AJC > Sports > Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2005 > December > 20
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Olympic surprises, thoughts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You probably know general manager Don Waddell named the U.S. Olympic roster on Monday. What do you think? It looks like the injured wrist of Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller cost him a spot on the team.
Brian Leetch, although he’s back now, missed some time with an injury and did not make the team. Derian Hatcher, who certainly doesn’t have the mobility of Leetch but does have the strength to deal with the likes of Dany Heatley, Vincent Lecavalier, Jarome Iginla and other powerful Canadian forwards, is a slightly surprising choice. Chris Chelios also made the team at defense with the younger Paul Martin left off.
Keith Tkachuk (broken hand) is perhaps the most surprising choice at forward. He was suspended by the St. Louis Blues for showing up to camp out of shape, but since has played fairly well. There’s some good speed at center (Scott Gomez, Brian Rolston, Chris Drury) and Craig Conroy is an excellent two-way player but those names don’t quite compare to Lecavalier, Thornton and Sakic, do they?
What do you think of the team and how do you like the Americans’ chances? Certainly, Canada must be the favorite. Russia, always a wild card, the Czech Republic, owner of perhaps the tournament’s best goaltending, and Sweden, now that it might have a bona fide star in goal in Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers, will have strong teams.
Finland, runner-up at the World Cup, is always a good dark horse. Let’s just hope they don’t play that boring, slow-it-down-and-try-to-win-2-1 style.
