It's Christmas in February for hockey fans

Whoever set the Olympic hockey schedule made sure that I will burn several hours in front of the today as rivals in North America, Eastern Europe and the Scandis vie for seeding (top 4 get a first round bye) in the elimination phase of the tournament.

The big game of course is USA-Canada. Given the pourous defenses both teams have shown, this could be high scoring, up and down action. But I think both coaches realize that they are not playing Switzerland or Norway anymore and will tighten up their systems. But Canada has to be the favorite as their roster is stacked and they have home ice advantage.

Can't say I agree with Coach Babcock decision to start Marty Brodeur. He may have been one of the top two or three goalies of all-time, but that Martin Brodeur has not shown up as often the last couple of years.

But the real key to the game will simply be can Ryan Miller steal a win for USA. Unfortunately, our fearless Slacker prediction: Canada 4 - USA 2

The Russia - Czech Republic tilt features a return to the spotlight for Jaromir Jagr's ridiculous mullet. News reports also say that Ovechkin and Malkin will be playing on the same line. So that alone will be worth watching. Russia is probably still stinging from their loss to Slovakia and are still our pick for gold. Russia 4 Czechs 3.

And finally the Scandi battle between Sweden and Finland: a rematch of the Torino gold medal game. The Finns have so far dominated their group with 5-1 and 5-0 wins over Belarus and Germany respectively. But Sweden is a much greater test and is also undefeated. Our prediction, the Swedes get revenge for Torino and beat Finland in an overtime shootout.