Olympics day 9
Well.. my conundrum about who to root for in the women's hockey matches has become a little easier with the USA getting bounced out of the gold medal game after giving up a 2 goal lead and a come from behind win by Sweden in a shootout. So now the red white and blue girls will play for the bronze against Finland.. while Canada and Sweden duke it out! Sweden has an amazing goalie in Kim Martin. At the young age of 15 she played for the bronze in Salt Lake city.. for such a young athlete in such a physical game she is amazing.
So, for the first time since the inaugural women's hockey game in the Nagano games.. the gold medal game will not be the US and Canada..
Why did the US lose agains the Swedes? Well.. if you ask me, it the fault of the head coach Ben Smith.
Smith cut Granato from the US olympic team in August.. For those of you who don't follow women's hockey.. Cammi Granato is the FACE of of women's hockey.. much like Mia Hamm is the face of women's soccer.. Granato was cut from the team, for sketchy reason.. she allegedly is.. "too old" Don't get me wrong.. I LOVE to see Cammi as a commentator for NBC.. but her place is on the ice.. she plays with a grace and a finese that is hard to describe in the sport of hockey.. it's not a graceful sport.. but she played it like a ballerina.. it was beautiful to watch.
So Ben smith cuts her and the PR nightmare (which of course none of the mainstream media picked up on cause no one can give a shit about women's sports) begins.. those who cared couldn't believe that at the very least if he wasn't going to allow her to play that she wouldn't have been given at the least a ceremonial position of assistant coach.. but she was cast out of the US hockey family without so much as a thank you. The games in Turin, whatever the outcome, would have been the perfect opportunity for Cammi to retire and go out with her fans being able to see her play one last time.
Ben Smith should be ashamed at the way he treated Cammi Grantato.. the US Hockey Federation should be equally ashamed and show Ben Smith the door. Just as he showed Cammi the door.
As a hockey fan, I really couln't understand why Cammi wasn't on the squad.. I assumed it was her decision.. I was wrong..and I am pissed.
so..
GO CANADA!
The next best thing to team USA
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