Your savory breakfast links:
- Time to learn! Here’s pretty much everything you could ever want to know about the men’s hockey tournament. [Rink, SI.com, Chicago Tribune, AP, CSNW]
- Previewing that huge opening matchup between the Swedes and Czechs – aka Nicklas Backstrom vs. Martin Erat. [ESPN]
- Programming note, #1: The first games of the qualifying round get underway at 12:00 pm ET today, with Latvia vs. Switzerland on MSNBC and Sweden vs. the Czech Republic on USA Network.
- Programming note, #2: We’ll have open threads for each day of the tournament, so be sure to check back here before the day’s first puck drops.
- Russian hockey legend and NHL great Igor Larionov isn’t worried about a Canada-Russia rematch, but he does note that the gold medal is the only one that matters. [Globe and Mail]
- That’s a lot of pressure, and just a taste of what the home team will be facing this year. Thankfully they’ll also have an intense amount of support. [NHL.com]
- Not sure that a Canadian reporter should be suggesting that the Russians perhaps want the gold medal too much… but here we are. [Globe and Mail]
- Sometimes teams falter on the world’s biggest stage because the pressure gets to them. But while it’s a factor, it’s not always THE factor. [PHT]
- Make no mistake about it: these are Alex Ovechkin‘s Olympics… [Puck Daddy]
- …and yet he may not be able to win the gold medal all by himself. Whaaaaa? [RMNB, with complete coverage of Ovi’s Day Two here]
- It’s often said that politics make strange bedfellows. So do international hockey tournaments. [Star Tribune]
- In the next six months, the NHL is going to make a critical decision about its future. Could this be the last Olympics for the League? [Globe and Mail, ESPN, SI.com, The Independent, Chicago Tribune]
- Not if IIHF president Rene Fasel has anything to say about it. [ESPN]
- Meanwhile the US and Canadian women are set to face each other for the first time (but probably not the last) in Sochi… [AP, Hockey Wilderness]
- …but could the dominance of those two teams eventually cost women’s hockey a spot at the Olympics? [BHS]
- A handy flow chart to help you determine
whether to root for the USA or the USAwhich team you should root for at the Olympics. [Sporting News] - Smiles abound as the teams took to the ice for their first practices. [ESPN]
- Previews and predictions galore:
- Previewing Group A… [Pensburgh, Empty Netters, Yahoo!]
- …Group B… [Pensburgh, Empty Netters]
- …and Group C. [Anaheim Calling, Pensburgh, Empty Netters]
- Looking at Team Sweden [BHS, Defending Big D]
- Checking in on the Czechs. [BHS]
- The home team unites for Mother Russia. [ESPN, Arctic Ice Hockey]
- Team USA is on a mission. [Tennessean]
- What to watch for as each of the five Caps’ Olympians take the ice in Sochi. [NBC4, DSP]
- Previewing and ranking the whole tournament. [Blueshirt Banter, Fear the Fin]
- Previewing the other 11 teams in the field for our neighbors to the north. Er, or is it neighbours? [BHS]
- Predictions of the Photoshopped, slightly terrifying sort. [Capitals Hill]
Getty Sports - Canada’s forward depth is pretty impressive, but man alive, those top two Russian trios… [NHL.com]
- Five reasons Team USA could totally medal in Sochi. [Puck Daddy]
- We know that history often repeats itself; so what do the Olympic hockey tournaments of the past tell us about the future? [Grantland (DGB)]
- Back in NHL world, the rest of the League is required to be on break for the next week or so. For the banged-up Caps, that break couldn’t have come at a better time. [CSNW, WNST]
- That Alex Ovechkin guy may have the hopes of a nation on his shoulders, but back here we simply know him as the Gr8 one, and for good reason. He’s pretty gr8. [State of Being]
- As the trade deadline draws ever closer, the Caps are somewhat limited on what they can pull off. [Talk the Red]
- Take a trip in the wayback machine and recall the epic showdown between Team USA and… the Caps? [WaPo]
- The 2009 draft class was a pretty fruitful one for the Caps – which is almost enough to make us forget 2005. Almost. [HF]
- A number of former NHL greats gathered in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland for the NHL Legends game, including former Caps’ goal-scorer extraordinaire, Dennis Maruk. [NLNewsNow]
- Rejoice! The Caps finally have OYO minifigures! …seriously, rejoice, those things are awesome, even if a bit generic (get out your Sharpies and black out a tooth). [OYO]
- Finally, happy 34th birthday to Rico Fata and happy 46th to John Purves.
AFP
