The Olympic Gold Medal Team

[illone84]

Top 7

Canada
Czechs
Finland
Russia
Sweden
USA
Slovakia

 

[octopi]

Well i voted for Russia. This is def the best team since the Fall of the USSR. Honestly the only team that im worried about is The Czechs and Sweden.

Up front, the Russian team is incredible.

Goaltending may or may not be a problem ...depending if Kabibulin and Nabokov are playing up to standard

Defense....ummmm, Achilles heel right here....

 

[Leon]

i hope that Slovakia will win any medail, we have a good roster this
year...

edit: USA and Finland better placed then SVK ? hmm, i don't think so... And my tip for the gold is Russia.

 

[illone84]

i hope that Slovakia will win any medail, we have a good roster this
year...

edit: USA and Finland better placed then SVK ? hmm, i don't think so... And my tip for the gold is Russia.

Canada gold,

Finland and USA definetely better placed then SVK.

 

[Joe MacMillan]

Canada gold,

Finland and USA definetely better placed then SVK.

Don't be so sure, they have a pretty good team this year.

 

[HockeyCritter]

I’ll take the field against Canada.

 

[KariyaIsGod*]

i hope that Slovakia will win any medail, we have a good roster this
year...

edit: USA and Finland better placed then SVK ? hmm, i don't think so... And my tip for the gold is Russia.

Slovakia is better than the USA this year.

USA has the worst team out of the big 6.

 

[Leon]

Canada gold,

Finland and USA definetely better placed then SVK.

i mean this year dude

 

[The_Eck]

The finns always play Canada tough. Sweden is definitely not going to win the gold, they are the biggest chokers in international hockey. I may get flamed for saying this because i am canadian, but i having a feeling the russians will win the gold with all their incredible fire power.

 

[leafnation67]

don't ever underestimate a team with Kiprusoff in net.

If Khabibulin is on Russia, they're dangerous. .

neither are participating in the olympics

kipper has chose to use the olympic break to rest his injury, and khabibulin is out until late febuary with a left knee injury

 

[Czech Your Math]

Czechs, Canada, and Sweden should medal.

I voted for the Czechs. Since Khabibulin and Kiprusoff will not be playing, I would rank the teams as follows:

1. Czech- At their best, no two current players can exert more pressure on the opposing team and change the course of a game more than Hasek and Jagr. They can foil the most brilliant strategy. Although depth may be an issue on paper, they are rarely thrown off their game and usually get stronger as the tournament progresses.

2. Canada- The deepest team on paper, and a deserved favorite in the eyes of most. If there is a weakness, it may be age and speed on defense.

3. Sweden- Lundquist should be a big help in goal, and may be a partial answer to their disappointing play in recent tournaments. Depth could become an issue, especially since some of their best forwards have had injuries this season.

4. Russia- As usual, Russia boasts firepower at forward, but without Khabibulin, nor a great defense, they will need to think defense first. They have the speed and skill to do that and still create a lot of offensive chances. Could be in the gold medal game or out in the quarters.

5. Finland- Loss of Kiprusoff hurts their chances, but still a tenacious, skilled team with experience playing together in international competition.

6. Slovakia- Plenty of skill players, but will need substantial improvement in goal. Not sure why many consider them better than Finland.

7. USA- DiPietro will have to be great for any hope of a medal. Seems more like an NHL team (older, bigger, slower) than one built for the big ice.

 

[illone84]

2006

i mean this year dude

we will see about that dude

 

[espo*]

I voted for Sweden because I myself blame those two big failures (02, 04) on one big ******* called Hardy Nilson, the guy must have been as fun to play under as Saddam would have been if he was a hockeycoach. Man do I hate what he did to swedish icehockey, his idea's about torpedohockey was interesting, looked good but the guy, I mean, god I cant even express myself in words thinking about him, freaking a-hole.

With Sweden going over to classical swedish icehockey I think we stand a chance to beat all the teams but Canada, Russia and Czech have some amazing teams and will be really hard to beat.

LOL,Hardy's not too popular over there i think.

 

[SwisshockeyAcademy]

Kazakhstan got two votes oddly one more than Germany. I guess voting for them is kind of like a vote for the green party in canada.

 

[daikan]

I'm serious when i say that if Chara plays 35-40 mins (and holds up), and the goalie can keep it to 4 goals or less per game, Slovakia makes the medal round.

That being said, I see Sweden as the team to beat (now that they seemingly have goaltending)

Gold - Sweden
Silver - Canada
Bronze - Slovakia/Czech Rep. (will be best game of the tourney)
5th - Russia
6th - Finland
7th - USA

No way he will play that much without the commercial (?) breaks every period that NHL has.

 

[ChuckNorris]

my prediction....

Final: Sweden - Russia
Bronze game: Canada - Slovakia

just a thought, Russia will lose the final, 2-3 or something... we have the best roster, but the worst coach, thats really annoying.. to all Canada fans, you have no chance to win this Olympics.. maybe only women's....

 

[ChuckNorris]

and Czechs will choke, you overrate them. they'll finish 3rd in group, loose to Slovakia in 1/4 and go home... Slovakia will kick Canada's a$$

 

[SwisshockeyAcademy]

my prediction....

Final: Sweden - Russia
Bronze game: Canada - Slovakia

just a thought, Russia will lose the final, 2-3 or something... we have the best roster, but the worst coach, thats really annoying.. to all Canada fans, you have no chance to win this Olympics.. maybe only women's....

Tell it like it is Chuck. The wisdom and the vision.

 

[jcpenny]

and Czechs will choke, you overrate them. they'll finish 3rd in group, loose to Slovakia in 1/4 and go home... Slovakia will kick Canada's a$$

Czechs have the most complete team after Canada, add Elias and i say they have the best team.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

dipietro is a great goalie now, and he is developing a knack for stealing games. I expect the US to be a top team, as they will have ALOT of speed.

 

[AvsGuy]

dipietro is a great goalie now, and he is developing a knack for stealing games. I expect the US to be a top team, as they will have ALOT of speed.

I'm quite sure EVERY other team in the tournament could come up with speedier defensemen than Chris Chelios and Derian Hatcher. quote me on it, the US doesn't have even CLOSE to what it takes to be a top team this year.

 

[Jet]

I think it's awesome to have so much faith in your Country's team, no matter who it is. It will be a very exciting and entertaining tourney, with a lot of skilled, exciting clubs.

Having said that, there is not doubt that Canada repeats as Gold Medallists. We are so deep that if we were allowed to ice 2 teams, we would win Gold AND Silver.

Good luck to all the countries that will be fighting for Silver and Bronze in Turin!

 

[glue]

I think it's awesome to have so much faith in your Country's team, no matter who it is. It will be a very exciting and entertaining tourney, with a lot of skilled, exciting clubs.

Having said that, there is not doubt that Canada repeats as Gold Medallists. We are so deep that if we were allowed to ice 2 teams, we would win Gold AND Silver.

Good luck to all the countries that will be fighting for Silver and Bronze in Turin!

I wish I was as confident as you dude..love our chances this year..no doubt about that..BUT...the Czech's have a very good track record against us..and when I compare the lineup of these 2 teams from World Cup 2004..the lineups aren't very different..and yes we did beat them..but barely...
Brodeur has to be better than Hasek..

Go Canada Go!

 

[glue]

I think it's awesome to have so much faith in your Country's team, no matter who it is. It will be a very exciting and entertaining tourney, with a lot of skilled, exciting clubs.

Having said that, there is not doubt that Canada repeats as Gold Medallists. We are so deep that if we were allowed to ice 2 teams, we would win Gold AND Silver.

Good luck to all the countries that will be fighting for Silver and Bronze in Turin!

I wish I was as confident as you dude..love our chances this year..no doubt about that..BUT...the Czech's have a very good track record against us..and when I compare the lineup of these 2 teams from World Cup 2004..the lineups aren't very different..and yes we did beat them..but barely...
Brodeur has to be better than Hasek..Like he was tonight in Jersey..

Go Canada Go!