Well Matra and I were discussing hockey in the soccer thread so I figure that we may as well spill it over here.

This will be the third time Canada has hosted the Olympics - 1976 in Montreal (in Quebec, Summer) and 1988 in Calgary (in Alberta, Winter) being the other two times. Canada is one of two nations, the other being Yugoslavia, that has hosted the Olympic games and never won a gold while hosting. We are looking to rectify that this time around.

For those that don't know, Vancouver is located on the west coast in the province of British Columbia - there are lots of mountains nearby (the Rockies) and BC is supposedly very scenic. Vancouver is supposed to be a nice city and it's located east of Vancouver Island, right near the Pacific Ocean. It's the third largest city by population in Canada behind Toronto (represent) and Montreal. There's apparently some rough areas where there are lots of crack heads or something - I think this is South Vancouver so watch yourself if you are going there. Mind you, this is Canada, so our idea of a rough area is a bit different than say, the US or even the UK I'd say. I've never been to Vancouver so I don't know what more to say about the city. For you Yankees, Vancouver is about 2.5 hours north of Seattle.

The ads for the Olympics have started early here and many media outlets are talking about the Olympics a lot - especially the main TV stations that will be covering the Olympics - TSN, CTV, and RSN. CBC has done the last bunch of Olympics but CTV won the rights this time around and will be using the expertise of their sports network subsidiary TSN (The Sports Network) to aid them in coverage.

Now I shall go into a hockey tangent - specifically, men's hockey. Matra and I were talking about hockey (ice hockey clearly, non of that grassy garbage - I kid) earlier on and for good reason. The world has soccer, the US has baseball and football, and Canada has hockey. This nation is obsessed with the sport. There are 6 Canadian National Hockey League teams including two Canadian "Original Six" teams - the Montreal Canadiens (who props to them, are celebrating their 100th anniversary to this day in a game with the Boston Bruins) and my home team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have failed to win the Stanley Cup (the championship award) for 42 years since 1967. Over half of the NHL's players (the NHL being regarded as the premier hockey league in the world) are Canadian. Other notable leagues include the newly formed KHL (Continental Hockey League) formed mostly from the former Russian Super League and including a team each in Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan, the Elitserien in Sweden, the Czech Extraliga, and Finnish SM-liiga. The International Ice Hockey Federation (same deal as FIFA is to soccer) ranks Russia as the best team in the world, followed by Canada (my opinion on this differs unsurprisingly).

The big teams in international hockey are typically Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United States.

In my estimation, the best teams this year will be Russia and Canada followed closely by Sweden. Russia features the best goal scorer in the league, Alexander Ovechkin, and last year's top point scorer, Evgeni Malkin, as long with Ovechkin's teammate Alexander Semin. Canada features Sidney Crosby, regarded as one of the most talented players and best play makers of the generation, stellar goaltending in Brodeur and Luongo, and solid defence. I am hoping to see Canada and Russia in the gold medal finals as I believe these are the two best teams.

Anyways, feel free to discuss the Olympics here, and Matra, I'd like to hear your thoughts on hockey (I didn't know you were a fan!).