these NHL All-Stars mean that there's no NHL for nearly 3 weeks. In fact, we're still nearly a week away from the resumption of NHL play- and that is a single game between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes that was postponed earlier in the year due to a blizzard before being rescheduled to Feb 25th.

Thanks to the Olympic break, the Boston Bruins have a grand total of five games in the month of February- including a Feb 26th matchup against the Sabres at the First Niagara Centre. After a quick 1-game road trip to St Louis, the Bruins returned home to the Garden to face off against the Ottawa Senators for the final game before the Olympic break. The B's jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first thanks to goals from Patrice Bergeron and Chris Kelly- and they never looked back, adding on to their lead with goals from Bobby Ryan, Jarome Iginla, Carl Soderburg, Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic to cruise to a 7-2 victory.

Although the Bruins head into the 3-week long break leading the Atlantic Division, they're still 5 points behind the Penguins for the Eastern Conference lead.

While we still have to wait for a whole week for the next Bruins game, the good news is that it will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network on Feb 26th with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:30 ET.

NCAA HOCKEY- For the fifth straight year, the Boston College Eagles are the Beanpot champions, having defeated Northeastern during the Beanpot Finals on Feb 10th.

Although Boston College got out to a 1-0 lead, Northeastern managed to tie the contest back up at 1-1 in the closing minutes of the second period. However, BC senior forward Patrick Brown would get what would prove to be the game winning goal with just under 5 minutes to go in regulation before the Eagles added on with an empty netter from Junior Johnny Gaudreau with less than two minutes to go in the game and another tally from Brown.

The 5-straight titles for BC is the first since the 1999-2000 season when the BU Terriers had won their 6th straight. Boston College came into the 2/10 Beanpot final ranked the #1 program in the USA according to a USCHO poll.

NCAA HOOPS- As awesome as a fifth straight Beanpot title for the men's hockey program might've been, the BC Eagles made headlines on Wednesday night when they toppled previously undefeated Syracuse in OT at the Carrier Dome. Sophomore Olivier Hanlon led BC with 20 points and three assists.

The Eagles went on a 29-12 run in the second half to take a 46-42 lead and Junior Lonnie Jackson had 10 points, making three out of his four free throws in OT to help BC go on to their 62-59 win. The win by Boston College means that the Wichita State Shockers are now the sole undefeated Division I men's basketball program in the nation.

Today's Train of Thought- Olympic Consolidateds, Feb 9th, 2014

In honor of the opening weekend of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Today's Train of Thought harkens back to the 2002 Winter games on Salt Lake City- the last Olympiad to take place in the USA.

Part of the ceremonies leading up to the 2002, the Olympic torch moved by rail more than once but it's final and most noteworthy leg was on the 16-mile Heber Valley Scenic Railroad in Utah where the tourist railway went past Soldier Hollow in Wasatch Mountain State Park- home of the cross country skiing and biathlon venues. The torch train featured three steam locomotives operating as a tripleheader- an impressive feat considering that at the time, the Heber Valley was home to two working steam locomotives at the time. A few weeks prior to the game, Nevada Northern 2-8-0 Consolidation was trucked in from Ely, NV to help with the Heber Valley's increase in traffic- allowing the ALCo to operate with Heber Valley's in-house Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidations- former Union Pacific #618 and Great Western #75. Each of the Heber Valley's Consolidations were lettered for their former owners as well.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Greg Brubaker caught the rare tripleheader steaming across a trestle over the Provo River with the torch train enroute to the Soldier Hollow venue on Feb 7th, 2002. Within a few weeks of the closing ceremonies, the Nevada Northern #93 was trucked back to Nevada. While the Heber Valley still has the #75 and UP #618, both are idle awaiting their FRA mandated 15 year boiler inspection.

State of the Sports Chowdah Update- Mile High Clubbed, Broncos Stifle Pats in AFC Title Game; Take it Outside, NHL Kicks Off Stadium Series; Vonn-ed Farewell, Downhill Skiier Lindsey Vonn to Miss Sochi Games

Doug Pensinger- Getty Images

NFL- After trailing 24-0 at the half of their first meeting, trailing by 10 points against Denver at Mile high during halftime if the AFC Championship game might not have seemed so daunting at the half for New England- at least on paper.

However, outside of a 47 yard Gostkowski FG with just under 3 minutes to go in the half the Broncos managed to shut out New England. Even more worrying for the Patriots was the loss of CB Aqib Talib early in the game, which seemed to open up Peyton Manning's air attack even more.

Denver started the scoring late in the first quarter with a 27 yard Prater FG to make it 3-0. The Broncos then capped a 7-minute, 93 yard drive in the 2nd quarter with a rushing TD from TE Jacob Tamme to take a 10-0 lead with just under 8 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. Inside of the two minute warning, the Patriots defense managed to keep to Broncos out of the end zone, but Denver got another 3 points thanks to a 35 yard Prater FG to make it 13-3 at the half.

After halftime, Denver added to their lead with another time-consuming drive that shaved more than 7 minutes off the clock and took the Broncos 80 yards. The drive was capped with a 3 yard completion from Manning to Demaryius Thomas for another Broncos TD to make it a 20-3 lead.

In fact, New England wouldn't manage to find the end zone until the 4th quarter and only after the Broncos had managed to tack another 3 points on to make it a 23-3 game. With just under 9 and a half minutes to go in regulation, Brady found Julian Edelman for a 7 yard TD reception and make it a 23-10 game.

On their next drive, the Broncos would get as far as the New England 36 and seemingly put the game out of reach thanks to a 54 yard Prater FG, giving Denver a 26-10 lead with 7 minutes to go.

The Patriots would get the ball back on their own 20 and Brady would cap the drive by making a 5 yard TD run himself but the subsequent two point conversion attempt failed, leaving it a 10 point game with just over 3 minutes left. All Denver really needed to do is get a few first downs and run out the clock- and that's exactly what happened as the Patriots burned their remaining timeouts to try and preserve the clock.

The win propels the Broncos to their first Super Bowl since the 1998 season (and Peyton Manning's first since 2006). Manning went 32-43 and threw for 400 yards on the day while Brady went 24-38 with 277 yards and one passing and one rushing TD. Although the Pats mostly kept Knowshown Moreno in check, but that made little difference as Manning's air attack seemed to open up even more after Talib's early departure.

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP- The Broncos would have to wait a little while to find out who they'd be playing at the Meadowlands in Super Bowl XLVIII. As it turned out, the NFC title game between Western division rivals Seattle and San Francisco would be much more competitive than the earlier AFC Championship game.

With Seattle taking a 20-17 lead on a TD pass from Russell Wilson to Jermaine Kearse earlt in the 4th, there was still plenty of time for the 49ers to come back- even when the Seahawks added to their lead with a 47 yard FG to make it a 23-17 game with just under four minutes to go.

The game-deciding drive got underway when the 49ers started out from their own 22 with just over 3 and a half minutes remaining. After moving the ball downfield and getting inside the Seattle Red Zone, Seahawks All Pro cornerback Richard Sherman tipped Colin Kaepernick's pass attempt to teammate Malcom Smith to clinch the game with 22 seconds left.

Of course, the actual game seemed to pale in comparison to Sherman's postgame interview with FOX Sports' Erin Andrews where he ripped Michael Crabtree as a 'sorry' receiver [it apparently was one of the few times Kaepernick attempted to throw to a receiver covered by Crabtree that day- NANESB!].

The win sets up a Big Game matchup between teams from two cities that- as others have pointed out- have recently legalized marijuana, lending new significance to the phrase Super Bowl.

Kickoff for Superbowl XLVIII is scheduled for Sunday, Feb 2nd at 6:30 PM ET from the Meadowlands in E. Rutherford, NJ and the game will be televised on FOX.

Elise Amendola

NHL- It's been a busy week for the Boston Bruins- a week in which good things come in sixes, apparently.

Over the weekend, they travelled to Philly where they beat the Flyers by a 6-1 final before heading to Uniondale, NY on Monday night and beat the Islanders by a 6-3 final. Tuesday night marked the Bruins return to the Garden as well as a homecoming of sorts for former Bruin and Catamount and 2011 Vezina and Conn Smythe trophy winner Tim Thomas, who resumed his NHL career earlier this year with the Florida Panthers.

The Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks for goals by Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara before doubling their lead in the second with another Lucic tally and a power play goal by Reilly Smith to make it 4-0. The Panthers were able to get on the board in the closing seconds of the 2nd period thanks to a Bard Boyes tally. Four minutes into the 3rd period, the Panthers were able to cut the Boston lead in half thanks to a Dmitri Kulikov goal, making it a 4-2 game. However, that would be as close as the Panthers would get as Shawn Thornton and David Krejci would score for Boston to put the B's up 6-2.

Things got kind of testy towards the end of the game when Tim Thomas delivered a stick to defenseman Carl Soderberg's head in the closing seconds of the game. Thomas was given a high-sticking minor with only a few seconds to go when the game was already decided and Boston goes on the cruise to a 6-2 win over Florida.

This sets up an Original 6 matchup for Thursday night with the Bruins hosting the Montreal Canadiens at the Garden. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- For the 2013-2014 season, the New Year's Day Winter Classic didn't end with the Red Wings vs Maple Leafs game from the Big House in Michigan.

On Saturday night, the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings faced off in Dodgers Stadium for the first-ever warm weather outdoor regular season NHL game. The host LA Kings ultimately fell to their Orange County rivals by a 3-0 final.

But the outdoor games didn't end in the city of Angels. The very next day on the other side of the country, the New York Rangers began what would be the first of two games [interestingly one 'home' and one 'away'- NANESB!] at Yankee stadium. On Sunday afternoon, the Blueshirts were trailing the Devils 3-1 in the first period when they managed to score six unanswered goals on Martin Brodeur. On Wednesday night, the Rangers took on the Islanders as the 'away' team and broke a 1-1 deadlock in the 3rd with a go-ahead goal from Dan Carcillo in the 3rd to help the Rangers win and sweep the series at Yankee stadium.

There remains two more outdoor for the NHL this season- a Feb 1st matchup at Chicago's Soldier Field that pits the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks against the Pittsburgh Penguins and a March 2nd all-Canada contest between the Vancouver Canucks and Ottawa Senators at the BC Palace Stadium in Vancouver, BC.

SI Photo
WINTER OLYMPICS- Downhill Skier Lindsey Vonn announced that she will not be competing in the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, saying that an earlier right knee injury she suffered is taking longer than she anticipated to heal. Instead, the 2010 Gold Medalist will travel to Sochi as a correspondent for NBC and a spokesman said earlier this month that she is expected to undergo surgery.

Vonn took gold Gold in the downhill event at the 2010 Winter games in Vancouver as well as a Bronze in the Super G event. Lindsey also has gold medals in Super G and downhill from the 2009 Alpine World Skiing Championships in Val d'Isère, France.

Southern Russian City of Volgograd Hit By Multiple Suicide Bombings

At least 30 people were killed in back to back bombings on Sunday and Monday that targeted public transportation in the southern Russian city of Volgograd. Russian officials believe the bomb blasts were carried out by suicide bombers in the city's railway station on Sunday and a municipal trolleybus on Monday.

The explosion ripped away much of the bus's exterior and broke windows in nearby buildings. The BBC reported that the explosion took place near a market in the city's Dzerzhinsky district. It virtually paralyzed public transport in the city, forcing many residents to walk long distances to get to work.

Vladimir Markin, the spokesman for Russia's main investigative agency, said Monday's explosion involved a bomb similar to the one used in Sunday's attack.

"That confirms the investigators' version that the two terror attacks were linked," Markin said in a statement. "They could have been prepared in one place."

The Interior Ministry ordered police to beef up patrols at railway stations and other transport facilities across Russia. Putin on Monday summoned the chief of the main KGB successor agency and the interior minister to discuss the situation, and sent the former to Volgograd to oversee the probe.

CCTV cameras outside the building recorded images of the train station bombing that is said to have killed 18 and injured another 44 people. Russian security officials are reportedly attempting to piece together images from cameras inside the station.

Volgograd- known as Stalingrad during Soviet times- is an industrial and transport hub some 900 miles south of Moscow and 1000 km northeast of Sochi, site of the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics next month. Some of the deadliest fighting in WWII took place in Stalingrad when the beleaguered Red Army halted the advance of Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht in early 1943. Volgograd is also one of the closer metropolitan areas to strife-torn regions such as Dagestan and Chechnya where Islamist fighters have been conducting attacks against Russian troops and civilians since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1992.

Dagestan and Chechnya are both considered fertile recruiting grounds for battle-hardened Islamic terrorists to fight in Afghanistan or Syria. The two brothers responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing and deadly ambush of an MIT Campus police officer were originally from Chechnya. Besides ongoing fighting over Islamists and pro-Kremlin forces in the Transcaucus region, Russia has earned the ire of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states for Moscow's direct military aid and support of Syrian president Bashr Al-Assad in the midst of a prolonged civil war.

In August 2013, the UK's Telegraph reported that the Saudis had secretly offered Russia a deal in which the Saudis proposed to cede most of the global oil and gas market to the Russians if they agreed to abandon the Assad regime in Syria. According to the article and reports in the Russian and Lebanese media, the Saudis also promised the Kremlin a tacit deal with Chechen fighters where they wouldn't attack the Sochi Winter Olympics should Russia abandon Assad.

The details of the talks were first leaked to the Russian press. A more detailed version has since appeared in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, which has Hezbollah links and is hostile to the Saudis.

As-Safir said Prince Bandar pledged to safeguard Russia’s naval base in Syria if the Assad regime is toppled, but he also hinted at Chechen terrorist attacks on Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi if there is no accord. “I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us,” he allegedly said.

Prince Bandar went on to say that Chechens operating in Syria were a pressure tool that could be switched on an off. “These groups do not scare us. We use them in the face of the Syrian regime but they will have no role in Syria’s political future.”

Some observers believe the Volgograd attacks on Sunday and Monday- as well as an October 21st suicide bombing carried out by a Chechen 'black widow' in the same oblast- could be considered a 'dry run' for even deadlier attacks against athletes, officials and attendees at the Sochi Winter Olympics next month. The attacks also come roughly a week before the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas.

Sports Chowdah Olympic Finale/Feb 28th: USA's Golden Opportunity Fades in OT; Russian To Conclusions; Those Medal-ing Kids

(Getty Images)

Men's Hockey: OK...congratulations Canada- gotta admit, you were scared there for awhile. Now what were the terms of our wager again? Loser has to have Stephen Harper as their head of state for the next 3 years?

In case you missed it, the USA/Canada matchup was one of those rare confluences of sporting events that lived up to the hype coupled with the fact that they take place once every four years, tops. Even rarer considering that there's virtually no guarantee that the USA and Canada would meet in the gold medal game. The last time the two nations met was the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City (which actually isn't that long ago in terms of Olympic-ness). The two teams met earlier in the tournament to close out round-robin play with USA downing Canada 5-3.

With Canada's Prime Minister and actors Michael J Fox and William Shatner in attendance, both goalies Ryan Miller and Roberto Luongo were looking sharp early, although Johnathan Toews was able to get the first goal of the game for Canada at the 12:50 mark of the first period. Corey Perry would add to that 7 minutes and 13 seconds into the second, although Ryan Kessler would get one past Luongo to put the USA on the board.

Still down 2-1 in the 3rd, Team USA pulled Ryan Miller for an extra attacker with about a minute and a half remaining in regulation. More often than not, the team that's down by one goal and pulls the goaltender for an extra attacker will ultimately end up losing by two goals. Hell- Canada tried this against Team USA last week and all it did was seal Canada's only loss of the tournament. Only this time it was one of those 'Holy crap! It worked!' deals when Zach Parise got one past Roberto Luongo to tie the game up at 2-2 with 25 seconds remaining. One could almost feel the air sucked out of Canada Hockey Place as the home team was so close to sealing the deal, only to have the contest head for overtime.

And it was in overtime that the little-known and obscure hockey player named Sidney Crosby was finally able to figure out USA netminder Ryan Miller. 7 minutes and 40 seconds into overtime, the underhyped 'Sid the Kid', who isn't very well known outside of Pittsburgh PA or his native Nova Scotia, took a pass from Jerome Iginla and slipped it in under the pads of Miller for the 3-2 win, the gold and no doubt all sorts of beaver (hey- it is Canada's national critter, y'know). Crosby's only other goal of the tournament was a shootout goal against the Swiss in the preliminaries. Canada outshot the USA 39 to 36, although it was a much closer margin than last week when the host nation outshot the USA 45 to 23.

Overall, great game....Canada just outlasted USA, although they had to be nervous heading into an overtime that was 25 seconds away from never taking place. In a way, this is a sort of reversal of the World Jr. Championships final back in January- USA blowing the late lead on what seemed like a back-breaker, only to win in OT...only Team USA wasn't playing in front of the home crowd in either instance. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Ryan Miller [Ruh-roh! A Bruins fan thanking the Buffalo goaltender!? What is this world coming to!? -NANESB!] for his outstanding performance throughout the tournament. I honestly don't think the USA would've gotten within sniffing distance of a medal if it wasn't for his efforts. One could almost hear the ebullient Rick Jeanneret enthusiastically bellowing 'WHAT A SAVE BY MILLER!' from the broadcast booth.....

So Canada gets the gold, USA gets the silver and Finland won the bronze Saturday in the match against the Slovaks. Although the Slovaks didn't get a medal, their 4th place finish is their best in hockey since splitting apart from the Czech Republic.

And as much as the '98 Games in Nagano or '06 Games in Torino were an argument against having NHL players in the Olympics, the Vancouver games were a ringing endorsement of their presence. Granted the performance by the heavily favored Russians and Czechs were a letdowns, but the efforts turned in by the USA, Canada, Slovaks and Finns made for some very dynamic and entertaining matches. Reportedly NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was deciding against NHL players participating in the 2014 games at Sochi, Russia before the Olympics, although he may rethink his stance after the output from NHL players in the winter games this year.

Medal Count: And the winner is......
-----Gold--------Silver------Bronze
USA: 9 ----------15----------13
Germany: 10------3----------7
Canada: 14--------7----------5
Norway: 9---------8---------6
Austria: 4----------6---------6
Russia: 3----------5----------7
S. Korea: 6--------6----------2
PRC China: 5------2----------4
Sweden: 5---------2----------4
France: 2----------3----------6

Russian Olympic Federation: The polls are now closed, and I see that nobody selected Russia to finish tops in the medal count. Wise move, since the Russkies finished with only 15 medals- a disappointing 6th place overall with 11 fewer medals than host country Canada and 22 less than the USA. This has not gone unnoticed by Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, who has called for Russian Olympic officials to resign en masse in the wake of Russia's worst showing in the winter games since the Tsars were in power. Two events the Russian's traditionally dominate include figure skating and men's hockey; no Russian athlete won a gold in figure skating for the first time in over 50 years and the Russian hockey team's aspirations to leave Vancouver with a medal were crushed in a 7-3 spanking at the hands of host nation Canada in the semifinals. Russia basically has four years to get their shit together before hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi....which is only some 50 miles from that mountainous little republic of Georgia that they decided to invade back in 2008 in time for the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Summer Olympics.

NBC Coverage: In a nutshell, it sucked. OK, I thought having Al Michaels on hand for the gold medal game between USA and Canada was a nice touch, but the hockey coverage leading up to it was atrocious- most of it being shunted off to networks that hardly anybody watches and not everybody got with their cable or satellite subscription plan, or weren't available in HD on top of showing some Team USA matches on tape delay. I'm convinced the only reason NBC didn't pre-empt the gold medal match between the USA and Canada to show curling or ice-prancing is because those events were over and done with. Over time, I was more amused than bothered by the MSNBC ads depicting Ed Schultz and Keith Olberman's gangly stepson Rachel Maddow as some sort of rational, unbiased moderates when it's becoming more and more apparent MSNBC is where Air America hosts go to die. Or at least their careers do.

Sports Chowdah Update Feb 23-27th/Olympic Edition; Border Wars a Trois- USA & Canada Set For Gold Medal match; Korean Stocks Ditched for Bond Girl

Figure skating: Noramlly, I'm not a fan of sports or events where the winners and outcome are dictated by a panel of judges, but apparently a whole lot of Asians disagree with me. Trading on Asia's top two exchanges ground to a halt earlier this week so that traders on the floors of both Seoul's Korea Exchange and Japan's Nikkei could watch performances in women's figure skating by Japan's Mao Asada and South Korea's Kim Yu Na. The only significant movement that trading session came from Korean sports-marketing firm IB sports [KSX: 011420], which represents Yu Na among others. Yu Na's James Bond-themed performance on Febuary 23rd earned higher marks that Asada's program and Yu Na would go on to win the gold in women's figure skating on Thursday. This would be South Korea's first Winter Olympic medal in a sport other than speed skating.

Finland's Kiira Korpi earned an 11th place finish, perhaps begging the question why she didn't go ahead with her sexy stripper-cop program in the Vancouver games.

(Andrew Mills/Star-Ledger)

Woman's Hockey: To hardly anybody's surprise, it was USA versus Canada for the gold, with the Canadian women's team shutting out the USA 2-0. However, it did not end there. Bound and determined to lock up the 'Buzzkills of the year' title early, the IOC sharply criticized the gold medal winners for smoking cigars and drinking beer and champagne while taking a victory lap after the medals were awarded and the fans had left the arena.

Men's Hockey: Good God, I sure took my sweet time updating this, didn't I? Well, the match that most people thought would be the gold medal matchup actually took place as early as the quarterfinals- Russia vs Canada. However, it did NOT live up to it's billing as the host country simply demolished the Russians 7-3 to advance to the semifinals against Slovakia, where they won a much closer game against the Slovaks 3-2.

Elsewhere, Team USA scored late and not necessarily often, but often enough to get by the Swiss 2-0 on Wednesday and advance to the semifinals where they manhandled Finland by a final of 6-1. This set up a Bronze medal game between the Finns and Slovaks that was played Saturday with the Finns rallying to get past the plucky Slovaks 5-3. I have to say that as fun as the Slovaks were to watch, I'm a little disappointed they couldn't do any better than 4th place.

Of course, I would be derelict in my sportsfan/sports-blogger duties if I neglected to mention that Finland and Slovakia's loss sets up a gold medal game between the USA and Canada on Sunday. To say 'I'm looking forward to it' is the understatement of this young 2010, and I honestly couldn't tell you who I think is going to win. Canada looked unstoppable against Russia, but at times, complacent and beatable against the Slovaks. Ever since pool play ended, USA and Canada haven't had any common opponents (USA had the Swiss and Finns while Canada had Germany, Russia and Slovakia). While I can't dismiss things like playing to the home crowd and avenging last week's loss, I think USA does have momentum on their side and nowhere near as much pressure to worry about, since very few thought they'd get this far in the first place. But stop and think about it.....the absolute worst case scenario facing the USA men's hockey team at the moment is 'settling' for silver when they were a longshot to be in contention for a medal in the first place. That said, no reason to let up now......gold is all the rage this year. (Go USA!)

Bobsled: Team USA broke a 62 year drought by winning the gold in the 4-man bobsled event Saturday. Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curtis Tomasevicz piloted the winning sled through the Whistler course in 3 minutes, 24.46 seconds.

Closing Ceremonies: The remaining representative from Chile's Olympic delegation will stay for the closing ceremonies tomorrow in Vancouver. Alpine skier Noelle Barahona had planned to return home on Sunday but was unable to find a flight. However, she did receive word that her family and friends were all right. Barahona, a team spokesman, a coach and a physical therapist will be on hand to represent Chile for the closing ceremonies. Two other Chilean skiers, Jorge Mandru and Maui Gayme, had already left Vancouver for Seattle and Europe before the earthquake struck.

Sports Chowdah Recap for Febuary 20-22; Woe Canada! Border Wars Redux as USA Upsets Canada; Ohno! Apolo-ing Performance One For Record Books

First of all, let me just say that aside from ads portraying Air America rejects Ed 'Vote-fraud-is-OK-if-it's-for-Martha-Coakley' Schultz and Keith Olberman's gangly, awkward looking stepson Rachel Maddow as some sort of unbiased 'we're here to explain it all for the little guy' moderates, NBC SUCKS in that they couldn't be bothered to show Sunday's highly anticipated USA/Canada men's hockey game on a channel in Hi-Def. Instead, we're stuck with MSNBC. But then again, I should be careful what I ask for as I'm referring to a once every 4 years event, and seeing the batshit insane ooze out of every pore of Keith Olberman's being in Hi-Def during the prolonged defecation on Edward R Murrow's grave that is his MSNBC talk show simply is not worth the price.

(U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!)

With that said, happy Miracle on Ice anniversary, everybody! While this humble blogger was technically alive for Team USA's victory against the heavily favored Soviets in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, toddlers are very easily distracted and not everything registers right away. On Febuary 22nd, 1980, the amateur and collegiate players that made up team USA stunned the Soviet men's hockey team by beating them 4-3. Contrary to popular opinion, that actually was not the gold-medal game- the match with the USSR was to see who would take on Finland in the Gold medal game. Team USA would go on to defeat Finland to win the gold; their unlikely run dramatized in the 2004 film Miracle starring Kurt Russel as coach Herb Brooks. Rumor has it that the film was also shown in the Red Sox locker room when they were down 0-3 in the 2004 ALCS.

(30 years later- USA! U-S-A! U-S-A!)

Now, Sunday Nights Men's Hockey contest was no Miracle on Ice, but Team USA found themselves in the role of underdogs nonetheless. Just 41 seconds into the first period, USA's Brian Rafalski quieted the partisan crowd at Vancouver's Canada Hockey Place with a slapshot that deflected off Sidney Crosby's stick and past Martin Brodeur for the early 1-0 lead over Canada. Eric Staal deadlocked the game at 1-1 at the 8:53 mark of the first, but Rafalski would notch his second goal of the contest a mere 22 seconds later, sending the puck under Brodeur's left pad. The game would be knotted again on a Dany Heatley tally 3 and a half minutes into the second period, and would remain a 2-2 tie until USA's Chris Drury sent the puck past Brodeur after a mad scramble in front of the net late in the second.

In the 3rd period, Jamie Langenbrunner tallied the USA's only power-play goal of the game to make it a 4-2 USA lead. Although down, Team Canada certainly wasn't out and Sidney Crosby managed to solve Ryan Miller on a Canadian power-play at the 16:51 mark to make it a one-goal game. The crowd seemed to factor back in the final 3 minutes of regulation, including when Canada pulled Brodeur for the extra attacker in the final 57 seconds. However, USA's Ryan Kesler won the footrace with Canada's Corey Perry and got the empty-netter to seal the deal and make it a 5-3 USA win.

Now, as anxious as I was when Ryan Miller would make a spectacular save only to leave a whole bunch of big, juicy-looking rebounds for Canada to pounce on, he faced a total of 45 (stopping 42) while Brodeur only faced 23 shots on goal. So it didn't just seem like Miller was facing twice as many shots as Brodeur was....that actually was the case. Personally, ever since I saw the Canada/Switzerland game, I did expect Team USA to keep it close and put their odds at beating Canada head-to-head at 50/50.

Reports are circulating that Roberto Luongo will replace Brodeur in net for Tuesday's game against Germany while Team USA awaits the winner of the Switzerland/Belarus game.

Women's Hockey: Not too surprising, given the margin of victory over their opponents, but the USA and Canadian women's team will face off for the gold medal game, the American women punching their ticket with a 9-1 win over Sweden and the Canadians shutting out Finland 5-0. The gold medal match is set for Thursday at 3:30 PM Pacific time.

Short Track Speed Skating: Although the South Koreans claimed 4 of the 6 short-track medals awarded Saturday, Apolo Anton Ohno won silver last weekend and bronze in the 1500M event Saturday to make him the most decorated US Winter Olympian with seven medals. The feat surpasses Bonnie Blair, who won five gold medals and a bronze from the 1988 Calgary games to 1994 in women's long-track speed skating.

Women's Alpine Skiing: Well, downhill favorite Lindsey Vonn has another medal to her name, although she had to settle for the bronze in the Super-G competition. Vonn admitted to being a tad complacent and eased up after making her way through the more difficult portions of the course. Austria's Andrea Fischbaker secured the gold while Slovenia's Tina Maze won silver Saturday. Not the most earth-shattering developments out of Vancouver, but hey! Another gratuitous opportunity to put up some Vonn-centric ocular sweetness!

NBA: Well, I kinda got the feeling if Denver could do it to King James and the Cavs on the road, I shouldn't be too disappointed if Boston wasn't able to come away from Denver with the W.

After beating the Portland Trailblazers pretty convincingly Friday night, the C's headed into Denver to take on the Nuggets in a matinee game Sunday afternoon. Ray Allen had 25 points while KG, Rondo and Marquis Daniels each had 15. The Nuggets had doubled up Boston early, getting out in front by as much as 20, but Boston cut the Denver lead to 7 at halftime and managed to pull even at 66-66 in the third before dropping off the face of the earth to lose 114-105 Sunday afternoon.

The Celtics next game will be at the TD Banknorth Garden Tuesday against the NY Knicks. Paul Pierce is doubtful for the game with a bad thumb.

NFL:Not the least-bit New England-centric, but the San Diego Chargers have released RB LaDanian Thomlinson this week. In so doing, the Chargers avoid paying him a $2 million roster bonus on top of his 2010 salary of $5 million.

Today's Train of Thought- Do you Believe in Miracles? Febuary 22, 2010

Today's Train of Thought marks the 30th anniversary of the 'Miracle on Ice' by taking a look at some of the railroads serving Lake Placid then and now. In 1979, the Adirondack Railway began operating over the former New York Central branch that ran from north of Utica, NY to Lake Placid, NY. NYC successor Penn Central abandoned the line in 1972, but the state of New York took possession of the right-of-way in 1975 and was re-opened in 1979 as the Adirondack Railway in part to bring visitors to and from the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid.

However, keep in mind that the, like the rest of the country back then, the railway industry was in a state of turmoil in the late 70s and on through the 1980s- particularly in the Northeastern USA. Less than four years prior, the bankrupt Penn Central and Erie-Lackawana were merged with smaller, bankrupt and troubled railways like the Ann Arbor, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Lehigh Valley, Reading Lines, Lehigh and Hudson River or Pennsylvania-Reading Shore Line to form the Consolidated Railway Corp- or Conrail. The beleagured Delaware & Hudson was only a few years away from being sold to Guilford Transportation for a paltry $500,000 in a short-lived and disastrous marriage and shortlines throughought the country like the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville; Wellsville Adison and Galeton or Skaneateles Short Line were on their last legs.

But the renewed interest in opening up a route to Lake Placid to accomodate the Olympics gave one tiny corner of the nation's rail network a brief reprieve from the turmoil. This kind of made sense, since Olympic host cities like Salt Lake City, Torino, Nagano and Vancouver are served by large international airports, multiple expressways, railways or ferries. Lake Placid simply didn't have any of those some 30 years ago (and as far as I know, still doesn't)- just some two lane highways cutting through the Adirondacks and the recently re-opened branchline. To haul the passengers, the Adirondack acquired some secondhand ALCO diesels and coaches and for good measure, leased additional locomotives from Conrail and Delaware & Hudson. Here, rrpicturearchives contributor Chuck Edwards caught borrowed D&H RS3 #4075 shortly after its departure from Utica with a northbound consist in the snow at Remsen, NY on Febuary 2nd, 1980.

Sadly, the Adirondack Railway went bankrupt in 1981 and the tracks remained dormant for another decade.



However, in 1992 a group of volunteers began restoring 4 miles of right-of-way on the southern section of the line between Theandra, NY and Minehaha, NY and operating it as the Adirondack Centennial Railway in observance of the 100 year anniversary of the line's completion. The excursions proved to be very popular and in 1994, the railway was renamed the Adirondack Scenic and work began on restoring the line all the way through to the Mohwak, Adirondack & Northern interchange and operating on trackage rights to Utica's Union Station. In 2000, the northernmost 20 miles of the line were reopened, operating roundtrip excursions between Lake Placid and Saranac Lake. Above, railpictures.net contributor Andrew Blaszczyk caught Adirondack Scenic ALCO C424 #4243 leading it's consist westbound across the Chubb River shortly after it's departure from the Lake Placid station on the last day of August 2006. Although the entire line isn't yet up to snuff for operating passenger trains, volunteers and work crews can send ballast and MOW equipment the entire length of the line.
The Adirondack Scenic generally operates in the summertime and the right-of-way is used as a snowmobile trail in the winter. Aside from ballast for MOW purposes, there is no freight traffic to speak of on the line, although the excursions are becoming increasingly popular with canoers.

President Obama Offers Unconditional Apology to Prime Minister of Canada for 'Arrogant' USA Men's Hockey Victory

In a letter dated Sunday and delivered to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, President Barack Obama apologized for USA Men's Hockey 5-3 win over host country Canada.

According to sources, Obama said Team USA had "shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" toward opponents in the tournament.

"In stopping 45 of 48 shots on goal, I believe that USA Goaltender Bode Miller acted stupidly towards the host nation and should return his ill-gotten gold medal without any further delay..." read one particularly scathing portion of the letter that Harper's office released to the public. "In this misguided and unilateral action, which is clearly a result of the failed policies of the last 8 years, Team USA has singlehandedly undone the 13 months of goodwill I have personally established with our neighbors to the north. Some of these players have shown an antipathy towards teams that are not their own, and they'll bitterly cling to their sticks or a two-goal lead."

When questioned about the letter, USA netminder Ryan Miller told NANESB! sources "Wow- really? He said that, huh? First of all, my name is Ryan. Last time I checked Bode Miller was a skier. Second- we haven't won anything yet. Tonight's game was still in the preliminaries."

The White House has reportedly been in contact with IOC officials to lobby for a belated forefit of tonight's game.

"C'mon! We got guys wearing these f*cking retarded 'Support the Troops' or Uncle Sam masks in what's supposed to be an international tournament" Rahm Emmanuel said in a conference earlier. "They can't get disqualified for that? Are you sh*tting me?"

Alpine skier Bode Miller was busy posing for pictures of him sinking his teeth into his gold medal and unavailable for comment.

Sports Chowdah Recap for Febuary 17-18- Men's Hockey Favorites Face Shootouts While USA 2-0; Hot Blonde & Flying Tomato Golden; Cs Down Kobe-Less LA

First of all, happy pitcher's & catchers report, everybody!

Secondly, I missed Tiger Wood's much ballyhooed press conference/apology-palooza mostly due to lack of interest on my part, so I couldn't give you an informed opinion regarding that. As skeevy as his conduct off the course might've been, I'm not sure how that boils over into affecting the whole PGA. Also, when all is said and done, it's not really going to matter how phony or sincere we thought Tiger's apologies were- that will be between him and his family. It's not as though Woods is an elected official like Elliot Spitzer, Mark Sanford or John Edwards.


2010 WINTER OLYMPICS: Wow- I managed to tune in for that Russia/Slovakia men's hockey game right after the Celtics/Lakers game last night. The Slovaks were playing Russia very well, but I had little idea I was tuned in to see the first major upset of the tournament. The game was tied at 1-1 on goals by Marian Hossa for Slovakia and Alexei Morozov for Russia. After a scoreless tie, the game went to a shootout. Slovakia's Josef Stumpel got one past Russian netminder Ilya Bryzgalov on Slovakia's first attempt of the shootout while Alexander Ovechkin managed to beat Slovak netminder Jaroslav Halak on Russia's second attempt. As it turned out, it would be the only time Ovechkin would get one past Halak, as both teams could use the same shooter if the shootout went beyond 3 rounds. Pavol Demitra managed to beat Bryzgalov in the 7th round of the shootout, giving Slovakia the upset win.

Elsewhere, Team USA handled the Norwegian team pretty easily with a pair of goals less than 2 minutes apart for Brian Rafalski as well as goals from Chris Drury, Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane and Ryan Malone to win 6-1. USA Goalie Ryan Miller faced only 11 shots for the whole game.

Canada needed overtime and a shootout to get by a resurgent Swiss team earlier in the day. Team Canada got out to an early 2-0 lead with goals by Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatly, but the Swiss came right back with goals from Ivo Ruthermann and Patrick von Gunten starting in the 2nd. A scoreless overtime brought on the first shootout of Thursday, in which Sidney Crosby got one past Switzerland's Jonas Hiller for the only goal of the shootout. Canada's Martin Brodeur faced 23 shots while Hiller faced more than double that with 47.

This sets up a showdown between undefeated USA and undefeated Canada on Sunday afternoon.

Women's Hockey Scoreboard:

USA 6- Finland 0

China 1- Russia 2

Other Events:

(AP)

OK.....is it just me, or do the medals being awarded in Vancouver look like giant coins that somebody set on the railroad track and had a train run them over? Then maybe added the Olympic rings on them afterwards....

So far, Lindsey Vonn is off to a good start, bruised shin and all. The injured Vonn finished with a time of 1:44:19, which was good enough for gold in the Ladies' Downhill on Thursday. Teammate Julia Mancuso finished 0.56 seconds behind Vonn for the silver and Austria's Elisabeth Georgl's 1:45:65 finish was good enough for the bronze Wednesday.

Snowboarder Shaun White was basically showing off and biding his time in the men's half-pipe until stepping up on the medal podium. White has become the first competitor to win back-to-back gold medals in the event and according to the Wall Street Journal...

"....performed his much-hyped, signature move called the "Double McTwist 1260," which involves two off-axis backflips while doing 3.5 full rotations, all in one jump. The trick is so advanced (no other competitor in the event even attempted it) that merely landing it was enough to ensure Mr. White victory. Turns out, however, he never even needed to do it, only performing it on his last run, because it would have been a waste not to."

As of Friday, the Top 10 in the Medal Count is as follows:

USA- 20 (6 gold; 6 silver; 8 Bronze)

Germany- 13 (4 gold; 5 Silver; 4 Bronze)

Norway- 10 (5 Gold; 3 Silver; 2 Bronze)

Canada- 8 (4 Gold; 3 Silver; 1 Bronze)

France- 7 (2 Gold; 1 Silver; 4 Bronze)

South Korea- 5 (3 Gold; 2 Silver)

Austria- 5 (1 Gold; 2 Silver; 2 Bronze)

Russia- 5 (1 Gold; 2 Silver; 2 Bronze)

Switzerland-4 (3 Gold; 1 Bronze)

China- 4 (2 gold; 1 Silver; 1 Bronze)

Sweden- 4 (2 Gold; 1 Silver; 1 Bronze)

NBA: The Celtics had to come from behind after the Lakers went on a 13-0 tear in the 4th quarter Thursady night at the Staples Center, but the home team was held to 2 points in the last 7:14 and the C's held off a Kobe-less Lakers for the 87-86 win. Boston will travel to Portland, OR tonight to take on the Trailblazers. Ray Allen led scoring for Boston with 24 points in the first 3 quarters while had 11 assists and 14 points.

Also this week, the Celtics traded Guards Eddie House and JR Giddens as well as Forward Bill Walker to the NY Knicks for Nate Robinson and Marcus Landry. Although passing a physical, Robinson is reportedly suffering from flu-like symptoms and is unlikely to join the team on Friday.

Sports Chowdah Recap for Feb 13-16: USA Hockey- Swiss Miss; The Mask Slips? Recchi-ng Ball Takes Down Florida, C's Capitalize in Sacramento

NEW OLYMPIC POLL UP:Just curious to see which country visitors to NANESB! think will bring home the most Olympic medals from Vancouver.

2010 WINTER OLYMPICS: Men's Hockey- Team USA got off to a 1-0 start, besting Switzerland 3-1 in the Men's Hockey opener. Anaheim's Bobby Ryan got one past Ducks teammate Jonas Hiller late in the first to get on the board. Ryan Malone and David Backes added to the lead in the second and Ryan Miller's shutout bid fell by the wayside when Switzerland's Roman Wick got one past him for their only tally of the game. Miller stopped 14 of 15 shots in the USA win. The USA's last Olympic Men's Hockey win came four years ago to the day in Torino with a 4-1 victory against Kazakhstan.

The IOC has ordered USA Goalies Ryan Miller and Jonathan Quick to remove or cover slogans from their masks that they deemed 'advertising, demonstrations or propaganda'. In Ryan Miller's case, the offending slogan is 'Miller Time', which is a play on the old Miller ads. However, the IOC also wants the name Matt Schoals- a cousin of Miller's who died of cancer- removed from his mask. Miller has agreed to cover the 'Miller Time' from his mask but plans on fighting the IOC over the Matt Schoals inscription.

(Eddie Kotz/LA Kings)

Jonathan Quick's mask features a bald eagle wearing GI-style dog tags, a fighter jet, an Apache helicopter with the USA Hockey logo emblazoned on top and 'Support the Troops' on the back. Apparently the IOC has deemed 'Support the Troops' as propaganda and have ordered Quick to cover it. Quick says he chose to honor the military and a childhood friend who did two tours in Iraq and is now a Connecticut police officer with the mask. Both Miller and UMass Alumni Quick can appeal to the US Olympic Committee and the IIHF. An IIHF official said that the slogan could be interpreted as propaganda according to IOC Rule 51 or simply offering moral support.

"If we go too hard on that we could be seen as insensitive,” said IIHF spokesman Szymon Szemberg.

[H/T Wyatt Earp]

Other Olympic Hockey Scores:

Men's- Russia 8- Latvia 2

Canada 8- Norway 0

Women's- Finalnd 5- Russia 1 (Sunday)

USA 12- China 1 (Sunday)

Sweden 6- Slovakia 2 (Monday)

Canada 10- Switzerland 1 (Monday)

Finland 2- China 1

USA 13- Russia 0

NHL: Before the Olympic break, the Bruins added to their win streak with a come-from-behind win against the Florida Panthers to make it four in a row. Nick Tarnasky put the Panthers on the board first, and although David Krejci would tie the game up at 1-1 five minutes later, Stephen Weiss notched a power play goal towards the end of the 1st period to put Florida up 2-1. There was no additional scoring until the third, when 42-year old veteran Mark Recchi got one past Tomas Vokun to tie the game at 2-2 and eventually send the contest into overtime and a shootout. A lackluster 0-3 in the shootout on the season, Recchi got off the schnide in the eighth round of the shootout by deeking Vokun and shooting high, giving Boston the win. The win puts Boston one point of Montreal for 3rd in the Northeastern Division and 7th in the Eastern Conference heading into the Olympic break. Tuukka Rask, starting his 6th consecutive game, made 26 saves in regulation and overtime while stopping six of 8 shots faced in the shootout.

The Bruins will remain idle until Tuesday March 2nd when they host the Canadiens

NBA Coming off an All-Star Break at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX in which the Eastern Conference topped the West 141-139, The NBA got back to games that count in the standings Tuesday night and the Celtics resumed their road trip at ARCO arena in Sacramento, breaking a 2-game skid with a 95-92 win over the Kings.

The C's got alot of help from their bench early, getting 34 points (including 10 from Rasheed Wallace) in the first half. Still, Doc Rivers was probably cringing at 12 relatively easy shots that weren't made and another 11 that were blocked by Sacramento. Paul Pierce had 17 points, including going 5-5 from the free throw line in the C's win.

Boston's next matchup is against the Lakers at LA's Staples Center Thursday night.

Sports Chowdah Recap for Feb 11-12; Georgian Luger Dies in Crash, Delays Help Vonn? B's Make it 3 Straight, The Truck is Ft. Meyers Bound

(Ivan Sekretarev/AP)

WINTER OLYMPICS: Even before the opening ceremonies, the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympiad was already marred by tragedy when 21 year old luger Nodar Kumaritashvili from the Republic of Georgia lost control of his sled at speeds approaching 90 MPH during the qualifying round of the men's luge before going over the track wall before crashing into an unpadded steel pole near the finish line. Rescue workers came to Kumaritashvili's aid within seconds and administered CPR before he was airlifted to a trauma center in Whistler, BC where he was pronounced dead.

The potential hazards of the Whistler course had been discussed in the months leading up to the Olympics. Several countries- including Team USA- were upset on restrictions placed over access to the track. Members of the Canadian team were the only ones who had access to the track prior to the Olympics.

USA Women's Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn, already nursing a bruised shin that put her participation in doubt, caught a break from mother nature after rainy weather postponed practice for the women's event Thursday and Friday. This gives Vonn a few extra days to recoup before hitting the slopes.

The opening ceremonies didn't quite go as planned at Vancouver's BC palace when a hydraulic arm that was supposed to raise a section of the cauldron that was supposed to be simultaneously lit by hockey great Wayne Gretzky, NBA All-Star Steve Nash, skier Nancy Greene and speed-skater Catorina LeMay Doan. Despite through rehearsals, the section Doan was supposed to light never rose, so the Saskatchewan native saluted the crowd with the torch while awaiting further instruction.

NHL: The Boston Bruins winning streak has been extended to three games in a row after holding off the Tampa Bay Lighning to win 5-4 Thursday night. Michael Ryder and Milan Lucic had two goals each and Tukka Rask stopped 31 of 35 shots faced, although he was spotted a 5-0 lead courtesy of Ryder, Lucic and Miroslav Satan. The Bruins will travel across the peninsula to take on the Florida Panthers Saturday night.

Elsewhere in the NHL: Ilya Kovalchuk made his first goal with the New Jersey Devils count, snapping a 2-2 deadlock in the 3rd period during the Devil's 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators Friday night. New Jersey traded three players and a #1 draft pick to obtain Kovalchuck from the Atlanta Thrashers last week.

(David L Ryan/Boston Globe)

MLB: TRUCK DAY IS HERE! As I'm typing this, most of the Red Sox spring-training equipment should be making its way down I-95 on it's way to Ft. Meyers [No Lisa Kelly, but the cargo is in good hands nonetheless- NANESB!]. Pitchers and catcher's report Feb. 19th.

It's All Downhill From Here

(juliamancuso.com)

US Women's Alpine skier Julia Mancuso announced that she's starting her own line of lingerie under the name 'Kiss My Tiara' and plans on giving away 1000 pairs of thongs and short shorts to friends, family and competitors during the Vancouver Winter Games. Mancuso won the gold in the women's Giant Slalom at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and bronze for the same event in the 2005 Alpine World Ski Championships in Bromio, Italy.

Mancuso, an enthusiastic surfer as well as skier, is no stranger to being photographed in very little. The gold medalist endorsed Lange ski boots and became the company's first 'Lange Girl Athlete's' back in 2006. Earlier versions of the 'Lange Girls' were professional models clad in the company's ski boots (and not much else) instead of professional athletes.

Elsewhere, Mancuso's more conservatively dressed teammate Lindsey Vonn drew criticism from some netizens for her appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

From womentalksports.com:

When females are featured on the cover of SI, they are more likely than not to be in sexualized poses and not in action-and the most recent Vonn cover is no exception.

Which apparently goes to prove that there's a subset of people out there who will attempt to manufacture outrage over just about anything. Umm....I'm not Alpine Ski expert, but I would have to assume that position and skintight outfit play a rather large role in increasing a skiers downhill speed. Good Lord- it's not like Vonn is posing on a bearskin rug with a wide array of scented lotions and S&M toys lined up prominently in the foreground. If they're truly concerned about exploitative imagery and sexualized poses, I wonder how come they didn't bother working themselves into such a lather over Mancuso's work with Lange. I mean....cripes, it's not as though there's this hue and cry from the general public saying 'If only somebody could save us from the omnipresent hazard of magazine covers featuring photos of attractive female athletes!'. If they could work up the energy to shift their offended little eyeballs a few inches down and to the right, they could see that SI is already calling her 'America's Best Woman Skier Ever'. Come to think of it, I wish the same purveyors of sanctimonious hissy fits could work up the same outrage when the Taliban launches mortars on a girl's school in Afghanistan or something.

But with all this sound and fury, I do find myself in the somewhat rare position of looking forward to the Women's Alpine skiing events.

Just a reminder that the Olympic opening ceremonies are Tomorrow [along with Truck Day in Boston!- NANESB!]

[Hat tip to The Lonely Conservative on the Vonn piece]