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Prelim-Orama

Who doesn’t love a day full of four mediocre hockey games?  As my father would say with basketball, “Hey, it’s hoops.”  Hey, it’s pucks:

2pm Central: Switzerland v. Belarus (USA)

For US fans, this is the game we have to pay attention to. None of us would look forward to another date with Jonas Hiller, who’s capable of making things awfully dicey for anyone. He’ll probably make it so for the Bela Fleck Russians, who contain some Kostitsyn’s and not much else (by the by, what do you think a bar looks like after Kaner and Sergei Kostitsyn are through?)

6:30pm: Canada v. Deutschland

Well, I’d love to sit here and tell you that the Germans rigorous trap will make things hard on the hosers. I’d love to tell you that if the Canadians don’t score early, the tension will become meeting-the-in-laws high. I’d love to tell you that under that pressure, Roberto Luongo will crack. I’d love to tell you that the longer they hang in the Germans will believe more and more. I’d love to tell you Tomas Greiss will have the game of his life, facing his Shark teammates. But I can’t. If you’re looking for an early Canadian exit, your hopes lie with Alex Ovechkin, who very well may do it himself.

9pm: Czech Republic v. Latvia

The top seed in this round vs. the lowest.  The Czechs should make quick work of this one, setting up an intriguing game vs. the Finns.  I don’t know anyone on the Latvian squad, in fact I don’t know any Latvians.  This will be late dinner time.

11pm: Slovakia v. Norway

Strangely, that Norway-Switzerland game was one of the more entertaining of the tourney.  Slovakia is weird, as they looked slightly outclassed vs. the Czechs, but wound up beating the Russians.  Kopecky has looked useful this week if you can believe it.  Any team boasting Gaborik and Hossa could cause some trouble, and Sweden won’t be too excited to have to deal with that.  I’m sure the Norwegian are salivating at the thought of getting a crack at arch-rival for everything Sweden, but they don’t have enough here.  It’s a chalky day, but it beats workin’.

Talking Points