Olympic hockey 2014: Can Team USA Bring Home Gold?

As we all know the 2014 winter games are well under way and it’s been great to watch thus far but soon what many have been waiting for will start. The ice hockey tournament will begin today and then we will be able to follow and watch to see who will come out on top. Regarding the odds, this USA club is not even being considered a medal team. I wonder if they could overcome that and bring home the gold?

Looking at how this team will match up against everyone else the first thing that I see is the scoring. Having a bunch of power/role guys makes a team unite very well but when you begin to look for goals that could be hard to come by. Don’t get me wrong this team will have two solid lines that should produce goals regularly but after that it could be a mystery as too where other goals will come from.

On the other side of the ice team USA’s defense and goal-tending may be the way the USA climbs up the standings as they should be stout. The defense first looks to have multiple shut down lines and they will play nicely in their favor. With players on the back end coming back to play again and gaining that experience it will have them ready to take on the highly talented scoring clubs.

Along with the defense the goal-tending will be something many of us wait to see as to who will actually play. There have been reports that a guy has been selected as the number one by the coaching staff but it seems they will not release their decision just yet. Many people I’ve talked to believe the guy that should be between the pipes is Ryan Miller. His great play in the past games along with the experience gained I believe gives him the upper hand. That with the way Miller has been playing this season will make it interesting to see who will play. Many who have watched the Sabres this year may say their terrible and what has he done but watching a lot of their games he has been great and flat out amazing at times. The other two guys in the running are Jonathan Quick of the Kings and Jimmy Howard with the Red Wings. Also here is the rest of the USA roster.

Looking at the two teams that I think will give USA trouble are Canada and Russia. Just seeing the scoring power Canada has on their roster along with the Russians feeding off the home fans it looks like they could be tough tasks. We’ll have to see how it plays out but this USA team could turn some heads come the start of the tournament. Could they take gold? I’m not sure of that but it will be a must watch during these 2014 winter games.