Canada hopes to be the first country to repeat as Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey champions since the Soviet Union/Unified Team won three straight from 1984 to 1992. To achieve that difficult feat, they will need offensive production from their forwards, steady play from their blueline and most importantly solid goaltending.
There is little concern that the talented group led by Sidney Crosby will have trouble scoring. Canada’s defensive corps has size, mobility and boasts four blueliners with previous Olympic experience, but goaltending continues to be the focal point of scrutiny and concern.
This is not a unique occurrence. Twelve years ago, Curtis Joseph was the starter in Salt Lake City and was replaced by Martin Brodeur after one bad outing against Sweden. The same thing happened four years ago, as Brodeur lost to Team USA and was replaced by the younger Luongo.
Luongo has a tenuous hold on the starting job, as Carey Price is likely to play in one of the back-to-back games Thursday or Friday. But no matter who Canada decides to play for the balance of the tournament, they appear to have more question marks in goal than any of the top contenders for the gold medal.
The Finns are the deepest and most talented in goal, with Kari Lehtonen and Stanley Cup winner Antti Niemi backing up expected starter Tuukka Rask. The Swedes do not have the depth that Team Canada has, but it is doubtful that either Jhonas Enroth or Jonas Gustavsson will play a minute in place of “King Henrik” Lundqvist, who won gold in Turin eight years ago.
Team USA has 2012 Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Quick and 2010 Olympic MVP Ryan Miller to choose from, while the host Russians have 2013 Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky and the red-hot Semyon Varlamov.
Tournament long shots Switzerland and the Czech Republic might even have an argument for being on par with Canada in goal, as Jonas Hiller and Jaroslav Halak have been main contributors to the Anaheim Ducks and St. Louis Blues rise to the top of the Western Conference.
Luongo was not at the top of his game leading up to the Olympic break, as he started and lost all five of Vancouver’s games on an Eastern road swing. Price won his last three games before the break, but that followed a span of nearly three weeks in which he went 2-6-1 and allowed 28 goals against.
Team Canada has a number of advantages going into Sochi, but goaltending is always the great equalizer and they will need competent goaltending from either Luongo or Price to have a chance at winning a medal.
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