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Early look at Olympic Hockey
by Matthew
Russian sensation
With the upcoming Olympics, comes the betting frenzy that is Olympic hockey. We're not talking about Italy versus France, we're talking about the contenders for the Gold. BetUS has your action for all of the big matchups.
Now, it's a little too early to handicap the teams we believe will excel, but it isn't too soon to tell you which clubs will not factor in the final game.
As everyone knows, goaltending is the crucial ingredient to any top team. Countries such as Canada and the Czech Republic have it in spades, while other nations will struggle to find a decent netminder. The U.S. and Slovakia in particular will struggle on the back end with their goaltending. Team USA will go with Robert Esche and Rick DiPietro, while Slovakia will rely on Peter Budaj and Jan Lasak- hardly combos that strike fear in the eyes of international snipers. Russia was in this category in 2002, but they've upgraded their goaltending depth this time around.
However, when it comes to the Russians, their firepower can more than make up for any shortcomings in goal or on defense. Rookie sensation Alexander Ovechkin has been nothing short of brilliant, making Russia the second-favorite behind Canada at this point in my mind.
In terms of other squads to keep in mind, Sweden and Finland have also gotten stronger in nets, although both countries will feature young netminders, hardly equalling the experience of a backstopper such as Martin Brodeur with Canada.
More to come on this topic in the coming weeks, as BetUS gets you prepared for Olympic hockey betting.
