Team Norway may be a true underdog. They have exactly one NHL player on their roster and he has had a rough year with injuries this season. They have struggled in years past. But does Norway take this as a defeat or do they use this as a stepping stone to the future?

Norway wants to continue to play at the elite level. This is their first Olympic appearance since 1994, which was before NHL players were allowed. They want to make sure they can come back to the Olympics in four more years. They are the underdog with a heck of a lot of pluck. Just ask 39 year old defenseman Tommy Jakobsen (who made an appearance in the 1994 Olympics too):

"I can find myself awake at night thinking about the Olympics, or that when I'm going to bed, my dreams take me to the games. And just the games, but everything around the event, just to walk around in Olympic uniform will be a new experience"

"In my dreams, I score the game winning goal against Canada. Everybody knows that we'll be the underdogs, but in my dreams, I've scored a 3-2 go-ahead goal."

Click "Read More" to find out some interesting facts about Team Norway and what their plans for the future are!

Norway wants to challenge themselves by continuing to play at an elite level against teams like Canada, Russia, USA, Sweden etc.. Norway snuck in and surprised many people at the 2008 World Championships which helped lead them to qualifying for the 2010 Olympics. At the World Champions they made it to the medal round but placed eighth. But it's what happened in those games that gave Norway some confidence. They beat Germany, went to overtime with Finland, and almost had the Canadians (until *someone* scored and made it a 2-1 Canadian victory). Soon afterwards Norway hosted an Olympic Qualifying tournament and downed Denmark to earn a spot in Vancouver.

As Ole-Kristian Tollefson, a defensemen now with Detroit (ewl, I can't love him anymore) said about playing in the Olympics:

"Just for us to play in the Olympics and have a chance to compete against the best players in the world is really special."

And on qualifying for the Olympics:

"That was great to see. But the biggest thing is to keep moving forward and build off he success."

And just how does Norway plan to build for the future? By shaking up the front office of course! You can't rebuild a hockey team without a change in the front office. A new president, Ole-Jacob Libaek, replaced Bjorn Rudd, who had been in office for 14 years. Morale is now much higher then it has ever been (previously veteran team members threatened to withdraw if changes weren't made).

Norway is putting in the time and energy to strengthen their player development and junior hockey teams. They are putting more effort into recruiting talented youth. Elite leagues have made connections with local high schools and colleges where practice often run 20 hours or more per week. Many junior players associated with the top clubs attend these schools.

The Under-20 program has found success on the international level. At the 2010 IIHF Championships, they took home the gold. The outscored their opponents 33-8. This was a team that was on the verge of being moved from Division I to Division II just a few years earlier and with this in they have moved up. They have earned a spot at the top level 2011 tournament in Buffalo, New York.

A 2008 third round draft pick for the Dallas Stars was the most impressive in the 2010 U-20 tournament. Scott Winkler, currently at Colorado College, finished with 6 goals and 14 points. His linemates finished with a total of 11 goals and 18 points. Winkler has grit and good good puck control. He will be one to watch.

Another one to watch from the U-20 IIHF Championships is goalie Lars Volden (a personal fav) who played four games and had a 1.47 GAA and a .958 save percentage. He also had that amazing youtube video save that was going around Twitter a few months back.

Random Facts:
-Current Coach: Roy Johansen
-They have been a member of international hockey since January 20, 1935
-They have a total of 1,993 registered men players
-The men are ranked 11th 
-Their first international game was February 17, 1937. They lost 7-0 to Czechoslovakia (which no longer exists so to me that means the loss doesn't count!)
-Their two biggest wins are: a 24-0 Win (yes, you read that right... 24 goals) over Belgium and a, get this, 25-1 Win over China
-Their biggest loss was on March 12, 1947 to Finland. The final score? 20-1 (not so impressive there)
-They have appeared in nine Olympics since 1952
-For this years Olympics Roster the players come from: the Swedish Elite (11 players),  the Norwegian League (6), German DEL (3), NHL (1) and KHL (1)

If you wish to contact Team Norway you can do so in the following ways:
-Website: hockey.no
-Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
-Mailing Address:
Norwegian Ice Hockey Association
Sognsvn. 75 J
Service Box 1 U.S.
0840 Oslo
Norway
-Phone: +47 - 2102 90 00 or +47 - 2102 96 30 
-Fax: +47 - 2102 96 31

Umm, I can't guarantee that they will speak English... especially since their website is in Norwegian!

Jenna Volden covers the Phoenix Coyotes at Hipchecks in addition to her work on Bloguin's Olympic Hockey Blog.

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