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Who is your favorite to win gold medal in men's hockey?
By Tim Buckley
Deseret News sports writer
- "I always think Canada looks good on paper." — Swedish center Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs
- "You have four, five, six teams that have a real good shot." — Canadian captain Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh Penguins
- "Canada and U.S. . . . (But) anybody can beat anybody. That's what makes this special." — Finnish winger Teemu Selanne, San Jose Sharks
- "It's a short tournament, and anything can happen. . . . I think we have the same chance as five or six other teams do. . . . I don't know. It's very hard to predict anything." — Russian goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, Tampa Bay Lightning
- "Any team is capable of winning. We've seen that, especially in single-elimination medal round." — American captain Chris Chelios, Detroit Red Wings
- "I would say Canada and the Czechs. . . . Canadians have a lot of depth, a lot of skilled players. The Czechs — their success in the last two World Championships, certainly the last Olympics, with Dominik Hasek in net." — American defenseman Brian Leetch, New York Rangers
- "If you look at Russia, the U.S. and Canada and the Czechs, they have pretty good teams there, so they have a good chance to win the thing." — Swedish goalie Tommy Salo, Edmonton Oilers
- "Even though there's some favorite teams by the media and the people around hockey, it is wide-open — because it's a short period of time. . . . Obviously, we're not the favorite team." — Finnish winger Sami Kapanen, Carolina Hurricanes
- "The Czechs are favored; they won it last time. . . . (But) it's very wide-open. And I think what's really compounded it, and made it more wide-open, is the Russians. Last Olympics, the Russians did not have a strong team. They weren't unified. Now, with (coach Slava) Fetisov, all the players are really charged. So you throw the Russians in the mix." — ESPN analyst Barry Melrose, former Los Angeles Kings coach
- "The Czechs are the team to beat. We have a saying in the NHL that champion is always the team to beat, and the Czechs won the last gold medal." — Canadian assistant executive director Kevin Lowe, general manager of the Edmonton Oilers
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February 14, 2002
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