NearPup

I'm very excited. These will be the first Olympics I'll attend in person, the first one with NHLers since 2014, and also to me it feels like these are the first winter Olympics since 2018 (I was going through a really bad time in my personal life in 2022, so that combined with how muted the Beijing games felt because of the pandemic means I have very little memories of Beijing 2022 - felt more like a series of world championships than the Olympics).

There was, but only Hall and La Rue were eligible for the spot

The Olympic team will be as followed: Ted-Jan Bloemen, Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, Daniel Hall, Laurent Dubreuil, Anders Johnson, David La Rue and Cédrick Brunet on the men's side, Isabelle Weidemann, Valérie Maltais, Laura Hall, Ivanie Blondin, Béatrice Lamarche, Rose Laliberté-Roy, Carolina Hiller-Donnelly and Brooklyn McDougall on the women's side. Final selection matrices: Women Rank Event Athlete # 1 3000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann 1 1 5000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann 1 3 3000m (2) Valérie Maltais 2 3 5000m (2) Laura Hall 3 3 Mass Start (1) Ivanie Blondin 4 6 Mass Start (2) Valérie Maltais 2 7 1000m (1) Béatrice Lamarche 5 8 1500m (1) Ivanie Blondin 4 9 3000m (3) Laura Hall 3 10 500m (1) Béatrice Lamarche 5 10 1000m (2) Rose Laliberté-Roy 6 12 1500m (2) Béatrice Lamarche 5 13 500m (2) Carolina Hiller-Donnelly 7 14 500m (3) Brooklyn McDougall 8 14 1500m (3) Valérie Maltais 2 16 1000m (3) Alexa Scott Carolina Hiller-Donnelly 9 7 Men Rank Event Athlete # 1 10000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen 1 1 5000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen 1 3 Mass Start (1) Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu 2 4 Mass Start (2) Daniel Hall 3 5 500m (1) Laurent Dubreuil 4 6 500m (2) Anders Johnson 5 7 1500m (1) David La Rue 6 8 500m (3) Cédrick Brunet 7 8 1000m (1) Laurent Dubreuil 4 8 1500m (2) Daniel Hall 3 11 1000m (2) Anders Johnson 5

Final speed skating matrices: Women Rank Event Athlete # 1 3000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann 1 1 5000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann 1 3 3000m (2) Valérie Maltais 2 3 5000m (2) Laura Hall 3 3 Mass Start (1) Ivanie Blondin 4 6 Mass Start (2) Valérie Maltais 2 7 1000m (1) Béatrice Lamarche 5 8 1500m (1) Ivanie Blondin 4 9 3000m (3) Laura Hall 3 10 500m (1) Béatrice Lamarche 5 10 1000m (2) Rose Laliberté-Roy 5 12 1500m (2) Béatrice Lamarche 6 13 500m (2) Carolina Hiller-Donnelly 7 14 500m (3) Brooklyn McDougall 8 14 1500m (3) Valérie Maltais 2 16 1000m (3) Alexa Scott Carolina Hiller-Donnelly 9 7 Men Rank Event Athlete # 1 10000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen 1 1 5000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen 1 3 Mass Start (1) Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu 2 4 Mass Start (2) Daniel Hall 3 5 500m (1) Laurent Dubreuil 4 6 500m (2) Anders Johnson 5 7 1500m (1) David La Rue 6 8 500m (3) Cédrick Brunet 7 8 1000m (1) Laurent Dubreuil 4 8 1500m (2) Daniel Hall 3 11 1000m (2) Anders Johnson 5

Turns out only athletes qualified for another distance are eligible for the second mass start spot, so only La Rue and Hall are in contention for it.

Bro there’s at least two ways that pizza isn’t kosher xD

That would be kinda devastating for the athlete who has been told they are qualified and ends up not going…

I’m starting to wonder if I’m missing something, because Skating Canada is talking about Brunet and Hall as if they have qualified (and they show them on their matrix as qualified) even though mass start # 2 takes priority, and unless I’m really bad at counting there are already seven unique names on the matrix.

is a super serious speed skating country, which means we have our own matrix too! The women's matrix has been fully filled out, and we now pretty much know the eight women who will be named to the team. The men's matrix still has a couple question marks (who will be the second starter in the mass start, and assuming it's a new name whether the 3rd 500m spot or the 2nd 1500m spot will have priority). Men Rank Event Athlete 1 10000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen Q 1 5000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen Q 3 Mass Start (1) Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu Q 4 Mass Start (2) Q 5 500m (1) Laurent Dubreuil Q 6 500m (2) Anders Johnson Q 7 1500m (1) David La Rue Q 8 500m (3) Cédrick Brunet ? 8 1000m (1) Laurent Dubreuil Q 8 1500m (2) Daniel Hall ? 11 1000m (2) Anders Johnson Q Women Rank Event Athlete 1 3000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 1 5000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 3 3000m (2) Valérie Maltais Q 3 5000m (2) Laura Hall Q 3 Mass Start (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 6 Mass Start (2) Valérie Maltais Q 7 1000m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 8 1500m (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 9 3000m (3) Laura Hall Q 10 500m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 10 1000m (2) Rose Laliberté-Roy Q 12 1500m (2) Béatrice Lamarche Q 13 500m (2) Carolina Hiller-Donnelly Q 14 500m (3) Brooklyn McDougall Q 14 1500m (3) Valérie Maltais Q 16 1000m (3) Alexa Scott

This is academic, but here is the women's matrix with the rankings corrected: Rank Event Athlete 1 3000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 1 5000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 3 3000m (2) Valérie Maltais Q 3 5000m (2) Laura Hall Q 3 Mass Start (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 6 Mass Start (2) Valérie Maltais Q 7 1000m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 8 1500m (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 9 3000m (3) Laura Hall Q 10 500m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 10 1000m (2) Rose Laliberté-Roy Q 12 1500m (2) Béatrice Lamarche Q 13 500m (2) Carolina Hiller-Donnelly Q 14 500m (3) Brooklyn McDougall Q 14 1500m (3) Valérie Maltais Q 16 1000m (3) Alexa Scott

Baring a major, major upset (there are still some low ranked pairs to go), David La Rue wins the men's 1500m and qualifies for the Olympics. Daniel Hall is second, but is ranked low on the matrix and is likely to miss out. Edit: just realized there are some ties on the matrix, so edited to address that. Assuming the second mass start spot goes to someone not already on the matrix (like Jake Weidemann) then the last spot would be decided between Cédrick Brunet and Daniel Hall. I personally do think Hall would lose out to Brunet in that situation, since Gélinas-Beaulieu can pretty easily takek over the 1500m spot. Rank Event Athlete 1 10000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen Q 1 5000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen Q 3 Mass Start (1) Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu Q 4 Mass Start (2) Q 5 500m (1) Laurent Dubreuil Q 6 500m (2) Anders Johnson Q 7 1500m (1) David La Rue Q 8 500m (3) Cédrick Brunet 8 1000m (1) Laurent Dubreuil Q 8 1500m (2) Daniel Hall 11 1000m (2) Anders Johnson Q

Connor Howe wasn't saving something for the 1500m :< Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu also fails to qualify in the 1500m, though obviously he's on the team for the mass start (but it looks like that will be his only start)

I was expecting one of Scott or Pearman to miss out, Laliberté-Roy is certainly the biggest surprise at these trials (pending the men's 1500m of course)

Rank Event Athlete 1 3000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 2 5000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 3 3000m (2) Valérie Maltais Q 4 5000m (2) Laura Hall Q 5 Mass Start (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 6 Mass Start (2) Valérie Maltais Q 7 1000m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 8 1500m (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 9 3000m (3) Laura Hall Q 10 500m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 11 1000m (2) Rose Laliberté-Roy Q 12 1500m (2) Q 13 500m (2) Carolina Hiller-Donnelly Q 14 500m (3) Brooklyn McDougall 15 1500m (3) 16 1000m (3) Alexa Scott

Rank Event Athlete 1 10000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen Q 2 5000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen Q 3 Mass Start (1) Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu Q 4 Mass Start (2) Q 5 500m (1) Laurent Dubreuil Q 6 500m (2) Anders Johnson Q 7 1500m (1) Q 8 500m (3) Cédrick Brunet Q 9 1000m (1) Laurent Dubreuil Q 10 1500m (2) 11 1000m (2) Anders Johnson Q

Nine unique names on the matrix so someone is missing out. Rank Event Athlete 1 3000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 2 5000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 3 3000m (2) Valérie Maltais Q 4 5000m (2) Q 5 Mass Start (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 6 Mass Start (2) Valérie Maltais Q 7 1000m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 8 1500m (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 9 3000m (3) Laura Hall Q 10 500m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 11 1000m (2) Rose Laliberté-Roy Q 12 1500m (2) Q 13 500m (2) Carolina Hiller-Donnelly 14 500m (3) Brooklyn McDougall 15 1500m (3) 16 1000m (3) Alexa Scott

I think he’d probably be able to make the team now, but it was probably not obvious he’d be able to when he decided to represent Poland. It’s a pretty hard team to crack even for people who are really good. Brendan Corey (who is from my hometown!) is someone else who could maybe make a Canadian team, but obviously much easier to qualify with Australia. Courtney Sarault actually could have represented (like fellow skater and Olympic medalist Travis Jayner) but luckily she picked Canada 😅

Obviously very unsurprising that Félix Pigeon qualified. I hope he can sneak in a medal in Milan, always nice to see the "rejects" from the Canadian team do well.

Hopefully it will be a good atmosphere at the speed skating, have tickets for the women's 1500m :3

Honestly I think I like watching the Dutch speed skating trials more than watching Olympic speed skating. A bit similar to how I like the Canadian curling trials (for men’s and women’s, less so for mixed doubles) more than the Olympics.

Updated matrix: Men Rank Event Athlete 1 10000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen Q 2 5000m (1) Ted-Jan Bloemen Q 3 Mass Start (1) Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu Q 4 Mass Start (2) Q 5 500m (1) Laurent Dubreuil Q 6 500m (2) Anders Johnson Q 7 1500m (1) Q 8 500m (3) Cédrick Brunet Q 9 1000m (1) 10 1500m (2) 11 1000m (2) Women Rank Event Athlete 1 3000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 2 5000m (1) Isabelle Weidemann Q 3 3000m (2) Valérie Maltais Q 4 5000m (2) Q 5 Mass Start (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 6 Mass Start (2) Valérie Maltais Q 7 1000m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 8 1500m (1) Ivanie Blondin Q 9 3000m (3) Q 10 500m (1) Béatrice Lamarche Q 11 1000m (2) Q 12 1500m (2) Q 13 500m (2) Carolina Hiller-Donnelly 14 500m (3) Brooklyn McDougall 15 1500m (3) 16 1000m (3)

First time ever a winner of the prestigious and world famous FIFA Peace Prize invades another nation.

We have a matrix too, we’re a big boy speed skating country just like the Netherlands :D

I mean I hope so :P To me this looks like a weaker group than 2014 (though to be fair that was a *stacked* roster)

men’s Olympic team: Goaltenders: Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues Darcy Kuemper, Los Angeles Kings Logan Thompson, Washington Capitals Defensemen: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings Thomas Harley, Dallas Stars Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets Colton Parayko, St. Louis Blues Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers Shea Theodore, Vegas Golden Knights Devon Toews, Colorado Avalanche Forwards: Macklin Celebrini, San Jose Sharks Anthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay Lightning Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay Lightning Bo Horvat, New York Islanders Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche Brad Marchand, Florida Panthers Mitch Marner, Vegas Golden Knights Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens Tom Wilson, Washington Capitals