2010 Winter Olympics: USA Clashes with Swiss in Hockey Quarterfinal Matchup

Do or die is the name of the game from this point on in Men’s Olympic Hockey, and Team USA will kick off their elimination play this afternoon when they go up against Jonas Hiller and the Swiss in a quarterfinal matchup at 3 pm Eastern Time.

The United States enters this game as the top seeded team in the tournament with a perfect record of 3-0-0-0. Switzerland was an opponent of the U.S. earlier in the tourney (last Tuesday) when the American won 3-1. They will be looking for a repeat effort today.

Team USA general manager Brian Burke stated immediately after the win over Canada that he was not particularly pleased with what he has seen from his team so far. He, along with many others that have followed the team, believes that they can be much better than the way they have played to this point.

I think Burke also came out and made that statement to keep his team on their toes, and not think too highly of themselves just because they defeated the Canadians on Sunday.

Switzerland has made it clear that they are not in this tournament to be pushed over by more favored opponents. They came so very close to upsetting Canada last weekend in a tilt that ended in a shootout, and for the most part, have played solid hockey in all of their outings.

The Swiss are not going to be an "easy" task for the United States, and I think Brian Burke knows that, hence the statement he made to the media, making his squad aware of what is to come.

A big part of Switzerland’s success has been because of the play of goaltender Jonas Hiller. Hiller has been unbelievable so far in the Olympic Games, keeping his team in every game and providing them with a chance to win.

Hiller came into the National Hockey League last season with the Anaheim Ducks, where he took over the starting job from veteran netminder J.S. Giguere, who recently has was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Without him, the Swiss would probably have been defeated yesterday by Belarus in the qualifier.

With that being said, the United States offense has a lot of fire power up front, and I think they have not really used it just yet. Patrick Kane, Zach Parise, Paul Stastny, and Phil Kessel are among the forwards who need to step it up on offense for Team USA.

The Americans have been getting scoring from all angles, which is a good thing, but a lot of it has been secondary. The team’s primary scorers have not been all that effective just yet and need to bring their game to the next level in the playoff rounds.

Rangers forward Chris Drury has been one of the better players for Team USA and is opening the eyes of many with his recent play. Chris was one of the more frequently questioned...Continue Reading>> http://www.rangerstribune.com/2010/02/2010-vancouver-olympics-usa-clashes.html