Men’s Hockey Gold Medal Pre-Game Thoughts

Competitive Edge

For Canada, obviously the home ice. No doubt that there will be a sea of red at Canada Hockey Place, or General Motors Place the other 50 weeks of the year, will be in full support of their home country and especially hometown goalie Roberto Luongo.

For the USA, the strong point of this Olympics has no doubt been the play of goaltender Ryan Miller, who is averaging one goal against in 5 games, stopping all but 5 of the 108 shots he’s faced the last two weeks. Ryan Miller also hasn’t given up a goal since the first matchup against Canada one week ago, a game in which 3 got by him.

Keys to Winning

To win gold, Canada will need what was missing last Sunday, goaltending. Martin Brodeur gave up four goals. The Canadian shooters got three past American goalie Ryan Miller, more than half of what he has given up all tournament.

The Canadians will also need to have to stay aggressive late in the game. They almost kissed their gold medal hopes goodbye Friday, nearly giving up a three goal lead. And had it not been for Luongo’s amazing save in the closing seconds, Canada may have been playing the Finns yesterday.

For the Americans, they need to take their first period effort from Friday and turn it into a 60 minute effort. They were very aggressive on the forecheck and got help from everywhere. Patrick Kane netted two goals, although he is known primarily for his playmaker abilities.

This may be biased coming from a Red Wings fan, but I would like to see Brian Rafalski get at least 5 shots on goal and perhaps 15 attempted. Even as a defenseman, he leads the Americans with 4 goals and a +/- of 7. I also really like the work in front of the opponent’s net from the first line (Stastny, Parise, Langenbrunner) which provides screen for one-timers and shots from the point with the possibility of being deflected.

And of course the shooting needs to stay precise. Friday we saw the Americans score 4 times on their first 7 shots. Last week against Canada they scored 5 times on only 23 shots. It isn’t often you win by two when the other team has twice as many shots.

Players to Watch

For Canada, the players to watch are all on one line. The San Jose Sharks line consisting of Marleau, Heatley and Thornton will need to play stronger defensively. The three of them have combined for seven goals. But the three of them have also combined for a +/- of 0 (Heatley 1, Marleau 0, Thornton -1).

The true player to watch for Canada is Roberto Luongo. Luongo plays in Vancouver outside of the Olympics and will certainly have the crowd support. But if he wants to duplicate his female counterparts, he’ll need offensive support too.

For the Americans, obviously it is Ryan Miller. His worst game this tournament was against Canada, but he still made 42 saves.

The American offense should also be under close watch. Again, they were precise Friday against Finland and last Sunday against Canada. However, they got stoned by Swiss goaltender Jonas Hiller to open up bracket play, but luckily got the shutout from Miller.

The Edge?

I’m giving gold to the Canadians. Ever since the loss last week, they have come out dominating, with the exception of the third period on Friday. Canada defeated Germany 8-2 to open bracket play. The highly anticipated game between two gold medal favorites came earlier than expected and didn’t quite live up to it’s hype as Canada destroyed Russia as well, 7-3.

The Americans almost seem to have slacked since defeating Canada. They didn’t play spectacular against Switzerland, but the sheer talent on the team let them advance. Then, sure, they came out and scored 6 times in 13 minutes against Finland. But what about the other 47 minutes? I think the quick start really sucked the life out of the Finns, as we saw what they are capable of last night, down 3-1 after two periods only to score four times in the third to take the bronze.