Olympic Power Rankings

[Pantokrator]

My picks:
1) Canada
2) Russia (underdogs beat a superior Czech team)
3) Czech
4) Sweden


5-7) Toss up between Slovakia, Finland, USA

 

[Captain_Cunney]

Here is a list of their forwards from 4 years ago...just to refresh your memory (with their replacement from this team):

Owen Nolan.....................................Heatley

Nolan, tough guy that can score or knock you into next week (sometimes even legally). Heatley, guy that can score.

Brendan Shanahan.............................Bertuzzi

Shanny throws brutal checks at key moments. Bertuzzi throws career-ending muggings that will get you banned from Olympic play. Other than that, he doesn't really check much for a big guy.

Steve Yzerman.................................Brad Richards

While he doesn't always dish it out, no one can take punishment like Yzerman. Brad Richards is OK, but he's a squeaky clean scorer with zero toughness.

Joe Nieuwendyk................................Lecavilier

Don't get me wrong, I love the guys on the right, but Nieuwendyk is way tougher than Lecavilier.

Michael Peca....................................Draper

I admit, Draper is the lone checker on the new team. But Peca was one of the all-time great pests.

Theoren Fleury..................................St.Louis

Fleury, tough little short guy that can score and be a constant pest. St. Louis, little short guy that can score and, uh, score again.

Eric Lindros.......................................Doan

Bobby Clarke's friend...Wayne Gretzky's friend. At any rate, Doan is not anywhere near as tough as a healthy Lindros was.

BTW, everybody I mentioned (except Lindros and maybe Fleury) is considered to be a great two-way player. Their replacements? Well, not so much.

Just another Canadian who assumes he knows more about hockey than the rest of the world... Kind of like reading the article comments on tsn.ca.

1) You don't have to "refresh my memory" as I was the one who orignially posted the players who were on the 2001 team and who has replaced them.

2)You should probably pick a stereotype to call me and stick to it...first I was an englishmen who didn't know anything about hockey and now I'm a Canadian who knows more about hockey than the rest of the world.

Now on to the actual hockey. You are greatly underestimating the toughness of Doan, Bertuzzi, Richards, and Lecavilier. Doan and Bertuzzi are both horses who play a physical game.

Lecavilier/Richards/St.Louis will not shy away from physical contact.....they came out on top during the most physical hockey in the world, ie...the nhl playoffs.

Heatley may not be as physical as Nolan but he has no problem playing a gritty game.

You also convienently left off the 2 of the other forward switches from that team to this:
Paul Kariya......................................Nash (we all know who the grittier player of those 2 is).
Mario.............................................Thorton
You could actually look at it like this if you want to skew the arguement in the other direction:
Nash is just as gritty as Nolan
Heatley/Thorton have more grit than Kariya/Lemieux.

Now, I'm not saying the team might not have quite as much grit as that team....but they aren't this soft bunch of allstars that you make them out to be - every one of them can play an in your face gritty game & they all can play a 2-way game.

 

[ryz]

Canada
Czech

Sweden
Russia

USA
Slovakia
Finland


The rest

 

[ryz]

blah, blah, blah, blah

Just WOW!

 

[Ovechkin_mvp]

Russia vs Canada in the finals

Mark my word

 

[Platapie]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Sweden does much better then has been expected. IMO their only real weakness in the past has been absolutely horrid goaltending and Lundqavist looks like the real deal. With that position shored up, I think they have a legit chance of beating any team.

My top 4

Canada/Russia/Sweden/Czechs (IMO it's pretty interchangeable, but that's just how I see it).

 

[Bloggins]

My top 4

Canada/Russia/Sweden/Czechs (IMO it's pretty interchangeable, but that's just how I see it).

Agreed, but I'd replace Sweden with Finland in that top 4.

 

[MeN_Ace2]

Finland will be sleeper for a medal. You have to love the role of an eternal underdog.

My top 4:

Canada
Russia
Czech
Finland

Great start today by the Lions.

 

[PRMan]

Ahem.

Scoreboard, Canucks.

BTW, way to get out-hit by Italy.