Last year about this time, we projected what the rosters for the top seven hockey-playing countries would look like for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics (and reposted it in October). Well, now is a pretty good time to take a second look at those roster projections and make any necessary adjustments.
Instead of doing all seven teams (eight counting a Canada “B” team) in one gargantuan blog post, we are doing this over the course of a few days. We’ve covered the Czech Republic and Slovakia — up today is the great country of Finland, which is always a bit of a wild card in these tournaments.
SEE RELATED:
FINLAND
Forwards
Niklas Hagman-Mikko Koivu-Teemu Selanne
Jussi Jokinen-Olli Jokinen-Tuomo Ruutu
Sean Bergenheim -Saku Koivu-Antti Miettinen
Vile Leino-Valtteri Filppula-Jere Lehtinen
Lauri Korpikoski-Jarkko Ruutu
Defensemen
Kimmo Timonen-Sami Salo
Joni Pitkanen-Ville Koistenen
Toni Lydman-Teppo Numminen
Ossi Vaananen
Goaltenders
Mikka Kiprusoff
Niklas Backstrom
Pekka Rinne
Skinny: There is enough talent here to win a quarterfinal game and get into the medal conversation. The big questions are Kiprusoff or Backstrom in net and how much will the smaller ice be a detriment? There could be three sets of brothers on this team, and that’s leaving off the Kapanen boys. There are some old guys who could pass on playing (Selanne, Numminen, Lehtinen) but if they aren’t out-muscled on the NHL ice a silver repeat of 2006 isn’t out of the question if they pick the right goaltender.
Monday: It is Big Four time, and first up is Tre Kronor (that’s the team Nicklas Backstrom will play for).
