Finland is considered one of the top seven nations in hockey but have only one one gold in international play, the 1995 World Championship. They are currently ranked fourth in the world but will they be able to place higher at the Olympics? They will have to compete hard with the powerhouse teams from Canada, USA and Russia for the honor of a medal.

Finland's national team is the Leijonat, or the Lions for us English speaking folks. They will need to play like lions. They need to have the strength, heart and ferociousness of a lion to battle it out for a medal.

Finland need to use this as their game face...

Finland has 18 NHL players on their roster. All three goalies are outstanding NHL players. Niklas Backstron, Miikka Kiprusoff and Antero Nittymaki, who was named MVP of the 2006 Olympics, all offer outstanding backstop abilities. Five of the seven dmen also play in the NHL, with Kimmo Timonen wearing the A, should offer a strong defensive core and solid leadership. Ten NHL forwards round out the team with Saku Koivu and Teemu Selanne wearing the C and A respectively.

The rest of the NHL players include:

Defense: 
Sami Lepisto
Toni Lydman
Joni Pitkanen
Sami Salo

Forwards:
Valtteri Filppula
Olli Jokinen
Mikko Koivu
Jere Lehtinen
Antti Miettinen
Jarkko Ruutu
Tuomo Ruutu

That is a lot of talent. Hopefully head coach Jukka Jalonen can make these Lions serious contenders who bring home the gold for their country.

Keep reading after the jump for some history and facts about Finland's national hockey team

Team USA Olympic Hockey Team:  Roster Analysis

Team USA's opening game of these Olympics will be tomorrow against Team Switzerland.  In anticipation of this and other games, I've taken a look at how Team USA's roster stacks up against that of Team Canada.  We all know that Ryan Miller's had a great season in the NHL this year.  Outside of goaltending, what are the areas of strength and weakness for Team USA?

Brian Burke ostensibly assembled Team USA's hockey team to be able to compete for a gold medal at the 2010 Olympics.  His decision to select Jonathan Quick in favor of Craig Anderson has already created some controversy.  Due to injuries, both Mike Komisarek and Paul Martin on defense have been replaced with Tim Gleason and Ryan Whitney.

Speaking of defense, by the numbers this looks to be the achilles heel of this hockey team.  Follow the jump to find out why...  Note, this article has been modified and reprinted with permission from the Low On Oil Oilers fan blog.

Finally, let's also find out how Team USA compares to Team Canada in terms of goal-scoring potential (GVT) after the jump.

According to TSN, Ryan Getzlaf is deemed healthy enough to play for Team Canada. All Olympic team rosters are to be submitted by today at 12pm.

Jeff Carter, who arrived in Vancouver yesterday has been told that his services will no longer be required for the team.

Olympic teams must submit their final rosters on by 12pm PT on Monday, and the first game starts on Tuesday at 12:00PM PST with USA v. Switzerland. Here are your weekend Olympic links:

Jeff Carter arrived in Vancouver today with other NHL Olympic players and is in a wait and see mode with being told if he will be on Team Canada

Ryan Getzlaf played tonight against Edmonton getting 2 goals and 2 assists and had 19:28 minutes of ice time

Crosby blocked a slapshot with his foot from Kevin Kline of the Nashville Predators, but didn't miss a shift during the remainder of the game

Expressen via CTV is reporting that Holmstrom's knee injury has forced him to withdraw from Team Sweden and is to be replaced with his Detroit Red Wings teammate Johan Franzen

Vanity Fair is running articles on the Winter Olympics, although not heavy on hockey content (well they do look at Swedish Hockey Studs), they did have an article on how the Latvian hockey team can't wait to party once they've finished their games. They are also excited about the free McDonald's in the Olympic Village

The Goalie Guild has the photos for Jonas Hiller's Olympic Hockey mask for the Swiss Team

And Team Russia had a practice today in Vancouver:

Photo from AP: Semin, Fedorov and Ovechkin

Photo from Reuters

Jonas Gustavsson

Stefan Liv

My take? I'm giving Liv the nod on this one. "The Monster" gets bonus points for showing some loyalty to the Toronto Maple Leafs with his Olympic face protector, but you can't beat the team spirit and national pride of Liv's mask. A fantastic tribute to Swedish Olympians, and an aesthetically pleasing one to boot. One of the best masks in the tournament, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm having a hard time finding a good shot of Lundqvist's mask, but you can see the whole spread of Swedish masks by clicking right here.

Cole Jones covers the Dallas Stars at The Other 6 Seconds in addition to his work on Bloguin's Olympic Hockey Blog.

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Decades of dominance on Olympic ice have come undone for Russia. Between 1956 and 1992 Russia's predecessors the Soviet Men's Hockey team and the Unified Team never finished off the podium, taking 8 golds, a silver and a bronze in ten competitions. That bronze came in 1980, to put Team USA's Miracle on Ice gold medal in Lake Placid, New York, in perspective. Russia however has scuffled since then. Four Olympics, with a silver and a bronze all they have to show for it. And two fourth place finishes. Have the Russians lost their mojo. Back to back World Championships show they haven't. And maybe Canada Hockey chief (and former Red Wing legend) Steve Yzerman was engaging in a bit of gamesmanship when he declared Russia the team to beat. But it's hard to call his comment unfounded.

'"The Russians have won the last two world championships," Yzerman said. "They have the top forwards in the world, and they are the No. 1-ranked team in the world. They are the favorites going into this tournament."

Those back to back world championships restored some of that swagger to the Russians. But the gold standard of international competition comes with five interlocking rings every four years, not every year. Click read more below to see all of Russia's advantages and what might tip the scales against them.

The high point of Slovakian hockey came at the 2002 World Championships, where they won the gold medal. But their Olympic finishes have never landed them on the medal platform. They took fifth place four years ago in Torino, but were 13th in Salt Lake City, due largely to the NHL's decision to send NHLers only to the medal rounds. Slovakia was counting on the presence of those players leaving them frozen out of potential glory.

That limitation won't hold back Slovakia this time. A roster peppered with players competing in the NHL as well as European stars, they are considered a sleeper, good enough to surprise, but maybe a touch too old to wax their competition. But with advancing age comes advancing experience. And after the jump you can read about the benefits that Slovakia's team brings with it.

Recently Sidney Crosby graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. But why Crosby? Why not another hockey great like Alexander Ovechkin? Is it because Crosby is Canada's golden boy or because all those teenage girls think he is like way cuter then that Ovechkin guy? And come on, we all know that teenage girls have the money to spend on Crosby memorabilia...

See, teenage girls LOVE him

But what is wrong with having a caveman on the cover of SI? There are just as many Ovechkin fans as Crosby. I dare say there may be more. Everyone I know prefers Ovechkin. As a hockey fan, you must pick a favorite. It is almost impossible to be a fan of both Crosby and Ovechkin. It's like saying you like both Pepsi and Coke...

Definitely a caveman....

Sure fans of Ovechkin can appreciate what Crosby brings to the game skill wise but that doesn't mean we have to like his constant whining and nutting practices. Besides... Ovechkin just brings so much more to the table.

Ovechkin is a scoring machine. He's ranked number one in the league with 42 goals in 51 games. He is definitely not selfish either, netting himself 44 assists which means a league leading 86 points. And Crosby? He's got more games (58), less goals and less assists. And thus... less points (I know, amazing how that works huh).

Not only is Ovechkin offensively gifted, he is not too shabby on the defensive end either. He leads the league in another stat, +/-. He is a +41. Crosby is only a +7, not bad but not nearly as good as Ovechkin. It seems someone needs to work on their defensive skills a bit...

Just a quick look at NHL career stats for these two and then I promise I am done with stats. This is for 4.5 NHL seasons:

Ovechkin 261G 245A 506P +60
Crosby 171G 300A 471P +37

So, Ovechkin has more goals, more points and a much higher +/-. Crosby only exceeds him in assists. To me that makes Ovechkin the better player stats and skill wise. But what else does Ovechkin bring to the table?

But he does clean up nicely!

Passion. Leadership. Entertainment. Charisma. Ovechkin makes the game fun to watch. You never know what will happen next when Ovechkin is around. He may lay out a huge game changing hit. He may score a hat trick. The boy does it all.

He shows emotion. I love goal scorers who celebrate every goal like it's their first NHL goal. It is pure jubilation each and every time he puts the biscuit in the basket.

Best. Celebrations. Ever. (and that girl in the mini-skirt? She has gotta be cold!)

When his team is down, he doesn't give up. He goes out every shift and gives everything he's got. He doesn't give up until the final horn sounds. He must be great in the locker room also because he was given the C earlier this season. The Caps have been playing extremely well since.

He gives great interviews. Who doesn't love reading, hearing, watching his candid, honest comments? Too many players feel the need to be PC and not say anything negative. It's refreshing when a player actually says whats on his mind. And how can you not love the accent and broken English? It makes him more endearing, like you could just sit down and chat with him.

And what is the Olympics all about? It's about patriotism. It's about representing your Country and winning the gold. And Ovechkin? He's got patriotism in spades. He is always willing to play for his Country. He has even said, if asked, he will play in the next Olympics, even though the NHL hasn't decided if they will send players or not. How can you not love someone that shows such loyalty to his country? This is why Ovechkin should have graced the cover of SI. Not only is he the best, he wants his Country to be the best. He wants to bring the gold home.

The Olympics Men's hockey will be the most exciting event because of Ovechkin. He will be at his best. Crosby may be a great player but he will never bring the level of thrill to the game like Ovechkin can.

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

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