As we head into arguably the most anticipated Olympic men’s hockey tournament ever staged, here are three things to keep an eye on as teams get set to take the ice for the preliminary rounds.
Russian pressure
Canada felt it four years ago, and the gold medal-winning veterans of that famous, history-making 2010 squad can likely shed some light on what it’s like to have the entire weight of an expectant nation sitting squarely on their shoulders.
If it was intense pressure for Sidney Crosby and the Canadians in Vancouver, the pressure on Alexander Ovechkin and the rest of the star-laden Russian squad to win men’s gold on their home ice, the first time Russia has ever hosted a Winter Olympics, will surely be nudging the extreme, particularly as the round robin stages of the tournament give way to medal round playoffs, where heroes – and, for that matter, villains – pockmark Olympic hockey history.
Every single pass, shot and save of the coming Olympic tournament will be dissected by a hockey-mad nation, whose love of the game was perfectly illustrated by the appearance of arguably the country’s greatest-ever player, Vadislav Tretiak (infamous for being the Russian goalie in the 1980 Miracle on Ice loss to Team USA in Lake Placid, but famous for winning Olympic gold medals in 1972, 1976 and 1984 as well as ten World Championship gold medals) alongside Irina Rodnina in the spectacular lighting of the Olympic cauldron.
As with Canada in 2010, it isn’t a stretch to say the entire Russian Olympic performance will be either made or broken on the back of the men’s hockey team.
If Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk don’t fire, Sochi 2014 will likely be branded as a disappointing games for the home nation.
That’s how important hockey is to the Russians, and an illustration of what the Russian skaters have to deal with.
Their ability to absorb and adjust to pressure from all angles, on and off the ice, will be something to watch from the opening face-off against the Slovenians and onward (particularly ahead of the game against the United States) as the tournament progresses.
American goaltending
It’s been an interesting few weeks in the NHL, as observers chart the fortunes of the two men expected to fight out the starting job for Team USA in Sochi.
Buffalo’s Ryan Miller and Los Angeles’ Jonathan Quick are both worthy starters, but there’s been no word on which man will be given the nod when Team USA open their tournament against a potentially-dangerous Slovakian team.
Miller, of course, is famous for his performance in Vancouver, evoking memories of 1980 Miracle on Ice hero Jim Craig, and Quick something of a young upstart, having emerged since the last Olympic tournament as one of the best NHL goaltenders in recent years, backstopping a Stanley Cup title for the Kings in 2012, deservedly winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP along the way.
Unlike four years ago, when Miller was the clear starter over Boston goalie Tim Thomas (and Quick was the third, forgotten net-minder on the roster), both players are vying for the starting job.
Team USA coach Dan Bylsma says he has a plan for the tournament, yet he hasn’t let anyone outside of the team know what it might be.
Here’s my ten cents worth: Miller and Quick are both deserving of an Olympic start, so they’ll both get one early in the tournament, in a setup similar to what Canadian coach Mike Babcock says he’ll do with his two goalies, Roberto Luongo and Carey Price.
Say Miller starts against the Slovaks and Quick guards the net in the second game the Americans have, the big-time showdown against the Russians. Or perhaps it’ll be the other way around, depending on who Bylsma thinks has the best shot to stop the offensive weapons the Russians can ice.
It’s the smart way to test out both goalies out, and it doesn’t require Bylsma having to make a decision until much closer to the medal round.
Czech Republic veterans
The oldest roster – and the one with the most head-scratching omissions of good, deserving players – in Sochi belongs to the Czech Republic.
The Czech hockey brains trust have apparently decided it’s better to go with veterans Petr Nedved and Jaromir Jagr, legends of Olympics past, instead of NHL stand-outs Jiri Hudler (having a great season on a bad Calgary team) and Radim Vrbata (having a great season on an average Phoenix squad), a decision, along with an alarming lack of size among the Czech defencemen, that’s likely to relegate them to the second rung of contenders.
Another strange decision came recently, when winger Vladimir Sobotka was ruled out to be replaced by Martin Erat, an honest journeyman-type in the National Hockey League, and, most importantly, a guy who hasn’t scored a goal in the league in nearly 60 games, over the afore mentioned Vrbata and Hudler.
This selection snafu definitely isn’t Erat’s fault, but it does make you wonder exactly what the Czech Republic’s hockey people have against Hudler and Vrbata.
Looking ahead to their tournament, it isn’t an easy opener for the Czechs, facing ‘King’ Henrik Lundqvist and a pretty good Swedish team, before a game you figure they’ll win against Latvia, and a tilt with Switzerland to close out the group stage.
I’ll be surprised if the Czechs make it out of the group stages and if by hook or by crook they do, I’m betting on a first knockout round elimination.
Let the games begin!
Follow Andrew on Twitter @akitchener
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