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Last week, we took a look at several teams that had dire chances of placing in the top three in the Olympic Games. While Germany and Switzerland may not be in the same situation as those teams, which were Latvia, Belarus and Norway, they'll still need to overcome many obstacles in order to win their respective Groups and advance far in the tournament. Even though a great start isn't probable, it still is certainly possible with a number of good players on both rosters.
Germany
Appearances (Including 2010)
Total Appearances: 13
Medals
Gold: 0
Silver: 0
Bronze: 1
Roster
Goalies
G Dennis Endras
G Thomas Greiss
G Dimitri Pätzold
Defensemen
D Michael Bakos
D Christian Ehrhoff
D Jakub Ficenec
D Jason Holland
D Korbinian Holzer
D Chris Schmidt
D Dennis Seidenberg
D Alexander Sulzer
Forwards
F Alexander Barta
F Sven Felski
F Marcel Goc
F Thomas Greilinger
F Jochen Hecht
F Manuel Klinge
F Marcel Müller
F Travis James Mulock
F André Rankel
F Marco Sturm
F John Tripp
F Michael Wolf
If this team is going to be a factor in the tournament, then the goaltending will have to be, at the very least, superb. San Jose goalie of the future Thomas Greiss will have a lot of weight on his shoulders at the Olympics, but we shouldn't forget that Greiss did raise his level of play against Team Canada in the 2006 Olympics with a phenomenal 35 save game on 40 shots against and he was all of twenty years of age at the time of that performance. If he doesn't perform well, Team Germany will find itself in trouble with the lack of depth at the goaltending position.
Christian Ehrhoff, Dennis Seidenberg and Alexander Sulzer will be responsible for supplying Germany with elite-level defense. In other words, Germany will likely have to win high scoring games if they want to advance far in this tournament. If Ehrhoff, who usually doesn't matchup against the top competition and isn't even that great of a defenseman, has to defend often in Germany's zone, Germany's opposition could have a field day on the ice. Seidenberg and Sulzer are adequate, but Germany better not find itself in too many 1-1 games in the third period.
Marco Sturm will be one of the biggests assets for Team Germany on offense. Sturm was to be named the Captain of Team Germany in 2006 for the Turin, Italy Winter Games, but had to pull out several days prior to the start of the competition because of an unspecified upper-body injury. Germany went on to finish a disappointing tenth out of twelve teams that year, but are ready to move forward with a better finish in these Olympics.
Luckily for Team Germany, they're in the easiest Group of all - Group C. They should be able to finish ahead of Belarus, but Sweden and Finland will likely prove too tough for Germany to defeat. They could make it to the quarterfinals, but more likely this dark horse is heading for a disappointment for the second consecutive Winter Olympic Games.
Schedule: Sweden, February 17 at 4:30 PM (PST); Finland, February 19 at 9:00 PM (PST); Belarus, February 20 at 9:00 PM (PST). Secondary round (except for byes) for all teams on February 23.
Switzerland
Appearances (Including 2010)
Total Appearances: 15
Medals
Gold: 0
Silver: 0
Bronze: 2
Roster
Goalies
G Martin Gerber
G Jonas Hiller
G Tobias Stephan
Defensemen
D Goran Bezina
D Severin Blindenbacher
D Rafeal Diaz
D Roman Josi
D Luca Sbisa
D Mathias Seger
D Mark Streit
D Yannick Weber
Forwards
F Andres Ambuhl
F Thomas Deruns
F Hnat Domenichelli
F Sandy Jeannin
F Thibaut Monnet
F Thierry Paterlini
F Martin Pluss
F Kevin Romy
F Ivo Ruthermann
F Raffaele Sannitz
F Julien Sprunger
F Roman Wick
Jonas Hiller, whose stellar play in Anaheim allowed Ducks GM Bob Murray to deal Jean-Sebastien Giguere, will be the primary goaltender in net for Team Switzerland. The 27 year old is fully capable of posting a high save percentage in this tournament and will keep Swizterland in quite a few close, low scoring games. This is one strength that this squad has over many teams, especially Germany, and could be of great importance as the tournament progresses.
The defense will perform only as well as New York Islander Mark Streit does. Streit is currently one of the top defenseman in the National Hockey League and he has a chance to be the star of the Olympics if Switzerland advances into the semifinals and beyond. The main concern for Switzerland is the big dropoff in talent when looking past the 32 year old. Sbisa and Weber are barely replacement level defenseman at this time, though at their young age they're going to improve in years to come. Team Switzerland could have a difficult time helping Hiller in the net, especially when Streit is not on the ice.
The biggest weakness for Team Switerland, by a large margin, is their offense. When your best offensive player, Roman Wick, couldn't break the Ottawa Senators roster, then you know not to expect much on offense. Don't expect more than two goals a game on offense for this team in the tournament, which means Hiller will have to keep scoring to a minimal to give Switzerland a chance.
In order to do well in this tournament, Switzerland will need great goaltending and excellent defense because they're not going to get much goal support. In Group A, Switzerland should be able to take one win against Norway, but will struggle against the United States and Canada. But don't be fooled - even with a third place finish in Group A, Switzerland can still get into the quarterfinals when the teams are reseeded and Groups are taken out of the equation after the first three games in the preliminary round. Switzerland could go 1-2 in the preliminary round and then pull off a number of upsets against teams such as Finland and the Czech Republic. A quarterfinals appearance and a top eight finish is possible, but a trip to the semifinals will likely stay out of reach.
Schedule: USA, February 16 at 12:00 PM (PST); Canada, February 18 at 4:30 PM (PST); Norway, February 20 at 12:00 PM (PST). Secondary round (except for byes) for all teams on February 23.
Andrew Rothstein is an author of Hockey Prospectus.
You can contact Andrew by clicking here or click here to see Andrew's other articles.
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