Louisville 112 Report post Posted January 28, 2009 Canada, still the team to beat IMO: Lecavalier-Crosby-Iginla[C] Nash-Thornton[A]-Heatley Morrow-M. Richards[A]-Doan Gagne-Savard-Getzlaf Taxi: Spezza, Carter Bouwmeester-Weber Phaneuf-Keith Boyle-Burns Taxi: Green Luongo Brodeur taxi: Price I really hate that you made me do this but...no Chris Pronger? Other than that, Team Canada looks absolutely sick. Even the bottom six are all amazing players. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
T-Ruff 47 Report post Posted January 28, 2009 (edited) No Toews or Eric Staal? Toews btw does a great job: Staal is an easy one to leave out I think, Toews could replace Carter on the taxi squad but I don't think he'll be on the initial roster.... I really hate that you made me do this but...no Chris Pronger? I just don't think there's a spot for Chris Pronger amongst the defenseman I listed, especially since he has been on the decline in recent years and its only natural to assume that trend will continue.... Edited January 28, 2009 by T-Ruff Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MacK_Attack 108 Report post Posted January 28, 2009 2010 will differ from previous Winter Olympic Games in that both men's and women's hockey will be played on a narrower, NHL-sized ice rink instead of the international size. [source] Yeah, Pacific Coliseum (Canucks old home) is an NHL sized ice surface. There was talk once upon a time about expanding it out to international size, but that didn't happen. I believe in 2002 in Salt Lake City the tournament was played on NHL-sized rinks and it seemed to have helped both the US and Canada tremendously. So I guess whoever said the US could be in the running has a valid point. Salt Lake had an ice surface that was actually between NHL size and international size. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest mindfly Report post Posted January 28, 2009 (edited) Stay with the tradition and use big size rink at the olympics... Still feels like some player(s) are missing on that canada roster though hmm... Niedermayer? some veteran leadership in the back end? And why burns over green? Edited January 28, 2009 by mindfly Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dat's sick 1,002 Report post Posted January 28, 2009 I believe in 2002 in Salt Lake City the tournament was played on NHL-sized rinks and it seemed to have helped both the US and Canada tremendously. So I guess whoever said the US could be in the running has a valid point. I don't think the size of the rink matters so much. Most swedes, russians, czechs and fins who will play in the Olympics are from the NHL, where they have adapted to the smaller rink. And in Salt Lake, Sweden absolutely crushed Canada in the group stage, but was then knocked out by Belarus of all teams.. Maybe Belarus is the team that benefits the most from the smaller rink? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MacK_Attack 108 Report post Posted January 28, 2009 And in Salt Lake, Sweden absolutely crushed Canada in the group stage, but was then knocked out by Belarus of all teams.. Maybe Belarus is the team that benefits the most from the smaller rink? No, they benefited from Tommy Salo. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zata fan 40 6 Report post Posted January 28, 2009 At the risk of being a gigantic homer, I wouldn't count the US out of medal contention, either. Think of the forwards the US will be able to put on the ice... Kessel, Kane, Stastny, Brown, Parise, Ryan, Booth, O'Sullivan, Gomez... is it Team Canada? No. But there are a LOT of guys in that group who can skate and shoot and on a large ice surface, that could cause other teams some problems. And they've also got a bunch of defensemen who can skate and transition the puck quickly and accurately - Rafalski, Liles, Suter, Carle, Erik Johnson. I could see the US sitting back and absolutely punishing teams on the counter attack. They've even got three pretty good goalies in Tim Thomas, Rick DiPietro, and Ryan Miller - any of which is able to get hot and win a game or two on their own. I think the US really has a chance to surprise. I agree. Russia and Canada are the obvious favorites,but the U.S. team will be a good group as well and with a strong goaltending performance I wouldn't be surprised by anything the U.S. accomplishes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
