One of the most anticipated hockey games in years will be held today in Vancouver as the U.S.A and Canada will square off for the 2010 Olympic gold medal in a rematch of not only this year's preliminary round game, won by the USA in an upset, 5-3, but also the gold medal game held in Salt Lake City, Utah during the 2002 Winter Games, when a Mario Lemieux-captained Canadian squad beat their brethren from the states for gold.
Today's matchup materialized when the USA rolled out to a 6-0 first period lead over Finland in their seminfinal on Friday, before prevailing 6-1, and when Canada took a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes over Slovakia on Friday, before withstanding a 3rd period rally and holding on to win 3-2.
One of the biggest things worth watching in today's game will be the performance of Penguins' center Sidney Crosby.
Crosby has been a non-factor in Canada's last two contests, and could be ready for a breakout game today on a world stage with everything on the line.
Interestingly, the defense pairing that USA Head Coach Ron Wilson is probably most likely to match up against Crosby's unit consists of Pittsburgh Penguins' teammate Brooks Orpik and one of Crosby's best friends, Los Angeles Kings' defenseman Jack Johnson.
Both Johnson and Orpik have been a very effective pair for the US, and has been a big factor in the degree to which they have steamrolled the competition in the tournament up to this point.
The USA has yet to trail in a game, and has outscored it's opponents 22-6 so far.
On the other side of the ledger, the team expected to be as dominating, Canada, hasn't quite lived up to that billing.
Sure, they came out of the gate like "gorillas" (to quote Russian goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov) against their rivals from the Soviet Union in the quarterfinals, but left a little to be desired against the Slovaks in the semifinals Friday night.
Still, chances are that, with the gold on the line today, Canada is likely to come out on all cylinders in front of their 'home' fans in Vancouver. They'll probably look to create more traffic in front of USA goaltender Ryan Miller.
Miller hasn't had a bad game in the Olympics yet. Can he keep that up for one more round, or is he due to stumble?
Whatever happens, it's surely going to be some hockey for the ages.
And regardless, at least one Pittsburgh Penguin -- and perhaps two, if Canada wins -- will be returning to Pittsburgh tonight with a gold medal.
I'll have a recap of the gold medal match tomorrow, and also will have a separate post up tomorrow on the Penguins and the upcoming trade deadline.
Check back often until the deadline Wednesday at 3 PM for all of my coverage.
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