2010 Vancouver Olympics: The Road to Gold for Team USA

It may not have sunken in immediately, but after some thought, it has come to me that Team USA should not have much of a problem getting into the Gold Medal Game, which is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 28. Last night's 5-3 win over Canada has provided the Americans with a list of benefits, including getting a bye in the qualifying round and an automatic free ride to the Quarterfinals.

Switzerland and Belarus will go head-to-head tomorrow in a qualifying matchup, and the winner, who I am thinking will be the Swiss, will move on to play Team USA this Wednesday in the semi-final game. The Swiss came very close to pulling off an upset over the Canadians last week, but the chances of that happening against the United States are slim. Canada has a ton of pressure on them and entered the games thinking they automatically will finish the tournament with a Gold Medal hung around their neck. The U.S., on the other hand, come in as the underdogs and no one expecting them to make any noise at all.

Team USA handled the Swiss in the preliminary round, 3-1, so why shouldn't they be able to do just that once again in the playoffs? It seems as if they are getting better and better as each game is played, and they are getting contributions from all angles. In every contest there is a different individual effort that lifts this team to a win, for example, last night was Ryan Miller, even though he wasn't much of a story in the first two games of the tournament.

So if the United States defeats Switzerland, they then go on to play the winner of Finland and the Czech Republic, that is assuming the Czech defeat Team Latvia in the qualifier. This will not be an easy one to win for the United States, no doubt about that... Continue Reading>>> http://www.rangerstribune.com/2010/02/2010-vancouver-olympics-road-to-gold.html