Q: Which team is the favorite to win gold in hockey?
Phil Friend: By all estimations it's a two-team race in men's hockey.
Sean Stevenson: Two-team race? Let's just give the gold to Canada already and call it a day. They're more superior than any other squad and the drama surrounding executive director Mr. Gretzky will have no effect on this team.
PF: You don't think so? Are you serious? You don't think the man in charge of Team Canada being involved in a huge gambling scandal won't affect the team at all? I disagree with that.
SS: Gretzky told reporters during his press conference today that he would no longer address the subject during the Olympics, although that definitely won't keep it from being mentioned during every Canadian game. The Canadian hockey players, however, won't let that distraction take away from their hopes of winning gold. They've put too much work and heart into the Olympics to be so easily distracted.
PF: Work and heart is a loose term. They take a two-week break from the National Hockey League season to play. And the get what, like two days of practice as a team. The U.S. won't even get 24 hours together as a team before its first game. That being said, I think Team Canada is more talented than the rest of the countries.
SS: Especially poor USA. Only two players made it to Turin before the blizzard hit the East Coast and stranded the rest of the team. How much of an effect on team chemistry and preparation remains to be seen but this situation can't help the already stacked odds against the U.S. squad.
PF: Yeah it's going to take another 1980-like run for the Americans. I'm not sold on their goaltending situation. In fact, I can only name one of the goalies off the top of my head, Rick DiPietro, who is expected to start. Can you name five other Team USA players without looking them up?
SS: It'd be easier to name the team captain of the Kazakhstan curling team. No, I can't name five other Team USA members and it wouldn't matter if they won gold because I still probably couldn't. U.S. hockey only mattered in 1980 and it's not going to matter in 2006.
PF: USA Hockey matters only to a select few. And they are all probably associates of Rick Tocchet. Let's switch gears. What do you think of Todd Bertuzzi being selected to Team Canda?
SS: It'd be kind of like putting Ron Artest on the U.S. men's basketball team. He used violence in his sport and he got punished for it. If he's performing well enough to make the team, good for him. I think his teammates should have the final say.
PF: You are definitely in the minority in that theory. But I would somewhat agree with you. He had paid the price, so let's move on. Where do you think the U.S. will finish? I think they'll get a bronze.
SS: They could squeeze out a bronze but they need some help from the other teams falling on their faces. I'd say it looks like a fourth-place finish for the U.S.
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