Olympic Men`s Hockey Breakdown part 1

Their are four teams who will compete for gold,silver and bronze in the 2010 Olympics. Who will win gold? lets break down the four teams.

Team USA

Goaltenders
•Tim Thomas, 35 (Boston Bruins)
•Ryan Miller, 29 (Buffalo Sabres)
•Jonathan Quick, 24 (Los Angeles Kings)

USA has very good goal tending Ryan Miller is having a terrific season with 30 wins a .930 save percentage and a 2.16 goals against average which is good enough for second in the NHL. Ryan miller is going to see much of the work for team USA. Tim Thomas who has struggled this year after winning the vezina last year. Tim Thomas has shown signs of life this year and if called upon i believe will do just fine. Jonathan Quick like Ryan miller is having a terrific season with 35 wins a .907 save percentage and a 2.53 goals against average in just his second full season. If called upon i think he can really surprise people.


Forwards
•Zach Parise, 25 (New Jersey Devils)
•Chris Drury, 32 (New York Rangers)
•Dustin Brown, 25 (Los Angeles Kings)
•Jamie Langenbrunner, 34 (New Jersey Devils)
•Paul Stastny, 24 (Colorado Avalanche)
•David Backes, 25 (St. Louis Blues)
•Patrick Kane, 21 (Chicago Blackhawks)
•Phil Kessel, 22 (Toronto Maple Leafs)
•Ryan Kesler, 25 (Vancouver Canucks)
•Bobby Ryan, 22 (Anaheim Ducks)
•Joe Pavelski, 25 (San Jose Sharks)
•Ryan Malone, 31 (Tampa Bay Lightning)
•Ryan Callahan, 24 (New York Rangers)

Up front USA is a young and very skilled group. Kane and Parise should lead the way for USA, Parise has a nose for the net and knows how to get open. Kane has a terrific release and knows how to finish plays off. David Backes and Dustin Brown play a similar game, they love to hit and can run you over, but can also score some goals. Ryan Malone,Ryan Callahan and Jamie Langenbrunner will be the shut down guys for USA. Malone is a big body and Callahan is a very good shut down guy and is great in his own zone. USA i think can score goals and definitely compete.

Defense

•Brian Rafalski, 36 (Detroit Red Wings)
•Ryan Suter, 25 (Nashville Predators)
•Erik Johnson, 21 (St. Louis Blues)
•Brooks Orpik, 29 (Pittsburgh Pittsburgh)
•Jack Johnson, 23 (Los Angeles Kings)
•Ryan Whitney, 26 (Anaheim Ducks)
•Tim Gleason, 27 (Carolina Hurricanes)

Here is where USA will struggle. USA has a very young defense and alot of unknowns. Ryan Suter,Jack and Erick Johnson are very good young defense men but in their first Olympics can they generate enough offense and play good enough defensively for USA to go far in the Olympics is yet to be seen. Rafalski is the veteran on this defense and will have to lead this defense if USA wants to go anywhere in the Olympics, but at age 36 can Rafalski still do it? Ryan Whitney will also be counted on to genrate some offense.Orpik and Gleason will have to be steady defensively for USA to make any noise in this Olympics.