Now that the Olympic tournament has been whittled down to the final four, at least one Ranger player will come home with a gold medal.

As Steve Zipay writes, the Rangers are represented on all of the remaining teams: Finland, Sweden, Russia, and the Czech Republic. As many as four Rangers can grab the gold (Czechs).

While Bird lets us know how much he loves the Olympics in his latest Birdcage, it doesn't seem as though the Blueshirts that stayed home are that interested.

As both the Post and the Journal News indicate, the left-behinds returned to practice yesterday. While they were happy to get back to work, and were happy that at least one Ranger will have a gold medal, it didn't sound like they were paying that much attention to the Games until Jagr got hurt.

Jed Ortmeyer: "I stayed in a place that didn't have a TV," said Ortmeyer, who hung out with friends at a Los Angeles beach house. "Today was the first day I watched a game."

Dom Moore: "I've seen bits and pieces," said Rangers center Dominic Moore, who spent the NHL's 10-day Olympic break back home in Toronto. "I've been following it but I haven't been able to watch any full games."

Kevin Weekes: "I've watched bits and pieces, but I didn't get an opportunity to watch a game in its entirety," Weekes said. "I think (the break) was good. It gave each player a chance to get away and clear their mind."

Steve Rucchin: "I didn't watch too much but I saw highlights," Rucchin said. "(The break) was good but I think it was more important mentally. I don't remember a more difficult mental year for me. I hope to recharge my batteries."

Joe Mac at NYSportsDay was the only one to get a few quotes from Ryan Hollweg, who did watch the games and wanted a piece of Ruutu for hitting Jagr: Hollweg, who loves a good fight, added, “I was sitting there wanting to go out and get Ruutu myself.”

There was some good news in that Blair Betts skated before the rest of the team took the ice, and Petr Prucha is walking around without crutches. Hopefully they will be close to ready when play resumes next Thursday.

Shawn Roarke of Foxsports tries to break down why the North American teams busted in these Olympics. His conclusion: Not enough effort.

Mike "The Mouth" Modano was not happy with a whole bunch of things.

Scott Burnside of ESPN analyzes the U.S. team, and what might have been if they had gone younger:

Would such a team have won a medal? Not likely. Could it have matched the results of the team that came to Italy? It would be hard not to accomplish that. And they would likely have accepted defeat a little more graciously.

Scott also looks at team Canada and their inability to come together as a team:

The fact is that this group of players, as talented and as experienced as it was, never became anything more than simply a group of individuals. Talented. Committed. But nothing approaching a team.

Wayne Gretzky isn't sure of his future with Team Canada after accepting blame for the failure.

The Rodent discusses whether or not the Rangers would even want Keith Tkachuk after his disappointing Olympic performance.

The Men's semis start tomorrow morning. Leedsy will be around with the updates.

HDH

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