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Biggest threat to Canada In Olympics?

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Oh, about five or six other teams.

Geez. What a thread.

Win one Olympic championship in half a century and suddenly they are nearly unbeatable.

And I am Canadian and proud of it. But the team ain't head and shoulders above the opposition.
 
Well it may be true that it took 50 years for us to win an Olympic Gold medal but in how many of those years since 1952 were they their best on best teams? Just once in 1998. Then we won in 2002. Then won in '04. yeah we had a couple close games the semi final vs. the Czechs settled in OT and the Gold Medal game vs. Finland was 2-2 going into the third, but we stil win them. Four all-star defenseman were also missing in those two games for Canada too.

To me its still the Czechs who are the best tema behind Canada. They are so well balanced they never have a weakness. They play Canada well. But Canada on paper at least is still "head and shoulders" above everyone else.
 
Canada is clearly the best. This is obvious simply by looking at our roster or by looking at our results in best-on-best tournaments. That said, there are 6 other countries with enough talent to potentially upset Canada. As for which country is the greatest threat, I'm going to go with the crowd and say the Czechs. Every country but Canada and the Czech Republic have noticeable weaknesses - the Czechs just have slightly less depth than Canada.

I'm bored, so I'm going to make a chart. I'll take into account teams depth and assume all of their best players show up.

(Goaltending-Forwards-Defence-Chemistry/Coaching)
Finland A+ B- B+ A+
Sweden C B+ B+ B+
Slovakia C A C+ B
Czech A A A- B+
Russia A- A+ B+ C
USA B B B B+
Canada A+ A+ A+ A
 
luv_canadian_hockey said:
i totally agree... :handclap:
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Indeed, after reviewing the depth of talent from which the team can choose it's roster: Unbelievable! To think that a guy like St-Louis (Hart & Art Ross trophy winner in 2003-04) might not make the team...

There are no weak spots at any of the positions. Looking through the roster for the orientation camp (http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Sportak/2005/08/14/1172921-sun.html), I can't help but think 'if any NHL team could have only one player from each position, that team would be stacked!'

So the brain trust of Team Canada needs to make the chemistry work between the players (like the Salt Lake team).

... and this is where the team can win or lose - If they don't get it together as a team, it's any number of teams that can take the gold (Czech Republic, Finnland, Russia). Look at last year's silver medalists. Top players... But the chemistry wasn't the same.
 
Rogalo said:
Together with Greece. Those two always got along when it came to hockey :)
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Don't forget about Iceland, remember D2: The Mighty Ducks? If their national team is anything like those guys they can be a big threat. :D

Seriously though, I think the Czechs are the biggest threat to Canada right now, those two countries have dominated international tournaments for a while now. Other than them it's hard to say, I'd say that the Russians, Swedes, Finns and Americans are pretty evenly matched but shouldn't normally pose a big threat to Canada (but you never know, hockey is unpredictable and they're all good enough to beat them in single games).
 
the biggest threat to Canada is the fact that it's single game elimination. I'd pick Canada 9 times out of 10 over a 7 game series. When it comes down to one game, it's all up in the air.



Country wise, it's definitely the Czechs. We outplayed them in 98 and lost, and they outplayed us in 04 and lost, so now we're even.
 
i've changed my mind.........it's the new uniforms that will be our biggest challenge.No-one can win with them.
 
Injektilo said:
the biggest threat to Canada is the fact that it's single game elimination. I'd pick Canada 9 times out of 10 over a 7 game series. When it comes down to one game, it's all up in the air.



Country wise, it's definitely the Czechs. We outplayed them in 98 and lost, and they outplayed us in 04 and lost, so now we're even.
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At least someone gets it. Sometimes I get the impression people think the Olympic tournament is 82 games long. It isn't. It's spread over a short period of time where team chemistry is just as important as overall ability. Yes, Canada is the favorite, and my personal favorite to win, but that doesn't mean they will with 100% certainty. The Czechs will ice a very balanced team, the Russians COULD be very good, and even Big Phil's favorite the U.S. could pull off an upset with our 1981 era Canada Cup squad.
 
Rabid Ranger said:
At least someone gets it. Sometimes I get the impression people think the Olympic tournament is 82 games long. It isn't. It's spread over a short period of time where team chemistry is just as important as overall ability. Yes, Canada is the favorite, and my personal favorite to win, but that doesn't mean they will with 100% certainty. The Czechs will ice a very balanced team, the Russians COULD be very good, and even Big Phil's favorite the U.S. could pull off an upset with our 1981 era Canada Cup squad.
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lol So i see I've rubbed off on you when you say the USA will have a 1981 era team, that's funny. But seriously I know what you mean when you say any team can win. Its true. The Czechs nearly beat us in '04 and in '02 tied us 3-3. Anything can happen on the ice. Look at Sweden/Belarus.

But to me the USA is either going to be too old or too young and less talented, the Russians wont have the defence, the Swedes somehow will choke, the Finns wont be deep enough and Slovakia will just be Slovakia. But one team that is good in every position is the Czechs. They have no weaknesses, and although they dont posses GREAT players as much as Canada I'll admit I would be afraid of them more than anyone in the Gold Mdal game. If Jagr ever decides to play and Elias and Hejduk score while the well rounded defense shuts us down then it might be tough to score on Vokoun. The Czechs are today's version of the Russians. there is always a mystery about them/
 
Den said:
My question would be: Who is the biggets threat to Russia in the Olympics?
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Their own players not showing up because they hate the RHF, and because they could get their medals stolen? :dunno:
 
therealdeal said:
Their own players not showing up because they hate the RHF, and because they could get their medals stolen? :dunno:
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See, this is a normal response to the stupid question I asked. And why aren't we getting the same healthy treatment to the one in the header of the thread? The subject is laughable.
 
Den said:
See, this is a normal response to the stupid question I asked. And why aren't we getting the same healthy treatment to the one in the header of the thread? The subject is laughable.
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Why is the subject laughable? As defending champions, they're the team to beat, no?
 
NyQuil said:
Why is the subject laughable? As defending champions, they're the team to beat, no?
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That's a cliche, of course Canada is strong, but 5-6 teams have the potential of stopping it somewhere in the play-off round and that's where the discussion should stop. You can start a thread "rank the teams' lines" but that's a different story.
 
Den said:
See, this is a normal response to the stupid question I asked. And why aren't we getting the same healthy treatment to the one in the header of the thread? The subject is laughable.
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I was being honest, that is the biggest threat for Russia, if everyone shows up the sky is the limit, but nobody seems to like the russian hockey federation.
 
therealdeal said:
I was being honest, that is the biggest threat for Russia, if everyone shows up the sky is the limit, but nobody seems to like the russian hockey federation.
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I have a strong feeling that it won't be like that this time. Actually you know whats going to happen? The other way around... Zherdev will have an incredible season but the federation will decide not to invite him. Like this year for the world championship. He had a great season but somehow he was just left off.
 
TORRUS said:
Like this year for the world championship. He had a great season but somehow he was just left off.
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If 0 goals and 21 assists in 51 games counts for a great season then I am Bill Gates
 
What everyone forgets about the '02 Olympics is that Canada played like crap up until the medal round where they got a dream set of matchups in Finland and Belarus and finally brought out their best game for the gold medal game and the U.S. (who were the best team in the Olympics up to that point) didn't. If Sweden gets past Belarus or Russia beats Finland for the #2 spot in their bracket, I don't think Canada is even playing in the gold medal game.

That said, this year's Canadien team looks to be a lot stronger in my eyes than the '02 squad, and none of the other teams (except for Finland) look quite as good to me. Finland really impressed me in the World Cup. They iced a team (not a collection of superstars) and played like a unit. If Kipper can hold up, I don't see why they can't do it again. Outside of cheering for the U.S., I'll be rooting on Suomi.
 
Den said:
If 0 goals and 21 assists in 51 games counts for a great season then I am Bill Gates
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http://www.eurohockey.net/players/show_player.cgi?serial=36323

I remember, yesterday or the day before you said to somebody something about doing the homework before being very ignorant and posting stupid things...

Please read your post once again and hopefully you will see how :biglaugh: it is! 0 goals and 21 assists???

Do your homework... ;)
 
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