On paper, The United States is not supposed to be among the elite teams at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. They don’t have any household names from Olympics past like Hull, Chelios or Modano. They don’t have well known names from today’s NHL like Ovechkin or Crosby. Many experts thought they just couldn’t hang with the elites like Canada, Sweden, Russia and the Czechs.
So team USA was not expected to beat Canada on Sunday and finish with the number one overall seed entering the elimination round of the Men’s Ice Hockey tournament. They weren’t supposed to medal in said tournament either, but after Sunday’s result they look a lot better than they did on paper a month ago.
Team USA captured arguably it’s biggest win since that 1980 “Miracle on Ice” when it beat the Canadians on their home ice 5-3 late Sunday evening. You can say a few of the American goals were soft (they were). You can say Canada outplayed the USA for a majority of the game (they did). But what you can’t say is that Canada’s Martin Brodeur was the best goalie on the ice Sunday, even if he will go down as the greatest the game has ever seen.
Ryan Miller makes one of his 42 saves, helping the USA to stun Canada on Sunday. (AFP/Getty Images
Pretty much any expert told us that the USA’s only chance for a medal was through stellar play from goalie Ryan Miller. Miller was the USA’s best player against Canada, as he was in their two wins prior to Sunday. He did not crumble under the mounting pressure and preserved the win and number one seed for the USA. The Americans were selected not by all-star status but by how they fit into the mold of a great team-skill, passion, grit, knowledge of the game-and are proving that a properly constructed team can succeed against the all-stars of other nations. Don’t look for USA GM Brian Burke to start the party any time soon though…He’s not as convinced the Americans belong with the world’s elite just yet.
Burke may lead on that he’s not pleased with his USA club despite the top overall ranking, but he is nowhere as upset as the Canadian contingent of Wayne Gretzky, Steve Yzerman and Head Coach Mike Babcock. Team Canada entered the Olympics as the favorites to win from the group of elites, including Russia and Sweden, because of their home ice advantage. The Canadians now find themselves with no first round bye and no easy contests after Germany in Tuesday’s qualification match; they have the unfortunate draw of being in the same bracket as both Russia and Sweden. It will be nothing short of an epic battle for the Canadians to find themselves in position to win Gold come Sunday.
Here is a look at the Men’s Medal Bracket, set to kick off Tuesday: Men’s Bracket . Here are some picks for Tuesday’s games as well as the chances of the remaining teams for Medals:
Switzerland vs Belarus(winner plays USA)-Each team earned just three points in the group stage, but the Swiss did force a shootout with Canada. SUI wins, 4-1.
Czech Republic vs Latvia(winner plays Finland)-Poor Latvia drew their group’s 2nd place finishers, the Czechs. Look for a similar 5-2 Czech domination like in their first meeting.
Slovakia vs Norway(winner plays Sweden)-The Slovaks are the only team to beat Russia so far(in a shootout) and should make quick work of Norway. SLV wins 6-2.
Canada vs Germany(winner plays Russia)-I feel horrible for Germany: They’ve scored just three goals total in three loses and now have to play Canada after the embarrassing USA loss. It sets up an EPIC CAN/RUS battle in the quarter finals. CAN wins 8-0.
If these picks hold true…
…The USA would play Switzerland and Finland would play the Czechs in the quarters on the left side of the bracket.
The USA has beaten the Swiss once, handily, but has to be careful not to overlook them. They may already be thinking of playing the Fins or Czechs in Friday’s semifinals, but the Swiss did take Canada to a shootout and have Anaheim Ducks’ net minder Jonas Hiller anchoring the team; all it takes is one hot goalie. The Finland-Czech Republic game will be quite the battle on paper but i expect the Czechs will advance. The Fins feasted on weaker opponents Belarus and Germany only to be dominated by Sweden in the group round. Finland won a surprise silver four years ago, but look for an early exit in 2010. This brings us to a USA-Czech semifinal. Call me a homer but I like the Americans chances in this matchup. USA has the right amount of skill and grit to play the rough style the Czech like. I’m going to take the USA to come out of the weaker side of the bracket.
…Sweden would play Slovakia and Russia would play Canada in the quarters of the right side of the bracket.
Slovakia is by no means an elite team, but they can play the role of giant killer well as shown with their group round victory over Russia. That said, the Swedes may be the best “hockey team” in this tournament in the sense that they play the smartest brand of hockey; not real flashy, but they will make you pay for mistakes while making very few of their own. Sweden will be in the semis on Friday. Canada versus Russia was a dream scenario for the Gold leading up to the games. Now we’ll probably get the matchup, but it comes with a spot in the semis, not a gold medal, on the line. Russia and Canada play similar bruising, fast paced styles and have top talent all over the ice. The Canadians just haven’t shown they can win in this type of setting (they finished 7th four years ago). I like Russia in a wild one against the hosts.
That leaves us with a super semifinal of Sweden against Russia. It is the ultimate matchup of calculated, streamlined, smart hockey against a powerful, flashy, smash-mouth style. The Swedes will look to lull the Russians to sleep and make them pay for high-risk-high-reward plays while the Russians will try force the Swedes out of their methodic style with crushing hits and flashy attack. Russia has the same amount of skill to go with their toughness which will be the key to advancing to the gold medal game.
And the medals go to…
…The Swedes would be too much for the Czechs to overcome. Sweden will win a medal in these games, I just see it being bronze. Blame it on the gauntlet of a bracket they ended up in.
The USA would give Russia all it can handle, but ultimately Russia is what the USA strives to one day become: A team that isn’t afraid to throw it’s weight around while still playing an offensive game, and a high-powered one at that. Russia has also taken the ‘team’ idea and created a club with players that work well together and know their place on the team. They just happen to have three of the world most dynamic offensive players on their first line-Ovechkin/Malkin/Kovalchuk. Ryan Miller could steal the game for the Americans, but i don’t see it happening. USA can take pride in a surprise silver while Russia celebrates Gold.
Here is a link to the schedule for the remaining games this week, starting with the qualification games Tuesday : Medal tournament schedule
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:39 am
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