There will only be one Ranger coming home with Olympic gold, and it will either be Sweden's Henrik Lundqvist or Finland's Ville Nieminen. Those two teams will face off in the championship game tomorrow . . . at 8:00 AM EST. Ugh.
Finland has been simply awesome, and goaltender Antero Niittymaki has played as well as anyone in the tournament. The Fins have given up only 5 goals in their seven games. Yesterday they shutout Russia 4-0 to advance to the gold medal game.
While Lundqvist has led his team to the finals, he hasn't been as great as he was over here. Nonetheless, his Swedish mates scored seven times against the Czech Republic to earn a 7-3 win.
The NY Post has a couple of articles on Henrik here and here.
I am not going to harp on it, but is anyone else bothered by this:
In addition to the obvious risk of injury, the eight highly competitive games the goaltender will have played in Turin will increase his season's workload by over 10 percent. Add to that the fact that while he was playing these extra games, the majority of NHL players were resting and healing.
Renney is well aware of this potential hazard, both as it applies to Lundqvist and the rest of the Rangers' Olympic contingent. That is why he plans to start Kevin Weekes in goal when his club returns to action Thursday night in Philadelphia. Don't be surprised to see some members of the Hartford Wolf Pack suit up for the Rangers that night as well.
"I am concerned with how our guys come back from this event," he said of the Olympics. "Psychologically, it's real draining, so we have to make sure they get an opportunity to regroup."
At least there is comfort in Henrik's attitude: "I really want that Cup too - especially in New York with what has happened there the last few years," Lundqvist said last night. "You want to bring it home for yourself and for the New York people."
Andrew Gross of the Journal News writes that Weekes will most likely start against Philly next Thursday. Weekes said he has no interest in going anywhere, as he has been mentioned in some trade rumors recently:
"The odd person has maybe mentioned (the rumors) in passing but my focus is on being here and contributing to this team. As far as I'm concerned, my commitment to my teammates and to this organization, which was already strong, is even stronger."
Steve Zipay of Newsday also talks of Weekes, and also says that Renney might rest a bunch of the other Olympians in favor of some Wolf Pack players.
Six of the Rangers Olympians will meet in today's Bronze medal game between Russia and the Czech Republic. That game starts at 2:30 pm EST.
There was some sad news out of Long Island yesterday. Islanders's center Kevin Colley, who finally made it to the NHL after many years in the minors, has decided to retire as a result of a neck injury he suffered in a game against Washington last month. We wish him the best.
The Rodent covers the Olympics and the Czech fatigue.
Speaking of the Rodent, there is another big game taking place today. It'll be the Birds v. the Blogs when messageboarders from each site get together for a roller hockey game in Staten Island. More info can be found on Ro's boards.
Today and tomorrow, and then the Olympics are done. Set the alarms to watch Ville and Henrik go at it tomorrow morning.
HDH
Posted by Jim at February 25, 2006 12:27 PMeMail this entry!
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