The U.S. and Canadian women's hockey teams will play Thursday in the Gold Medal game, marking "the fourth time in five Olympic Games" the teams will meet in the final, according to Brian Stubits of CBSSPORTS.com. The matchup "will guarantee that one of the two North American hockey powers will win gold for a fifth time," and it "likely won't be the last." IIHF President Rene Fasel when asked today if women's hockey is "in any danger of leaving the Olympics" was "pretty clear on his belief." Fasel said, "That will never happen. I can guarantee that" (CBSSPORTS.com, 2/18). Fasel said that it "will take time for the European teams to catch up" to the U.S. and Canada. Fasel: "It’s much better than it was in Vancouver. We started in Vancouver with a 17-0 Canada-Slovak game. We have 80,000 girls playing in Canada, and we have maybe 4,000-4,500 playing in Finland, maybe 2,000 in Sweden, and in Switzerland and Russia, if we have 2,000 girls playing that would be a lot. It’s much better, but we are not there and we can see the result" (SUNTIMES.com, 2/18). More Fasel: "We need time. Just give me a little bit more time" (L.A. TIMES, 2/18). CBC.ca's Tim Wharnsby writes one of the "problems with the women’s game worldwide is a lack of available competition for European players between Olympic Games." A development that would "help the cause would be if the NHL could throw its weight behind a women’s league like the NBA does with the WNBA." NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman today "confessed it’s something his league has looked at." Bettman: "We continue to look at it. It’s something that needs more work, but we think it requires further attention" (CBC.ca, 2/18).
HOCKEY SUPERPOWERS: While Fasel said the gap between North America and the rest of the world is closing, THE HOCKEY NEWS' Ken Campbell wrote if anything, it has "probably widened." The U.S. team's 6-1 "dismantling of Sweden, in particular, not only set up the same old gold medal game, but illustrated that women’s hockey at the world level has not come a long way, baby." The "whole notion that the sport is completely in its infancy and needs precious time to germinate and grow is getting a little old, too" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 2/17). In Denver, Mark Kiszla writes the "humiliating fashion in which Team USA shredded Sweden was a prime example of why even a guy who loves the great things athletic competition can do for women loathes the mockery the women's Olympic tourney makes of hockey." It "wasn't a game, it was target practice." Although the quality of women's play around the world "has improved, the eight-team tournament is essentially an exhibition of weak warm-up acts for the inevitable USA-Canada showdown for the gold" (DENVER POST, 2/18). In DC, Mike Wise writes under the header, "U.S., Canada Owe No Apologies For Dominating Olympic Women's Hockey." Wise writes, "I feel bad for Team USA and Canada, bitter rivals who despite trading fisticuffs in the run-up to the Games have been forced into a mutual kinship: They’re supposed to apologize for the rest of the world for not catching up" (WASHINGTON POST, 2/18).
