Commentary on Sunday's games and look ahead to medal round

The moniker "Super Sunday" seemed appropriate in describing the hockey action in Vancouver yesterday. Russia and the Czech Republic battled it out to determine the winner of group B, while Sweden and Finland renewed hostilities to determine the winner of that group. Russia showcased its talent, and Evgeni Malkin wants a little recognition (it seems he will always be under either Crosby or Ovechkin's shadow) with 3 points yesterday, including a huge goal on the powerplay. Sweden showed that Finland may not be as good as the Finns might think. Kipprusoff looked shakey at times last night in goal, but his defense was of little to no help. They should be grateful that they were able to pull out a first round bye, despite losing. But obviously, yesterday was about the huge upset of team Canada by the young guns of the United States. This was the biggest upset for team USA in some time, some would say their biggest since beating the USSR in 1980 in Lake Placid. However, such a comparison is ridiculous and carried no weight. Their upset was big, no doubt about that (it even got casual American sports fans talking about hockey, as shocking as it may seem). But to compare it to the biggest upset in the history of sports (I think its more like the 96 world championships, the last time the USA beat Canada) ignores the fact that the United States' roster is now comprised entirely of elite NHL talent, not the college kids that took on the highly trained and experienced Soviet squad back in 1980 who had beaten NHL teams, including NHL all-star teams. That's not to say the win wasn't exciting, as beating Canada without Mike Komisarek or Paul Martin speaks volumes about the depth of the USA team. They are now the top seed. The onus is on America to take care of business in what would otherwise be called an easy route to the gold medal game. Sunday was everything any hockey fan could have wanted to see. Here's the breakdown of the bracket's first round, game by game, and a quick overview of how I see the whole tournament going.

FEB 23-
1:00- #8 SWITZERLAND VS. #9 BELARUS (WINNER PLAYS #1 USA)
- This is an interesting matchup of lower teams, with the Swiss being the more defensive minded (and having an NHL goalie in Jonas Hiller) team and the Belarussians the more offensive. However, these games often come down to holding the defensive fort and not allowing the other team to score late in the game. Switzerland is simply the better team in this case (they held the USA to 3 goals and took Canada to a shootout). Switzerland moves on, 2-0 to get another crack at the Americans.

5:30- #6 CANADA VS. #11 GERMANY (WINNER PLAYS #3 RUSSIA)
- Canada has really put themselves in an awkward position with the way they finished pool play. They did not want to see Russia until the gold medal game, much less the quarterfinals, but they have only themselves to blame for not putting away Switzerland as they should have and not matching the grit of the Americans. Goaltending is in question now for Canada, do you stick with Brodeur, who hasn't looked good at all, or go with Roberto Luongo, who shut out Norway. The shocker in this case would be if Mike Babcock decides to ride the most clutch goalie he has into the tournament in Marc-Andre Fleury. This game is a no brainer for Canada, don't expect it to be close as they'll want to bounce back from that heartbreaker against the USA. Canada is loaded, Germany isn't. 6-0 at least. Let the pandamonium that will be Canada Vs. Russia ensue.

8:00- #5 CZECH REPUBLIC VS. #12 LATVIA (WINNER PLAYS #4 FINLAND)
- These two teams have already played once, with the Czechs taking a 5-2 win. Not much will change, except the margin might get a little bigger. The Czechs have it, and will take it easily. Finland and the Czechs should be a surprisingly good game.

10:00- #7 SLOVAKIA VS. #11 NORWAY (WINNER PLAYS #2 SWEDEN)
- The last two games on the first day of medal round play certainly don't look to have much excitement. These will be blowouts, and Norway hasn't really been able to show any adversity so far in this tourny. Watch for Norway to try to play dirty, as it did against the USA, in order to try to win. They won't, though.

SPECULATION TIME:
- Here, I'll pick the rest of the bracket. At the end of the tournament, everyone can look back at how wrong I was (My gold medal game was Russia Vs. Canada, thats already wrong).

USA/SWITZERLAND- USA WINS 5-1
FINLAND/CZECH REPUBLIC- FINLAND WINS 4-3
SWEDEN/SLOVAKIA- SWEDEN WINS 5-2
CANADA/RUSSIA- CANADA WINS 5-4

USA/FINLAND- USA WINS 3-1
SWEDEN/CANADA- CANADA WINS 4-2

BRONZE GAME:
FINLAND/SWEDEN- SWEDEN WINS 2-1

GOLD GAME:
USA/CANADA- CANADA WINS 4-3