Finland Hammers USA 5-0, Wins Bronze
Patrick Kane had a frustrating night and the United States didn’t show up as Finland rolled the Americans to capture the bronze medal.
To say the US soiled the bed would be putting their performance lightly. Teemu Selanne played an excellent game and got some help from a determined roster around him, but the US team was flat the entire game.
Kane was granted two penalty shots in the game, and missed on both. He also took two frustration penalties later in the game, but certainly wasn’t alone in his disappointment. After losing 1-0 to Canada on Friday, the US was dominated in every part of the game and will come home empty handed.
Finland’s Tuukka Rask earned the shutout.
Six Chicago Blackhawks play for gold on Sunday. Hopefully Hawks fans feel better about that performance than they do about Saturday’s debacle.
I had hoped the Olympics would spark Kane out of the scoring funk he’s been in since the calendar changed years, but if the Olympics had any effect at all, it is negative. The game Kane played today encapsulates his struggles and his reaction of frustration.
Kane has always struck me as a guy who rises to the occasion – the bigger the stage, the better he plays. His self confidence is supreme. But that self confidence seems to be shaken lately, ever since his scoring dried up over the past month or so. That shaken self confidence was etched on his face when he was chosen to take the first of his two penalty shots. The circumstances probably didn’t help when it looked like shoot out hero Oshie would take the shot and then all of a sudden Kane was tapped to take it. But, he just didn’t look like he wanted to be the guy to be put on that spot, and it’s no wonder with the way he has struggled on shoot outs this season. Previous years he would have relished the role to take the PS and be the hero, but not today. The second PS only added to his frustration and by the end of the game he had reverted back to taking selfish penalties, something we haven’t seen from him very often over the past few years since it was all too often early in his career.
So, the Olympic are over for Kane and I’m sure he expected to play better than he did and get better results. The frustration and disappointment must hit him deeply. Now the question is how will this affect him when he get’s back to the Hawks. Rather than playing well at the Olympics and building on that positive experience, he has to put it behind and focus on playing well and building his confidence level up to where he can once again play with the swagger he needs to play with in order to be as good as he has been and can be.
They say sometimes you have to hit bottom before you can bounce back. I don’t know where bottom is but my guess is Kane is feeling pretty low right now. Hopefully the bounce back happens soon.
Kaner had the goalie beat on both… in too deep missed net & post.
Millbury is a piece of shit. He such a doooch, he makes me feel bad for ear penis guy.
Kaner is fine, its another blessing in disguise that he had these 3 wks to knock off the dust & go through the initial personal family things during the olympic break. I think this will only piss him off and make him into a beast Kane, again. Even if that takes how ever many games to do it, he will.
6 on waivers. That puts us at 1.7 for a trade.
Kane will be fine. Let’s not forget that he gets to play with those other 9 olympians for the rest of the year.
I would say Kane will get the comfort of playing with players he knows back in Chicago, but he still doesn’t have a legit Centerman to play with. Pretty disappointed in the performance today. Quick played well and Kane showed up for two periods, but there wasn’t a lot of passion out there today. The defense was pretty suspect all day. I think Parise is a good player, but is he elite?.? I question that after this tournament. I wish Kane would have Dented the scoresheet more, but I was impressed with him, Backes, Kessel, Kessler, Oshie, Pavelski, Pax, and JVR throughout the tourney. Martin and Orpik were the best d-men in my book and that is a problem.
Bielsma wasn’t great…
Kane is getting pummeled in the national media today. It is what it is. His reaction to withering criticism will be the key. I never thought that US team could really win a medal and I was sadly right. Fortunately this should be the last time NHL players are in the Olympics.
I hope that Sweden kicks the shit out of Canada. And honestly, I’d like to see both Toews and Sharp eat a shit sandwich on some level. Good for the soul and what I think this Hawks team needs if we are to have a legitimate shot at winning a Cup in 2014. To me, we smell like a 2nd round loser until my eyes see something to the contrary on the NHL ice.
Kane is a bit snakebit right now, but he is playing well. That second penalty shot was very close, it just bounced off the post out instead of in. He beat Rask on the play and he created a lot of good chances for the team. The shots just didn’t go in and if a few had it would have been a totally different story. Regardless, I think the team played hard for the Country and that should be appreciated even though they didn’t win. I also think Kane will work harder when he gets back here and he will do fine.
At least when Kane’s line was on the ice, we had some decent zone time. Where were Kessel and JVR all game?
Sucks that Kane whiffed once and hit the post the other time on the PS’s against the top 2 goalie in the world. But bad net front presence, no rebound chances, and very little movement off the puck is what lost the last two games.
What an incredibly stupid comment dufus…Canada plays CLEAN, hard hockey…they were the better team and won…you should be supporting Toews and Co. not wishing them to eat a sandwich with doggie doo-doo in it…
Kaner and the boys went out and got their f*ck on in olympic village the night before. The fans in the 2nd tier were catching wiffs from kaner because he was so drunk. Teemu selanne got a good night of sleep.
Not a surprise Finland beat up on em.