Which country will win World Cup?

[Rabid Ranger]

Agreed

Especially considering the last WC Canada didn't even win and I wouldn't call their performance at the Olympics "dominating"

I don't mind admitting Canada could enter two very competitive teams that could win it all, but three? Come on. Besides, only one team can be entered, and the last time I checked Canada's national team hasn't dominated the competition of late. Successful yes, dominate, no.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I want to mention that for all this talk of the U.S. icing a long in the tooth line-up, it's really not true. It will be a veteran team, but most of the players will still be in their prime, and there WILL be a definate infusion of youth at all positions. As for goaltending, if Robert Esche wins the Stanley Cup, some questions should be answered.

 

[Master Kush]

Not bad. You look at Sweden and they may have a good team, but lack the depth. And Forsberg, Sundin, Alfreddson, Naslund aren't quite up there with Canada's top four forwards either whether it be Lemieux, Thornton, Sakic, Iginla, even Heatley. And the USA will have generally the same team from '96, '98 and '02. This time they are all 8 years older. Too old I think and not enough of a defense or a netminder to win it all. My luck Brett Hull and Mike Modano are going to click at the right time, so hopefully not. Russia has the only team whose forward crew can compete well with us but they still dont have the superstars we have. They may be the biggest threat I think. Sweden could do things to. I dont know it'll be a great tourny that's all.

Sweden's top players are easily as good as Canada's, if not better. Jagr, Lang, Elias, Hejduk are right up there too. It depends on how well they play, whether they're hot or cold. Jagr could heat up and dominate the tourny. So could Forsberg.

Honestly, it's too close to call. The tournament is really short, its not like the drawn out playoffs. One bad bounce here and you're eliminated, regardless if you dominated the game or not. And just like in the playoffs, it'll (unfortunately) come down to the goalies.

 

[Leafer4Life]

GO CANADA GO

 

[Nic]

Sweden's top players are easily as good as Canada's, if not better. Jagr, Lang, Elias, Hejduk are right up there too. It depends on how well they play, whether they're hot or cold. Jagr could heat up and dominate the tourny. So could Forsberg.

Honestly, it's too close to call. The tournament is really short, its not like the drawn out playoffs. One bad bounce here and you're eliminated, regardless if you dominated the game or not. And just like in the playoffs, it'll (unfortunately) come down to the goalies.

I think the top forwards for Sweden, Russia, Canada, U.S, the CR, Slovakia, and Finland are all very close in terms of skill. I think the Iginla's, Lang's, Jagr's, Sundin's and other top players of the tournament will all play very well, and "cancel" each other out.

Because of that, the tournament will largely be decided by a combination of these three things (from most important to least)

1) Goaltending- History has shown that a hot goaltender can win games for any team. If Kiprusoff, Vokoun, Brodeur or whomever get hot, they could easily lead their team to victory. That being said, it isn't always necessary to have perfect goaltending to win games. In the recent World Championship, Canada won despite rather mediocre goaltending from Luongo (although he was good when it mattered). Edge: Canada, Finland, Czech Republic

2)Defense- A good defense corps can win games as well. On paper I think the best defense is easily Canada's (two Norris trophy candidates and Blake). Canada's defense is strong, fast, offensively skilled and defensively superior. Edge: Canada

3) Depth at forward- Some teams have killer first and second lines, but get very little production from the other lines. A good example of this would be Slovakia at this years World Championship. On the other hand, Canada, without a doubt, has the most depth of all the countries, in every single position. The "fourth" line on the Canadian team could easily step up and become the "first" line, meaning Canada could choose to roll all four lines if necessary, whereas some teams might have to rely a bit too much on their premier players. The only hard part is picking between all the players. Sweden, the Czech Republic and Russia all also have more then enough good players to ice at least one very good team.

 

[Tuggy]

Come to a Canadian forum an ask who'll win the World Cup ... do you think they will say Czech Republic or Finland?

You run your mouth a lot....who do you think is going to win?

And why wouldn't people pick Canada. They ARE ranked #1, and will remain there until someone beats them.

......

Gold - Canada (depth,depth,depth)
Silver - Czech Rep. (Vokoun)
Bronze - Slovakia (changing of the guard in hockey powers)

 

[Tuggy]

Sweden's top players are easily as good as Canada's, if not better. Jagr, Lang, Elias, Hejduk are right up there too. It depends on how well they play, whether they're hot or cold. Jagr could heat up and dominate the tourny. So could Forsberg.

Honestly, it's too close to call. The tournament is really short, its not like the drawn out playoffs. One bad bounce here and you're eliminated, regardless if you dominated the game or not. And just like in the playoffs, it'll (unfortunately) come down to the goalies.

There is no debating that the top end players on all team are fairly even. But where Canada seperates themselves from everyone else is their increible depth at forward and defense. Any line they put out there is going to be capable of being a top line and same thing with each defensive pairing.

But as you say its a short tourney and all it takes is one bad bounce or off game and you could be in trouble. No matter what happens this is going to be one of the greatest hockey tournments of all time.

 

[mach777]

And Forsberg, Sundin, Alfreddson, Naslund aren't quite up there with Canada's top four forwards either whether it be Lemieux, Thornton, Sakic, Iginla, even Heatley.

Ahh, that is something that remains to be seen.

 

[Robertsson 4-ever]

You look at Sweden and they may have a good team, but lack the depth. And Forsberg, Sundin, Alfreddson, Naslund aren't quite up there with Canada's top four forwards either whether it be Lemieux, Thornton, Sakic, Iginla, even Heatley.

We'll see that. Sweden has as good top-4 forwards as any team IMO, maybe the best. Canada have more depth though, better top-12 forwards.

I'll go with Sweden all the way.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

In order for Finland to win, we need Selänne and Sami Kapanen to find their games of old and Koivu to continue his post-season form..

We also need the youth, OJ, Tuomo, Joni, to succeed on the toughest stage of them all, and then for either Kiprusoff to continue his current form, or Lehtonen to step up and tell the world he's for real.

If those pieces fall into place, and Finland is a great "team" like it usually is, then we can win. If not, it's unlikely, but hey, anything can happen in one game..

 

[Wisent]

Canada is the team to beat but there's a few surprises in store I'm sure...

Sweden could return to it's pre-Belarus Salt Lake City Domination.

Russia could finally awaken from international deep sleep.

USA could finally find serious goaltending (Esche????) to match-up against Canada.

Slovakia could sneak in and knock a big team out.

Finland with a red-hot Kiprusoff in goal could finally beat their rival Sweden.

Czech Republic could pull another Nagano or not...

Germany... oh wait... nevermind.

Germany will it for their resigned coach Hans Zach.

 

[Mowzie]

i bet 9 locks of back hair on Canada. Dont be surprised if Luongo or Theodore steal #1 from Brodeur.

 

[TK79]

I've said it before, Canada can send an A, B, and C team to a world tournament and take 3 of the top 4 spots. Canada has to be the favorite. Czech Republic is my second choice with Vokoun as their goalie...I doubt Hasek will play after his groin surgery. It's a battle for third between Team USA, Sweden and Russia. Don't look past Finland with Kiprusoff likely as the #1 goalie...they do quite well in international competition.

No offense, but no way an Canadian B or C team could beat USA, Sweden or the Czech's.

 

[mach777]

i bet 9 locks of back hair on Canada.

haha

 

[zecke26]

at the moment, germany has more votes than slovakia/russia and the same amount of votes as the czech republic. that's interesting.

but with a new coach, germany will beat the crap out of the other teams. :lol

 

[psycho_dad*]

Finland with a red-hot Kiprusoff in goal could finally beat their rival Sweden.

Last time they clashed with their A teams was in Nagano and Finland sent Sweden packing, so it's hard to understand the "finally".

Canada and USA are the early favourites, but often it comes down to roles. Canada has so much depth, but will they use guys like Joe Thornton in 4th line shutting down the enemies top line?

That's why I think Finland has a chance. Clear cut two offensive lines and experienced pests/grinders/defensive players in 3rd and 4th lines.

Goaltending is not a problem, Kipper right now is as good as anyone in the NHL.

 

[The Austrian]

urgh.. what an ugly trophy for the winner ...

 

[popperbolt*]

urgh.. what an ugly trophy for the winner ...

looks...weird

I voted Russia because....just a feeling

 

[Nic]

No offense, but no way an Canadian B or C team could beat USA, Sweden or the Czech's.

This years Canadian World Championship team could almost be called a "b" team. We did not have Iginla, Sakic, Pronger, Brodeur, Lemieux, Blake, and many other of our top players. I think the Czech Republic, Sweden and Russia will all have many more players from the World Championship team playing in the World Cup.

So could a Canadian "B" team beat the "A" team of the other coutries? Who knows, It is all speculation, although I think it would be closer then some people might believe.....

 

[Cole Caulifield]

i bet 9 locks of back hair on Canada. Dont be surprised if Luongo or Theodore steal #1 from Brodeur.

I'd be quite surprised if Theodore made that team

With Luongo being the goalie winning the gold at the last two world championships and him being touted as the next best thing I see him as a lock to make the team.

Brodeur is the starting goaltender obviously so you're left with one spot to fill and three guys to chose from : Turco, Theodore and Belfour.

None of them is gonna get a sniff of ice. The difference with the performance any of them 3 could offer is not big enough (if there's any) for the management to go with either one of Theodore or Turco. Besides Belfour had the better playoffs, had the better career, has more experience, has won a cup, has already been the 3rd goalie at the olympics, is well known by the coaching staff, etc

What have Theodore and Turco accomplished that would warrant having them in there instead of Brodeur-Luongo-Belfour ?

 

[wilka91*]

This years Canadian World Championship team could almost be called a "b" team. We did not have Iginla, Sakic, Pronger, Brodeur, Lemieux, Blake, and many other of our top players. I think the Czech Republic, Sweden and Russia will all have many more players from the World Championship team playing in the World Cup.

So could a Canadian "B" team beat the "A" team of the other coutries? Who knows, It is all speculation, although I think it would be closer then some people might believe.....

IMO the question is : can a Canadian "A" team beat the "A" team of other countries? It's also speculation, but looking back on the past 2 Olympic games Canada is 1-1 vs. Finland, 1-1 vs. Sweden, 0-1-1 vs Czech Republic, 2-0 vs USA, and 0-0 vs Russia.

So what you see is that basically, over the last 2 Olympics Canada has dominated 1 opponent, and it's the US, so all the talk about A, B or C teams is simply irrelevant.

Damn ... it's amazing, I just realized Canada is just 4-3-1 against the other top 6 Nations, and especially under .500 against European teams!

 

[mackdogs*]

It's quite amazing what you can find when you only look for the negative in things.

Be sure not to include all those tourney wins..

 

[psycho_dad*]

It's quite amazing what you can find when you only look for the negative in things.

Be sure not to include all those tourney wins..

I thought he was just telling the truth about last two olympics where the stars have been able to play. Negative or not, it is the truth. What tourney wins should he include? Canada was 4th in Nagano and 1st in Salt lake. And that other guy already listed how the games have gone. No reason to be ashamed, just goes to show that all these teams really do have a chance.

 

[wilka91*]

I thought he was just telling the truth about last two olympics where the stars have been able to play. Negative or not, it is the truth. What tourney wins should he include? Canada was 4th in Nagano and 1st in Salt lake. And that other guy already listed how the games have gone. No reason to be ashamed, just goes to show that all these teams really do have a chance.

That's exactly what I meant. These are just facts.

 

[DownFromNJ]

I voted Russia because I have a feeling they will pull it all together, but the Czechs and Canadians could both easily win. Sweden too.