I was asked at work last Friday what my thoughts were on Olympic hockey by my boss. Looking at what I told her, it seemed like I might have made some good points. With that in mind, here is what I told my boss about medals in men’s hockey in Vancouver:
I have to go with Team Canada for the gold. Having Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith together on D is huge. Plus having Marty Brodeur, Roberto Luongo and Marc-Andre Fleury in goal is just amazing. Those three are all in the top 10 goalies in the NHL. Throw Toews and Sidney Crosby in on offense and I don’t know how the rest of the world will stand a chance.
That being said, I hope Team USA takes the silver at least. They look really good too: Patrick Kane is (obviously) great and the D-men are a pretty impressive bunch too. Goaltending is going to be a weak spot for Team USA though.
Team Russia is the favorite for gold according to the sports bookies. I have to think that if Team USA takes silver, Russia will get bronze without a doubt. They’re solid in goaltending and defense, but the real story is offense. Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins is great and Alex Ovechkin is explosive.
In a perfect world, I’d like to see
USA – gold, Canada – silver, and Russia – bronze.
I think it will probably look more like
Canada – gold, Russia – silver, and USA – bronze.