Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz are joined by senior writer Jay Busbee to discuss NHL players’ return to the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 and what it means for the USA-Canada hockey rivalry. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV.
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Video Transcript
This is the first time since Sochi 2014, when we saw T.J. Oshie and the four shootout goals against Russia, that we’ll see NHL players in the Olympics.
So what does this mean for the classic USA-Canada rivalry on the ice?
Yeah, it’s gonna ra- amp- ramp it up to another level.
I mean, obviously, the USA and Canada have on-ice rivalries, there’s off-ice rivalries, there’s heated words, there’s, there’s all kinds of battles back and forth.
This just takes it to the ne- another level, because you’ve now got the best of the best.
You’ve got all the familiar names, almost all the familiar names.
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Alex O- Alex Ovechkin is not gonna be there, because Russia is not there.
But all the familiar names from virtually every NHL team is sending players to the, to the Olympics this year, and the US and Canada have their, their fair share of, of big names on both sides.
The main thing about the Olympics, though, it’s gonna be slightly different from what we’re used to.
First of all, the, the distance between or the time twe- between periods is a little bit shorter.
It’s 18- down from 18 minutes to 15.
The ice rink should be about the same size, but here’s the big thing: no fighting, okay?
In the Olympics, they don’t put up with that.
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It’s a penalty right off the bat.
There’s no dropping of the gloves, and so if that’s, if that’s an attraction for you in hockey, and it is for a lot of people, it’s not gonna be there.
But I think what we will see is talent at the absolute highest level on both sides of the border.