The 2010 Olympic Winter Games have been raging on for five days now, but we're finally ready to get the men's hockey tournament underway. It's the longest tournament in the Games, as the Gold Medal will be handed out on the final day of competition in Vancouver. There are 12 teams in the tournament, and half of them will begin competing today. Here are the games, the story lines and the fresh, untouched standings on the first day of round robin play.
For a primer on the tournament, check SBNation.com's Men's Hockey Preview.
3 PM ET / Noon PT : United States vs Switzerland in Group A action
Broadcast details: Live coverage on USA Network
Team USA will face off against a far inferior Swiss team, but that doesn't mean the Americans can take them lightly. While members of the USA squad have been playing on their club teams in the NHL, most of the Swiss players have been practicing together and developing chemistry. The Americans will be playing their first game together - ever - while Switzerland has been together for several games.
Besides that, the Swiss have a dominant goaltender in Jonas Hiller of the Anaheim Ducks. He beat out a former Conn Smythe Trophy winner in Jean-Sebastien Giguere for the starting job in Anaheim and he just recently signed a four year contract extension. The 28-year-old is a confident, well-positioned goaltender who could easily frustrate the Americans, who lack threatening secondary scoring.
Ryan Miller will start in goal for the USA, as expected for months.
7:30 PM ET / 4:30 PM PT : Canada vs Norway in Group A action
Broadcast details: Live coverage begins at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT on CNBC
The Canadians are on home soil and have the pressure of an entire nation on their backs. What better opponent for a team full of NHL super stars to start their Olympic schedule off against then Norway, who has exactly zero NHL players on their roster?
Well, to be fair, two weeks ago Team Norway did have an NHLer on their roster. Ole-Kristian Tollefsen was demoted to Grand Rapids of the AHL after being traded from the Philadelphia Flyers to the Detroit Red Wings. No NHLers for you, Norway.
Roberto Luongo will get the nod in goal for Team Canada, as coach Mike Babcock has chosen to go with the Vancouver Canuck in his home rink for the first game of the tournament. Martin Brodeur will start on Thursday and both games will go into consideration when determining a starter for Sunday's game against the United States.
12:00 AM ET / 9:00 PM PT : Russia vs Latvia in Group B action
Broadcast details: Live coverage begins at 12:30 AM ET / 9:30 PM PT on CNBC
Russia is a strong bet to medal in the tournament this year, if not win it all. With Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Semin and Evgeni Nabokov leading the way, their power house lineup is going to be seriously challenging to little Latvia.
Much like the Swiss, though, Latvia plays together nearly year round. Most of their Olympic roster plays against Russian players on a regular basis in the KHL with Dinamo Riga, a club made up of almost all Latvian players. 14 of the 23 Latvian players play with that club, so these players are extremely familiar with each other and that's a major advantage.
Will it be enough to match up with the Russian power house, though?
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