Your Day in Verbal Hockey Awesomeness

VANCOUVER – February 22, 2010 – Daytime coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games continued today on NBC and USA Network. Live USA Network coverage included the first women’s hockey semifinal game between Team USA and Sweden.

NBC’s Jimmy Roberts reported on yesterday’s exciting men’s hockey game between Team USA and Canada.

MICHAELS AND ROBERTS ON THE USA VS. CANADA MEN’S HOCKEY GAME

ROBERTS ON USA’S RYAN KELSER’S GAME ENDING GOAL: “You know the game ended with a little bit of a touch of irony. Ryan Kesler scores that great empty net goal for the Americans. I’m sure there were some fans in the audience that were a little bit confused at the point, because, of course, during the NHL season, he’s a Vancouver Canuck. This is his home ice.”

MICHAELS ON HOCKEY FANS: “Remember when the NBA used to use the slogan, ‘We love this game.’ That is puppy love. That is a first date next to the way puckheads feel about hockey.”

USA NETWORK

WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY: USA vs. SWEDEN
Bill Patrick (Host), Cammi Granato (Studio Analyst), Kenny Albert (Play-by-Play), AJ Mleczko(Analyst), Joe Micheletti (Reporter)
USA: 9 Sweden: 1

MLECZKO ON THE PRESSURE OF GETTING THE GOLD MEDAL: “It takes a while to realize that coming home with a silver medal is still something special. In women’s hockey when you’re a Canadian player or an American player gold, is what you want; anything less is a loss.”

GRANATO ON TEAM USA’S JENNY POTTER: “Jenny is a player that when she scores early in a tournament, she gets confidence, she gets rolling, she’s done that. She’s also in the best physical shape that she’s ever been in, so that’s really helping her game.”

GRANATO ON TEAM USA’S NATALIE DARWITZ: “She leads by example. She comes out of her shell every once in a while and surprises you, but on the ice she’s loud and she’s vocal. She’s got tremendous speed and great offensive power and that’s how she leads.”

MLEZCKO ON TEAM USA’S KACEY BELLAMY: “Bellamy is somebody who stays quiet. You don’t hear a lot about her, but she does so many subtle things right. She’s just always in the right place at the right time, jumps in the play, makes passes and is very strong on her feet.”

TEAM USA’S ANGELA RUGGIERO:”We’re trying to score from every position and that’s the beauty of the team, is that it’s a team effort.”

“We just know we’ve had to take one game at a time in this tournament in order to advance in the final.”

CNBC, Women’s Ice Hockey:
Canada 5 vs. Finland 0
Bill Patrick (Host), Cammi Granato (Studio Analyst), Kenny Albert (Play-By-Play), AJ Mleczko (Analyst)

Mleczko on Canadian fans: “Hear this crowd supporting their team, it’s amazing. This is what Hayley Wickenheiser talks about; this crowd can be the seventh man for their team.”

Mleczko on USA and Canada in the gold medal final: “This is what hockey fans want. This is what these competitors want. And it’s going to be a fantastic match up for the gold medal game.”

Albert on Canada: “They tie an Olympic record with 46 goals here in Vancouver.”

Mleczko on the tournament: “This is what these teams battle for is this opportunity to play in a gold medal game. It’s 60 minutes of hockey to determine the success of your season; that’s a scary prospect.”

Patrick on Canada’s Agosta: “Meghan Agosta has exploded on the scene and is one of the best women’s players in the world. She leads all Olympic scorers with 12 points.”

Mleczko on Agosta: “She is so fast. She is deceptive.”

Mleczko on Canada: “There’s no question about their offensive fire power.”

Canada’s Jayna Hefford on Finland: “They are always a tough team to play against. Good goaltender and right now we are just trying to shoot as much as we can.”

“We just got to keep the energy up. We know we have a lot of speed on this team.”

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