Quote:
Originally Posted by Rerun
If anybody other than Canada, Russia, Sweden, and I'll even throw USA in there, won the gold medal it would be a HUGE upset. When teams like Canada and Russia can lay a 15-0 pounding on other teams that are in the A division, I say there really isn't much competition.
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First, please find me a 15-0 win at any of the last 3 Olympics, good luck because it didn't happen. The most lopsided result in 06 was a 9-2 win by Russia over Latvia, the same Latvian team that tied the US. In 02 the most lopsided result was a couple 8-1 losses by Belarus, the same Belarus that finished 4th.
Second, Finland, Slovakia and the Czechs are all legitimate contenders for Gold. Finland is the defending silver medalist, Slovakia went undefeated in the opening round in 06, and the Czechs took the bronze in 06. None of those teams are noticeably worse than they were 4 years ago, in fact some of them might be better.