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View Full Version : Canada sets Olympic record in rout of Slovakia



KIDWCKED
02-14-2010, 02:33 PM
c\p from tsn
VANCOUVER - It was akin to lions versus Christians, only the believers were blindfolded, bound and gagged just to be sure.
There was very little sport in Canada's 18-0 victory over Slovakia on Saturday night, the tournament opener for both women's ice hockey teams. The Canadians led 10-0 by the game's midpoint, and outshot their overmatched opponents 67-9 before an adoring crowd at Canada Hockey Place.
All but one player - defenceman Meaghan Mikkelson - tallied points, and Meghan Agosta and Jayna Hefford netted hat tricks. The margin was an Olympic record, besting Canada's 16-0 victory over Italy at the 2006 Turin Games.
The result will surely renew questions of why women's hockey is in the Games given the vast talent disparity between North American and the rest of the world. All week, Hockey Canada has been prepping its players for precisely that topic.
Saturday night, veterans Hayley Wickenheiser and Hefford said the game ranked with the most uncompetitive they have ever played, but both said that it shouldn't be a blight on women's hockey because a) the nature of developing programs produce blowouts, and b) the men's game is not devoid of competitive imbalance either.
But you can bet there were some furious female ski jumpers watching this farce at home, confused by the International Olympic Committee's cafeteria standards for excluding sports. Ditto baseball and softball players, whose sports have been eliminated from the Summer Games despite superior depth of class.
Prior to the game, the Canadians talked about playing their best, because a pre-emptive ease off the gas pedal would have been cheating the Olympic spirit. Their only other goal was to avoid bad habits