Ice Hockey Picks

The showcase event of this Olympics, the men's hockey tournament, gets underway today. Many commentators are already saying that this will be the best hockey tournament ever staged. The Olympic hockey tournament is unique among the major sports in that it features the world's best players in midseason form, at the top of their games, competing with true national pride.

This will be the first Olympics contested in an NHL-sized arena. Unfortunately the venerable General Motors Place, one of the most recognizable names in sports, has been renamed Canada Hockey Place for the Games due to the Olympics' lack of respect for time-honored tradition.

Competitors are no doubt under added pressure with no less than six Fantasy Olympic managers counting on the 50 point gold medal. Here are my picks.

12. Latvia (undrafted)
Latvia is anchored by two NHL defensemen, Kārlis Skrastiņš and Oskars Bārtulis. But with 15 players from Dinamo Riga, a mediocre team in the KHL, it's tough to see them winning a game in Group B which also includes Russia, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
11. Norway (undrafted)
Norway has never finished better than eighth at the Games, and with AHL defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen as their only player with NHL experience, they won't break that mark this year. At least they have a winnable game against Switzerland, which is why I picked them ahead of the superior Latvia team.

10. Belarus (Joy Sadaly/Olympic Ring Worm Wood Stock Market District Attorney)
Belarus made it to the bronze medal game at Salt Lake City. Captain Ruslan Sahei (Avalanche) leads the defense, while the offense is led by a couple of NHL brothers Sergei Kostitsyn and 20 goal scorer Andre Kostitsyn. Unfortunately for this team, their first line center Mikhail Grabovski, another NHL 20 goal scorer, is out with injury. They could beat Germany but are unlikely to upset any of the top teams.

9. Switzerland (Zach Chromiak/Banker's Club)
The Ducks' Jonas Hiller will be very busy in goal for this squad, which features only one NHL defenseman, captain Mark Streit. Streit is a great blue line threat on the power play but won't have much firepower to work with here. The Swiss will beat Norway and that's about it.
8. Germany (undrafted)
This is a competitive team with Thomas Greiss in goal. Though he's a backup in San Jose he's saved 92% of shots this year. Any team with an NHL goalie has a chance that he stands on his head and upsets a stronger nation. Their offense is led by a couple of NHL 20 goal scorers, Jochen Hecht and Marco Sturm, and they have three NHLers in their defensive corps.

Still, I don't expect this team to return to their 1932 bronze medal glory. They should be favored against Belarus but will need to upset Finland or Sweden, maybe both, to get to the medal rounds.

7. Czech Republic (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers)
The Czechs have some good goal scorers including Patrik Eliás, Milan Michálek and Martin Havlát. Jaromír Jágr is also on the right wing but it's hard to believe he has that much left. Centers David Krejčí and Tomáš Plekanec are solid but there's no true top-line center here. They have a very good defensive corps led by Marek Židlický, Filip Kuba and Pavel Kubina. I'm picking them to get upset by Slovakia because of center play and goaltending. I'm not sold on Tomáš Vokoun in goal for the Czechs.

6. Slovakia (Brittany B./Buck-Toothed Rabbit Bitches)
Although they've been overlooked by most prognosticators, this group is capable of surprising a lot of people. Until Sunday goalie Jaroslav Halak was playing very well, winning the Canadiens' starting job, and he's protected by a Zdeno Chára-led defense corps including four NHL players. At right wing the Slovaks have two of the NHL's top snipers, Marián Hossa and Marián Gáborík. They have capable centers, Pavol Demitra and Michal Handzuš, to set them up. Four time NHL All-Star Žigmund Pálffy is surprisingly still playing in Slovakia and returns to the Games.
5. Finland (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers)
Finland's biggest strength is its goaltending, with shutout-capable goalies Niklas Bäckström, Miikka Kiprusoff and Antero Nittymaki. Their defense is questionable, with a great top pair of Kimmo Timonen and Joni Pitkänen but not that much depth. Mikko Koivu, Saku Koivu, Olli Jokinen, Teemu Selanne and Tuomo Ruutu are all scoring threats, but not of the same caliber as what the top four teams bring to the Games. I can't believe Hurricanes sniper and shootout specialist Jussi Jokinen was left off this team when Jarkko Ruutu, mainly useful for fights, is on the roster. Finland could ride a hot goalie to a medal as they did with Nittymaki in Turin, but I don't think it's likely.

4. Russia (Tim Lavoie/Fightin' Ovechkins)
Russia has an absolutely sick offense with Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin. I presume Kovalchuk and Datsyuk will be on their second line which is unreal. And in goal, the Russians have Evgeni Nabokov. However, Russia has only three NHLers on defense. I'm not picking them for a medal because I just don't see how Russia's KHL defensemen can stop the top three offenses.

3. United States (Dave Spence/Paragons)
Team USA brings a youthful group to Vancouver trying to erase memories of their eighth place showing in Turin. They have one of the NHL's top goaltenders in Ryan Miller. A solid group of defensemen includes Brian Rafalski, Brooks Orpik, Ryan Suter and Ryan Whitney. They also have a lot of firepower on offense, including left wingers Zach Parise, Ryan Malone and centers Ryan Kesler and Joe Pavelski. Most of their forwards are second line types, which isn't bad when you consider that Team USA's fourth line will all be NHL second liners.

2. Canada (Brian Schwartz/Nordique Combined)
By any objective measure, Canada has the best team. Martin Brodeur or Roberto Luongo are top goalies. Their defense is the strongest in the Games with Dan Boyle, Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith, Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. And the offense should be unbelievable. What do you do with Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, Eric Staal, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Toews and Mike Richards at center? Is Eric Staal a healthy scratch? Dany Heatley is still a top five sniper in the NHL, and Rick Nash should be great playing with real linemates.

However, considering what's already happened in the Olympics I just can't shake the feeling that somehow Canada will find a way to blow the gold. So my pick is...
1. Sweden (John Binz/Da Nang Dynamos)
Yes, Sweden to repeat their Turin gold medal at Vancouver. Henrick Lundqvist is hot right now and is a top five NHL goalie. Nicklas Bäckström and Henrik Sedin have broken into superstar territory this year and have good wingers to work with including Johan Franzén, Daniel Alfredsson and Loui Eriksson. Mattias Öhlund, Niklas Kronwall and Nicklas Lidstrom lead a defense that includes seven NHL blueliners. The non-North American teams play more like real teams than All-Star teams in international play. Sweden's victory would give John Binz 50 fantasy points and probably an overall victory.