This is a very special episode of Back to Excited. I’m delighted to have PPP’s own Baseball Annie and Nafio as guests for this podcast, as they spent the better part of an hour sharing their expertise on women’s hockey with us. We give you the full lowdown on what to expect in Pyeongchang, including:

  • A breakdown of the format of the Women’s Hockey Olympic tournament [1:30]
  • How teams have risen and fallen over the last four years, including detailed looks at Switzerland (Sochi bronze medalists) and the Olympic Athletes from Russia (icing a very young team) [4:30]
  • The suboptimal decisions made by Team USA in cutting Alex Carpenter and Megan Bozek, and how it affects their scoring depth in a potential matchup with Canada [15:21]
  • aaand the suboptimal choices made by Canada [24:32]
  • What to expect out of the Group B teams (Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Korea) [28:28]
  • Annie’s ode to Lara Stalder [36:30]
  • The odd coaching situations faced by the Korean and Swedish teams [42:30]
  • Annie’s Top 5 players to watch in the tournament [45:00]
  • Medal predictions [49:30]/

After we finish the talk on the Olympics, Fulemin and I have a quick discussion of the Leafs new lines, Travis Dermott and whether we’re overrating him, and whether the Leafs dispiriting loss to Boston is a harbinger of things to come. You can find that talk at 53:52

I wanted to thank Baseball Annie and Nafio for coming on the show. You can find all their work here, and also follow them on twitter at @Baseball_Annie_ and @nafio.

Olympic CoverageBack To Excited