Olympic Hockey Preliminary Round Wrap Up

The preliminary round of Olympic ice hockey is over and so far the United States has not lost a game. Both the men and women are 3-0. The women have outscored their opponents by an amazing margin of 30 goals, allowing only one goal against. The women easily cruised through Finland, Russia, and China. Clearly, the United States and Canada are the top 2 teams in women's Olympic hockey, with Canada going undefeated and outscoring opponents 41-2. Just earlier today, they beat Sweden 9-1 to reach the gold medal game.

In the men's hockey, the United States and Sweden remain the only undefeated teams. The United States top highlight was beating Canada last night in a thrilling upset victory. I give Ryan Miller the star of the game for this one. He posted 42 saves in a game where Canada outshot the U.S. 45-22. Brian Rafalski also made huge contributions with 2 goals and an assist. The ending of this game was one of the most exciting I have watched since last year's Stanley Cup playoffs. This win gives the United States the top seed going into the playoff round and knocks Canada out of the first round bye. This is a huge let down for the 1-1-1-0 Canada team (1 is for overtime win) who many thought would be the top team in the Olympics.

As a Washington Capitals fan, I have to mention the play of Alex Ovechkin in the Olympics. He is showing his electrifying play on the world stage now. He has 2 goals, 2 assists, and a +2 in the 3 games. Ovechkin's biggest and most talked about play of the Olympics was his hit on Jaromir Jagr during the Russia vs Czech Republic game. Ovechkin made a crushing hit on Jagr that let to a Russia goal. If you have not seen it, check it out on You Tube immediately. Overall, Russia is 2-0-0-1. Russia alost to Slovakia in a shootout, so they take the 3rd spot after the U.S. and Sweden. Both the top dogs, Canada and Russia, went down once, but do not count them out for the Gold Medal just yet. Both teams are stacked and can easily make the medal run.

I am very proud of how well the U.S. men's and women's teams have performed. It is great to see my country doing well, not only in hockey, but in the entire Olympics. The USA currently has the most medals of any country. I am excited to watch the U.S. hockey teams continue in the quest for the gold medal. The women's final is Thursday, Feb 25 at 6:30. The men's final is Sunday at 3:15. Hopefully one of them can pull it off. If I cannot see the U.S. men's team in the finals, I would love to see Russia vs Canada. As I said, these are two teams with many great players. And how great would it be to watch the Great 8 and Sid the Kid add more fire to their rivalry by playing in the Olympics? Both stars could help lead their countries to the Gold Medal game. First Caps vs Penguins, then Russia vs Canada. It does not get much better than that.

Maryland Terrapins Pull Off Win At Buzzer

Yesterday, the Maryland Terrapins improved to 9-3 in the ACC by beating Georgia Tech with a last second shot by Cliff Tucker. With 3 seconds left in the game, Derrick Favors of Georgia Tech gets an offensive rebound and scores the bucket, giving Georgia Tech a 74-73 lead. The Terps pass the ball inbounds to Greivis Vasquez, who banks in a long 3 pointer, giving the Terps the victory with no time left. Or so everyone thought. Maryland coach Gary Williams had called a timeout so the basket did not count.

After the timeout, Maryland gets the ball at half court. Vasquez inbounds the ball to Cliff Tucker who becomes the unlikely hero when he sinks a 3 pointer with no time left giving Maryland the 76-74 victory. Maryland remains unbeaten at home vs ACC teams and 9-3 overall. This win helps their bid towards the NCAA tournament. What an ending!

You can see the replay here:
a href = http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=300510120

Starcraft 2 Finally Within Sight

The original Starcraft video game came out in 1998. If you have not heard of it, talk to any gamer and I am sure they have. After 11+ years of waiting for a sequel to the great strategy game, it is finally drawing near. Blizzard has finally announced that Starcraft 2: Wing of Liberty will be out in Fall 2010. 12 years later, gamers will finally be able to play the sequel to one of the best strategy games of all time. And us Starcraft fans are ecstatic.

I myself started playing in 2000. A few of my friends had mentioned what a great game it was so I decided to check it out. Well I loved the game and I played many hours with my friends in high school and college. I remember talking to my friends at school about games we played the night before. Once I got to college, we set up LAN connections to play with other people in my dorm. Starcraft became a hit among most of my friends. We played all the time for about a year. From about 2000-2007, Starcraft would never die. If there were a few months where I did not play, one of my friends brought up the idea again and we would play for a while again. Starcraft is still my favorite strategy game to this day, and I am not sure there is any other video game I have played more. I just hope that my high expectations for the sequel can be met.

To see more about the game coming out, check out the following links:
http://www.vgrevolution.com/2010/02/starcraft-2-wings-of-liberty-enters-closed-beta/

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/reviews/2010/02/a-night-with-starcraft-2-things-to-do-in-the-beta.ars/

A list of Starcraft 2 gameplay videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/hdstarcraft?blend=1&ob=4

The ORIGINAL Boondock Saints is Back

Back in high school, I heard a few great things about a movie called The Boondock Saints. I had never heard about it being in theaters, or knew anything about the movie. Then, in September 2002, I was able to get my hands on a copy of the unrated version of this movie. I read the summary briefly and it seemed interesting enough. I loved the next 2 hours of my life. I had never seen a movie like this before. It was so unique, so entertaining, and of course, so violent. To this day, The Boondock Saints is still one of my favorite movies. I have had a big "Saints" poster on my wall for the last couple years. Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flannery, and Norman Reedus play excellent roles in this cult classic.

After I watched it, I remember wishing I had seen it in theaters. Near the end of 2009, they made a sequel. I was super excited, but also skeptical. This movie was decent, but it was not the same as the brilliant original film. My friends and I thought "if only the original Boondock Saints was in theaters."

Well soon we, along with all the other fans of the cult classic, will get our wish. It was brought to my attention today by a co-worker that the original movie will be released for one day only in theaters. Yes, The Boondock Saints will be in some theaters nationwide for one night only. This night is March 11 at 7:30. And I cannot wait!

Check out the link for more details and ticket information:
The Boondock Saints 10th Anniversary