Olympic Hockey Preview

02-04-2010, 06:53 PM

Vancouver highlight comes on the ice

The Winter Olympics faces off in Vancouver on February 12 and most of Canada’s eyes will be on the ice hockey arenas where the home Canucks (no not just the Vancouver team) will attempt to defend the gold medal they won four years ago in Turin.

But this Olympic Hockey tournament will not be an easy one for Canada as there will be at least four and possibly as many as six teams in the 12 that line up who have a decent chance at a medal and at least four who could step on to the top step of the podium.

Both Canada and the US have opted for far younger line-ups than in past events, with Canada especially going for far less grizzled veterans, especially up front where only Jarome Iginla represents the over-30s.

But there is not a lot to complain about if you are a backer of the Canadian team – who would possibly moan at the chance to see Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, Iginla, Joe Thornton, Rick Nash and Jonathan Toews on the same team.

Hockey tips suggest that goaltending should not be a problem with Martin Brodeur, home hero Roberto Luongo and Marc-Andre Fleury all more than reliable, but if recent World Championships are anything to go by, this will not be a chip shot for them.

The main reason for that is the strength of the Russian line-up, relatively unchanged from the team that won the 2009 World Championship in Switzerland, beating Canada 2-1 in the final.

The rise of the Russian player in the NHL has been ever noticeable in recent years, with Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Semin all in the top 10 offensive threats and Ilya Kovalchuk not far behind.

Add in San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov, blueliners Andrei Markov and Sergei Gonchar and plenty of quality coming over from the KHL, Russia’s excellent NHL equivalent league, and they are going to be a real challenge for Canada to overcome.

Russia should win Group B, ahead of the Czech Republic, but Canada have the tough test of beating the US in Group A even though the Americans are going through something of a rebuilding phase.

They are putting out a very young team with little Olympic experience, but in Zach Parise, Patrick Kane and Paul Stastny they have three potential game-winners, and in Ryan Miller they have one of the best goaltenders in the whole tournament.

Group C should be a match between Sweden and Finland but it should be the Swedes filling out the fourth semi-final berth if the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik, are able to live with the pressure of playing in front of their home fans in Vancouver, but not for the Canucks!!

**Johnny Probst** · 02-10-2010, 10:34 AM

I see it as a two-horse race between Canada and Russia this year. Sweden and the U.S. are reloading as many of their stars got old and their young guns aren't all in their prime yet. Sweden and the U.S. will be forces in 2014.