Men’s Ice Hockey – Canada Versus United States

The betting tips for this year’s men’s Olympic hockey competition has been interesting. The Olympic hockey odds have Canada as a heavy favorite to win the gold in the Vancouver Olympics, and after blasting Norway 8-0 in their first game it looked like Canada was a sure winner. But hockey betting is about looking at the games one at a time, and then deciding who really has momentum in their favor.

In their second game of the competition Sidney Crosby and company had a squeaker against Switzerland that they won 3-2 and that required a shoot-out. The Canadian team is loaded with talent including future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur in goal along with guys like sniper Jarome Iginla and defensive stand-out Chris Pronger. A force like this is something to be reckoned with for sure.

But on the American side of the puck there is a lot to look at. In goal is Ryan Miller who is probably the best goaltender the United States has offered since Jim Craig. Team USA has Zach Parise and Ryan Malone for scoring goals, and Chris Drury can take care of rallying the troops. But it is the intangibles of team USA that make them so very dangerous. David Backes has two points in the tournament already and he is only supposed to be there to hit people. When the team decides to attack, they have confidence that they can leave Ryan Miller on his own for a little while and he will hold the fort. This is a different team than the 2006 Torino team that embarrassed their way to an 8^th place finish.

Canada has a team of superstars and hard-hitting hockey players. Few defensemen in the NHL hit harder than Scott Niedermayer, and it is difficult to find any player that works harder than Joe Thornton. The team is filled with talent, and that talent has shown the ability to put the puck in the net. But they seem to be lacking a cohesiveness on defense, and the forwards for Canada do not seem to enjoy back-checking as much as you need to in international competition.

Against the high-flying Swiss, Team USA shut down all of the Swiss scoring machines including team captain defenseman Mark Streit. Canada’s defensive short-comings will become evident when the United States presses the issue on Sunday February 21 in what is a very anticipated Olympic hockey game.

It was hard to gauge team USA before the Olympics started. Like the other teams that are made up primarily of NHL players, team USA did not have a chance for any extended practice before hitting the ice. Team Canada was in the same boat. Almost all of the Team Canada players are NHL superstars and some were playing in the NHL just two nights before their opening game in the Olympics. The questions about the American team centered around past teams that were arrogant, ill-prepared and undisciplined. This American Olympic hockey team does not have that problem. This will be an NHL all-star game with the hitting and intensity that is lacking in the real all-star game. In other words, this game will be everything the NHL needs it to be.

Pick: Team USA 4-2