but also I mean, even if north american countries are dominating now it takes time for things to even out too, thats not a reason to kill it off. they’re just being lazy and sexist.

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I think you win a gold medal. I have never even attempted War and Peace! Kudos!

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It’s going to take time to develope players and the IIHF and IOC need to put pressure on countries who are dragging their feet. There is also a certain amount of bitching going on about women’s bobsleigh even though it’s only been and Olympic event for two Olympics. The biggest reason ski jumping didn’t get in was because the federations do not want to share funding.

People who look down their nose at women’s hockey are the same people who if they had their way the only sport women would be participating in would be figure skating. It has all the elements their type love: half naked young girls and and men who present them.

On another note what is it with referring to the women’s events as “ladies” this or that?? CTV is constantly referring to ALL women’s events{except hockey} as “ladies”.

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Boys could have kilts!

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It was 7th place in 2006 for the men, which was devastating.

I think it is fair to say that the women competing in sports like hockey and softball in countries outside of North America need the international recognition even more so than the athletes playing within North America. Because the hockey teams that are losing to Canada 18-0 are from countries where there clearly is very little, if any, funding, support, or recognition, taking the Olympics out of their future would all but guarantee the end of that sport as an option for women in those countries.

And they are still working their asses off to get to the Olympics, even if they lose by 18 goals. This isn’t grade 3 where you have the mercy rule and stop playing just because the other team isn’t at your level or because their fans don’t care as much as yours (which would be really sad, if it was grade 3), this is competitive international sporting and it is important and it means a lot to a lot of people even the athletes who aren’t winning, and the only way people/countries improve in sports like this is if we raise the level of competition not shrink away from it because we feel bad for the teams that are losing or because we don’t think the general public in their countries recognize or care as much about the sport as the general public in North America.

That was a horrible run on sentence. I recognize that. I do think cricket should be an Olympic sport. It is embarrassing that it isn’t. And I also really want to submit my name for the reading Olympics. I just finished War & Peace for the 3rd time last month, so I think that’s like a silver medal or something isn’t it?

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I think specifically removing women’s hockey from the olympics is regressive and is the worst kind of attitude I can think of.

The gays lost in California, Maine, Washington, New York, New Jersey, and are losing in almost every single state in the US. Why bother fighting? What’s the point of trying? The thing is though, we’re changing hearts and minds. The more attention we get, the more people see that gays are normal.

Maybe at one point gays got “clobbered 18-0″, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not moving in the right direction.

It’s weird that I’m comparing that to hockey, but I think it works. To me it’s just really lame to pull hockey because two teams are better than the others. Equality doesn’t happen overnight. But as Roxy2 pointed out, Sweden beat the US in 2006 to advance to the finals. Even on the men’s side, in 2006 Switzerland beat Canada to leave Canada with a 6th place finish. Canada! THE hockey nation! Beaten by a tiny country better known for their banks!

I would be extremely disappointed if women’s hockey was removed from the olympics. I think it would make little girls everywhere really sad — take away the olympics and you take away the spotlight from somebody’s hero.

One final thing — some of these women are REALLY good at hockey. Example: Hayley Wickenheiser actually played with men in Europe (I think it was a German league) and I believe she was the first woman to make a men’s team at a professional level that didn’t play goaltender. Another example is Shannon Szabados who played in the Western Hockey League which is a junior league and she was the #1 goaltender until she lost her spot to Carey Price — who is now making millions of dollars in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens.

Okay, I realize I could talk about this forever and no one cares that much!

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