Posts Tagged Olympics
EB Predicts Olympic Winners
Feb 16
With a break in the NHL season, the Olympics are now upon us. After a poor opening ceremony, the fun begins as the Men’s Ice Hockey starts today. Now being the omniscient person that I am, I will pick the winners.
Gold: Russia
Alexander Semin, Pavel Datsyuk and Alexander Ovechkin on the first line will be the dominant line throughout the tournament. The fire power will be strong with these three as well as Datsyuk leveling out the line with his excellent two way play. Now if that line does not tickle your jolly, how about Maxim Afinogenov, Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Malkin on the second line? Two very talented lines with two very solid goalies, Ilya Bryzgalov and Evgeni Nabokov, will be the key to their success. Weakness to look out for will be their defense, but do not expect it to be that weak with names such as Sergei Gonchar and Andrei Markov.
Silver: Canada
I am hesitant to even put them in a medal standing, and yes I am aware that is a bold statement. The team is stacked with players such as Sidney Crosby, Dany Heatley, Jonathan Toews, Joe Thornton, and the list goes on. Still though, I do believe their home town advantage will carry them this far but not to the gold. The pressure the team will be feeling will be too great and they will fold under pressure just as their World Junior team did against USA a few months back. And just like the Juniors, watch for Canada to take unnecessary penalties that will cost them the gold.
Bronze: USA
Perhaps a long-shot, yet I have to show the love for my home Country. USA is young, dangerously young, both inexperienced and too naive to know that they shouldn’t be in it to win it. Zach Parise, Patrick Kane, Jack Johnson, Ryan Miller and Jonathan Quick make up a feisty group of guys. Add in the inability to have “Matt Man” and “Support Our Troops” on the goalie helmets, plus the unfortunate passing of Brian Burke’s son Brendan, the team has a lot of motivation to keep them playing hard.
The views and opinions expressed are solely that of an educated guess. Such opinions may be inaccurate or may be changed after seeing the first round. Let’s go USA!
With the Vancouver Winter Olympics kicking off tomorrow, I decided to share one of the best shootout goals for a game of its caliber. Check out Peter Forsberg’s Shootout goal in the Gold Medal game in 1994 vs. Canada.
Newly elected NHL Hall-of-Famer Steve Yzerman has served as Vice President/Alternate Governor in the Detroit Red Wings front office since retiring in 2006. Hockey fans know that The Captain deserves to have a shot at becoming a General Manager of a NHL club in the future. He is even having his first chance of making real decisions over a hockey team as he is currently serving as Executive Director of the 2010 Canadian Olympic team.
What caught my attention was a recent blog posted here that brought to my attention that Yzerman was hoping to be considered for the Chicago Blackhawks GM position, which eventually went to Stan Bowman, son of former Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman.
Who would be the first team to give him a shot as General Manager?
Now, depending on how he organizes the Olympic team will determine how soon and who will want him as a General Manager. He already has been groomed in one of the best organizations in sports, but he is miles away from replacing Ken Holland as General Manager. The MLive.com blog also reiterated that Assistant GM Jim Nill’s contract is up in two years, and the Red Wings will be sure to evaluate their front office at that time.
But it got me thinking, if Yzerman wants to run his own team, how would Detroit fans react? Me personally, I’d be happy to see him with any team outside the Central Division and preferibly the Western Confernece. Let him turn around the New York Islanders. Let him run the Phoenix Hamilton Coyotes.
He’s gonna be facing a lot of pressure in the fall when he has to put together the Canadian Olympic team. He win’s a Gold Medal in Vancouver next February, then I think he’s qualified enough to run a NHL club.
