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

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?

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?

Well here's hoping this time around they award the gold based on past achievement. If not, this time next week you boys will be watching curling, waving your little Canadian flags, and endlessly repeating "four years ago we were the best in the world".

One of my favorite things about the Olympics is how all the NHL animosities you build up for players, and all the free rides you give players in the NHL, go right out the window. Which is why Ryan Kesler can be totally rehabilitated in the minds of American fans for blocking a shot, while half of Canada's forward can go from being superstars to bums in a close game. Everything is topsy turvy.

I think Finland have a really good shot at upsetting Russia. They have a much better goalie and if they play this kind of disciplined, grinding defense they will be incredibly tough to beat, add to that the classic Rus-Fin animosity and that game is a must watch! Also there are no free passes in the olympics

You do realize that the most likely scenario for a Canada/Russia game at this point is IN the gold medal game, right? Canadas path (assuming everything goes as it should) Would be Switzerland, USA, then Russia.

So I was thinking, does anyone think Shattenkirk will ever be captain, so people can refer to him as Captain Kirk? Would it be appropriate none the less?

THAT'S WHY WE SHOULD HAVE SIGNED TATAR INSTEAD OF FRANZEN WHO IS LAZY AND SUCKS GET IT TOGETHER KENNY WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN Olympic hockey is the boobs. I'm thoroughly enjoying myself!

Dude, you're barking up the wrong tree. Fact is, the Franzen hate around here makes no sense and never will. Somewhere along the line Franzen got a certain reputation and people ran with it. Now they spend all their time trying to justify this hate post hoc with a variety of silly reasons. Franzen's a floater (he isn't, you don't score as often as he does by not playing), Franzen's streaky (he isn't, or at least not more so than Zetterberg who typically has longer scoring droughts than Franzen), Franzen doesn't play defense (he does, in fact he's so responsible Babs has been using him on the PK), Franzen's contract will be horrible when he's 40 (maybe, but so will every other back diving contract like his. What makes him different?) Franzen's injury prone (he isn't, at least no more so than Dats and Zetterberg and far less so than Kronwall) Now, here's the funny part. People say all these things about Franzen, and then when he's playing and scoring and making a difference (which is nearly every game) you say "I thought Franzen was a bum" and they'll reply "Well he isn't a bum NOW, because he's trying". Soooooo stupid.

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.

I feel bad for Z. FWIW, I have had back problems since I was around 20 (almost 28 now), and I can go months or longer being just fine, and then the dumbest, seemingly innocuous thing will happen and I will have to start all over. I am a funeral director so I do a lot of heavy lifting all the time and be great and then I will take the slightest slip on some ice or lift a laundry basket or something not even worth noting to myself and it will start. Sometimes it is even 2-3 days before the inflammation kicks in to cause pain. For all we know, the long plane ride could have been enough on Z. I hope he has a productive, long-term recovery, not only for his hockey career but for his lifetime.

Rich and a bud thinking up this scenario...

Kind of off topic, but it reminds me of a Michigander friend of mine, who is Hispanic and has family still in Mexico. His much younger brother played hockey and LOVED the Red Wings. My friend follows hockey but didn't play. My friend would tell his brother that he liked the Wings because the Wings have a Mexican player. The conversation would go something like this: Friend: I like the Wings because they have a Mexican guy. Brother: They don't have Mexicans. Friend: Oh, yeah? What about Pablo Datsyuk? Brother: It's PAVEL Datsyuk. Friend: Pavel? There aren't any Mexicans named Pavel. Brother: He's Russian. Friend: No way. There aren't any Russians in Mexico. Brother: He's not from Mexico. Friend: All Mexicans are from Mexico. Brother: He's not Mexican. Friend: Sure his is. Why else would he be named Pablo? This would go on and on until the brother gave up. The brother is grown up now. Game over.