My Prediction for the Canadian Men's Olympic Hockey Team

Once again I will make a consequence free prediction of something that I have no control over.  Frankly you have to think of something while on the throne and multiple neurological studies have demonstrated that the best decisions bubble up from the subconscious to the conscious while in the bathroom.  Apparently, when are brains are distracted with pre-programmed functions it lets are other faculties have time to compute.  Per one podcast I listened to said that one should hold off on making a decision for an hour.  Consume a couple glasses of water and go to the bathroom minutes before you are expected to give your decision.  You are most likely in this circumstance to come up with the best/right decision.

2010 Olympic Gold

My prediction of the 2014 Men's Olympic Hockey Roster:

Canadians make up approximately 60% of NHL rosters and it is often said that we have enough talent/depth to have two Olympic rosters.  However, Russia, Sweden, Czech Republic and the USA all have enough elite talent to challenge for Gold.  In fact Canada has only one twice the Olympic Gold (Salt Lake City 2002 and Vancouver 2010) since they allowed professional hockey players in the 1998 Nagano Olympics.  The Czech Republic won in Nagano and in 2006 Turin Olympics Sweden won.  For the Canadian team it really is a matter of coming together as a team and adjusting to the Olmypic ice hockey surface.

My 2014 Prediction:

Forwards:	Left Winger	Center	Right Winger
Line 1:	Chris Kunitz	Sydney Crosby	Steve Stamkos
Line 2:	Patrick Sharp	Jonathan Toews	Logan Couture
Line 3:	Rick Nash	Ryan Getzlaf	Corey Perry
Line 4:	Martin St. Louis	John Tavares	Patrice Bergeron
Defencemen:	Left Side	Right Side
Pairing 1:	Duncan Keith	Brent Seabrook
Pairing 2:	Shea Weber	Drew Doughty
Pairing 3:	Jay Bouwmeester	Alex Pietranagelo
Goaltenders:	Roberto Luongo
	Carey Price
	Mike Smith

Per the IIHF they are allowed to have a 23 man roster that consists of 3 goalies and a minimum of 12 forwards and 6 defencemen.   So, I'm predicting that they take 1 spare forward and 1 spare defencemen.  My prediction is that they will take Jamie Benn (LW) and P.K. Subban (D).  

I'm not Steve Yzerman the General Manager of the 2014 team, but my logic is rather simple.  For the defencemen take the two best pairs of Canadian defencemen you can find.  Chicago's top pairing is obvious from there recent Stanley cups.  St. Louis pair of Bouwmeester and Pietranagelo arguably the best pair in the NHL at the moment.  That leaves 3 positions for defencemen and I would take the 3 other Canadian players who have been nominated (or won) the Norris Trophy.  

Forwards is incredibly difficult to pick and I imagine my top 9 of my 12 are right.  The players that I'm most unsure of is Kunitz, Nash, St. Louis and Couture.  I'm picking Kunitz because he has great chemistry with Crosby and is playing incredibly well this season.  Similarly, I'm picking St. Louis who has incredible chemistry with Stamkos (who looks on track to return before the Olympics with his broken leg) and St. Louis plays for Yzerman and has played at an elite level for years.  Nash when healthy is one of Canada's elite goal scoring wingers and has missed 14 games due to concussion this season.  He has a strong international playing resume as compared to younger elite wingers such as Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Jamie Benn, Tyler Sequin, and Milan Lucic.  Also, a better commitment to team defense.

Lastly, Couture who has having a great season with San Jose and is now playing better than Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau.  Thornton who is tied for 9th in league scoring and Marleau who is tied  for 13th. There are still many other notable centers such as Mike Richards, Eric Staal, Jason Spezza, Claude Giroux, RNH, and Matt Duchene that are elite Canadian players.  

2010 Men's Olympic Roster:

Forwards:	Left Winger	Center	Right Winger
Line 1:	Rick Nash	Sydney Crosby	Jarome Iglina
Line 2:	Brendan Morrow	Jonathan Toews	Eric Staal
Line 3:	Mike Richards	Ryan Getzlaf	Corey Perry
Line 4:	Danny Heatley	Joe Thornton	Patrick Marleau
Spare:	Patrice Bergeron
Defencemen:	Left Side	Right Side
Pairing 1:	Scott Neidermayer	Chris Pronger
Pairing 2:	Duncan Keith	Brent Seabrook
Pairing 3:	Dan Boyle	Shea Weber
Spare:	Drew Doughty
Goaltenders:	Roberto Luongo
	Martin Brodeur
	Marc-Andre Fleury

Please note that I'am making an educated guess of the forward line combinations from 2010 and the ranking of lines.  I do know that San Jose threesome were a line and that Jarome lined up next to Sydney most of the time.  The defencemen pairings are accurate.

Per my prediction 11 of the 23 players will not be returning from the 2010 roster.  With 2 players who have retired (Neidermayer and Pronger) and with 4 players who's level of play has substantially declined Morrow, Heatley, Iglina, and Fleury.  Thornton and Marleau continue to be elite players at age 34.  Boyle is still offensively dependable at 37.  Richards and Staal continue to be top Centers, but they are pushed down the depth chart behind more elite players.

The scary Truth's of Olympic Hockey:

I'm so looking forward to watching Olympic hockey and I know that Canada winning is not a sure thing.  

• How do you defend a line consisting of Ovechkin and Kovalchuk being centered by either Malkin or Datsyuk? On home ice and Putin is waiving millions of dollars in bonuses at you.  
• Chara!
• The US rightside will consist of Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel and Bobby Ryan.  That is 3 of the top 10 goal scorers in the last 5 seasons.
• A hot goaltender such as Lundqvist, Rask or Miller could carry any team to gold.  It could just take one odd goal to win like Crosby on Miller in 2010.  

Fun Facts:

Scott Neidermayer and a Very Special Boy

• In the 2010 Vancouver Olympics only 2 players actually played on a Canadian team Jarome Iglina and Roberto Luongo the rest of the 23 man roster played on American teams.
• Teemu Selanne is the all-time scoring leader in points at the Olympics with 20 goals and 17 assists for 37 points.  He also has participated in 5 Olympics and most likely a 6th coming 
• Scott Neidermayer who was the Captain of 2010 Olympic Men's hockey team is only player in history to have won a Stanley Cup, Olympic Gold, World Cup, World Jr. Championship and Memorial Cup.  
• The only NHL Player to test positive for a banned substance was Mattias Ohlund (Swedish Defensemen) in 2002 for Acetazolamide a drug he took after getting eye surgery.   He was not suspended for this infraction.  I don't understand how a diuretic is performance enhancing for a hockey player.  I could see someone at the top edge of their weight-class using this to reduced retained water. 

Your thoughts?  Am I more 'Mad' than Mike Milbury?  Please add your comments below.