Hayman’s Olympic Men's Hockey Preview

Men's hockey kicks off tomorrow in the Winter Olympics and this year's games really have my interest. If you are unfamiliar with the format of this tournament, here's how it works:

Eighteen preliminary games are played between Tuesday and Sunday to determine each team's seed position (or rank). The top four ranked teams will receive byes to the quarterfinal round. The remaining eight teams will compete for the remaining four quarterfinal positions. You can find scores, standings and other Olympic hockey information at the Vancouver 2010 website.

For pre-tournament analysis, hockey fanatic and Just Postin' contributor Kevin Hayman has prepared an overview of the top six teams in the field.

Rankings: 1. Canada 2. Sweden 3. USA 4. Russia 5. Finland 6. Czech Republic

The Rest of the Pack: Slovakia, Norway, Switzerland, Latvia, Belarus, Germany 

Analysis

Canada:

Strengths: Canada will be a big force this year in the Olympics. Home ice advantage will play a factor and this is the event fans care about the most. Having #87 (Sidney Crosby) on the team automatically gives Canada a boost. What will really make Canada strong is their trio of defensemen: Duncan Keith, Chris Pronger and Scott Neidermeyer. There is no doubt this team is stacked; it will take a team with a lot of heart to beat them.

Weaknesses: Goaltending injuries from the NHL season may haunt them with Marc-Andre Fleury and Roberto Luongo being a little banged up. Every player on this roster is what I call a game-breaker, but there aren't too may role players. I doubt it will be an issue, but sometimes the dream team isn’t the best team.

Sweden:

Strengths: Sweden is just as stacked as any other team in the tournament. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is always a tremendous competitor and they have a lot of Olympic experience with Nicklas Lidstrom, Peter Forsberg and captain Daniel Alfredsson. They also have a lot of talented newcomers like Nicklas Backstrom and Tobias Enstrom. They are the defending gold medal champions and everyone on this team has NHL experience.

Weaknesses: Sweden appears to be one of the older teams in the tournament. In today’s style of hockey, young talent dominates. Injuries may play a factor; Kronwall has missed games due to concussions and the Sedin twins have been fighting injuries all season. Also, winger Tomas Holmstrom just withdrew from the roster due to a recurring knee injury. He will be replaced by Johan Franzen who was initially left off the roster while rehabbing a knee surgery.

USA:

Strengths: I really like this line-up. They have a lot of youth up front with forwards Patrick Kane, Bobby Ryan and Phil Kessel. They are extremely determined and GM Brian Burke did a good job of mixing experience with young talent. Jamie Langenbrunner was a good choice for captain and I feel they have the best goaltending in the tournament. Sometimes goaltending can win a tournament like this.

Weaknesses: Looking at some of the other rosters, I just don’t think the U.S. has the guns to win this tournament. They have already lost Mike Komiserek on defense and they don’t have game-breakers like Crosby and Malkin.

Russia:

Strengths: Russia has the three most dynamic NHL players on their team with Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovlachuk and Alexander Ovechkin. This along with phenomenal goaltending (led by the Sharks' Evgeni Nabokov) makes Russia a real threat to the Canadians and Swedes. I would not be surprised if their power play registers a 65% scoring percentage.

Weaknesses: WHERE ARE ALL THE OTHER RUSSIAN NHL PLAYERS!?! I understand Russia wants to prove that the Russian Super League (or IHF as it’s called now) is just as good as the NHL, but clearly it is not. This is why I have the U.S. ranked higher than Russia. My Russian Olympic team has Alexei Kovalev.

Finland:

Strengths: The Finns come in to this tournament looking to avenge their loss in the gold medal game at Turin in 2006. They have a lot of exciting players with explosive speed and talent. Several playmakers on this team, such as Mikko Koivu from the Minnesota Wild and Kimmo Timonen from the Flyers, can lead the Finns very far in this tournament. Look for Finland to turn a lot of heads against teams that rank above them.

Weaknesses: One thing about Finnish hockey is that it is very pass heavy and speed-oriented rather than the banging along the boards where a lot of the game is played. They may have trouble dealing with the physicality of the Canadians and the U.S.

Czech Republic:

Strengths: The Czechs have a good mix of young talent and seasoned vets with guys like Jaromir Jagr and Patrik Elias. They have that European style of explosive speed and play-making ability.

Weaknesses: They run into the same problems as the Finns and seem to have a very old roster.

Game to Watch: United States vs. Canada in a preliminary game on Sunday, February 21st at 6:40 p.m.

Enjoy the games! U.S.A. all the way!