Team Canada has to play today, Tuesday Feb 23@7:30ET, against Germany because of their crushing 3-5 defeat at the hands of Team USA. It’s do or die as the host nation has to not only win, but win big. Olympic oddsmakers at BETUS.com have Team Canada as -4.5 goal favorites over Germany with the over/under set at 6.5 goals . Be sure to get your 2010 Winter Olympics: Canada vs Germany Men’s Hockey Prediction in now at BETUS.com
Team Canada has swapped goalie Martin Brodeur for home city fav Roberto Luongo. Brodeur looked shaky at the start of the USA game after his decision to try to clear a puck with a baseball-style swing in the opening period of the 5-3 loss to the U.S. ultimately cost Canada a critical goal, given how they'd just tied the game. Luongo started the first game for Canada and shut out Norway. He’ll be playing on his home ice where he plays for the NHL team the Vancouver Canucks, and fans will be cheering “LOOOOOO”. Assuming Luongo gets the win, then he will stay between the pipes for the match against Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and the rest of Russia's high-octane attack.
Now they need to start scoring and that starts with the Crosby line. It looks like the Canadian men's hockey team will break up the Sidney Crosby-Rick Nash combination at the Olympics . Crosby and Nash played together for the first three games in Vancouver with a variety of other wingers, but Nash has yet to find the net. In practice Monday, Crosby had Jarome Iginla on right wing and Eric Staal on the left side, while Nash moved into Staal's spot on left wing with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry on another line. San Jose Shark teammates Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau will remain on another line, while fourth liners will come from Jonathan Toews, Patrice Bergeron, Brenden Morrow, and Mike Richards.
Germany will have a tough time beating Canada but they aren’t giving up. "Best team in the tournament," German hockey coach Uwe Krupp said following his team's Monday afternoon practice. "Best lineup and strongest team in the tournament I think.” Germany has just seven players currently in the NHL (headlined by Boston's Marco Sturm and Vancouver's Christian Ehrhoff) a number that reflects the country's overall lack of depth in the sport. The Germans can start by staying out of the penalty box . Germany ranks last so far in penalty killing in this tournament. Its other issue is goal-scoring, averaging just one per game during the Olympics. But, at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the much-beloved gold medal winning Canadian team had to squeak past Germany by a 3-2 win in the quarterfinal. German goaltender Thomas Greiss will have his work cut out, if he can do what American Ryan Miller did to Canada they might have a slim chance. Greiss has given up seven goals and has a 3.53 GAA.
Point-Spreads.com 2010 Winter Olympics: Canada vs Germany Men’s Hockey Prediction
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