Hockey Team

Redemption was at hand as the Canadian Olympic hockey team was about to polish off an 8-2 rout of Germany and advance to the playoff quarterfinals, so the crowd at Canada Hockey Place was feeling giddy Tuesday. A cry arose from the stands, loud and proud: "We want Russia! We want Russia!" You sure about that? "Good idea," affirmed Canada's captain, Scott Niedermayer. The question is whether he and his teammates will still think it's such a great notion Wednesday, after they face the powerful Russians in a matchup that was projected to be the Olympics' grand finale but was moved up by Canada's preliminary-round loss to the U.S. and consignment to a qualifying playoff round.

The New York Rangers' success has been the big story in the East, and rightfully so. The Philadelphia Flyers draw attention thanks to quirky goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov , who can be riveting or terrifying. And most hockey observers have narrowed the most-valuable-player contenders to Flyers winger Claude Giroux , Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin . In the meantime, another East team has been positioning itself for a strong playoff run. The defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, almost written off after a 3-7 start and later plagued by inconsistency, have quietly won four of five games and solidified their hold on the No. 2 seeding.

As Coach Herb Brooks had hoped, the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team will meet Sept. 4-7 in Colorado Springs, Colo., thanks to the NHL Players Assn.'s decision to drop its opposition to holding preseason camps. However, the session--like the camp to be held simultaneously by Team Canada--won't be mandatory. It's also unclear whether coaches will be permitted to go on the ice with players, especially those nominated to the preliminary roster but who might not make the final 23-man roster.

American audiences know Jay Baruchel as the nerdy kid from such films as "Knocked Up" and "She's Out of My League. " But with the new hockey comedy "Goon," the Montreal native is making the leap to feature film screenwriter. He and Evan Goldberg ("Superbad") teamed up to pay homage to Canada's national pastime with a movie that's violent on the ice and tenderhearted off — but it is thoroughly, unquestionably Canadian. "We made it for somebody, and we made it for Canadian kids," Baruchel, 29, said in a recent interview.

Bullfrog President and General Manager Stuart Silver is expected to be in Nevada today to make an offer to buy the Reno Rage of the West Coast Hockey League. Silver said he intends to place $250,000 from unspecified investors with a Nevada bankruptcy trustee. He said his agent, Canadian sports broker Al Howell, believes the offer has a good shot of being forwarded to a federal bankruptcy court.

The U.S. women's hockey team won more than the gold medal. It also won the cover of Wheaties. Team captain Cammi Granato called it the end of a perfect week: "Every Olympic athlete's dream. First a gold medal and then your own Wheaties box." The boxes are expected to hit the stores by March 2. * Ratings for CBS' Olympic broadcast Friday night were the highest the network has had for the Nagano Games. CBS averaged a 23.

The owners of a new hockey team scheduled to begin play next season in Kansas City announced that the team will be called the Blades. Russ and Diane Parker, owners of the International Hockey League club, said they wanted a name with strong hockey connotations. "This clearly identifies us as a hockey club," Russ Parker said Thursday.

Goalie Steve Laurin had 43 saves to lead Dartmouth College to a 3-0 victory over the United State International University hockey team Friday night in a nonconference game at the San Diego Ice Arena. Rob Goulet scored Dartmouth's first goal 3:27 into the second period. He was assisted by Tom Finks and Derek Tweedle. Six minutes later, Jamie Hanlon scored an unassisted goal. Dartmouth (3-4) finished the scoring with Tom Finks' empty-net goal less than a minute into the third period.

Christmas came early for the Roller Rats, a youth hockey team at Oak View Community Center. Thanks to $2,000 in donations, the roller hockey players received the protective equipment they need to play competitively. The players on Wednesday received new shin guards, elbow pads, shoulder pads and gloves, and immediately put them on for practice.

While working at the University of Utah on a genetics research project, Zhang Kai from Beijing is volunteering at the Winter Olympics. He was confused during the opening ceremony Friday night when members of the 1980 U.S. ice hockey team emerged from the wings to light the caldron. "Why would they pick those men?" he asked a friend of mine. I could have told him. That team of miracle workers is legendary in the United States, a group of college boys who melded at the right time to beat the highly favored professionals from the Soviet Union in 1980 at Lake Placid, N.Y. Not only that, they did it at a time when American spirits were about as low as they could go. The Cold War raged.

A week or so ago, we asked you to vote for the 10 best sports movies of all time. And, 9,280 ballots later, we unveil your picks. No. 8: "Slap Shot" (525 first-place votes, 18,096 points) Much like your choice for 10th best sports movie, "Chariots of Fire," "Slap Shot" finished first on a number of ballots, but wasn't even listed on a majority of ballots turned in. It was pretty much all or nothing for "Slap Shot. " "Slap Shot" stars Paul Newman as Reg Dunlop, player-coach of the Charlestown Chiefs minor league hockey team, which is scheduled to be disbanded at the end of the season. During the season, the team picks up the Hanson Brothers, bespectacled goons with the maturity of 5-year-olds. Dunlop refuses to play them, but near the end of another hopeless game, gives them an opportunity.

The forward did not have to ring twice. In this case, Dwight King only had to knock once. Last week King was able to break the news to Manchester Monarchs teammate Jordan Nolan that they were both being called up from the minors by the Kings with a quick knock on his door. "He said to wake up, pack up. We're leaving in an hour," Nolan said in El Segundo on Tuesday after the Kings' practice. Said King: "He'll get to remember that forever. His first call-up, I was the guy to tell him. It's a good story.

Nick Aliotti has done a nice job coordinating Oregon's defense if you consider he has to plot each week against two offenses — the opponent's and his. This week, Aliotti is prepping Oregon for Monday's 98th Rose Bowl game against Wisconsin. The Badgers average 44.6 points per game and appear to be playing downhill, against you, on a slanted field. Wisconsin has a running back, Montee Ball, who has scored 38 touchdowns and a quarterback, Russell Wilson, who can run, pass and probably belt out the national anthem.

I have teased the goofs who own the Chargers for more than 25 years. You can just imagine how excited they are about the prospect of one day joining us in Los Angeles. But I hope it never happens. I like work-free Sundays, sitting in front of TV with a pick of entertaining games to watch while not concerned whether our middle linebacker can make bail on a DUI arrest before the opening kickoff. I'll never have to pay to enter the new stadium, but someone in my family will undoubtedly want to go, and I know who will be asked to buy the tickets.

Brazilian prosecutors said Thursday that they are looking again into the death of boxer Arturo Gatti . Brazilian investigators had ruled Gatti's 2009 death a suicide, but a spokesman with the Pernambuco state prosecutor's office told the Associated Press the case is being analyzed again. That comes after private investigators in the U.S. presented evidence challenging whether the Italian-born, Canadian-raised boxer had killed himself. Spokesman Jaques Cerqueira said prosecutor Paula Ismail may ask for the U.S. investigators' findings, which indicated Gatti was killed.

A world-class team and the worldly city it represents absorbed devastating blows Wednesday night. The damage won't easily be repaired for the Canucks, who were thumped by the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, or for Vancouver, where rioters looted in the downtown core after the team's 4-0 loss. The stench of disappointment was overpowered by the smell of tear gas police deployed to quell the vandalism. Cars were flipped and burned, sending plumes of smoke skyward.

After trashing dorm rooms in Nagano, the U.S. Olympic hockey team will get a chance to behave better in the Olympic Village at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City. USA Hockey officials said Wednesday that the team, high-priced NHL stars and all, will share renovated college dormitories with athletes from around the world next year.

"The Hockey Machine" By Matt Christopher One day after leading his hockey team to another victory, Steve Crandall accepts a ride home in multimillionaire Kenneth Argard Jr.'s limo. He is asked to play center on Argard's pro junior hockey team. Before he has a chance to answer, he is flown to Indiana, where the team's headquarters are. There he can't write or call his parents. He's forced to play not only to win, but to survive. Will he make it or not?

Russia's gold-medal celebration went into overtime. And that prevented the team from boarding a flight Thursday morning, a day after Russia won the title at the World Junior Hockey Championships at Buffalo, N.Y. About 30 members of the Russian contingent were asked to get off a Delta Air Lines flight because of their unruly behavior as they boarded the plane, a spokesman for Buffalo Niagara International Airport said. Players and managers spent the day at the Days Hotel across the street ?