Two teams? More than one nation can play at that game

Originally published on IIHF.com in 2006

By Lucas Aykroyd

Before each Olympic tournament, there’s lots of talk about how Canada’s depth could hypothetically enable it to ice two separate teams. But how would other countries fare if given the same mandate? Let’s investigate, using the Czech Republic and Russia as examples.

Obviously, when creating rosters like these, certain assumptions have to be made.

First, there is no sense in placing your two top goalies on the same team. If Canada, for instance, had two teams, why not let Martin Brodeur start for one and Roberto Luongo for the other instead of wasting a talented netminder on the bench most nights?

Second, bear in mind that when assessing the talent base of Big Seven nations, it’s not easy to isolate seven defensemen and 13 forwards as unequivocally a country’s best. Again, you have to assume that even using the model of ”A” and “B” teams, the coaches will attempt to spread around the talent to provide some balance, although usually an A team will have more talent and experience, while a B team must compensate to some degree with youth, speed, and energy. But the following A rosters won’t necessarily correspond to what each nation is actualy icing at these Olympics.

Third, ensure that each squad has at least four natural centers, with surplus pivots being shunted to the wing.

Fourth, assume that all eligible players are healthy, willing, and ready to play.

Fifth, use only players whose names were included on the initial long lists submitted by the various national federations.

So could the Russian and Czech B teams end up facing their A counterparts in a gold medal showdown? You be the judge:

Russia

A Team Goal: Nikolai Khabibulin, Ilya Bryzgalov, Sergei Zviagin

A Team Defense: Andrei Markov, Darius Kasparaitis, Sergei Gonchar, Anton Volchenkov, Danny Markov, Vladimir Malakhov, Sergei Zubov

A Team Forward: Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Fedorov, Alexei Zhamnov, Sergei Samsonov, Artem Chubarov, Viktor Kozlov, Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alexander Frolov, Pavel Datsyuk, Pavel Vorobiev, Slava Kozlov, Maxim Afinogenov

B Team Goal: Evgeni Nabokov, Maxim Sokolov, Alexander Fomitchev

B Team Defense: Alexander Khavanov, Oleg Tverdovsky, Dmitri Kalinin, Igor Ulanov, Vitali Vishnevski, Fedor Tyutin, Alexei Zhitnik

B Team Forward: Alexander Perezhogin, Maxim Sushinsky, Evgeny Malkin, Alexei Morozov, Alexei Yashin, Dainus Zubrus, Oleg Saprykin, Alexander Mogilny, Dmitri Afanasenkov, Valeri Bure, Nikolai Zherdev, Sergei Zinoviev, Alexei Kaigorodov

Czech Republic

A Team Goal: Dominik Hasek, Roman Cechmanek, Milan Hnilicka

A Team Defense: Pavel Kubina, Tomas Kaberle, Frantisek Kaberle, Jiri Slegr, Roman Hamrlik, Marek Zidlicky, Jaroslav Spacek

A Team Forward: Jaromir Jagr, Milan Hejduk, Martin Rucinsky, Martin Straka, Vaclav Prospal, Martin Havlat, Petr Sykora, Petr Cajanek, Robert Lang, Ales Hemsky, Patrik Elias, Radek Dvorak, David Vyborny

B Team Goal: Tomas Vokoun, Martin Prusek, Roman Turek

B Team Defense: Martin Skoula, Jiri Fischer, Marek Malik, Rostislav Klesla, Radek Martinek, Filip Kuba, Jaroslav Modry

B Team Forward: Radek Bonk, Petr Prucha, Robert Reichel, Jan Bulis, Vaclav Varada, Ales Kotalik, Jan Hlavac, Martin Erat, Tomas Vlasak, Jan Hrdina, Josef Vasicek, Rostislav Olesz, Jaroslav Balastik

One way of evaluating these rosters is to note that while the B teams might have a tough time overcoming the A teams, both would be capable of making the gold medal game with a total commitment to teamwork, tight defensive play, and optimized goaltending.

The latter can’t be stressed enough. The recent history of international hockey suggests that a berth in the finals is always in reach as long as your goalie plays up to his level of competence (in the case of a star) or goes beyond what could be expected (for either a star or a journeyman). Nobody expected the Finns to make the 2004 World Cup final, but with Miikka Kiprusoff having a better overall year than any other netminder in the world, they fell just one goal short of victory

How about the IIHF World Championships? Neither Slovakia’s Jan Lasak nor Russia’s Maxim Sokolov qualify as household names, but their inspired play carried their teams to the finals of the 2002 tournament in Sweden. And of course, Dominik Hasek’s brilliance and Martin Brodeur’s ability to elevate his game when it counted most were key factors in the 1998 and 2002 Olympic results.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the Olympics to open up to multiple teams from individual nations. But the difference between A and B in today’s game is very slight.