Wednesday's Olympic Hockey

Wednesday's Olympic Hockey
By Judd Hall

The second day of the men’s hockey tournament doesn’t have the same star power as what we saw on Tuesday. It does, however, give us another chance to act on the haves and have-nots in international hockey. Let’s look at Wednesday’s set of contests.

Finland vs. Belarus – 3:00 p.m. EST

There was a time that you would think that Finland would challenge for the gold medal in this tourney. When your top player is a 40-year old Teemu Selanne, you can’t be shocked that you’re listed at 18/1 to win. And yes, I know they loss to Sweden in the 2006 Gold Medal Game. But having him as your top scoring threat shows the lack of depth the Fins have on their roster.

One thing the Fins do have is quality goaltending in the form of Miikka Kiprusoff. The only problem is that he hasn’t had the best defense in front of him recently, despite stopping 92 percent of the shots he saw in his last four starts.

Belarus doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of men right now when you think of them at the rink. And this year will be no different for them. Gone from their depth chart are the talents of Andrei Kostitsyn and Mikhail Grabovsky on the attack. That essentially leaves Sergei Kostitsyn as the main offensive threat from the NHL on the roster.

There isn’t enough firepower on Finland to light the lamp as much as people think. Plus, Belarus has a decent blue line with Ruslan Salei, so they’ll stay close.

This game looks like it will stay away from being a lopsided affair.

Fearless Selection: ‘Under’ 5 ½ (+100)

Sweden vs. Germany – 7:30 p.m. EST

While everyone is talking about either Canada or Russia winning it all, the defending champs might have something to say. Sweden is listed at 6/1 to win the gold medal this year by Sportsbook.com. There isn’t much to think that they can’t do it again. Henrik and Daniel Sedin will be playing on their home ice (both play for the Canucks), while Henrik Zetterberg gets a chance to show why he’s one of the best pivots in the NHL today.

The Swedes also have an ace in the hole with New York’s Henrik Lundqvist between the pipes. Lundqvist has a .919 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.52 in February. And if he’s hot, they’re tough to beat.

As far as the Germans are concerned, they need goalie Thomas Greiss to step up as the starter. San Jose’s backup netminder has been no stranger to high shot totals in his 12 appearances in the NHL. He’s seen at least 30 shots on goal in five of those games, winning three of them.

Another thing to look at with Germany is that they have only seven players with NHL experience. That matters when you consider we’re playing on NHL sized-ice, not the international sheet that most of their players are used to playing on. That will hurt them in this game.

Fearless Selection: Sweden on the puck line (-3 ½, -110)

Czech Republic vs. Slovakia – 11:55 p.m. EST

If there is one thing I can say that the Czech Republic has, it’s they have scorers. Tomas Plekanec has been fantastic for Montreal this season (17 goals, 43 assists). You can’t forget about Martin Havlat or Patrik Elias. The real wild card that people have forgotten about is Jaromir Jagr, who has 22 goals for Avangard Omsk in the KHL. You think he might use this tourney on NHL ice as a potential job interview? The Czechs also have a top puck-stopper in Tomas Vokoun of the Panthers.

Slovakia would actually pose a threat in this game, but losing Marian Gaborik for the first two tilts of group play is a real buzzkill. They can still give the Czechs fits with Marian Hossa on the attack and Zdeno Chara on the blue line. The Slovaks also have some good goaltending in their midst with Montreal’s Jaroslav Halak and Peter Budaj of the Avalanche.

This is easily the most competitive matchup in the first two days of Olympic play. Why not take the chance on Slovakia coming through as an underdog?

Fearless Selection: Slovakia on the money line (+235)

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