NHL players have been given the green light to compete in the 2014 Sochi (Russia) Olympics. After the 2010 Vancouver Games, unhappy NHL owners signaled they were prepared to end their Olympic participation. As part of a recent agreement, the NHL will halt its 2013-14 regular season to allow players the chance to compete in the February 12-23 tournament.
Odds to win the Gold Metal:
Russia 11-5
Canada 9-4
Sweden 4-1
USA 6-1
Czech Republic 17-2
Finland 10-1
Switzerland 20-1
Slovakia 25-1
Norway 200-1
Latvia 400-1
Austria 900-1
Slovenia 900-1
I was looking at this years NHL schedule and I was wondering, wht the phuck does Winnipeg only play 5 games in Feb. Then I checked other teams and it finally clicked. oh yeah, the Olympics. lol.
I will cheering on Canada like a mutha fugga but I still think it should be for amateur athletes.
CAN has been terrible on big ice but this time it seems like they're more focused on utilizing it. It's impossible to bet against them IMO but if I did, I like SWE more than RUS
The only thing exciting for me is seeing national teams battle each other with complete rosters. Game itself will be more boring than NHL because of the IIHF rinks and rules which somewhat kill the pace and try to eliminate hitting.