There’s not much to say about my first medal predictions. Those were pretty much taken away with the first USA vs. Canada game. I had picked Canada to win gold, Russia to win silver, and Sweden to win bronze, but a couple of upsets made that impossible.

But, that’s hockey. It’s very easy to say that the favorite is going to win the Gold Medal, but it’s very hard to say that there’s going to be an upset or two. I don’t know how many people would have said that Sweden (or Russia) would have lost to Slovakia, or Canada would have lost to the United States.

With that said, I’m going to make some predictions about the Gold Medal game between the US and Canada. Canada is still the favorite, and a bit of an obvious pick, but Team USA proved last time that anything can happen in the Olympics. If the United States wins, it will be an upset because Canada has better depth and more talent.

However, that’s not the only thing Canada will have in this game. There’s one thing that the Canadians have this time that they didn’t have the first time. This time, they have a bigger incentive to win. After the last game with the United States, Canada was taught the harsh reality that even if you’re a favorite, you still have to play every game well. The Gold Medal game will be a “redemption” game for Team Canada.

That factor alone could cause the game to be a blowout. Canada wants this medal more than any country ever could. Couple that with the fact that the United States has been making some mistakes in their games over the entire tournament, and you get a ton of goals for Canada.

Another factor in tomorrow’s game will be goaltending. After the loss to the United States, Canada pulled goalie Martin Brodeur and replaced him with Roberto Luongo. With Luongo in net, they have seen better results.

Goaltending is also the greatest advantage for the United States, and one of the few places that they have the advantage. Ryan Miller is better than any goalie on Canada’s roster, and in my opinion, is the best goalie currently in the NHL. He currently owns the second best save percentage in the NHL (93.0%) and the second best goals against average (2.16). His play in the Olympics has also been lights out. Miller definitely stole a win from Canada the last time they met, and will be a big factor in how well the United States fairs in the Gold Medal game tomorrow.

Although my predictions for Team USA finishing in fifth place were simply wrong, my prediction on Miller being the biggest factor in how well they do was correct. The first time they played each other, Canada peppered Miller with over 40 shots. That includes a ton of scoring opportunities towards the end of the game where Miller came through with some huge saves that many goalies would have missed.

If the United States wants to win the Gold, Miller will have to play another great game. However, I don’t think that the United States will be able to defeat the Canadians again. Canada simply has more depth and more talent. More importantly, they have the “will power” that they didn’t have in the round-robin tournament. That should provide a huge difference in Canada’s effort, and also be a big factor in how tomorrow’s game ends up.

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The men’s ice hockey tournament has been the center of a ton of hype, publicity, and excitement since the beginning of the NHL season. Hockey fans have waited to see their country’s best players compete against other countries’ best players.

The tournament starts on Tuesday, February 16th and ends with the gold medal game on February 28th. During this time, you will get to see the best players in the world compete in a total of 30 games. Here are some of the things that you will want to pay attention to, and some of the headlines you may see. Make sure to check out my medal predictions as well.

Favorites

Team Canada

Canada is coming off of its most embarrassing performance in history. In 2006, the finished in a dismal sixth place because they lacked chemistry. This year, that has become the focus of the team. They are one of the favorites that is expected to win a medal.

Team Russia

Russia has not won a gold medal in men’s hockey since 1992 when they were known as the “Unified Team”. They have stacked their roster with some of the best players in the world including Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, and Evengini Nabokov between the pipes. Like Canada, they are also expected to medal.

Games to Pay Attention To

Unfortunately, for the next week, most of the games are going to be pretty one sided. The big powerhouses don’t get together until Sunday, February 21st. However, there are other games that will help decide the lower portion of the standings.

Sweden vs. Finland – February 21st

Sweden is the defending gold medal winner, and Finland is the defending silver medal winner. In 2006, these two teams were pretty evenly matched and it’s looking to be the same in 2010. This is the most entertaining match-up until the medal round.

USA vs. Canada – February 21st

The game against Canada is going to be the biggest test for Team USA. They finished in a disappointing eighth place in 2006 and will be looking to climb back to the top of the standings. The game they play against Canada will be the perfect opportunity to see how much better this team has gotten. We will be able to find out if they can, once again, compete with the best.

See My Olympic Medal Predictions

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With all of the hype surrounding the opening ceremony and the many different competitions that are going to be in the Olympics, many people are making predictions on who they think will win. I’ve decided that it’s time to throw my own predictions into the mix regarding the men’s hockey tournament.

GOLD MEDAL: Team Canada

Right now,there are two teams that are being seriously looked at as gold medal contenders, one is Team Canada, and the other is Team Russia. Both have loaded their roster with a ton of talent. A match between these two teams would be a toss up.

In 2006, Team Canada had it’s most embarrassing showing in history. They finished seventh in the world despite having some of the world’s best players on their team. The 2006 team suffered from a lack of chemistry and wasn’t able to produce the amount that they should have.

This is a mistake that they made sure to avoid when they picked the 2010 team. Steve Yzerman has said that he is not looking for the players with the best stats, he’s looking for players that will work well together. In fact, some of the players that were on the team in 2006 are not on the team in 2010. Most notably, Marty St. Louis and Shane Doan both missed the cut.

Although they have made changes offensively, their goaltending isn’t going to change at all. They will be able to throw Martin Brodeur or Roberto Luongo in goal. Both would be able to handle the Olympic level of play.

With that said, these Olympics are going to be about redemption for the Canadians. They will be looking to prove that 2006 was a fluke, and when better to do that than in front of their own crowd? The determination that this team is unmatched by any team in the NHL.

SILVER MEDAL: Team Russia

The Russians have not won a gold medal since they were known as the Unified Team in 1992. That ended decades of domination. This year, they will be looking to reestablish their previous glory by taking the gold medal. Russia has established an intimidating roster that no team wants to face.

They’ve done that by getting some of the NHL’s elite talent to lead the team into Vancouver. Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, and most importantly, goalie Evengini Nabokov will all be crucial players for Russia. Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, and Datsyuk have the ability to overwhelm any offense they face and Nabokov has the ability to play well against any team.

However, the Russians have not made chemistry the focus. Instead, they took the players with the best stats. They also have KHL talent at the bottom lines, which doesn’t match the NHL talent that the Canadians will be putting on their lower lines.

Russia is going to be forced into relying on its top line to score most of its goals. That shouldn’t be a big problem until they play Canada. The Canadians are the only team that have the talent on the first line that matches the Russians, and the defenders will be less likely to fall for the moves that the Russian forwards will try to pull. This is going to make it very difficult for the Russians to score the necessary goals.

If the Russians want to win, they have to figure out a way to beat the Canadians on the first line and contend with them on the bottom lines. If they can’t do that, then they have no chance.

BRONZE MEDAL: Team Sweden

Team Sweden is the defending gold medalist and has a lot of players returning from 2006. There really haven’t been a lot of changes to this team. They are looking to get a similar result with a similar lineup. Unfortunately for Sweden, they didn’t have to face the quality of talent that Russia or Canada is going to be throwing at them in the last Olympics.

This is going to be the first time that they face the skill that Russia will be throwing at them as well as the chemistry that Canada have. These differences are going to make it a lot more difficult for the Swedes to win the gold.

With that said, they also have a lot of talent on their team. It’s never a bad thing when you pull the majority of your talent from the Western Conference Champions and then add the Sedin twins and a solid goalie. To me, they’re much better than Finland or the United States. However, I don’t think that they will match the Canadians or the Russians.

They also don’t look as good defensively. On defense, they have a lot of players that play really well for their NHL teams. However, they don’t have a lot of players that will be able to consistently handle the talent that Russia and Canada will throw at them. Eventually, that will be the undoing for the team.

And Team USA Finishes In….

One of the things that I get asked a lot is where Team USA will finish up. In 2006, they finished in a distant eighth place and this year is only going to be a little better. I’m predicting that they finish in fifth place behind Finland.

The reason is simple. Back in 2002, Team USA won the silver medal with a bunch of veterans on their team. However, they did not do a good job developing young talent to replace the veterans when they left. The US really suffered from that back in 2006, but they are not out of the water yet.

Their defense won’t be able to handle the scoring threats Russia or Canada will throw at them, and their offense isn’t going to be strong enough to penetrate the defense. With that said, Team USA does have a bright future. Their junior team actually defeated the Canadians to win the Junior tournament. Although this year doesn’t look good, Team USA’s future looks bright.

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I don’t make many posts about international hockey, and I’ll admit, I know a lot more about the NHL. I did a little research on it back in September, when I considered to make it a part of my blog. I decided that it was too difficult to write international posts, and NHL posts, so I chose NHL.

However, I may have to change that habit a little bit for the Olympics next month, especially during the two week Olympic break.

I’m sure by now you have heard about Junior Team USA’s victory in the World Junior Classic over Canada. They won 6-5 in overtime. Also, that was one of the best international games I’ve seen in a while. I’m sure that you, like me, enjoy watching high scoring games. I may talk about defense being the key to winning, but there’s nothing more enjoyable to a fan than a bunch of goals.

Here are the extended highlights of the game. Check them out if you have the time.

Before the game, the United States was considered the underdog, however, that wasn’t an underdog effort. They never had to be up against the ropes the way that Canada did. They pretty much dominated that game offensively until the last two minutes.

They also did a great job keeping the crowd quiet until the last two minutes. It’s very difficult to silence an entire Canadian crowd the way that this team did.

I have to admit, I was a little shocked when I saw that the United States had won. I didn’t watch the game, I don’t pay much attention to the juniors. I knew that the Olympic Team USA needed younger players, but I didn’t think that they were playing now.

The current Team USA that’s playing in the Olympics in Vancouver is not a solid international hockey squad when you compare it to the other teams. They don’t have the kind of talent that Russia has put in its roster, or the Canadians have on theirs. They did a terrible job of finding young players a couple years ago that could fill in for the retiring players.

That’s something that we’re paying for now. We have been forced into a youth movement, and from what I’ve read, we will have a slim chance of medaling in the Olympics. The Team USA front office is more concerned about the 2014 Olympics than they are the 2010.

One thing’s certain. If these kids that played juniors are playing in the 2014 Olympics, the United States is going to have a strong team. There are some very strong prospects that will be seeing plenty of ice time in the NHL.

I don’t know enough about international hockey to make any predictions, however, I did see somewhere (sorry, can’t remember where) that Team USA was predicted to come in sixth in Vancouver. I remember Russia being favored to win the gold, Canada the silver, and Sweden the bronze. But, that’s not something I know enough about to comment on. As always, feel free to leave comments of your own and enlighten all of us.

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