Gold or Bust: Part 4

Hey guys, so here's my last part of my Olympic preview.  Of course, as new stories and developments unfold towards the Olympics, I'll probably revisit these posts.

To recap, here's my projected line-up for Team Canada

Forwards:

Nash---Crosby---Tavares

Staal---Stamkos---St. Louis

Sharp---Toews---Eberle

Marchand---Bergeron---Iginla

Spares: Giroux, Carter

Defence:

Subban-Letang

Weber-Phaneuf

Seabrook-Keith

Spares: Green, Bouwmeester

Goaltenders:

Starter: Price

Backup: Luongo

Spare: Crawford/Holtby

As far as who gets the 'C' and 'A's, I have my favourites, but it likely wont happen.  Crosby will likely end up with the 'C', but I hope not.  Not to knock his talent or anything he brings to the team, but he's not a leader to this group of players.  I'll give Eric Staal the 'C'.  I'd give it to Iginla in my roster, but he's not even invited to camp, so I wont push my luck.  St. Louis should get an 'A', based on his experience and leadership qualities.  Toews will probably get an 'A' on his jersey too, but I'd rather Seabrook have it, based on what I seen during the Cup run this past year.  And just for sake of naming a spare, I'll give Crosby the final 'A'.  It's against my will, but its almost inevitable, so I might as well call it now.

As far as coaching goes, Canada made all the right moves.  Babcock is the best coach Canada has, by far.  Julien and Ruff will enforce accountability and discipline in the lineup, but will promote a physical style of play that suits Canada's strengths.  Hitchcock is one of the best defensive coaches in league history, and will make sure the "scoring superstars" will play 2-way hockey.  Overall, Canada couldn't ask for a better coaching staff, and their team doesn't have many big weaknesses, so there's no reason to doubt them being gold-medal favourites this time around.

But speaking of, how about I give a quick little prediction on how the teams will end up there?  Please note, this is a game-by-game simulation, following the full format of the games.  However, the game results are determined ... by guess work.  I can't see the future, but I'll predict the games as best I could relative to how well the teams have played in the last few years.  Purely a guess-stimation.

Legend: Win-OTwin-OTloss-Loss

Group A

1. Russia 3-0-0-0

2. Slovakia 1-1-0-1

3. USA 0-1-1-1

4. Slovenia 0-1-0-2

Russia will sweep all 3 games.  Slovakia will beat Slovenia, and beat USA in OT/SO.  USA will crack and beat Slovenia in OT/SO, and lose to Slovakia in OT/SO.

Group B

1. Canada 2-1-0-0

2. Finland 2-0-1-0

3. Norway 1-0-0-2

4. Austria 0-0-0-3

Canada and Finland will sweep through Norway and Austria, with Canada beating Finland in OT/SO to win the group.  Norway will get it's only win against Austria.

Group C

1. Sweden 2-0-1-0

2. Switzerland 1-1-1-0

3. Czech Republic 1-0-0-2

4. Latvia  0-1-0-2

Sweden will take out Czechs and Latvia, and lose to Switzerland in OT/SO.  The Swiss will beat the Czechs, beat Sweden in OT/SO, and in their usual fashion, lose to Latvia in OT/SO. The Czechs' only win will be against Latvia.

Round Robin Standings

1. Russia

2. Canada

3. Sweden

4. Finland

5. Switzerland

6. Slovakia

7. Czech Republic

8. Norway

9. USA

10. Latvia

11. Slovenia

12. Austria

Playoffs Round One

5. Switzerland beats 12. Austria

6. Slovakia beats 11. Slovenia

7. Czech Rep. beats 10. Latvia

9. USA beats 8. Norway

Quarter-Finals

1. Russia beats 9. USA

2. Canada beats 7. Czech Rep. (in OT/SO)

6. Slovakia beats 3. Sweden (in OT/SO)

5. Switzerland beats 4. Finland

Semi-Finals

1. Russia beats 6. Slovakia

2. Canada beats 5. Switzerland (in OT/SO)

Bronze Medal Game

5. Switzerland beats 6. Slovakia

Gold Medal Game

2. Canada beats 1. Russia

GOLD: Canada

SILVER: Russia

BRONZE: Switzerland

Thats enough crystal ball for me today.  Without pulling the bias card, Canada will easily top their group, play 2 tough games against very slightly inferior opponents, and finally gel as a team at the end to take out Russia.  Russia will dominate until the end, and Switzerland and Slovakia will be the successful underdogs of the tournament.  Sadly, for my American readers, being taken out by Russia twice, Slovakia, and choking against an underdog as per usual like Slovenia, it wont be a tournament to remember.

But that's just my prediction.  Who do you think is going to take gold?  Give me your predictions in the comment section.

Is it February yet?