Winter Olympics 2026

NorthDakota

NorthDakota

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ACamp1900 said:
I love shuffleboard, it's always been my 'bar game' over pool... I have a nice table in my den and all that. I guess it's due to that dynamic that I absolutely love the curling.... other than the hockey, it's way up there as one of my fav competitions.
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Canadians are very good at shuffleboard.
 
Punky

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BabyIrish said:
US mixed double curling team beats defending Olympic and world championship team Italy to play for gold tomorrow. Was a fantastic match.
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Just watched the final today based on reading your post. That was pretty entertaining! Thanks for posting that, I am now a fan of a new (to me) sport.
 
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IrishInOntario

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calvegas04 said:
Tough curling loss. USA ladies dominating Canada so far in hockey
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The U.S. women have taken an impressive leap in hockey. While the Canadian men still generally outclass their U.S. rivals (although it's closer than ever), the U.S. women have surpassed the Canadian women over the last half decade and have now supplanted the Canadian women as unarguably the world's best team, relegating Canada to 2nd. They showcased it again, today, with a dominant effort. Kudos to them!
 
BabyIrish

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Punky said:
Just watched the final today based on reading your post. That was pretty entertaining! Thanks for posting that, I am now a fan of a new (to me) sport.
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I've never really been into curling all that much, but I saw that they got off to a 4-0 start and I basically watched every game since. I very much enjoyed it.
 
Irish#1

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I believe this is the first time ever the Canadian Women's team has been shutout. Strong message to send as they will probably meet again for the gold.
 
Irish#1

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US picking up some steam and medals. Jordan Stolz may get four gold in speed skating after getting his first.

Italy 5-2-7-14
Norway 7-2-4-13
USA 4-6-2-12
 
Irish#1

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burmafrd1944

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Irish#1 said:
Looks like the dude that made his public apology for cheating on his girlfriend isn't getting her back any time soon. "Not thinking clearly". lol

www.foxnews.com

Norwegian Olympian regrets revealing affair after winning medal: 'Not thinking clearly'

Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid apologized for confessing to cheating on his ex-girlfriend after winning Milan Cortina Olympics bronze.
www.foxnews.com www.foxnews.com
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if he meets her face to face he better wear a hockey mask and a cup...
 
ACamp1900

ACamp1900

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Good start, left some goals out there tho and Hellebuyck looked shaky for me at times,… I love all the stories on this team tho
 
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IrishInOntario

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calvegas04 said:
USA hockey is going to go on a run
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Already looking forward to our game against the Americans on the men's side. Canada looked deadly today too against a very underrated Czech squad featuring Pastrnak, Necas, Hertl, Hronek and company. Thought Dostal played great for the Czechs in net.

Macklin Celebrini looked great in his international debut on the senior men's side for Canada. He fit really well on Connor McDavid's wing. I also thought Cale Makar was unbelievable today. He and Devon Toews showed their chemistry all game, dominated possession and drove play from the back end.

Both the tournament favourites came to play today! That matchup is going to be awesome, whenever we get it!
 
TorontoGold

TorontoGold

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IrishInOntario said:
You don't need another miracle. Your squad is neck-and-neck with ours. You simply need Hellebuyck to play big when it matters most and someone the likes of Matthews, Eichel or Boldy to carry the load offensively in the Big moments.
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Not necessarily, there’s two players in a completely different stratosphere in McDavid and MacKinnon. If Cooper realizes how good Thompson is then the goaltending is addressed. D isn’t as good as it used to be but still at the top. Going to take more than gamers to top them.

Although, any team with Mitch Marner is due to suffer from a case of bitchitis.
 
calvegas04

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TorontoGold said:
Not necessarily, there’s two players in a completely different stratosphere in McDavid and MacKinnon. If Cooper realizes how good Thompson is then the goaltending is addressed. D isn’t as good as it used to be but still at the top. Going to take more than gamers to top them.

Although, any team with Mitch Marner is due to suffer from a case of bitchitis.
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McDavid isn't all that great
 
TorontoGold

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calvegas04 said:
McDavid isn't all that great
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you-are-good-robert-deniro.gif
 
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IrishInOntario

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TorontoGold said:
Not necessarily, there’s two players in a completely different stratosphere in McDavid and MacKinnon. If Cooper realizes how good Thompson is then the goaltending is addressed. D isn’t as good as it used to be but still at the top. Going to take more than gamers to top them.

Although, any team with Mitch Marner is due to suffer from a case of bitchitis.
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Marner is definitely soft, as a diehard Leafs fan his style of play tortured my soul... However, he's actually a high end penalty killer (objecfively) there is no doubt that the dude is a net benefit to the team due to his insane setup skills when paired with the caliber of goal scorer that exist on team Canada. That backhand saucer pass onto Stone's tape today was unreal. There are only a handful of a guys in the world that can do that with any degree of regularity and Marner is on that shortlist.
 
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TorontoGold said:
Not necessarily, there’s two players in a completely different stratosphere in McDavid and MacKinnon. If Cooper realizes how good Thompson is then the goaltending is addressed. D isn’t as good as it used to be but still at the top. Going to take more than gamers to top them.

Although, any team with Mitch Marner is due to suffer from a case of bitchitis.
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As we saw in 4-Nations, however, the American D-core, in combination with Helle when he's at his best, are the closest thing there is to a neutralizing factor for Canada's offense. I think I'd take Canada 7/10 times in a 10 game series, but the Americans would win some games and and some of the Canadian wins would be absolute nail biters that could go either way, much like the overtime game they played in the 4-Nation's final. I also think a healthy McAvoy and Hughes give the U.S. an extra jolt of offense that they sorely needed, compared to their 4-Nations team. While I think their Jason Robertson omission is insanity, I think Hughes and McAvoy are significant additions.

IMO, that's pretty neck-and-neck.
 
TorontoGold

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IrishInOntario said:
As we saw in 4-Nations, however, the American D-core, in combination with Helle when he's at his best, are the closest thing there is to a neutralizing factor for Canada's offense. I think I'd take Canada 7/10 times in a 10 game series, but the Americans would win some games and and some of the Canadian wins would be absolute nail biters that could go either way, much like the overtime game they played in the 4-Nation's final. I also think a healthy McAvoy and Hughes give the U.S. an extra jolt of offense that they sorely needed, compared to their 4-Nations team. While I think their Jason Robertson omission is insanity, I think Hughes and McAvoy are significant additions.

IMO, that's pretty neck-and-neck.
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If you're taking Canada at 7/10 games that's a pretty significant margin. I think you're talking yourself into guys having their "moment". The US can certainly win it and they do have their own stars. This is kind of like OSU vs Oregon, where OSU is better in pretty much every area but Oregon still has the horses. McAvoy and Hughes are fine players, but we're not in vacuum here, and we know that Celebrini is 4th in scoring this year.

(I'm still going to be puckered up when the game does happen)
 
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TorontoGold said:
If you're taking Canada at 7/10 games that's a pretty significant margin. I think you're talking yourself into guys having their "moment". The US can certainly win it and they do have their own stars. This is kind of like OSU vs Oregon, where OSU is better in pretty much every area but Oregon still has the horses. McAvoy and Hughes are fine players, but we're not in vacuum here, and we know that Celebrini is 4th in scoring this year.

(I'm still going to be puckered up when the game does happen)
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I appreciate your OSU vs Oregon comp but I actually think the Americans are legitimately better defensively as a group. I think Makar is clearly the best defender in the world, but if I was making a top 6 out of Canadian and American defensemen I'd take Makar and Morrisey for Canada and Hughes, Werenski, McAvoy and Slavin for USA, giving the Americans a 4/2 edge. Now, that's likely to change as soon as a year from now with the emergence of Matthew Shaefer for Canada, but as of now I have it as an edge to the USA.

Turning to goaltending, Binnington seems to elevate to an exceptional level in international play and Thompson is fairly unproven in these formats. Gone are the days of a Ken Dryden, Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur or Carrie Price, where we knew our goaltending was going to be elite. The Americans have Hellebuyck as their starter and I'd take him, at least on paper, over any of our goalies. I know that he's been frustrating at times in big international games and playoff series, but at his best he's the North American guy that I would bet on.

Yes, Canada has McDavid, Mackinnon, Crosby and Celebrini up front, supported by a cast of NHL All Star caliber forwards good enough that they could justify cutting the likes of a Connor Bedard and leaving guys like Wyatt Johnston and Mark Scheifele at home... The forward group is certainly better than any group the Americans can ice. Canada has 12 forwards in the NHL's top 50 in scoring, including 3 of the top 4. By comparison, the Americans only have 8 forwards in the NHL's top 50 in scoring and 1 in the top 10, but that's somewhat skewed by the Tkatchuk early season injury and the slow (by his standards) start for Auston Matthews.

Give me Canada with the edge, but not by a ton, IMO. For the record, I actually think the Canadian team will actually be better 4 years from now... Looking ahead I could easily see...

Connor McDavid (32)
Nathan Mackinnon (34)
Macklin Celebrini (23)
Connor Bedard (24)
Nick Suzuki (30)
Wyatt Johnston (26)
Mitch Marner (32)
Brandon Hagel (31)
Sam Reinhart (34)
Dylan Guenther (26)
Sam Bennett (33)
Seth Jarvis (27)
Beckett Sennecke (23)

Cale Makar (31)
Josh Morrisey (34)
Matthew Shaefer (23)
Bowen Byram (27)
Evan Bouchard (30)
Noah Dobson (29)
Thomas Harley (28)
 
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IrishInOntario

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Irish#1 said:
And yet he's a professional hockey player? lol
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We're having a conversation dripping in sarcasm. Connor McDavid is the best hockey player in the world by almost everyone's estimation and some people don't even think it's very close.

He's arguably the fastest skater in the NHL. He has insane coordination, especially when you consider the speed he plays at. He sees the game at an incredibly high level and has elite tier hockey IQ. He's the Captain of his team, has been clutch for Team Canada as recently as scoring the OT winner to beat the U.S. in the 4-Nations and is hyper competitive in nature.

2026 is McDavid's 11th season in the NHL. He will have passed 100 points (an important seasonal milestone in hockey) 10 times during that span and the only time he fell short was in a 97 point season when he missed 25% of the season due to injury. Nobody is close to McDavid in terms of points during his time in the NHL.
 
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