I’m pumped for the Winter Olympics. 1980’s “Miracle on Ice” stimulated my late-blooming rebellion into a hockey player, and getting to see some of our favorite NHL players don the national jerseys for two weeks in February is more fun than the traditional All-Star break.
Here’s a prediction: Watch the Czech team. With Patrik Elias replacing the slightly broken Petr Prucha, and Tomas Vokoun in net, the Czech team will be stingy on defense and lightning fast on offense. Sure, I’m cheering for the United States, and will be watching the Canadians with one eye, but this promises to be a fun competition to watch. The US could use Jamie Langenbrunner up front, as he’s faster and a better shot than some of the guys wearing the stars and stripes, but Jamie has only turned up the scoring heat in the last few weeks.
Jamie’s omission doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the inclusion of Michelle Kwan on the women’s figure skating slate. Kwan didn’t compete at nationals to earn her spot, precluding one of our up and coming skaters from getting Olympic experience. Sorry, but I think Michelle is injury-prone and not nearly as exciting to watch as some of the skaters who gave their all in St. Louis. Take a page from Steve Yzerman’s book and excuse yourself in the best interests of representing your country. Hollywood loves to portray hockey players as being tempered by figure skaters (Cutting Edge and Ice Castles leap to mind), but the puckheads have put the logo in front ahead of the name on the back this year.
