Predictions

I'm going out on a limb here, but here's how I think the Olympic hockey tournament is gonna shake out.

Gold:  The Russians will take home the gold, in the grudge match to end all grudge matches.  The saying in the NHL is "defense wins Cups," but I'm thinking offensive firepower will be the key in the Olympics.  The Russians have that in spades with Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk, and Kovalchuk.  They also have two outstanding goaltenders in Nabokov and Bryzgalov.  The Russians are coming off of two consecutive world championships and they are motivated.

Silver:  Canada.  Have you ever seen an entire nation go through the grieving process?  You're about to, and the anger phase will be ug-lee.  There will be goats aplenty but expect Mike Babcock to take most of the heat.  I'm suspicious of the Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley line, mainly because two-thirds of that particular line have a tendency to collapse under pressure.  I'm also thinking we might see another Brodeur meltdown.  Crosby will more than likely be spectacular yet again, but he has consistently come out on the short end of the stick when going head-to-head with Ovechkin.

Bronze:  Sweden, in a squeaker over Team USA.  I'm going with experience and depth over youthful exuberance here.  The Swedes took it all in 2006... and they just might do it again in Vancouver but I think not.  But the Sedin twins, Zetterberg, Franzen, and Lundqvist in goal will be more than enough for Bronze.  That and the fact Peter Forsberg has something to prove in what is likely to be his last hurrah.  The fly in the ointment could be USA goalie Ryan Miller, who has been hotter than hot of late. 

So there ya have it.  But any one of the three teams I've picked could win the gold, depending on how the puck bounces. That's the beautiful thing about hockey.  This tournament will be a joy to watch.

Oh yeah... the women?  Prolly Team USA but I don't have near enough knowledge or familiarity with the teams to make an intelligent (heh) prediction and the state of the games I've seen so far doesn't give much of a clue, either.  But if there's competition for the Americans and the Canadians it just might come from Finland... if they can get their physical tendencies in check (no pun...).  The Finnish ladies were impressive in their win over Russia yesterday, despite all the penalties they took.  We shall see.