http://www.behindthenethockey.com/2010/ ... -of-hockeyThe Associated Press, and various other news outlets, were promoting the USA win over Canada as "the biggest upset in Olympic Hockey since the 1980 Miracle on Ice." Any actual hockey fan knows this is complete and utter horseshit. The odds put USA beating Canada one out of every three games they'd play each other. It's a mild upset, but not a stunner. It's actually an insult to the NHL players (many of them top line players) to compare their victory to that of the 1980 team's unlikely triumph over the Soviets.
Anyways, in the comments section, a reader actually lists 10 much bigger upsets that have happened since 1980 in the Olympics. A couple of them involve the USA, but as the team on the other side of the coin:
Quote:
Honourable Mentions: France tying USA 4-4 in 1994, and Latvia tying the US 3-3 in 2006.
10. 1988: Poland ties Defending Bronze medalist Swedes 1-1
- Would rank higher but it was only a tie
9. 1984: Norway ties the defending Gold medalist USA 3-3 the year after the Miracle on Ice
- Would rank higher but it was only a tie
8. 1994: Germany beats the USA 4-3
- The last Olympics where the NHL didn’t allow their players to compete, otherwise this would rank higher
7. 2002: Belarus beats Sweden 4-3
- Mats Sundin and Nicklas Lidstrom in their prime somehow lose to Belarus?
- The first major shocker that I remember.
6. 1988: Finland 2 USSR 1
- This was when USSR was practically unbeatable (Miracle on Ice notwithstanding).
- Soviets went on to win Gold, with legends Krutov, Larionov, Fetisov, Makarov, et al.
- Otherwise I would never put a Finland win on a list of major upsets
- I don’t think the Finns made a movie out of this.
5. 2006: Switzerland 3 Czech Republic 2
- The Czechs would win the Bronze medal
- The Swiss are definitely Olympic hockey’s true Cinderella team
4. 1988: Switzerland 2 Finland 1
- Finland was awesome that year, upsetting the USSR, and eventually taking home Silver
3. 1988: West Germany beating Czechoslovakia 2-1
- The Czechs were a perennial powerhouse, playing professional players against amateurs, and were the defending Silver medalists
2. 1994: Germany beat Russia 4-2
- Russia was the defending champion
1. 2006: Switzerland beat Canada 2-0
- Canada were the defending champs, stacked with talent … shut out!
In each of these cases the Cinderella team had maybe a 20% chance of winning, at best. The USA had probably a 40-45% chance of beating Canada last night – at worst.
I'd definitely put #7 a lot higher. Belarus had a single NHL caliber player, and he was a defensive defenseman. Having a NHL starting goalie like Switzerland had in '06 is definitely a great leveller. Still, one can definitely say that all of these wins were more shocking than Sunday's game.
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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.
- Ancient Chinese Proverb
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