World Cup of Hockey

My brother tells me I need to post more so here it goes.

Canada kicks off their World Cup of Hockey tournament tonight in a beauty way with a rematch against the '96 defending champs, the USA.

On paper I would say that Canada should not only win, but win decisively. However, I think Canadians everywhere thought that way 8 years ago when the US shocked everyone to win the tournament. Mind you, they won mostly because they Mike Richter played the best hockey of his life in that tournament.

This year though, the US is without Mr. Richter and will be backstopped by a trio of unproven netminders in Robert Esche, Ty Conklin, and Rick DiPietro. Esche will get the start tonight against the Canadians but it doesn't sound like he's the #1 guy by any means. Fact is, none of these guys are going to lead the US to a title in this year's tournament.

Goaltending will not be their downfall though, age will. As the game of hockey continues to evolve, youth and an ability to play within a system will win over veteran experience and "big names". Even with big name guys like Mike Modano, Bill Guerin, Brett Hull, Brian Leetch and Chris Chelios, I still think the US will finish near the bottom of this tournament.

Give me guys like Ryan Smyth, Kris Draper, Patrick Marleau and Jarome Iginla any day.

I like what Wayne Gretzky and co. have done with this World Cup team. I like their selections and I like the direction they are heading in for the future. The fact that we could have a fourth line of Shane Doan, Joe Thornton and Brendan Morrow gives me a great deal of hope for this team (that line could be a #1 line for any other country).

As this might be our only taste of world class hockey for a few months I plan to enjoy this tournament as much as possible. I expect big things from the Canadian boys and I think anything less then winning it all will be a disappointment.

I think our best competition may very well come from Finland. They looked phenomenal in yesterday's opener against the Czech's. Mika Kiprusoff appears ready to start up where he left off and that in itself makes Finland a dangerous team. The Slovaks also have a great offensive attack, and against what I believe to be a shaky Canadian defence, could cause some problems for us if Brodeur is not on his game.

My question is why is Simon Gagne so high on the list of Canadian talent? Watching Bob Mackenzie on TSN last night, he mentioned that Gagne was one of the foregone concluded guys to dress in every game in this tournament. Guys who were on the bubble- Doan, Thornton, Draper, Maltby and Smyth. Outside of the fact that Gagne has Olympic experience I don't really see what the big deal is about this guy? I think Doan is one of the best young forwards in the game, as are Smyth and Thornton. To sit any of those 3 guys out would be a crime as far as I'm concerned. Being that I'm a die-hard Wings fan, I'd hate to see Drapes and Maltby ride the pine as well. However, I can concede that, outside of their penalty killing prowess, either of them would probably be a good candidate to sit. Especially Maltby.

Whatever happens, the decisions will not be easy for Pat Quinn and his coaching staff.

Anyways, if you're a hockey fan, take advantage of being able to watch this tournament because from the sounds of it, it's going to be a long time before we see these players competing at this level again.

Thank goodness for Junior hockey.

Keep your stick on the ice.