|
The USA and Canada could play the game if they were teams, but they're collections of players who come from the same country. The team that has played the best based on their talent level in this tourney is clearly Switzerland. Beating the Czechs and shutting out Canada means they are a threat to medal. They realize that the key to winning in a tourney like this is playing solid defense and goaltending. With Hasek out, the Swiss probably have the best goaltending here in that they can start two top-notch goalies (Gerber and Aebischer) while most teams have one (Canada (Brodeur), Germany (Kolzig), Czech Republic (Vokun), Russia (Nabakov) , Finland (Niitimaki) ) or none (everyone else, including the USA, although DiPietro has played pretty well for USA).
The fact that the USA is the oldest team and that Canada is second oldest doesn't help, esp. when playing 4 games in 5 days. The D on both teams has got to be gasping for air...
|