My Olympic predictions: Canada in the lead, a surprise in third place… and disappointment for the US

Marc-Olivier Cook
My Olympic predictions: Canada in the lead, a surprise in third place… and disappointment for the US
Credit: Getty Images

In the coming days, the men's hockey tournament will begin at the Olympics.

And for the sake of the cause… I feel like sharing my predictions for the competition.

Let's keep it simple: here are the six clubs that, in my opinion, will finish at the top of the “standings.” Here we go!

I see Slovakia, led by Juraj Slafkovsky, finishing the tournament in 6th place. The Slovaks were really good at the last Olympics in 2022 and won the bronze medal, thanks in large part to Slaf's brilliance.

The Canadiens player is confident he can cause an upset, but in my opinion, his club simply doesn't have enough talent to finish on the podium.

In my opinion, the Americans are going to be disappointing.

There is talent galore in that club… but there is a glaring lack of leadership. The United States has everything it takes to win the gold medal, but Bill Guerin has made some questionable choices, and I tend to believe that this will catch up with the Americans.

I see them finishing in 5th place.

The Finns will also have a good team. But the club doesn't have a lot of depth (we expect Oliver Kapanen to play an important role in the lineup), and that could hurt them at some point.

My prediction: Finland will finish in third place after losing the bronze medal game to… Switzerland.

Yes, you read that right!

Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, Kevin Fiala, Pius Suter, Roman Jose, Jonas Siegenthaler, JJ Moser…

The Swiss will have good players in their club and they have what it takes to cause THE surprise of the tournament. Switzerland's development program is in full swing and we have seen it become more competitive in recent years.

It would be quite a feat, of course. But that's my bold prediction for the competition…

In the final, I see Sweden and Canada facing off for the gold medal.

And clearly… I don't see any team being better than Canada because there is simply too much talent in the Canadian lineup.

Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar… the only problem might be in front of the net.

But if Canada can be truly effective offensively, I don't think anyone will be able to stop them…

I can't wait for this tournament to start.

We've been waiting so long to see NHL players compete in the Olympics again… and it's about time!

Now we'll see if my predictions are correct… or if I've made a fool of myself by thinking this way.


Overtime

– What a surprise (!)… #OrNot

– Well done.

– Nice lineup.

– I love it.

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