Expect Canada to take gold

A quick rundown of the national rosters, plus some predictions and omissions:

Canada

The host favorites have Scott Niedermayer as their captain, Sidney Crosby as their star and a goaltending trio of Marty Brodeur, Marc-Andre Fleury and Roberto Luongo. Their roster is an All-Star squad of talent.

Glaring omission: Martin St. Louis.

Prediction: Gold. What else for this loaded group? The pressure of playing at home may be the only thing that stymies the Canadians.

United States

A young, fast group, the Americans are underdogs - not 1980 underdogs, but not many think they will contend for gold. They do have a difference-maker in Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, who could do for the United States what Henrik Lundqvist did for Sweden four years ago.

Glaring omission: Kyle Okposo deserved a shot.

Prediction: Silver.

Finland

A Sweden-in-2006 run is likely for the Finns because of their goaltending strength. The Wild's Nicklas Backstrom and the Flames' Miikka Kiprusoff will be the tandem in net. Expect a lot of low-scoring games - not too much firepower beyond the aging Teemu Selanne and the Koivu brothers.

Glaring omission: Jussi Jokinen is a clutch scorer.

Prediction: A surprising bronze.

Russia

They have the offense, but where's the rest? Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk - the Russians are loaded up front. On defense, it's Fedor Tyutin and . . . Dmitri Kalinin? And in goal, Evgeni Nabokov and Ilya Brzgalov will need to be sharp. Too much hype here, not enough two-way play.

Glaring omission: Alex Kovalev.

Prediction: A disappointing fifth.

Czech Republic

It'd be fun to see our old friend Jaromir Jagr lift the Czechs once again, and he's got some good young players around him - David Krejci, Milan Michalek and Tomas Fleischmann among them. But the defense is too old and goalie Tomas Vokoun's best days are behind him.

Glaring omission: Vinny Prospal.

Prediction: Sixth.

Sweden

Lundqvist may try to steal another medal for the Swedes, but if he falters, there's nothing behind him in net. A very strong team from front to back, led by the Sedin twins, but injuries cloud the picture.

Glaring omission: Mikael Samuelsson, who told his country what it can do with its selection process in a very off-color, un-Swedish manner last week.

Prediction: Fourth.