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Like drawing Norway, Austria and an absolutely depleted Finland in group play?

How can you say that ? Canada's defense has shut everything down except for two deflections. They haven't played USA so there is no telling that adding Kessel and Kane to Finland would have made any difference, those two can be shut down by an elite defense.

Here's two things, 1) That interference on Crosby was an interference, and that's coming from an American; 2) What makes Team USA exciting is Team USA...this year, how we're playing. I don't blame Canadian fans for drawing on their rich history, why wouldn't you? But, objectively looking at both teams, ours has played better. That's why we're excited. It always rings a bit untrue when I hear "we'll win because we've always been good" vs. "We'll win because we're playing good right now". It's just a different perspective, and I'm not foolish enough to think that most Americans wouldn't be acting the exact same way if we had the history Canada has. We don't, which is why we rely on how our team is currently playing...and currently we've playing VERY well against better teams than Canada has played.

Teemu is that you? Even if Crosby went down easily on that play today it was as blatant interference as they come. You can't throw a body check on a guy when he's nowhere near the puck. Besides, if you actually look at the stats I wouldn't say Canada has had any help from the referee's, they've spent by far the least time with the man advantage of all the contenders, almost half as much time as the next closest to them. Penalty Minutes Against Finland 12 Canada 16 Russia 20 USA 20 Sweden 26 Penalty Minutes For Sweden 30 Russia 28 USA 18 Finland 18 Canada 10

It's trendy to hate on Franzen. All the cool kids are doing it.

Babs needs to be photoshopped into various scenes of destruction and mayhem like happy strolling Leo DiCaprio. MABUS!

Our confidence in team Canada has nothing to do with our "rich history" and some belief of "we'll win because we've always been good". Don't know where you've heard that. We're confident because, on paper, we have by far the best overall team. Hands down. No question. How that translates to on-ice success is another story.

Alfredsson is far from useless. Anytime you can add a player who will help your team, even if it's only going to be for a year or two, you do it. His signing, and the Weiss contract, aren't the problem. Weiss's season long groin issues make Weiss a problem, but that's not something you know will happen, and any player might get hurt. The real problem was that Holland made a bad assumption that he'd be able to trade someone when he signed Cleary. That led to no roster space or cap room for Nyquist. I said at the time that I didn't mind CLeary coming back, but the deal shouldn't have been finalized until someone was traded.

I don't think Canada has looked anywhere near as bad as some of you make it seem, or that the US has looked much better. Defensively Canada is playing FAR better than I've ever seen them on the big ice, they're getting tremendous amounts of offence from their defence as well and their goalies have both been steady. The US have been very similar, Quick has been great and their defence has been solid although I don't think they're as good at contributing offensively, that's easily been made up for by the strong play of their forwards though, especially Kessel. Canada's forward group should have scored a few more goals but they've faced some better goaltending, which can, and probably will happen to everyone at some point. I'd rather deal with it in the round robin than I would in the medal round. (although I think Canada is in for another tough game if Switzerland gets by Latvia) When it comes to comparing their pools I don't think the gap is that big either. The American's pool had a better bottom 2 teams, and they looked a lot better vs their minnows than Canada did vs theirs. On the other hand I personally think Finland is a better team than Russia and that Canada looked better vs Finland than the US did vs Russia. I thought Russia outplayed the Americans for the majority of that game, but Quick played great and T.J. Oshie was the definition of clutch in the shootout. Canada controlled the flow of play for the whole game vs Finland but Rask was outstanding and we don't have a forward on a hot streak like Kessel's. I won't be the least bit shocked if the US goes on to win gold, or if they go through Canada to get it, but the gap between all the top teams is so small that in a single elimination format its anyone's gold medal.

This is all pretty much spot on, except Slovenia and Slovakia. I think you meant Czech Republic and Slovakia?

The way things are going for us, after the Olympic break 'the first line'?

There's a lot of room for activities with all that cap space. The day that Z gets bought out is the day I ride to Holland's house on my Back to the Future hoverboard and punch his wife in the face on the way to cash my lottery check while holding my Oscar and s***ting gold doubloons out of my ass. Come to think of it I'm really rich in this alternate reality *thumbs up* What were we talking about?

I think he is saying that because those "other" teams rankings are such because of the "other" teams they played allowed them to have higher rankings. Those are actually "seeds" not rankings anyway. Lets break it down this way instead of using watered down seeding: Canada played Norway (3-1 win) Austria (6-0 win) and Finland (2-1 OT win.) Looking at those 3 team the only challenge should have been Finland, if you consider the amount of NHL talent on each of those team. As we can see, they almost lost to Finland and the only "non-challenge" was Austria. USA played Slovakia (7-1 win) Russia (3-2 win SO) and Slovenia (5-1 win.) Looking at those 3 teams, the only Non-Challenge should have been Slovenia (NHL talent-wise) yet they rolled through Slovakia pretty good, almost lost to a great Russian team and rolled through a Slovenian team that played out of their element considering the lack NHL talent on it. They upset the Slovakians who were well represented by the NHL. That all being said, USA had the tougher division NHL-talent-wise and outside of Russia (who should have given them fits anyway) pretty much rolled through the NHL talent. Canada had the easiest division of any of the top 4 teams (RUS, USA, SWE, CAN) and only rolled through 1 non-NHL talent team. They held their breaths against Norway and struggled mightily against Finland. Canada's defense scares me, but other than that, they don't pose a threat to the USA. Not that they have a team of non-talented players, on the contrary, but it's like the are having issues gelling at the moment. If they can get that problem taken care of, then they will be scary. Goalies are no contest, USA has, above and beyond, the better goalies. (as long as they don't have to play Howard.) So, to sum up the "rankings are crap" statement, considering the amount of non-nhl talent in Canada's division, they should have been 3-0 and outscored the other by 4 and 5 goals. USA had the hardest division and other than Russia (who we all expected to be a great team) pretty much had no problem winning and by large margins. Also, since there are only 12 teams in the tourney, I would say that could be another reason why he said those rankings are crap. I'd like to know which #2 ranked team Canada played though? Finland? No way were the ranked #2 out of the 12 teams...I give Finland a #5 and the other two #11 and #12. I give Russia at least #3 (at the start of the Tourney) and Slovakia is top 10 with Slovenia between #9/#10. Top four teams are by far: USA, CAN, RUS, SWE followed by FIN, SLV, CZE, SUI rounded out with SLO, NOR, LAT, AUS...SUI is actually has played better than a #7/#8 team and could cause some problems if they advance to play Canada on Wed. Hiller has a 0.00 GAA right now. They only allowed 1 goal by the top ranked Swede's. Their problem is scoring though. So Canada has played a #5, #11 and #12 ranked team, while USA has played a #3, #6 and #9...

The slight turn to put your seatbelt on. That's my latest. Proves s*** happens even when you're careful. Best of luck dude. May you be pain free as long as possible.

NHL players are not being paid any extra for the Olympic break so your statement there is just false. They are making the exact same money regardless of it being an Olympic year. The owners can bugger off about the Olympics. They were more than willing to completely cancel a season and a half worth of revenue in the past 10 years yet would complain about a two week break every four years?

I wouldn't count on playing teams who's best defenseman is Sami Salo in the Medal rounds either, so maybe you should worry about your own team. They can't seem to skate, score, or play up to their potential and you're talking smack about Team USA? Haha, good try. Also, have fun against Russia. You'll see how little they play defense in a few days. By that time most of Team Canada should juuuuuuust about be catching their breath. It might not be today, or tomorrow, or this week, but sooner or later you're going to realize that this ain't Vancouver, and the big ice is doing your boys no favors.

So when is Canada's first "real" game? esteef

I voted Canada Russia because of the history, but I think USA vs Canada has been the more prominent rivalry since the NHL started taking part in the games.

Or we could just play Brendan on the wing and refer to him as "Reilly." BABCOCK: Hey, that puck's gotta go deep, Reilly! B. SMITH: I'm not my brother! BABCOCK: I've noticed!

Because Canada and Sweden want to win in Sochi?

I'd rather see Patrick Kane: New face of my paintball target

Not a draft thing, a undrafted college FA thing. remember this name: Trevor van Reimsdyk-james' younger brother. 6-2/185 RHed shot, very good Dman from UNH.

we don't need a top 5 pick. the return in trade would pay instant dividends. IMO.