bits, pieces and Belarus!!!

First time, long time John from Stamford pointed out that Olygirls might have been flirting with political incorrectness when blog spouted the following "The Swedes played like, well, Swedes." I believe that was in reference to their 13-1 annihilation at the hands of the Canadian juggernaut. for the record, two of the Tre Kronor put up some resistance: 1) The relentless Elin Holmlov, who danced and dangled and skittered for 60 minutes. She ended up a -1 in a 13-1 demolition. I didn't think that was mathematically possible. The other Scandinavian showing spine was Katarina Timglass, a Nordic disturber, in the most complimentary sense of the word. In the third period, after one goalie change, 12 pucks fished out of her own net, and countless gratuitious whacks at the Swedish goalie of the moment by the host Canucks, she did something very unSwedish (unless you consider Ulf Samuelsson a typical Swede), she punched an opponent. CTV cameras caught Timglass throwing a straight right (glove on) to the grill of Canuck forward Hailey Irwin. And Hailey didn't like it, and made a face. When you're down a dozen goals, maybe it was time to push back, and the lovely Katarina, as Swedish looking as they come, complete with blonde hair and perfect pale skin, threw a chopping right. The video has made the rounds in Canuckistan (thanks to NYTimes Stu Hackel for that wonderful moniker), and it looks like someone spent a couple of nights in the animation house creating it, but there it's been for all to see, a Swede swatting a Canadian. This may not be a good sign for the Lady Yankee pucksters, who face SWE in the semifinals on Monday. A sleepy giant has been rousted, the same giant who slayed USA in Torino in hockey's greatest upset. USA Captains Angela Ruggiero (A) and Natalie Darwitz (C) both conceded that they were looking to the gold medal game during the Torino semis. Darwitz stepped up to the mic today and said flat out, "We know that no one's handing out any gold medals on (semifinal) Monday."

Quick snippet from the loser's bracket. Iya Gabrilova, the Russian playmaking forward who reminds Olygirls of Valery Kamensky, may have a future in college hockey after all, only not below the 49th parallel. She was an offensive star at Minnesota Duluth for controversial coach Shannon Miller, but in February of her first year, a rival coach sniffed around and found some damning evidence that they shared with the Feds. Turned out that Iya had played on a Russian touring team that payed some of their players, though not Iya. Poor thing got busted in February of what turned out to be an NCAA title year (2008), and has been playing in a Duluth beer league ever since. CTV reporter Lisa Bowes put out a call to former Team Canada star Danielle Goyette who coaches University of Calgary, who is now giving the Sovietzky Sniper a look via the internet. Canadian Universities dont play by the same archaic rules as the NC$$. the US Feds have declared Gabrilova a "Contaminated" player by rubbing shoulders in the locker room with gals who took rubles. Gabrilova had two goals in their 4-2 win over Slovakia, with a splendid opportunity for a hat trick, but offensive greed is not one of her skill sets. she dished to a linemate who blew the shot. "I prefer to pass than shoot," said the hard-to-hate Gabrilova.

Finally, Belarus. They play in Jerseys with Christmas colors of green and red, they were the last team to qualifyt for the men's tourney, and their coaches wear warmup outfits that would embarrass Al Sharpton's entourage. Olygirls was approached by Blue Moon Restaurant owner (E. 76th) with news of 4 tickets to the Germany-Belarus game in January. It was assumed to be a punchline of a joke, Germany-Belarus tickets for sale, over $100. per, who's kidding who? Through crazy confluence, I made the deal, sold all 4 to a family from Washington who had previously been shut out by the lottery system. Now the Belarus craze is catching on here in Vanc, the big paper in town had a feature today, and yours truly interviewed captain Ruslan Salei after they gave Sweden all they could handle on Friday. He's pumped, I'm pumped, the city is pumped, and they were riding prime time on TSN getting first rate hockey coverage as they exchanged 4 goals with the Father Land tonight (Saturday, Hockey night, in Canada), as they emerged with an emotional, sensational 5-3 victory. This sport, this town, these Games, Canadian rooting sentiments, aren't easy to predict. So here's a toast of Stoly to that crazy fractured Republic, white Russia, AKA BELARUS! May they someday beat the Russians themselves.