OLYMPIC HOCKEY

[Detroit Cherni]

Hey guys, it'll be one year on Thursday until the puck drops in Vancouver, with GOLD on the line at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. So I thought it would be fun if we could break down some of the teams. Would love to see what you guys think or come up with.

Here's my pic of Team Canada, which will include 13 forwards, seven defensemen and three goalies. And three alternates, which are included as well. None in any particular order.

FORWARDS:
Sidney Crosby
Dany Heatley
Jarome Iginla
Ryan Getzlaf
Joe Sakic (If not retired, but it is his home town)
Eric Staal
Jeff Carter
Ryan Smyth
Joe Thornton
Vincent Lecavalier
Johnathon Toews
Mike Cammalleri
Jason Spezza
Rick Nash
Brendan Morrow

DEFENSEMEN:
Dion Phaneuf
Chris Pronger
Jay Bouwmeester
Mike Green
Brian Campbell
Robyn Regher
Ed Jovanovski
Scott Niedermayer (If he's playing)
Shea Weber
Dan Boyle

GOALIES:
Roberto Luongo
Martin Brodeur
Cam Ward

[Detroit Cherni]

My Team USA looks like this

FORWARDS:
Patrick Kane
Zach Parise
Jason Pominville
Ryan Kesler
Scott Gomez
Chris Drury
Brian Gionta
Paul Stastny
Brian Rolston
Ryan Malone
Mike Modano (sentimental reasons)
Keith Tkachuk (sentimental reasons)
Phil Kessel
RJ Umberger
Lee Stempniak

DEFENSE:
Erik Johnston
Jack Johnston
Brian Rafalski
Ryan Whitney
Mike Komisarek
Matt Carle
Ryan Suter
Ron Hainsey
Joe Corvo
Chris Chelios (sentimental reasons)


GOALIES:
Rick Di Pietro
Tim Thomas
Ryan Miller

[Elite Sim News (ESN)]

Dave, good call on both Erik and Jack JOHNSON. I think they will be in the mix. No Ryan Miller though? Really? Aside from a major injury, there's no chance Ryan Miller isn't on that team. I still believe that, when healthy, Ricky D is the best American goalie though.

[Detroit Cherni]

I know, I totally forgot about Ryan Miller and since changed it. I think Miller's the starter, personally. He has more big game experience.

Also, I changed a goalie on Team Canada. Got rid of Steve Mason and replaced him with Cam Ward.

[Elite Sim News (ESN)]

Yeah I figured that was the case. Had to let you know about it though.

I guess just for funzies...and because I'm pretty bored at the moment...I'll throw up some projections in a little bit.

[ottawagm]

Turco makes the team before Cam Ward.

[Elite Sim News (ESN)]

Alright. Like Dave said, we are a year away from the Olympics. There's a lot of time for changes, but here's what I think about the teams I know a little about (and I do mean a little...I am no expert here folks).

CANADA

Lead Pipe Locks at Forward: Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Vincent Lecavalier, Ryan Getzlaf, Shane Doan, Joe Thornton, Rick Nash, Brendan Morrow, Dany Heatley

Others at Forward: Mike Richards, Jonathan Toews, Martin St. Louis, Simon Gagne, Jeff Carter, Jordan Staal, Joe Sakic, Patrick Sharp, Marc Savard, Brad Richards, Mike Cammalleri, Jason Spezza, Ryan Smyth, Patrick Marleau, Eric Staal, Rene Bourque (enough already...and I know I missed some guys as well)

Lead Pipes Locks at Defense: Dion Phaneuf, Chris Pronger, Jay Bouwmeester, Mike Green, Dan Boyle

Others at Defense: Duncan Keith, Dennis Wideman, Scott Niedermayer, Sheldon Souray, Shea Weber, Kevin Bieksa, Ed Jovanovski, Brent Burns...I guess Brian Campbell

Lead Pipes Locks in Net: Roberto Luongo, Martin Brodeur

Others in Net: Cam Ward, Marty Turco, Steve Mason, Marc-Andre Fleury, Mike Smith, Manny Fernandez


UNITED STATES

Lead Pipe Locks at Forward: Patrick Kane, Zach Parise, Jason Pominville, Paul Stastny, Dustin Brown, Ryan Kesler, Brian Rolston, Scott Gomez

Others at Forward: Phil Kessel, Chris Drury, Brian Gionta, Jamie Langenbrunner, Joe Pavelski, Mike Modano, Keith Tkachuk, Bobby Ryan, David Booth, Drew Stafford, Blake Wheeler, David Backes, Lee Stempniak, R.J. Umberger, Ryan Malone, Patrick O'Sullivan, Peter Mueller, Tim Connolly, Paul Gaustad, Jeff Halpern

Lead Pipe Locks at Defense: Brian Rafalski, Paul Martin, Mike Komisarek

Others at Defense: Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, Ryan Suter, John-Michael Liles, Tom Gilbert, Joe Corvo, Ron Hainsey, Matt Niskanen, Keith Yandle, Keith Ballard, Matthew Carle, Brooks Orpik, Ryan Whitney, Tim Gleason, Matt Greene

Lead Pipes Locks in Net: Rick DiPietro, Ryan Miller, Tim Thomas

Others in Net (meh): Scott Clemmensen, Brent Johnson, Ty Conklin, Craig Anderson, Jonathan Quick


RUSSIA

Lead Pipe Locks at Forward: Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Frolov, Alex Semin, Alexei Morozov, Sergei Zinoviev

Others at Forward: Nikolai Zherdev, Alexei Kovalev, Alex Radulov, Sergei Fedorov, Danis Zaripov, Oleg Saprykin, Alexei Tereshenko, Nikita Filatov...Alexei Yashin is still kickin it around as well

Lead Pipe Locks at Defense: Andrei Markov, Sergei Gonchar, Anton Volchenkov, Fedor Tyutin

Others at Defense: Sergei Zubov, Denis Grebeshkov, Vitaly Atyushov, Ilja Nikulin, Dmitri Kalinin, Danny Markov, Anton Babchuk, Denis Kulyash

Lead Pipe Locks in Net: Evgeni Nabokov, Ilya Bryzgalov

Others in Net: Alexander Eremenko, Semen Varlamov, Nikolai Khabibulin


SWEDEN

Lead Pipe Locks at Forward: Mats Sundin, Henrik Zetterberg, Daniel Alfredsson, Nicklas Backstrom, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Markus Naslund, Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, Samuel Pahlsson, P.J. Axelsson

Others at Forward: Kristian Huselius, Mikael Samuelsson, Patrik Berglund, Loui Eriksson, Michael Nylander, Fredrik Modin, Patric Hornqivst, Robert Nilsson...Peter Forsberg perhaps?

Lead Pipes Locks at Defense: Nicklas Lidstrom, Mattias Ohlund, Niklas Kronwall

Others at Defense: Kenny Jonsson, Henrik Tallinder, Alexander Edler, Tobias Enstrom, Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman, Johnny Oduya, Kim Johnsson, Andreas Lilja, Niclas Havelid, Nicklas Grossman, Douglas Murray

Lead Pipes Locks in Net: Henrik Lundqvist, Mikael Tellqvist

Others in Net: Johan Holmqvist, Erik Ersberg, Johan Hedberg, Jacob Markstrom


FINLAND

Lead Pipe Locks at Forward: Teemu Selanne, Olli Jokinen, Saku Koivu, Mikko Koivu, Tuomo Ruutu, Jere Lehtinen, Niklas Hagman, Valtteri Filppula

Others at Forward: Jussi Jokinen, Antti Miettinen, Antti Pihlstrom, Jarkko Ruutu, Niko Kapanen, Ville Peltonen, Ville Leino, Lauri Korpikoski, Sean Bergenheim, Oskar Osala

Lead Pipe Locks at Defense: Kimmo Timonen, Sami Salo, Joni Pitkanen, Ossi Vaananen, Toni Lydman

Others at Defense: Teppo Numminen, Lasse Kukkonen, Ville Koistinen, Petteri Nummelin, Sami Lepisto

Lead Pipe Locks in Net: Niklas Backstrom

Others in Net: Miikka Kiprusoff, Kari Lehtonen, Antero Niittymaki, Vesa Toskala, Pekka Rinne, Tuukka Rask


CZECH REPUBLIC

Lead Pipe Locks at Forward: Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias, Ales Hemsky, Milan Hejduk, Martin Erat, Martin Havlat, Vaclav Prospal, David Krejci, Tomas Plekanec, Milan Michalek

Others at Forward: Robert Lang, Jiri Hudler, Jakub Voracek, Tomas Fleischmann, Michael Frolik, Martin Hanzal

Lead Pipe Locks at Defense: Tomas Kaberle, Pavel Kubina, Marek Zidlicky, Roman Hamrlik, Jaroslav Spacek, Filip Kuba

Others at Defense: Michal Roszival, Zbynek Michalek, Rostislav Klesla, Jan Hejda, Roman Polak, Lukas Krajicek

Lead Pipe Locks in Net: Tomas Vokoun, Ondrej Pavelec

Others in Net: Marek Schwarz and...I got nothin after that. Help me out!


SLOVAKIA

Lead Pipe Locks at Forward: Marian Hossa, Marian Gaborik, Pavol Demitra, Miroslav Satan, Marek Svatos, Michal Handzus, Richard Zednik, Marcel Hossa

Others at Forward: Ladislav Nagy, Branko Radivojevic, Juraj Kolnik, Tomas Kopecky, Jozef Stumpel, Stefan Ruzicka, Peter Olvecky, Tomas Surovy

Lead Pipe Locks at Defense: Zdeno Chara, Andrej Meszaros, Lubomir Visnovsky, Andrej Sekera, Milan Jurcina

Others at Defense: Vladimir Mihalik, Ivan Baranka, Branislav Mezei, Boris Valabik

Lead Pipe Locks in Net: Jaroslav Halak, Peter Budaj

Others in Net: Karol Krizan and...again, I got nothin. More help!

Other nations (Belarus, Switzerland, Germany, Latvia, Norway) are quite harder to predict.

For Belarus...Sergei & Andrei Kostitsyn, Mikhail Grabovski and Ruslan Salei are the "big" names. I would think Mikhail Stefanovich would have a decent chance at cracking the team.

For Switzerland...Mark Streit and Yannick Weber come to mind. The Ottawa goalies, Jonas Hiller and Martin Gerber, will probably be there as well.

For Germany...the rock known as Olaf Kolzig will probably not be in place. I would guess Thomas Greiss would be the best option in net for the Germans. They do have some talent though. Marco Sturm, Jochen Hecht, Marcel Goc, Christian Ehrhoff, Dennis Seidenberg, Christoph Schubert, Alexander Sulzer. Prospects like Phillip Gogulla and Felix Schutz will likely be there as well.

For Latvia and Norway...good luck mates!

[floridagm]

how about NIKITA FILATOV?

any chance he'll be playing ....... he's probably not ready (now) but the games aren't being played now.

i think he'll be playing .... any thoughts?

[Elite Sim News (ESN)]

I could see Filatov getting consideration. I don't think the chances are good for him as of now, but there's a year to go. Russia is a legit gold medal contender. As of today, I would say he wouldn't be there. I would think he could be put on the taxi squad, but I don't see him playing. A lot can happen between now and then though.

I will add him to the list.

[ottawagm]

I don't think you will see Miika in net. He would rather stay home and drink Finlandia Vodka then play for Finland. His allegiances lie strictly with the Flaming C.

[Elite Sim News (ESN)]

Good call Dan. I don't think Miikka will be participating either. I didn't want to close the door on guys like him, Khabibulin, Zubov, etc that haven't suited up in the past. There's always a chance (not great, but still a chance) that could change.

[ottawagm]

H suited up for the world cup. But he doesn't seeem to care much for most things. He didn't even attend the awards ceremony when he won the Vezina. He was too busy fishing.

[WildGM]

Feb 12, 2009 16:51:35 GMT -5 @ottawagm said:

H suited up for the world cup. But he doesn't seeem to care much for most things. He didn't even attend the awards ceremony when he won the Vezina. He was too busy fishing.

you say that like fishing is a bad thing. I went fishing on my anniversary one year..... whoops and yes were still Married.

[Elite Sim News (ESN)]

Gotta love Miikka

I would hope that if he actually wanted to play for Finland he would be there. I don't know what his relationships are like with the people in charge of Finnish hockey though.

Anyone catch this?

sports.espn.go.com/oly/olyhockey/news/story?id=3895223

You gotta love E.J. floating the rumor that Thomas Vanek could have a spot on the US roster. I don't know if Vanek is an American citizen or not. I know he came over when he was 14, so he just might be. However, he has played for Austria in the past, most recently at the 2008 World Championships. Even if he wanted to play for the US (which I doubt), he would have to wait 4 years just to have that option. Gotta love E.J.