LOS ANGELES – The World Cup of Hockey is finally heading to the tournament phase and out of the preliminary games. We have a ranking of the teams as they head to the real games.
Canada – It’s Canada’s tournament to lose. I mean they created the World Cup so they didn’t have to go to the Olympics to prove they’re the best hockey country in the World. Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews lead a Hall of Fame list of forwards. The US tried to intimidate Canada in the warmup games but couldn’t. Canada left Kris Letang and PK Subban of their defense and it’s still the best in the World. Canada’s only possible Achilles Heel coach Mike Babcock’s stubbornness. If goalie Carey Price can’t shake off rust and Babcock doesn’t turn to Brandon Holtby or Corey Crawford then the Canadians will be fine.
Russia – The Russians have more offensive weapons then a Kremlin May Day Parade. The Russian roster of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Nikita Kucherov, Vlad Tarasenko and more will score enough goals. The problem is Russia hasn’t produced a number one defenseman in a generation. In net, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky looked good in the warmup games and either he or Andrei Vasilevskiy could lead Russia to gold.
North America – The “Young Guns” are the most exciting team in hockey since you created your own All Star team in Sega 94. Conor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Austin Matthews, Dylan Larkin and Johnny Hockey Gaudreau can definitely put the biscuit in the basket but can they defend. Aaron Ekblad is a beast but there is only one of him on defense. Reigning Stanley Cup winning net minder Matt Murray givers the kids more than a fighting chance and the kids won’t be scared.
United States – The United States hockey despot John Tortorella wanted a team of third liners and left some bona fide goal scorers at home. Among Tortorella’s other genius moves is moving Big Buff Dustin Byfuglien to forward, minimizing his effectiveness. Tortorella wants to play this mini tournament in September as a seven-game series in May. He’s lucky two-time Stanley Cup winning goalie Jonathan Quick is talented enough to make Torts look smart.
Sweden – Sweden is everyone’s darling pick in this tournament except mine. Sure their defense is loaded but their offense is aging, Sweden is counting on the Sedins. Vancouver can’t even count on Sedins. Sweden excels in International play but this tournament will be played on NHL not Olympics sized ice. One more question mark. Is Henrik Lunqvist still King Henry?
Europe – This team is hockey’s version of The Expendables. This roster is filled with veteran killers like Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik who still have some gas in the tank. Others are running on fumes. Zdeno Chara has aged worse than Sly Stallone, He’s looked like an orange traffic cone in the pre-tourney games this summer. The team is captained by Anze Kopitar so don’t count them out. He led tiny Slovenia to some Olympic wins.
Finland – Finland is a solid hockey country and this is a good team but this is hockey’s deep end of the pool. They’ll no longer be getting wins off the little countries that make up Team Europe. Team Finland will play hard but Leo Komarov’s cheap shots don’t count as goals
Czech Republic – The Czech Republic beat Russia in their first exhibition game and the Republic’s expectations went sky high. The truth is the Czech’s caught Russia off guard. Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek aren’t walking thru that door and neither is the World Cup.
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