Olympic Hockey Thread

[ouendan1]

I figured we should have an all inclusive Olympic Thread.

This doesn't need to be about just hockey as well. Any other winter olympic sports you want to talk about? It can go in here as well!

 

[PuckinUgly57]

My networking group that meets Tuesdays at 7am in Huntington Beach is requesting that we incorporate an Olympic sport into our 45 second sales manager moment that we present every time.

Obviously I am going to pick hockey and I was going to bust out the US jerseys from 2002 in Utah, which my ice hockey team wore all season long but I don't know if am going to gear up and drive to the meeting like that (1 hour on the freeway) or just throw on a jersey and gloves and bring my stick.

I think I would get some funny looks on the freeway sporting my helmet and gear while driving but then I think I don't want to smell like that stank the rest of the day.

 

[xis]

Dude you get funny looks no matter what.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

This is what I posted on the main board,

Group A
Russia
Slovakia
Slovenia
USA

Group B
Austria
Canada
Finland
Norway

Group C
Czech Republic
Latvia
Sweden
Switzerland



Schedule

Date Time (ET) Time (MSK) Game/Round

Feb. 12 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Czech Republic vs. Sweden
Feb. 12 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Latvia vs. Switzerland

Feb. 13 3 a.m. 12 p.m. Finland vs. Austria
Feb. 13 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Russia vs. Slovenia
Feb. 13 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Slovakia vs. USA
Feb. 13 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Canada vs. Norway

Feb. 14 3 a.m. 12 p.m. Czech Republic vs. Latvia
Feb. 14 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Sweden vs. Switzerland
Feb. 14 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Norway vs. Finland
Feb. 14 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Canada vs. Austria

Feb. 15 3 a.m. 12 p.m. Slovakia vs. Slovenia
Feb. 15 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. USA vs. Russia
Feb. 15 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Sweden vs. Latvia
Feb. 15 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Switzerland vs. Czech Republic

Feb. 16 3 a.m. 12 p.m. Austria vs. Norway
Feb. 16 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Russia vs. Slovakia
Feb. 16 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Slovenia vs. USA
Feb. 16 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Finland vs. Canada

Feb. 18 3 a.m. 12 p.m. Qualification Round
Feb. 18 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Qualification Round
Feb. 18 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Qualification Round
Feb. 18 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Qualification Round

Feb. 19 3 a.m. 12 p.m. Quarterfinals
Feb. 19 7:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Quarterfinals
Feb. 19 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Quarterfinals
Feb. 19 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Quarterfinals

Feb. 21 7 a.m. 4 p.m. Semifinals
Feb. 21 12 p.m. 9 p.m. Semifinals

Feb. 22 10 a.m. 7 p.m. Bronze-Medal Game

Feb. 23 7 a.m. 4 p.m. Gold-Medal Game


Favorites
Canada 2/1
Russia 2/1
Sweden 4/1
USA 13/2
Czech Republic 12/1
Finland 12/1
Switzerland 25/1
Slovakia 33/1
Norway 150/1
Latvia 250/1
Austria 500/1
Slovenia 500/1

Doob's take

Olympic ice hockey is probably the grandest spectacle of hockey talent in my eyes. Probably even more so than the Stanley Cup Playoffs, mainly because the knockout round is a best of 1 and anything can happen in a best of 1. I don't think something like the Miracle on Ice would ever happen if it were a best of 7. So don't fret Austria & Slovenia, you too could turn heads from all over the world.

Now looking at the groupings, I feel that Group A will have the toughest competition among the top 2 teams, Canada should have the easiest time in Group B (although Finland is my dark horse for these games), and Group C appears to have the most depth.

I hope to see
G - USA
S - Finland
B - Canada

But I think it will go like this,
G - Canada
S - Russia
B - Sweden

We'll see how it goes tho, like I said earlier, one of the best things about Olympic ice hockey is how unpredictable it can be. Hope you all enjoy the games regardless of who you're rooting for. At the end of the day this is a celebration of ice hockey and how it brings the world together

 

[ouendan1]

Carter is skating on Canada's top line with Crosby and Kunitz.

 

[pete6835]

Don't forget this:

 

[pete6835]

 

[CaptHowdy00]

As far as I'm concerned, it is more important to win the cup than a medal. What if one the players gets hurt? Who pays for the bills? Does he still get paid by the team? There is too much risk envolved. I know that the players want to represent their country, but they get paid handsomely to play for a team, and that should come first.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

As far as I'm concerned, it is more important to win the cup than a medal. What if one the players gets hurt? Who pays for the bills? Does he still get paid by the team? There is too much risk envolved. I know that the players want to represent their country, but they get paid handsomely to play for a team, and that should come first.

Ah, the "what's more important to a player, a Cup or a medal?" debate. Never fails and although all NHL guys will say a Cup, I don't know how many of them actually believe that. I suspect a majority, but then there are players - mostly European - who are so bad at lying it's obvious what they would rather win. There is something to be said about national pride.

Injuries are my biggest concern, I remember in 2006 Frolov and Demitra went and Frolov comes back with some massive groin injury that made him miss half the remaining games and Demitra took a puck to the face that messed up his eye or orbital bone or something. The Kings were in 1st place on Dec 31, 2005 and ended up in 10th I believe by season's end, and both those guys' injuries played a huge role in that free fall although I feel there were bigger issues.

I know GMs cringe at the thought of these guys going overseas, but to some players it's extremely important.

 

[KickSave]

The way I see it.. a cup is great, and pretty much would only be a huge factor to hockey fans.. maybe some non.

A gold medal is country pride.. It's the whole enchilada.

If they say a cup is more important, they are definitely company men hahah

 

[Psych3man]

Cup is harder to win...

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Dude you get funny looks no matter what.

Today was the big day, decided to take in my Team USA jersey, stick and gloves. My turn to pitch came up and I emailed myself my shpiel and the damn gloves got in the way of the buttons and I had to take one off to read it off my phone. Got a good laugh from the group, but didn't go as planned.

We hand out a weekly Oscar to the person who has the best pitch, asks for a specific referral and a hook and some chick who wrote a poem about her business beat mine who didn't even mention the Winter Olympics.

Really? I incorporated hockey terms (dropping the gloves, 5 minute major, etc) into my deal too. I thought it was pretty creative, only one other person brought in props.

I was tempted to pull the "smell my finger" trick on her afterwards.

=)~~

 

[CaptHowdy00]

Today was the big day, decided to take in my Team USA jersey, stick and gloves. My turn to pitch came up and I emailed myself my shpiel and the damn gloves got in the way of the buttons and I had to take one off to read it off my phone. Got a good laugh from the group, but didn't go as planned.

We hand out a weekly Oscar to the person who has the best pitch, asks for a specific referral and a hook and some chick who wrote a poem about her business beat mine who didn't even mention the Winter Olympics.

Really? I incorporated hockey terms (dropping the gloves, 5 minute major, etc) into my deal too. I thought it was pretty creative, only one other person brought in props.

I was tempted to pull the "smell my finger" trick on her afterwards.

=)~~

Puck what in the heck do you sell?

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Puck what in the heck do you sell?

My company provides HR solutions and payroll services - Workers Comp insurance, time and attendance, benefits administration, stuff that's needed for HR professionals. We are based out of Upland and have a strong presence in the Inland Empire but I have been tasked to develop Orange County so I work out of my house 90% of the time and am a field rep. I only go to Upland for about 4 hours on Mondays and Wednesdays for sales meetings. We also have an office in Dallas.

This is my networking group, which meets every Tuesday at 7am in Huntington Beach. It's a professional global referral organization, where each chapter has people from one profession and the goal is to pass referrals to one another and generate business. I have the HR services position locked down but we have about 35 members from different professions - real estate, mortgage broker, CPA, financial planner, personal insurance broker, etc.

Every week every member has 45 seconds to give their "sales manager moment" or better known in business and the Elevator Speech. You have to describe your business, what type of referral you are looking for this week (mine for example is any business owner who would like their HR compliance reviewed for free. Obviously I want to get in and get them on our services, but the free analysis is a good carrot to get me in the door) and at the end throw in a quirky or funny hook. The object is to have these 34 other people refer business to you when they are out generating business of their own.

I joined last year, and honestly have not received as many referrals as I would like. I have passed out a ton, but being a professional I run across a lot more people (and thus opportunities) than others do. The dynamic of this group has changed as when I joined there were a lot more professionals like me compared to the niche businesses (Mary Kay, Nerium Skin Products, etc.) but slowly these people have left and we are getting more and more of these Mary Kay people. No knock on them or what they do, but they honestly can't help my business grow much - they throw house parties with moms who don't work or whatever where as the professionals run into business to business people I would need to work with. Just today for example, an independent rep for a company that throws gold buying parties at peoples' houses submitted her application for acceptance. Not going to do me a lot of good.

So my renewal is coming up April 1 and I am not sure if I will renew, there is a major time commitment required in terms of tracked attendance, sitting with every member and learning their business and what they are looking for and vice versa, classes you have to attend, etc. This is not free either,membership is $465 a year, there are $50 a month dues for the facility we meet at and then the classes and such are $25 each. I have other free referral networks I have cultivated (banks, CPAs, insurance brokerages, etc.) that have provided me more business than this group has and I need to focus on those channels. My company pays for this, but to me it's how can I grow my business faster and where should I focus my energy and time the most?

I'm up at 4:45am every Tuesday and out the door by 6:00am if not sooner to be there no later than 7:00am. I am a Visitor Host this term so I greet people at the door from about 6:40-7:15 during what they call Open Networking. The actual meeting starts at 7:15am. Needless to say, Tuesdays are JMFJ long days.

Anywho...so that's what my whole jersey/stick/glove thing was about. Lot to think about for me because it's not panning out but I have seen it work for others.

 

[CaptHowdy00]

My company provides HR solutions and payroll services - Workers Comp insurance, time and attendance, benefits administration, stuff that's needed for HR professionals. We are based out of Upland and have a strong presence in the Inland Empire but I have been tasked to develop Orange County so I work out of my house 90% of the time and am a field rep. I only go to Upland for about 4 hours on Mondays and Wednesdays for sales meetings. We also have an office in Dallas.

This is my networking group, which meets every Tuesday at 7am in Huntington Beach. It's a professional global referral organization, where each chapter has people from one profession and the goal is to pass referrals to one another and generate business. I have the HR services position locked down but we have about 35 members from different professions - real estate, mortgage broker, CPA, financial planner, personal insurance broker, etc.

Every week every member has 45 seconds to give their "sales manager moment" or better known in business and the Elevator Speech. You have to describe your business, what type of referral you are looking for this week (mine for example is any business owner who would like their HR compliance reviewed for free. Obviously I want to get in and get them on our services, but the free analysis is a good carrot to get me in the door) and at the end throw in a quirky or funny hook. The object is to have these 34 other people refer business to you when they are out generating business of their own.

I joined last year, and honestly have not received as many referrals as I would like. I have passed out a ton, but being a professional I run across a lot more people (and thus opportunities) than others do. The dynamic of this group has changed as when I joined there were a lot more professionals like me compared to the niche businesses (Mary Kay, Nerium Skin Products, etc.) but slowly these people have left and we are getting more and more of these Mary Kay people. No knock on them or what they do, but they honestly can't help my business grow much - they throw house parties with moms who don't work or whatever where as the professionals run into business to business people I would need to work with. Just today for example, an independent rep for a company that throws gold buying parties at peoples' houses submitted her application for acceptance. Not going to do me a lot of good.

So my renewal is coming up April 1 and I am not sure if I will renew, there is a major time commitment required in terms of tracked attendance, sitting with every member and learning their business and what they are looking for and vice versa, classes you have to attend, etc. This is not free either,membership is $465 a year, there are $50 a month dues for the facility we meet at and then the classes and such are $25 each. I have other free referral networks I have cultivated (banks, CPAs, insurance brokerages, etc.) that have provided me more business than this group has and I need to focus on those channels. My company pays for this, but to me it's how can I grow my business faster and where should I focus my energy and time the most?

I'm up at 4:45am every Tuesday and out the door by 6:00am if not sooner to be there no later than 7:00am. I am a Visitor Host this term so I greet people at the door from about 6:40-7:15 during what they call Open Networking. The actual meeting starts at 7:15am. Needless to say, Tuesdays are JMFJ long days.

Anywho...so that's what my whole jersey/stick/glove thing was about. Lot to think about for me because it's not panning out but I have seen it work for others.

Too bad I'm not in your area. I deal with merchant services. So I am face to face with small and medium sized businesses all day.
I need to find one of these in my area. What's the group called?

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Too bad I'm not in your area. I deal with merchant services. So I am face to face with small and medium sized businesses all day.
I need to find one of these in my area. What's the group called?

Funny you mention that, our group doesn't have a Merchant Services rep but are looking for one. We do business in all 50 states, if I run across something near your area I will definitely send it your way. I have referral partners all over - just sent my Workers Comp guy into a business in Loomis in Northern CA earlier this week and he closed his part of the deal, now I am working on mine.

We had a guy visit a few weeks ago from a company who is still debating whether or not to join, he and I have stayed in contact and are going cold calling together in Anaheim on Friday. I want to see how he operates and if he would be a good referral partner for me, because we would both run across people who need both our services.

The organization is called BNI, Business Networking International. They have chapters all over the world, and while I think the theory is good - their motto is "Givers Gain" - I also think the President, Ivan Misner, laughs his way all the way to the bank.

They have similar organizations out there like Le Tip and TEAM, check those out too. I'm looking into these as well if I do not renew my membership in April.

 

[pete6835]

There is NO freakin' way I am reading ANY of that.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

There is NO freakin' way I am reading ANY of that.

Read this

....................../´¯/)
....................,/¯../
.................../..../
............./´¯/'...'/´¯¯`•¸
........../'/.../..../......./¨¯\
........('(...´...´.... ¯~/'...')
.........\.................'...../
..........''...\.......... _.•´
............\..............(

=)~~

I'm having way too much fun using the middle finger again, that thing was a staple on the ESPN boards. I totally forgot I had it and stumbled across it when transferring data from my old laptop to the new one Ms. Puck bought me for Christmas a few weeks ago.

 

[pete6835]

Quick gets the start in game 1 vs Slovakia

 

[CaptHowdy00]

Well since I'm on my iPhone and speak russian, here's on for you to figure out.
Идите вы все на хуй.