Olympic Preview #5

Next on the list, Team Finland

The Finns have been a team that will show up and competes very well every Olympic year, winning the Silver most recently at Salt Lake in 2006. The exciting thing about Team Finland is that any team that has Teemu Selanne has a chance to win. And Finland will inevitably have him for the upcoming Olympic Games.

Offensively, the team will likely boast names such at Selanne, Olli Jokinen, Saku Koivu (and younger brother Mikko), and Tuomo Ruutu, along with a slew of young talent. Who knows, maybe Janne Pesonen will even get a chance. With the core of players mentioned, however, the team will pose a legitamate offensive threat, despite their older age.

Sami Salo, Kimmo Timonen, and Toni Lydman should lead the defense as returning veterans, and expect some who didn't quite make the team in 2006 to make a solid push this time around. Joni Pitkanen is one name that really comes to mind here.

Goaltending should be the most solid position for this team, and arguably the best in the tournament. With options including Miikka Kiprusoff, Niklas Backstrom, Pekka Rinne, former 2nd overall pick Kari Lehtonen, Vesa Toskala, and a number of other players that aren't coming to mind, the hard part will be deciding on just three.

Which is not a bad problem to have.