Things We Know So Far

Some things we learned after the first game in the Olympics for each competing nation:

Flames can burn brighter. Some players from the Calgary Flames look pretty good when they can get out from under the restrictive defensive system the team employs. Nik Hagman scored twice for Finland, both off his backhand, in the Finns’ 5-1 victory over Belarus. Hagman’s Calgary linemate, Jarome Iginla, had a hat trick for Canada in its 8-0 victory over Norway. Iginla did not ignite until he was put on a line with Sidney Crosby and Rick Nash, a group that was initially formed during Canada’s orientation camp in the summer. Expect them to stay together for the balance of the tournament.

The specter of the stopper. A hot goalie(s) will emerge during this tournament but we were reminded of just how much damage a netminder can do to Olympic hopes by the play of Vitali Koval of Belarus, who held his team in longer against Finland than it deserved to be, making 40 saves. Of course, a hot goalie can also cool like yesterday’s fish. In that same Finland-Belarus game, Antero Nittymaki of Finland, who was named the most valuable player of the 2006 Olympic hockey tournament, did not even suit up.

There is speed and then there is crazy speed. Russia has the latter. There seems to be a calculated frenzy to what the Russians do on the ice, always skating, sticks alert, flooding the zone, bearing down on the net. It’s nearly as wild as those skates of Alexander Ovechkin. Such a style is guaranteed to spawn defensive lapses but it sure is fun to watch. Additionally intriguing will be how long the Russians stick with this freewheeling nature as they move the deeper into the tournament. It is one thing to dangle against Latvia, quite another to dipsy doodle in the medal round.

Didn’t you used to be . . . ? Jaromir Jagr and Peter Forsberg both looked good in their openers, Jagr scoring once in the Czech Republic’s 3-1 victory over Slovakia. Forsberg played nearly 13 minutes in Sweden’s 2-0 win over Germany. He had no shots but still retains his eye for a nice set-up, dishing off to Nicklas Backstrom for a good scoring chance. Neither player will ever be as dominating as they once were but both looked inspired. Granted, it’s early, but nothing they did yesterday will tamp down talk about either of them returning to the NHL.

A big country. Brian Burke, the general manager of the United States, promised his team would be big. It is and it used its size effectively against Switzerland. That will please Burke to no end but, more important, it may also allow a young U.S. team to assert itself much quicker than one would expect. Oh, and the line of Zach Parise, Paul Stastny and Patrick Kane is definitely worth watching.

Quack, quack. How can the Anaheim Ducks have eight players in the Olympics – a goalie, two defensemen and five forwards representing four countries -- and be sitting on the outside of the Western Conference playoffs? Just askin’.