Quote:
Originally Posted by trackercowe
Some of that is true, but the gap is closer than you might think. Just because the USA and Canada are able to win in elimination situations does not mean they're truly that dominate (neither are the other "elite" nations). I mean we're just coming off a game where Canada barely been the Latvians. Now I know the Swiss played Canada tough on the women's side, but that really was just a freak occurrence. There is definitely a pattern of actual competitive balance in the men's game, mostly because of the better structure and planning that go into each countries programs. We've seen pretty much every country pull off a major upset, or at least come close to one. The Swiss have become a formidable opposition, Slovenia beat the Czech's this year, and even Latvia (who beat the US a few years back) played Canada tough. Part of that is because they have a guy like Ted Nolan behind the bench, just like Canada and the US has real coaches for their women teams.
There is a vast difference between the men's and women's games, just because Canada and the US find ways to pull through in eliminations games does not mean the gap is that big. The competitive balance on one side is just fine, meanwhile on the other side it's just not there, nor is the landscape changing.
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If you want to get rid of women's hockey from the Olympics due to lack of competition, then basketball should be gone from the summer games. At least in women's hockey there's 2 teams with a shot at gold, but in men's basketball it's been pretty much USA all the way aside from the odd couple of years
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._in_basketball