Hockey officials worried the Chinese men's team will be humiliated @ the Olympics

[Itse]

Originally Posted by megatron

Why are Canada and the US in the same pool/group in the Olympics?

Aren't they the two best teams in the world and should be in opposite pool/group so they can meet in the final?

For starters, that's not how the schedule of the next olympic tournament works.

There are three groups, which seem to have been formed like this:

1) Take the top three countries in IIHF Rankings (Canada, Finland, Russia) and place them in different groups.

2) Take the next five in the IIHF rankings (US, Germany, Czech, Sweden, Switzerland), the host (China), and the three teams that made the olympics through qualification tournaments (Denmark, Latvia and Slovakia) and split those randomly within the groups.

Which gives you
A Canada, US, Germany, China
B Russia, Czech, Switzerland, Denmark
C Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, Latvia

(The process might have been more complicated, but I couldn't find it and this is close enough anyway.)

All teams make the playoffs, BUT the best four teams (group winners + best 2nd place) go straight to quarterfinals, while the other 8 will play an additional playoff round, with the 5th best team playing the 12th best and so on. Theoretically the US and Canada could meet again in any round of the playoffs except the first, and in practice if the first US-Canada game goes into OT (for example), it's unlikely they would meet again before the final. (The explanation to that is too long for me to bother here.)

Also, while US has no shortage on star power, as a team they haven't really done anything to make them stand out from among the other contenders behind Canada. The latest best of the best tournament (2016 World Cup) they bowed out with three straight losses in the group phase and they were 4th in the last serious olympic tournament. Strong contender sure, but hardly "the 2nd best team in the world".

[GreenLantern2814]

^^^USA was really hamstrung in the World Cup by Team North America.

Canada MIGHT have taken McDavid, but given their propensity to take veterans, they probably would’ve left him off.

Gaudreau, Eichel and Matthews should’ve all been on Team USA.

[Enoch Root]

no, they would not have left McDavid off

[Itse]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

^^^USA was really hamstrung in the World Cup by Team North America.

Canada MIGHT have taken McDavid, but given their propensity to take veterans, they probably would’ve left him off.

Gaudreau, Eichel and Matthews should’ve all been on Team USA.

Yeah, but also only 4th in the last serious olympics. (Not sure the World Cup counts in the rankings anyway.)

...as for the groups, it doesn't feel like a coincidence that the preliminary groups guarantee at least one US-Canada game, one Finland-Sweden game and one Russia-Czech game. One problem the Olympics have had is that people only tune in for the playoffs...

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

no, they would not have left McDavid off

Maybe not, but McDavid was the only one Canada would’ve considered.

The US lost their entire second line.

You can’t win a best on best tournament that way.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

Good lord, are we really that sensitive as a society that any mention of nationality is now considered racist? Come on. Context matters.

'Chinaman' is not a perjorative because it's a mention of nationality, but because of the historical context of its use (speaking of "Come on. Context matters.")

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by SebC

'Chinaman' is not a perjorative because it's a mention of nationality, but because of the historical context of its use (speaking of "Come on. Context matters.")

The post in question begins with “speaking as a Chinaman”.

Unless said poster is not in fact Chinese, surely they’re allowed to say it.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Itse

(The process might have been more complicated, but I couldn't find it and this is close enough anyway.)

It's based on the 2019 IIHF World Rankings, which is determined by each nation's performance in the previous 4 World Championships (2016 - 2019) and the most-recent Olympics (2018).


The 12 qualifying teams were then ranked 1-12 based on their 2019 rankings, then they were seeded using a snake-style format...

• Group A is the teams ranked 1, 6, 7, 12
• Group B is the teams ranked 2, 5, 8, 11
• Group C is the teams ranked 3, 4, 9, 10

Using those rankings, Canada was 1, USA was 6, Germany was 7, and China was 12. Thus, that's Canada's pool.

If they decide to pull China out of the Olympics, Norway will take their place (good for Flames' prospect, Emilio Pettersen). I'm not sure if they'll simply take China's place in Group A or if Denmark would move into Group A and Norway into Group B because Norway was ranked 11th in the world and Denmark was 12th in 2019.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I just took it as him referring to himself as Chinese. There was nothing derogatory about it.

Good lord, are we really that sensitive as a society that any mention of nationality is now considered racist? Come on. Context matters.

OK, this is the last post I'm going to say on the topic because I don't want to derail this thread any further. But my point still stands. If a black person posted referring to themselves as the N-word, there's technically nothing derogatory in meaning either, rappers refer to themselves that way all the time. But we would all be up in arms saying that shouldn't be posted. Why is this different?

There is a world of difference between Chinese man, and Chinaman. Have we really just conveniently forgotten the historical context behind the word? Call me sensitive all you want, but it hasn't been that long since someone called me a slanty eyed Chinaman. Guess that person meant that in a nice way?

[Gaskal]

Yes I am Chinese. No I did not know it was used in derogatory fashion.

I was too lazy to type Chinese person and thought that was the shortform - possibly the dumbest conceivable reason to accidentally use a self racial slur, but I can be dumb sometimes. Mystery solved?

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

OK, this is the last post I'm going to say on the topic because I don't want to derail this thread any further. But my point still stands. If a black person posted referring to themselves as the N-word, there's technically nothing derogatory in meaning either, rappers refer to themselves that way all the time. But we would all be up in arms saying that shouldn't be posted. Why is this different?

There is a world of difference between Chinese man, and Chinaman. Have we really just conveniently forgotten the historical context behind the word? Call me sensitive all you want, but it hasn't been that long since someone called me a slanty eyed Chinaman. Guess that person meant that in a nice way?

They probably didn’t.

As for the historical context behind the word, the current historical memory is offensively short bordering on Alzheimeric.

People don’t the the Capitol riots happened; they don’t know #### about the historical context of that word.

But if you had written a post the began with “speaking as a Chinaman”, I think most of the board would’ve looked at “Yen Man” and thought “eh, username checks out, he’s allowed”.

I dunno. I’m sorry people are ####ty, though.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Yes I am Chinese. No I did not know it was used in derogatory fashion.

I was too lazy to type Chinese person and thought that was the shortform - possibly the dumbest conceivable reason to accidentally use a self racial slur, but I can be dumb sometimes. Mystery solved?

I still like you.

[Knightslayer]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Yes I am Chinese. No I did not know it was used in derogatory fashion.

I was too lazy to type Chinese person and thought that was the shortform - possibly the dumbest conceivable reason to accidentally use a self racial slur, but I can be dumb sometimes. Mystery solved?

That's ok I had no idea as well and grew up with a lot of chinese people.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

OK, this is the last post I'm going to say on the topic because I don't want to derail this thread any further. But my point still stands. If a black person posted referring to themselves as the N-word, there's technically nothing derogatory in meaning either, rappers refer to themselves that way all the time. But we would all be up in arms saying that shouldn't be posted. Why is this different?

There is a world of difference between Chinese man, and Chinaman. Have we really just conveniently forgotten the historical context behind the word? Call me sensitive all you want, but it hasn't been that long since someone called me a slanty eyed Chinaman. Guess that person meant that in a nice way?

I thought it was more of an outdated term and not necessarily meant as a slur. Kind of like calling a disabled person a cripple.

My apologies.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I thought it was more of an outdated term and not necessarily meant as a slur. Kind of like calling a disabled person a cripple.

My apologies.

LMAO. "Cripple" is also considered a pejorative. Rule of thumb: if we've stopped calling a group of people a certain word, just assume it's because it's offensive.

[Goriders]

If they are that worried my mens beer league team will play for them.

[Bourque's Twin]

Maybe Xi Jinping will lace them up like Putin and both teams will do everything they can to let him score.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by SebC

LMAO. "Cripple" is also considered a pejorative. Rule of thumb: if we've stopped calling a group of people a certain word, just assume it's because it's offensive.

If people stop saying it, then if someone says it, you can presume it's not out of malice.

Calling someone nice used to be a pejorative.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Yes I am Chinese. No I did not know it was used in derogatory fashion.

I was too lazy to type Chinese person and thought that was the shortform - possibly the dumbest conceivable reason to accidentally use a self racial slur, but I can be dumb sometimes. Mystery solved?

I have judged and,

Spoiler!

[CubicleGeek]

If we're really lucky McDavid will singlehandedly blow that team out and the CCP will imprison him citing they found evidence that he's a spy.