Despite everything else that's going on in Vancouver/Whistler, it's men's ice hockey that is attracting the most attention here. If you saw any of the Canada/Slovakia game Friday night, you shouldn't have any trouble understanding why.

Here's an interesting article by Jeff Paterson in Thursday's Georgia Straight: Olympics make a case for NHL contraction. I would add that reducing the NHL's regular season by ten games or so would be a good idea.

A couple of other topics:

Sweden's loss to Slovakia in the quarterfinals shouldn't have come as a surprise. Talented younger Swedish players such as Mikael Samuelsson of the Vancouver Canucks were passed over in favour of several players in their late 30's by Swedish coach Bengt-Aake Gustafsson. Can you say "old boys network?" Story from Brad Ziemer in the Vancouver Sun: Mikael Samuelsson seething over Swedish Olympic snub.

While Canada's quarterfinal win wasn't a suprise, the lop-sided 7-3 score and the way Canada dominated the game was. The big loser in this was actually Russia's Kontinental Hockey League, which supplied nine of the 23 players on Russia's roster. These nine players collected two points during the Olympics, and were -9 when they were on the ice. OK, the KHL also supplied the Czechs with Jaromir Jagr, and much of Belarus' team. The KHL is spending serious money hiring players, but the league isn't at the level of the NHL yet.