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Canada celebrates a gold medal victory over the USA in Vancouver in 2010.

Canada trumped the U.S.A for gold in 2010, but can the Yanks serve up revenge over their rivals?

  Sidney Crosby led a Canadian breakaway down the ice when U.S goalie Ryan Miller knocked the puck away from him, sending the puck into the boards. Crosby got it back, passed to Jarome Iginla, who passed the puck back to Crosby, who sent a nation into jubilation with the flick of his wrist.

Regardless of who you rooted for in 2010, the men’s hockey tournament in Vancouver was one of the greatest tournaments in sports. It was a sheer reflection of how far international hockey has come on both the professional and junior circuits. Expect February’s tournament in Sochi, Russia to live up to the same standard. Despite a growing concern that National Hockey League (NHL) players would no longer be participating in the Olympics, the league and National Hockey League Player’s Association (NHLPA) came to an agreement on July 19, 2013 to enable the players to continue participating in the games.

The men’s ice hockey tournament is the most entertaining event in the Winter Olympics. A plethora of talented players from North America and Europe make up world-class national teams. Canada, the United States, and Finland finished first, second, and third respectively in Vancouver, but hosts Russia and current world number-one Sweden should be up to the test.

“Russia will fair well against the USA and Canada as the hosts,” said junior Jack Murphy, who plays for the Libertyville/Vernon Hills IceCats. “They are at an advantage as the hosts and they are talented.”

The results from 2010 portray the depth of the competition. In 2010, Canada had split results against the USA in the two meetings they had, and Canada only won their semifinal by one goal. Their opponent that day was Slovakia, who finished tenth in the preliminaries.

This year’s edition will be especially exciting for Chicago Blackhawks fans. Ten players will represent six teams, with Sweden and Canada boasting the most Chi-town representation. Hawks fans got to see team leaders Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews square off as arch nemesis in 2010, and this year will feature more inner-squad matchups with more players in February. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, and Duncan Keith were selected by Canada. Sweden added Marcus Kruger, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Johnny Oduya. Marian Hossa and Michal Handzus will represent Slovakia. Veteran Michal Rozsival will make his Olympic debut with the Czech Republic, and Patrick Kane will be the lone Hawk playing for Team USA.

“It really shows how talented the Blackhawks are when ten of their players are going to the Olympics,” said Blackhawks fan and senior Jason Eick.

As far as the competition format is concerned, 12 teams will play in three groups of four teams each in a round-robin format. After each team plays three games, the first-place teams from each group will be seeded 1-3, the second place teams 4-6, third place teams 7-9, and fourth place teams 10-12 in the playoff round. The top four seeds receive byes to the quarterfinals, while seeds 5-12 play elimination games to complete the final eight. The playoff round is single elimination and teams are not reseeded in the quarterfinals, contrary to the NHL playoffs. The men’s tournament starts on Wednesday February 12, and the gold medal game is on Sunday the 23rd.