Team USA and Sweden are not among the favorites in the 2014 men’s Olympic hockey tournament. That distinction goes to the Canadians and Russians. But the U.S. and the Swedes possess the most important asset necessary for an upset and a chance to grab the gold medal — a first-class goalie.
“A hot goaltender can steal a game in this tournament,” said NBC play-by-play man Kenny Albert, “and after the preliminary round, it is single elimination.”
The U.S. rode Ryan Miller four years ago, but this year opted for the Kings’ Jonathan Quick, with Miller backing him up. Henrik Lundqvist is also capable of carrying the Swedish team to gold as he did in 2006 in Turin. The Rangers goalie got off to a rough start this season, but much to the relief of Blueshirts supporters and Swedes, he is back near top form.
“Henrik Lundqvist is one of the best goalies in the world, and he has been playing at a very high level over the last month,” said Albert, who calls the Rangers’ games on radio.
“He was phenomenal in leading Sweden to the gold medal in Turin in 2006, and I see no reason why he can’t do it again.”
On Saturday morning Team USA will meet the host Russians, who face immense pressure not having captured gold since the Unified Team (consisting of six of the 15 former Soviet Republics) did so in 1992.
“The U.S. should be interesting. We’ll see if they have enough in the center-ice position to compete with the other countries,” said Ed Olczyk, who is calling the games for NBC with Mike Emrick.
“Joe Pavelski has had an unbelievable season out in San Jose … The goaltending will be the greatest strength for Team USA and in a short tournament like this, if you have that you got a shot. The U.S. has their work cut out for them early.”
The 2010 final in Vancouver between the U.S. and Canada was the most-watched hockey game since the Americans shocked the Soviet Union in 1980 and followed that up with a gold-medal victory over Finland.
“My greatest memory from 2010 is the gold-medal game between the USA and Canada. I was not working the game, but I sat behind Doc Emrick and Eddie Olczyk, who were calling the game,” Albert said of the game watched by 44.2 million fans in North America.
“You could hear a pin drop when Zach Parise tied the game for the U.S., and the arena exploded when Sidney Crosby [won it] for Canada.”
Both North American teams would love to replicate that in Sochi with the men’s tournament underway. They each got off to solid starts Thursday with the U.S. routing Slovakia, 7-1, and Canada topping Norway, 3-1.