Men’s Olympic Hockey Power Rankings
The NHL is still on hiatus as the 2010 Winter Olympics wind down to a close, but many of their biggest stars are still playing for their country. After the preliminary round, playoff qualifiers, and quarterfinal games we are down to the final four of the tournament. There has been plenty of exciting action and some stunning upsets to arrive at our medal round teams so here are my power rankings for each of the semi-finalists along with their odds to win the Gold.
Team Canada Current odds to win the Gold 1-2
Along with Russia, Canada came into the Olympics as one of the odds-on-favorites to win the Gold. Now that we are down to the final four and they just knocked Russia out of the tournament, they are the overwhelming favorite despite their earlier 5-3 loss to the U.S. in the preliminary round. In an impressive 7-3 win over Russia in the quarterfinals they clearly showed why they are the best team left on the ice. After New Jersey Devil goalie Martin Broduer gave up a few soft goals in the loss to the U.S., they turned to hometown favorite Roberto Luongo, the Canucks goalie to take his place in net as they believe he gives them the best chance to win Gold.
Team USA Current Odds to win the Gold 5-2
Everyone thought that the U.S. had a good chance to compete for a medal in Vancouver, but few gave them a chance to beat Canada to do it. If they can get by the Finns in the semi-finals they should have the chance to try and beat them twice, this time for the Gold. Atlanta Thrasher goalie Ryan Miller has been the story for the United States in this tournament as he currently has a 1.25 goal against average in his four games in between the pipes.
Team Finland Current Odds to win the Gold 6-1
It is no real surprise that Finland is in the final four as they brought a very talented and experienced team to these games. They have two outstanding goalies in Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames and Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild and have given up only one goal in their three wins. If their defense can continue to play at a high level and players like Flames winger Niklas Hagman can find a way to get one or two pucks past Ryan Miller, the Finns have a good chance to move on to play for the Gold.
Team Slovakia Current Odds to win the Gold 12-1
The biggest surprise in the final four is by far Slovakia. They started out with a 3-1 loss to the Czech Republic but from that point on have been playing as well as any other team in the tournament. They stunned Russia 2-1 in a shootout, knocked Norway out in the playoff qualifier 4-3 and upset Sweden 4-3 in the quarterfinals in what was probably the biggest win in this country’s Olympic hockey history. Playing with house money, they could be a very dangerous team moving forward.
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