Team Canada vs. Team Russia: Who Will Win Gold?
Eric has had articles featured on NHL.com and CBS Sports and has also created the hockey blog Tips for Hockey
Four years ago, the Winter Olympics were played in Turin, Italy. All of the great athletes from around the world showed up to compete in the historic event. However, the 2006 Mens Hockey Tournament was destined to make a different impact on history. The history was made, not by the teams that were at the top, but by the teams that weren’t.
Team Canada may have had it’s most embarrassing performance in it’s history and definitely in recent memory. They ended up finishing in seventh place, despite having great NHL talent on their team. However, they suffered from a lack of chemistry. Even though they had a bunch of top goal scorers, those goal scorers failed to work together.
On the other hand, Team Russia hasn’t been the same since the Soviet Union days. They no longer have the talent that they did in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. In fact, since they changed from the Soviet Union to Team Russia, they have not won a gold medal.
Both teams are using a similar strategy. They are loading up their rosters with some of the best talent in the world. One county is trying to reestablish itself, and the other country is trying to redeem itself.
Team Russia is looking to reestablish the results they saw while they were the Soviet Union. They are primarily focusing on scoring goals. Russia has some of the best talent from the NHL. They will be putting players like Alex Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk on the ice, along with some top notch goalies. Evengini Nabolov and Ilya Bryzgalov will both be goaltending options.
Team Canada is taking a different approach and looks to have learned a lesson from 2006. This time, they are focusing on chemistry. In fact, there are some players that aren’t on this Canadian team that were on the team four years ago, most notably, Marty St. Louis and Shane Doan. They also have an influx of young talent that will be mixed with older veterans. More importantly, they have a legendary goalie in Martin Brodeur, who will probably get the start.
It’s obvious that both teams have talented players on their roster. However, once you get past the Russian’s first line, the talent starts to favor Canada. I think that Team Canada has a little more depth. I’m also starting to think that Russia made the same mistake that Canada made in 2006. I’m worried about how they picked the team. It looks like they picked the players with the best stats and didn’t focus on chemistry. Yes, it can work, but it’s a risky move.
One of the reasons that I’m saying that is because the Russians are mixing players from the NHL with players from the KHL. They have less experience playing together and I’m not sure if the KHL talent matches the NHL talent that the Canadians have, even at the lower lines.
It’s all going to come down to chemistry. If the Russians are able to make their chemistry work, then they will be a threat. However, if they actually have made the same mistake that the Canadians did in 2006, then they won’t be a threat. In fact, that could stop them from medaling at all. If they want to beat the Canadians, they have to work well together.
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What? No Sweden?
No United States? Come on, Joe Pavelski and David Backes are CLEARLY going to be the two best players in Vancouver PERIOD haha.