Day 283: Bruins Represent in Sochi Olympics

The official Olympic rosters for all Men's Hockey teams have been named and the Boston Bruins will be well represented in Russia next month. In the end, five guys have been named to five different teams—which just goes to show you the international flair of the game. Hockey is one of the marquis events of the Olympics and it's always fun to watch a group of teammates fight so fiercely for their home country, even if it means squashing your line mate to get ahead.

Patrice Bergeron will play for Team Canada for the second time. He was a member of the gold medal winning Canadian team in Vancouver in 2010. Team Canada has also named Bruins' head coach, Claude Julien, as assistant coach. And Milan Lucic was invited to attend the orientation camp, but wasn't chosen as part of the final roster.

Bruins' captain, Zdeno Chara, will play in his third Olympics and head the Slovakia team. Tuukka Rask will tend the net for Finland, David Krejci will play for the Czech Republic and Loui Erikkson was named to Sweden's team. No one was named to the US team.

Each player was humbled by the appointment and felt honored to be playing for their home country. Teams Canada, Russia and Sweden are all favorites to win the gold medal. USA doesn't quite measure up to the top teams, but they have a strong team and could be in the hunt for a medal of some color, just probably not gold. But who knows with the Americans... they always seem to surprise us on the big stage.

Here's my prediction for the podium in Men's Hockey:

GOLD:  Russia (Duh... because they're the home team.)
SILVER:  Canada (Unable to defend their gold, they'll lose to Russia in a real nail biter.)
BRONZE:  USA (They're going to beat Sweden to squeeze onto the media podium.)

The Olympic hockey tournament begins on Wednesday, February 12th. Can you tell I'm excited?