Scott Moir to Ref: "WAKE UP!"

February 22, 2018 7:11 AM

Scott Moir was at the game last night. The gold medal game for women's hockey was played last night, and went all the way to a shootout. In attendance was Scott Moir, of Virtue and Moir, Canadian gold medalists for ice dance, and he was pretty invested in the proceedings. Let's watch the tape!
posted by Capt. Renault (34 comments total)

Important related analysis.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:35 AM on February 22, 2018 [12 favorites]

Submitted for proof of Canadianness.
posted by ZeusHumms at 7:40 AM on February 22, 2018 [5 favorites]

Fracking hell. I was trying to avoid knowing the outcome of the game, given that I couldn't stay up and watch it last night; we were going to watch it today after work. I knew staying off social media was a given, but I didn't even think about MeFi.

My own damned fault.
posted by cooker girl at 7:42 AM on February 22, 2018

That game was UN. REAL. The Lamoureux sisters are like the definition of clutch, but the whole team (Maddie Rooney!!!) deserved this so much. They earned it.

I'm glad Scott Moir and Patrick Chan were there for hilarity but woof the officiating was not great on both sides.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:44 AM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

She had her head down, in traffic, entering the slot. Not excusing the hit, but that's... not a good idea.

There are no "sorrys" in hockey.
posted by bonehead at 7:52 AM on February 22, 2018

oh also the US women won this less than a year after going on strike to receive fair pay and support from USA Hockey

Slate has a pretty wonderful summary of the team and the game: In Praise of the Women of U.S. Hockey, Who Really Hate Canada and Really Deserved a Gold Medal
posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:54 AM on February 22, 2018 [8 favorites]

Canadian men drinking beer and cheering for Canadian women: it's a thing.
posted by chapps at 8:00 AM on February 22, 2018 [6 favorites]

It does seem Tessa and Scott hit the social media viral jackpot this olympics, first with their sexy ice dance and now this.

Like I said in the FanFare thread - I had to pause and rewind my live feed just to confirm that sitting next to him was indeed a quietly mortified Patrick Chan (gold medalist, 3-time world champion and apparently Scott Moir's hockey buddy).
posted by btfreek at 8:08 AM on February 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Vagued up the post itself a bit with the poster's permission to help out the spoiler-averse, though obviously it's fine to talk about it in did-you-see-that-fucking-DEKE-tho detail in the thread here. Carry on!
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:10 AM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

The CBC video page is a mess of "technical difficulties" and removed Instagram posts, at least for me in the US. Here's a short Youtube video of shots of Moir cheering.
posted by Nelson at 8:20 AM on February 22, 2018 [6 favorites]

Thanks for that, Nelson, I was just about to post that all the video links aren't working for some reason.
posted by dnash at 8:22 AM on February 22, 2018

That was an amazing game. I was having flashbacks to the US Women's World Cup Soccer win against China.

I also got to watch the game in a sports bar filled with women's sports fans, as my niece has started a new organization to support girls' and women's sports. Way fun.
posted by suelac at 8:30 AM on February 22, 2018 [5 favorites]

I stayed up to the bitter end and the medal ceremony because dang, I live in the Midwest, between this and the XC skiing gold, it has been a good couple of days to be a Minnesotan. My co-worker has girls in hockey, and he is for SOME reason not at work today. I am really hoping he is sleeping in after being up late watching as well.

38 years to the day after the "Miracle on Ice" game...
posted by caution live frogs at 8:41 AM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

What a game! I'm always a bit sad when two closely matched teams need to go to shoot-out, but even that had some terrific drama. Plus I need to extend a shout-out to local favorite Amanda Pelkey. We noted your gadfly play drawing the penalty that led to the first USA goal. That's some veteran stuff - keep it up!
posted by meinvt at 8:53 AM on February 22, 2018

Congratulations to the US Women -- it was a hell of a game, and they are deserving winners.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:54 AM on February 22, 2018

Canadians are used to the unwritten rule that big games are officiated differently, letting more infractions go uncalled and just "letting the teams play". This one was obviously not going that way and the US adjusted to that reality better than Canada did, especially in the first period.
The US deserved the win, and I think the result will be better for the sport in the long run.
posted by rocket88 at 9:09 AM on February 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I stayed up until the bitter end and I am feeling it today! It took me like an hour to fall asleep after because that shoot-out was maybe the most stressful thing I've ever watched! I had to wait for all the adrenaline to clear my system, geez.

I loved how the US women all rushed to do the big group hug, and then all threw their gloves and helmets on the ice, and immediately started fixing their ponytails. Hockey Stars: They're Just Like Us!

(Movies need to make this intro a trope: Long-haired women, when they're about to kick ass or have just finished kicking ass, pretty universally adjust their ponytails!)

(See also Senator Tammy Duckworth's functional rehab goal at Walter Reed when she was recovering from the loss of two limbs and significant damage to a third: to put her hair into a ponytail without help.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:36 AM on February 22, 2018 [11 favorites]

shoot-out was maybe the most stressful thing I've ever watched

Watched it with my hands over my face but peeking through my fingers like a little kid but still with my eyes scrunched shut half the time because I just couldn't take it
posted by barchan at 9:41 AM on February 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

As a Canadian, let me posit that the 2002, 2010, and 2014 gold medal games were all better than last night's.
posted by The Notorious SRD at 9:41 AM on February 22, 2018 [5 favorites]

Watched it with my hands over my face but peeking through my fingers

Hilary Knight feels you there.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 9:43 AM on February 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

This was the first time I've gotten excited about hockey since my (Canadian-born, Texan-by-way-of-marriage) dad was alive and used to regale us with stories of his hero Gordie Howe as we watched Dallas Stars games on TV. Amazing play by both teams!
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:44 AM on February 22, 2018

As a Canadian, let me posit that the 2002, 2010, and 2014 gold medal games were all better than last night's.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi voice] "So, what The Notorious SRD is saying is true... from a certain point of view."
posted by Atom Eyes at 9:50 AM on February 22, 2018

I suspect that the video difficulties are the result of the Olympic Committee enforcing country-by-country broadcasting rules, in order to maximize the money they make.
posted by clawsoon at 10:03 AM on February 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

Long-haired women, when they're about to kick ass or have just finished kicking ass, pretty universally adjust their ponytails!)

I don't wear a ponytail, but I tuck all my hair up in my barrette before shooting a rapid.
posted by filthy_prescriptivist at 10:07 AM on February 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I liked this Virtue/Moir meme
posted by Flashman at 10:11 AM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

Oh my, what a game. Not as bonkers as four years ago, but a great game. It would have been much better for the refereeing to be good all around, rather than in turns bad-favouring-the-US and bad-favouring-Canada, but the refereeing was also, unbelievably, better than four years ago.

I don't like the shootout, but I'm surprised the Canadians made it out of overtime (especially 4 on 4) against the faster Americans; they just had no gas in their tanks and Szabados kept them in it.

I wish the winning goal had been from anybody other than a Lamoreux, and I'm terrified for what goalie Maddie Rooney will play like with four more years of poise under her belt. The only consolation is hopefully in the 2042 games, Canada will hopefully have Liv Chu-Ouelette on their roster.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 10:24 AM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm guessing Scott Moir will never need to pay for his own drinks in any Canadian bar ever again.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:39 AM on February 22, 2018 [4 favorites]

I think it's good for women's hockey that Canada didn't win the gold this time around. If you want to grow the game it helps to show that other teams have a chance of winning.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:11 PM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

Ya, 5% of the time.
posted by Mitheral at 12:59 PM on February 22, 2018 [2 favorites]

One of the CBC commentators pointed out that the American women born '91-'93 have been consistently beating their Canadian counterparts - first at World Juniors, then for the past four years at Worlds, and now, finally, at the Olympics.
posted by clawsoon at 1:20 PM on February 22, 2018

I think it's good for women's hockey that Canada didn't win the gold this time around. If you want to grow the game it helps to show that other teams have a chance of winning.

I don't think it matters all that much -- if you look at the statistics, by any metric the US and Canada have been more or less equally excellent for the history of the sport; it's one of the reasons the rivalry is so good, since the two sides are such evenly-matched titans.

The problem for the sport is that there are pretty clearly a few tiers; the first one is the Canada and the US, the next tier has the Finns, Swedes, Swiss and Russians, and the third tier has the next set of teams, the Germans, Japanese, Czechs, and possibly a few more. But the divisions between the tiers are so. damn. stark.

I have the annual world championship / Olympic records going back to 2007. In those 12 years, that middle tier of FIN/SWE/SUI/RUS have a very strong 64-10 record against teams in the lower tier, and a 2-62 record against the Canadians and Americans. Almost half (47%) of those games against Canada/US were blowout wins of 6 or more goals. (In the NHL, maybe 1-2% of games are blowouts.) Canada/US have more 13 goal wins against these teams - the next four best teams! - than they have losses.

The tournaments are increasing from 8 to 10 teams starting next year, which I think is a good idea -- right now the top six are so well established that there are really only two free spots in an eight team tournament; with one team being relegated, nobody has a chance to play at that highest level on an annual basis. If they keep the same split division format, it'll be interesting - three of the middle four would play the round robin against Canada and the US while the last of those four (currently the Swiss) would get to beat up on a bunch of minnows.

What expanding the tournament won't do is get a European team that can occasionally beat Canada or the US; I think that's a generational thing. But there is now a generation of women for whom there has always been an Olympic tournament - the majority of women on the US team were under 8 when the first Olympic tournament was held.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 2:50 PM on February 22, 2018 [3 favorites]

A comment on the New York Times pointed out that 9 of the women on both the US and Canadian teams are current or former students of the University of Wisconsin, which is pretty cool. Go Badgers!
posted by Flashman at 3:55 PM on February 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I think it's good for women's hockey that Canada didn't win the gold this time around.

I was embarrassed for my country by the behavior of one player who removed her silver medal after receiving it. Losing can be a good thing for some people. Maybe even necessary.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 3:02 AM on February 23, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm super excited about this win and super excited for the Lamoureux twins! I was lucky enough to see them play in person when they were playing their last year on UND's team and they are AMAZING. Straight up incredibly gifted players.
posted by librarylis at 9:42 PM on February 23, 2018