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The Olympic hockey games in Vancouver have shown us at least one thing so far: The gold medal is officially up for grabs. Experts who predicted that Team Canada and Team Russia were going to rollover their opponents have been dead wrong.
Last night, the Canadians were pushed to a tension filled shootout win against a tough Swiss team and the Russians lost in a shootout to Slovakia. The Slovaks had already lost to the Czechs. Team Sweden, the 2006 gold medal winners, has looked less than impressive so far as well.
In the meantime Team USA, who was criticized previously for being less than perfect in their wins over Team Switzerland and Team Norway, is sitting with more points than either Canada or Russia.
While most Canadians seem to think that they are entitled to the gold medal because hockey is "Canada's Game", the rest of the world is putting up a good fight. Team USA and Team Canada will meet Sunday night for what will probably be a bloodbath.
But before we get to that matchup, a very talented team from Finland will play late tonight, (midnight) against Team Germany, who put up a good fight against Sweden earlier this week before losing, 2-0.
Finland's roster is littered with fine NHL players, but of course there is one notable name missing.
| G | Niklas Backstrom | Minnesota Wild |
| G | Miikka Kiprusoff | Calgary Flames |
| G | Antero Niittymaki | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| D | Lasse Kukkonen | Avangard Omsk (KHL) |
| D | Sami Lepisto | Phoenix Coyotes |
| D | Toni Lydman | Buffalo Sabres |
| D | Janne Niskala | Frolunda (Sweden) |
| D | Joni Pitkanen | Carolina Hurricanes |
| D | Sami Salo | Vancouver Canucks |
| D | Kimmo Timonen | Philadelphia Flyers |
| F | Valtteri Filppula | Detroit Red Wings |
| F | Niklas Hagman | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| F | Jarkko Immonen | Ak Bars Kazan (KHL) |
| F | Olli Jokinen | Calgary Flames |
| F | Niko Kapanen | Ak Bars Kazan (KHL) |
| F | Mikko Koivu | Minnesota Wild |
| F | Saku Koivu | Anaheim Ducks |
| F | Jere Lehtinen | Dallas Stars |
| F | Antti Miettinen | Minnesota Wild |
| F | Ville Peltonen | Dynamo Minsk (KHL) |
| F | Jarkko Ruutu | Ottawa Senators |
| F | Tuomo Ruutu | Carolina Hurricanes |
| F | Teemu Selanne |
Anaheim Ducks |
Team Gernamy has a few familar names as well.
| G | Dennis Endras | Augsburger Panther (Germany) |
| G | Thomas Greiss | San Jose Sharks |
| G | Dimitri Pätzold | ERC Ingolstadt (Germany) |
| D | Michael Bakos | ERC Ingolstadt (Germany) |
| D |
Christian Ehrhoff |
Vancouver Canucks |
| D | Jakub Ficenec |
ERC Ingolstadt (Germany) |
| D | Jason Holland |
DEG Metro Stars Düsseldorf (Germany) |
| D | Korbinian Holzer |
DEG Metro Stars Düsseldorf (Germany) |
| D | Chris Schmidt |
Adler Mannheim (Germany) |
| D |
Dennis Seidenberg |
Florida Panthers |
| D |
Alexander Sulzer |
Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) |
| F | Alexander Barta |
Hamburg Freezers |
| F | Sven Felski | Eisbären Berlin (Germany) |
| F |
Marcel Goc |
Nashville Predators |
| F | Philip Gogulla |
Portland Pirates (AHL) |
| F | Thomas Greilinger |
ERC Ingolstadt (Germany) |
| F | Manuel Klinge |
Kassel Huskies (Germany) |
| F | Marcel Müller | Kölner Haie (Germany) |
| F | Travis James Mulock |
Eisbären Berlin (Germany) |
| F | André Rankel |
Eisbären Berlin (Germany) |
| F |
Marco Sturm |
Boston Bruins |
| F | John Tripp | Hamburg Freezers (Germany) |
| F | Michael Wolf | Iserlohn Roosters (Germany) |
We will have a game preview before the huge Canada/USA showdown on Sunday, but this should be a good one tonight.