The Winter Olympic Games are just around the corner and the hype is about to begin. Without question, the biggest event of the games is the Men’s hockey tournament. This is the biggest stage for hockey’s elite to represent their country playing for the gold medal and national pride. Twelve teams will take part in this tournament, but realistically only 7 have a chance to win and even more realistically 3 teams are really in the driver’s seat. These teams include Canada, Russia and Sweden.
Canada is of course the biggest hockey country in the world and they will once again be submitting the deepest team when the rosters are due at the end of the December. In fact, if Canada were to make a “B” team they would even have a good shot at the gold. No other country can realistically say that.
Russia has the most talented forwards in the tournament. Just imagine a first two lines that include Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Datsyuk, Semin and Kovalev. They are some of the most skilled players in the game and they will score goals. If Russia’s depth players and defensemen play strong, Russia will have a very good chance of winning the gold at the 2010 Olympics.
Sweden will likely have the worst of the 3 teams on paper, but their past international success must be taken into account. Sweden won gold at the 2006 Olympic Games and they will be icing a similar team this time around. Lundqvist will need a good tourney in net and big stars such as Alfredsson, Backstrom, Lidstrom, Forsberg and the Sedin’s will need to bring their A games to give Sweden the best opportunity to win.
The other countries that may have an outside shot at taking down the tournament include the USA, Finland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Each of these teams will ice star studded NHL calibre players and any of these teams could easily win a one game series against any team in the world, including any of the big 3. The other 5 teams rounding out the 12 in the tournament include Norway, Switzerland, Latvia, Belarus and Germany. These teams shouldn’t be a factor in the tournament, but they will be looking to pull off some big upsets and make their mark on the international hockey scene.
All of the action kicks off on February 16th with the first game of the tourney between the USA and Switzerland. Then 12 days later on the 28th of February the tournament champion will be crowned.
The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver will be a ton of fun and some great hockey will surely be on display. I’m going to be putting my money on Sweden to take down the tournament because I feel they have a better chance than the Bookmaker.com odds are giving them. There will be plenty to bet on this Winter Olympics, so check out the sites below to find out more. Who do you think will take down international hockey’s greatest prize?
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