2010 Olympic Hockey Stars Shining as Expected

The build up to this tournament has been like none before and the players and teams are living up to the hype.

There is no bigger stage for hockey than the Olympics as the world tunes in to watch the greatest players on the planet.

Whether it’s been Team Canada, with Sidney Crosby along side Jerome Iginla and Rick Nash, or Alexander Ovechkin out on the power play with Ilya Kovalchuk and Sergei Gonchar, it’s been off the hook for hockey fans everywhere.

The reappearance of Jaromir Jagr, Peter Forsberg, Alexander Radulov, and Alexei Morozov to the North American stage from the European leagues has been thrilling.

Aside from a few expected blowouts the level of competition at this tournament has been solid.

In Group A, Canada beating Norway badly 8-0 was pretty much a given, but now they will play the Swiss, who gave the USA a good go in a 3-1 losing cause.

The Swiss, who ousted Canada from the 2006 Olympic Games in what was dubbed “The Shroud of Turin” where Martin Gerber shut out Canada and stunned the hockey world, has been on the minds of Team Canada.

You can bet the Canadians won’t take this game lightly and won’t let up as goal differential play a role in the seeding. But don’t think for a moment that the Swiss have forgotten that game either and will be bringing their A-game.  

The battle in Group B with Russia, the Czechs, and Slovaks may prove to be the most competitive bunch, though in Group C Germany gave Sweden a run for their money and the Finnish team played a close one until the end with Belarus.

The Slovaks may be a little tired playing back to back days as they face the offensive onslaught of the Russians but they will be battling with everything.

The USA will want to prove that they can hang with the big teams and try their best to get their offence up to par as they face the lowly Norwegians, who will fight tooth and nail not to be blown out again.

Pretty much every game from here on in has a great storyline and the games will become tighter and tighter as they all proceed towards the qualification round and the knockout stage.

The excitement has been building and will continue to until the medal rounds, which should draw a record number of viewers from around the world and may have some unexpected teams in them.

Enjoy the games! Follow me on Twitter for updates and hockey talk.

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