The opening of the men's hockey is just minutes away with Team USA getting ready to take on Switzerland.
Many of the analysts, including ESPN's Barry Melrose, are calling this a good warm-up game for Team USA.
I guess we'll see about that.
The key to success for the U.S. is goalie Ryan Miller. Miller has a 93 percent save percentage which is good for 2nd in the NHL. If he can relay that success to the Olympics then the U.S. has a legitimate shot at a medal.
Another thing that plays in the favor of the U.S. is that they will be playing on an NHL-size rink, which is narrower than the European rinks. It means the play will be much more physical, but it should favor the North American teams more so than the European teams.
However, outside of a few players, the U.S. lacks star power on their team. All of stars that we have come to know in the NHL play for other countries. The best scoring threat we have is Patrick Kane of the Blackhawks. He has 28 goals this season and a plus/minus ratio of plus-18.
For all you casual hockey fans, that means when he's on the ice his team is outscoring the opposition by 18 goals. Pretty good odds if you ask me.
The biggest threat that Switzerland will throw at us will be goalie Jonas Hiller. He has a ton of talent and we'll see if that results in success for Switzerland.
The Predators have several players competing in the Olympics, but only one for the U.S. That player is Ryan Suter, who will be out there more for his defense than scoring goals.
By far the favorite to win the Olympics is Canada, who has some guy named Sidney Crosby suiting up for them. Hopefully you caught the sarcasm on that. But they have a ton of pressure on them playing in front of their home country.
Don't leave Russia out of the equation. They've got Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Ilya Kovalchuk. Expect a lot goals to be scored by this team.
The U.S. was unfortunate enough to be in the same group as Canada, along with Switzerland and Norway. A second-place finish in this group wouldn't be a disappointment at all.
Most likely a bronze medal is the most the U.S. can hope for, but we Americans love our underdog stories. Anything can happen in sports and that's why we watch and cheer for our teams.
USA! USA! USA!
Preds in the Olympics
- Martin Erat (Czech Republic)
- Ryan Suter (USA)
- Shea Weber (Canada)
- Patric Hornqvist (Sweden)
- Marcel Goc (Germany)
- Alexander Sulzer (Germany)
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