Olympic Hockey

[OnAFly]

So here we are a day away from arguably the best hockey there is to watch. Or, at least, the best teams.

Everyone is saying it might come down to Canada and Russia. If it does, it will be a great game to watch.

With the USA team facing Switzerland then Norway, I think we'll come away with two wins. Then, we face Canada. I don't think we'll be winning that one.

[cbrooks]

Can't wait. I have no idea what to expect. Hopefully the US can go far.

[scsavre]

here you go

Gold - Canada

Silver - Russia

Bronze - Sweden

4th - Finland or USA.

Should be fun to watch on the smaller rink this year.

[Bear55]

I am thinking/hoping the US can pull off a surprise win or two in this tournament. They clearly don't have the star power or talent that Canada, Russia, Sweden have but if you look at our roster we are pretty solid group from top to bottom. In a single elimination tournament anything can happen. Its also nice to have Ryan Miller on our side.

[scsavre]

We could surprise em all. Miller can win this on his own. He is so stinking good right now.

Also,if Parise and Kane get hot, and i mean really hot. It could get interesting. I think we have a team that if we can get a lead. We can at least shut it down play some tight hockey and win some games.

I hope backes continues to fight the competition.

[OnAFly]

If we do get anywhere, Miller will have to be on fire through all of it. There is just so much talent, scoring wise, on Canada and Russia.

[cbrooks]

A hot goaltender can definately go along ways. I haven't payed close attention to the NHL this year. I hope you guys are right that Ryan Miller is hot right now. When do they play tomorrow?

[walleyes12]

I will take a shot

I am thinking upset

Gold - Finland

Silver - Canada

Bronze - Russia or USA

I am really thinking outside the box!

[OnAFly]

We play our first two at noon Vancouver time, so 2 our time. Not the best time to watch, but maybe they will replay them for the US market.

We play Canada on the 21st at 4:40 Vancouver time, so 6:40 our time. That will be a game to watch for sure.

I'll really go nuts with my prediction:

Gold - Russia

Silver - Canada

Bronze - Sweden

4th - Finland

I just want to see a Swede-Finn medal game! Probably the longest standing rivalry in hockey.

[Hester]

OnAFly, now that would be a game to watch.

Thats why the Wild stink, to many Fins and not enough Swedes

Hester

[scsavre]

Its gonna be Fun to see Forsberg skate. I guess he is doing pretty good. Maybe he will come back for a playoff push.

[Bear55]

US vs Switzerland

2:00pm on MSNBC according to the NHL HSOforum.

United States Probable lineup.

9 Zach Parise 26 Paul Stastny 88 Patrick Kane

12 Ryan Malone 16 Joe Pavelski 81 Phil Kessel

23 Dustin Brown 17 Ryan Kesler 15 Jamie Langenbrunner

54 Bobby Ryan 42 David Backes 24 Ryan Callahan

EXTRA FORWARD: 23 Chris Drury

20 Ryan Suter 28 Brian Rafalski

4 Tim Gleason 6 Erik Johnson

44 Brooks Orpik 3 Jack Johnson

19 Ryan Whitney

Starting Goalie

39 Ryan Miller

30 Tim Thomas

Scratches - 29 Jonathan Quick

[scsavre]

I heard USA network, either way its nice to have it on at decent times.

Thanks for the lineup.

Looks like a lot of role players. might bee good though. Too many stars is usually a disaster anyway.

I am looking on the brite side.

[OnAFly]

Here's the line ups for USA, Canada, and Russia. Bear already got the USA lines, but I'll re-post since this will be long.

United States

Zach Parise-Paul Stastny-Patrick Kane

Bobby Ryan-Chris Drury-David Backes

Dustin Brown-Ryan Kesler-Jamie Langenbrunner

Ryan Malone-Joe Pavelski-Phil Kessel/Ryan Callahan

D pairings

Ryan Suter- Brian Rafalski

Tim Gleason-Erik Johnson

Jack Johnson-Brooks Orpik

Ryan Miller in goal; Tim Thomas; Jonathan Quick

Canada

Rick Nash-Sidney Crosby-Patrice Bergeron

Patrick Marleau-Joe Thornton-Dany Heatley

Eric Staal-Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry

Mike Richards/Brenden Morrow-Jonathan Toews-Jarome Iginla

D pairings

Chris Pronger-Boyle

Duncan Keith-Brent Seabrook

Scott Niedermayer-Shea Weber

Drew Doughty

Roberto Luongo vs. Norway; Martin Brodeur vs. Switzerland; Marc-Andre Fleury

Russia

They'll go by five-man units

Alex Ovechkin-Pavel Datsyuk-Alexander Semin-Denis Grebeshkov-Konstantin Korneev

lya Kovalchuk-Evegni Malkin-Maxim Afinogenov-Fedor Tyutin-Sergei Gonchar

Sergei Fedorov-Viktor Kozlov-Alex Radulov-Dmitry Kalinin-Anton Volchenkov

Danis Zaripov-Segey Zinovyev-Alexey Morozov-Andrei Markov-Ilya Nikulin

Evgeni Nabokov, Ilya Bryzgalov, Semen Varlamov in goal

Holy carp, When Iginla is on your fourth line, you know your team is stacked.

Those top two Russian lines looks scary too.

6:30 tonight, Canada vs. Norway

[PierBridge]

live Internet streaming available here.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/live-full-replays.html

[Bear55]

My bad, the game is on USA. I was kind of going off memory, I think the USA/Canada game is on MSNBC. Looks like my source for the lineup was off too, maybe I should predict a Swiss win.

[Bear55]

After a slow star the US is up 3-0 in the 2nd. Goals by Ryan, Backes, and Malone.

[OnAFly]

3-1 Final Score, USA wins by smaller amount that I thought they would.

Enough time now to go hit the rinks for an hour and head home to watch the Canada game

[Bear55]

Sounded like they didn't play too well but you have to give some credit to the Swiss, they have put out some solid teams lately. I think I heard the US only had one practice together, hopefully they can get things together before the Canada game.

[OnAFly]

Yeah, I guess with Jonas Hiller, they have to be taken seriously.

I heard that too, one practice before a game. That's got to be tough.

[Bryce]

Interesting take on kare11 showing Shattuck's representation in the games. Pretty impressive for a "high school" program.

[scsavre]

A US win is good enough for me. They will hopefully get better every game. I think they had a lot of nerves as well. They need to not look past Norway and work on improving.

Good goaltending though. We will need that to place.

[Jarrod32]

I just want to see a Swede-Finn medal game! Probably the longest standing rivalry in hockey.

The gold medal game from '06. Sweden beat a previously undefeated Finn team for the gold.

[Bear55]

Interesting take on kare11 showing Shattuck's representation in the games. Pretty impressive for a "high school" program.

Ya they kind of have a hockey factory going on down there. Its actually pretty impressive that some of the high school teams can skate with them considering they have more in common with a D1 college program than a private school.

[10,000 Casts]

Did anyone watch the Canada game last night???

I turned it on and one of the first things that I saw... on the breakout, I was thinking, man that looks familar... that guy is sooo slooowwww and smooooth, is that... and well what do you know, it's Bergeron... How in the ---- did that guy make that Canadian team? I still have nighmares of the wild being down a goal with a minute left last year and him controling the puck...