Mark Streit, captaining Team Switzerland for the third consecutive Olympics, certainly knows what he's in for. As he told reporters of today's encounter with Team America -- less than 48 hours (ridiculous!) after his last NHL game:
"I think for us it's a big thing to get used to the smaller ice rink right away, the intensity of the game and the speed ... They're probably going to come out really hard. ... When you look at their players, they probably have the better individual talent than we do. But hopefully we play well as a team [under our] our system; that's been our strength..."
This mark generally for sale to fast food chains and such.
USA vs. Switzerland | 3 p.m. EST | USA Network
Streit goes from playing between 22 and 26 minutes per night for the Islanders to quite possibly even more than that against opponents like Zach Parise-Paul Stastny-Patrick Kane. Now, instead of sending outlet passes to Kyle Okposo, he sends them to Hnat Domenicelli. Some bits:
- A look at likely U.S. lines based on Monday's practice.
- That ESPN link above had much more, including a bit on the Swiss player who recovered from neck surgery thanks to a David Backes hit at last year's World Championship. Intrigue.
- NHL.com has an NHL-centric game preview.
- Hans und Franz's run-down of both Switzerland and Norway, who play Canada in prime time at 7:30 on CNBC/CTV/RDS. (Speaking of Hans, check out his FanPost and help him decide who to name on his next Islanders jersey. That has some evergreen-discussion potential.)
Meanwhile closer to Islanders Country, if you missed it Gary Bettman was on WFAN slamming the Town of Hempstead and sharing his own doubts on a Brooklyn time-share with the Nets. Here is Chris Botta's version at Islanders Point Blank, and here's the Newsday pay version.
I think this post will serve as our game thread. [Note: SBNation.com should be providing streams and a live thread for every game, too.] Considering the less-than-ideal game time for USA-Switzerland, I for one won't be able to keep a dedicated eye on the game. So add any interesting links and in-game comments, if you're able to watch/follow along, in comments.