Olympic Hockey Prediction 2014

Tomorrow starts the Olympic hockey tournament and since the NHL callously interrupted a great season to plays this games I better make some predictions before Bob Costas eyes heals.  He’ll switch the coverage over to either a Dancing with the Stars competition on skates or a sport rich white parents invented so their kids weren’t just stoners who didn’t play real sports.

12 National hockey teams are competing in the tournament. Only 4 have a chance at winning gold, silver or bronze. Those 4 are the USA, Canada, Russia and Sweden. 

Some countries could steal a game but I don’t see them winning 2 games in the Medal round against the Big 4.

Slovakia has hockey’s One Man Gang Zdeno Chara but is missing game breaker Marian Gaborik who might have caught fire for a game or two.

Slovenia has LA Kings Anze Kopitar and he’ll be excited if a teammate scores.

Finland STILL has Teemu Selanne, I think he was in Lake Placid.

Norway has Mats Zuccarello … exactly.

The Czech Republic has the living legend Jaromir Jagr but he won the gold in 1998.

That leaves us with the Big 4.

I predict Sweden will not win a medal. They have been the trendy pick this year but I’m not buying it. They are playing without Nicholas Lidstrom the greatest defensemen since Bobby Orr, who retired. Henrik one half of the Sedin twins is injured and goalie extradinaire Henrik Lunquist is showing sign of wear and tear. I like their defensemen but their forwards are to quote the great Mike Therrien , “SOFFFT”.

I pick the USA for bronze. Their forwards are a great combination of speed, grit and scoring touch and they will love playing Dan Blysma’s uptempo system but I think their defensemen are weak at the bottom and great hockey teams expose 5^th and 6^th defensemen. I’ve watched Brooks Orpik all year, he’s become a liability. The US also has shaky goaltending. Last August I would have given the US an advantage in net but Jonathan Quick has been hurt and off his game and Ryan Miller , while on a horrible  Buffalo team has been smoked a few times, too many for my liking. Key stat- US has only won Olympic Gold on US soil.

I’ll give Canada the silver. They always have the best team on paper and have the 3 of the 4 best centers in the world on their team ( Crosby, Toews, Getzslaf) but their defense is a tad slow for the big ice and their goaltending is shakier than the Us’s.  Roberto Luongo was the goat 4 years ago until Sid saved him with the Golden Goal. Key Stat- Canada has never won Olympic Gold on Olympic sized ice, only NHL sized ice.

I think Russia will win the Gold. The Russian are putting all their eggs in one basket, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechin playing on the same line. Malkin is playing at the top of his game right now and when he does no one can stop him .Ovechin is also at the top of his game right now. This pair will be lethal. The Russian defensemen are all NHL caliber The KHLers on Russia’s team will be playing with a ton of pride in their league and homeland and will take advantage of their home ice. I think Russia’s biggest advantage is between the pipes. I have seen Columbus’ Sergei Bobrovasky and Colorado’s Seymon Varlamov  stone top NHL offensive teams with average at best defenses in front of them.

So Geno and Ovi do some Stoli shots with Putin and your gold medals and then come back to North America. We have a Stanley Cup to play for.