February 17th, 2010 (2)

The Finland vs. Belarus game is soon on, and I'll half watch it. Rather then study for my French test I decided to sit down and make the best of the best Vancouver 2010 men's hockey team. I'm sure I'll get to the studying later...

So here is who I invited to "camp":
Sidney Crosby
Ryan Getzlaf
Patrice Bergeron
Rick Nash
Jaromir Jagr
Teemu Selanne
Mikko Koivu
Pavel Datsyuk
Ilya Kovalchuk
Evgeni Malkin
Alex Ovechkin
Marian Hossa
Marian Gaborik
Henrik Zetterberg
Henrik Sedin
Daniel Sedin
Nicklas Backstrom
Patrick Kane
Zach Parise
Dustin Brown

Shea Weber
Drew Doughty
Zbynek Michalek
Kimmo Timonen
Sergei Gonchar
Andrei Markov
Anton Volchenkov
Zdeno Chara
Nicklas Lidstrom
Mattias Ohlund
Mark Streit
Ryan Suter

Martin Brodeur
Roberto Luongo
Miikka Kiprusoff
Henrik Lundqvist
Ryan Miller

Looking at this list, this is what I believe the roster would like.

87 Sidney Crosby Canada 5'11 200 L
13 Pavel Datsyuk Russia 5'11 194 L
71 Evgeni Malkin Russia 6'3 195 L
40 Henrik Zetterberg Sweden 5'11 195 L
33 Henrik Sedin Sweden 6'2 183 L
19 Nicklas Backstrom Sweden 6'1 210 L
37 Patrice Bergeron Canada 6'2 194 R

17 Ilya Kovalchuk Russia 6'1 235 R
8 Alex Ovechkin Russia 6'2 237 R
22 Daniel Sedin Sweden 6'1 183 L
9 Zach Parise USA 5'11 190 L

61 Rick Nash Canada 6'4 218 L
88 Patrick Kane USA 5'10 178 L

5 Nicklas Lidstrom Sweden 6'2 190 L
3 Zdeno Chara Slovakia 6'9 255 L
2 Mark Streit Switzerland 6'0 197 L
6 Shea Weber Canada 6'4 234 R
4 Zbynek Michalek Czech Republic 6'2 210 R
24 Anton Volchenkov Russia 6'1 235 L
80 Drew Doughty Canada 6'0 211 R

1 Roberto Luongo Canada 6'3 205 L
30 Martin Brodeur Canada 6'2 215 L
39 Ryan Miller USA 6'2 175 L

The lines...
A. Ovechkin S. Crosby P. Bergeron
I. Kovalchuk P. Datsyuk E. Malkin
Z. Parise N. Backstrom P. Kane
D. Sedin H. Sedin R. Nash
H. Zetterberg

N. Lidstrom D. Doughty
Z. Chara S. Weber
A. Volchenkov Z. Michalek
M. Streit

M. Brodeur
R. Miller
R. Luongo

Powerplay...
Ovechkin/Crosby/Nash
Chara/Kovalchuk

Malkin/Datsyuk/Kane
Streit/Doughty

Penalty Kill...
Bergeron/Crosby
Volchenkov/Michalek

Datsyuk/Zetterberg
Lidstrom/Weber

There are reasons I picked certain people, obviously. Patrice Bergeron just because of his faceoffs and rightness. Zbynek Michalek may or may not be a surprise but I feel he is one of the most underrated defenceman in the NHL with the Phoenix Coyotes. With him and Volchenkov on the ice, I wonder if a shot would even make it on net.

It's 1-0 halfway through the first for Finland as of right now, and Finland is controlling the play. Looks like it'll be a one-sided game.

All my Best; Enjoy Life
Ryan Francis