roshiajin said:
Canada is highly overrated. Something natural granted that there's a majority of Canadians here, but let's face facts : in 2 Olympics, Canada played about 2 convincing games, both vs the USA btw.
It's not the World Cup, therefore Canada's play will more resemble that of the WCH'05 than the World Cup 04. And I'm still convinced that Canada is weak when playing outside North America. All I ask is to be proven wrong, but I think this team could finish anywhere in the top 5.
OK I'm outta here before somebody punches me in the face.
I don't think their is anything "weak" about Canada no matter where they are playing. Their are some adjustments that need to be made when playing under International Rules but North American players will be more prepared for that then ever, now that that the NHL has adopted stricter obstruction rules, removed the 2 line passing rule, and adopted the shootout. I don't agree that Canada is overrated, they are deffinitely the favorite going into the Olympics based on overall team balance and depth.
I do think some Canadians are underrating the opposition though, its not going to be as easy as some are thinking, the talent level of the other teams is very comparable, and in a short tournament anything can happen (ie..Belarus vs Sweden). I would say the biggest threat to Canada is the Czechs, I especially don't like their chance's against them if it got to a shootout, Hasek is better on breakaways then both Brodeur and Luongo, and they have some deadly shooters.