Power Rankings

The WC website updates power rankings after each leg of the world championship, so I wonder, what if we do the same thing for the Olympics to entertain ourselves and spark debates. So, here are my rankings so far:

1. Canada (they are the champs until they lose a big tournament(World Championships do not count))

2. Finland (no problems with goaltending so far, but we should wait until the Finns play a serious opponent)

3. Slovakia (What a suprise! The Hossa, Demitra, Gaborik line is the most electrifying so far, but the Slovaks will need contribution from other lines if they want to win in the playoffs)

4. Russia (What an impressive rebound after the first loss! The games with Latvia and the USA should reveal whether the Russian defence did overachieve with Sweden or not)

5. Czech Republic (they should rebound after the loss to SWI. Too much talent on this team)

6. Sweden (They'll get an easy 2 pts with Latvia. Latvia, afterall, would rather take points away from Russia)

7. USA (they are, probably, too old to compete for medals this time, but they play so much better as underdogs, so Slovaks get ready)

8. Switzerland (Awesome win against the Czechs, but get ready to come down to earth after the game with Canada)

9. Latvia (too much depends on Irbe; if only they had a little more talent up front, their counterattacks would be even more dangerous. After they took a point away form the US team, Sweden and Russia won't underestimate them)

10. Germany (if only Olaf Kolzig could score... Not much talent, but great work ethics though)

11. Kazakhstan (just happy to be here)

12. Italy (had they not hosted the Olympics , they would not have been in this tournament)

Nice rankings. I'm not going to argue because I liked the fact you took the time to actually make your points about the rankings ;)

Great rankings and explanation!
I would only do the following tweaks :

Switch Slovakia with Finland : On paper, difference between the two teams is too small to overlook the fact that Slovakia had much more opposition than Finland. So, Slovakia (2) and Finland (3)

Switzerland with USA : It has more to do with the fact that USA are going to face the two fastest teams of tournament with a geriatric team, and that Switzerland nearly assured their qualification by winning against the Czechs, something the USA might get by tie-breaker with Latvia... Wadell and Laviolette are actually praying that Kazakhstan beats Latvia, or Peter Budaj suffering a Salo syndrome...

I don't think the Czech Republic is above Sweden at this point.

Did you take into consideration that Forsberg, one of the few man on the planet that can absolutely change the outcome of a game??? Btw, Finland isn't that good. They've beaten easy teams and play well as a team, but against the big oppositions, we'll just have to wait and see. The US isn't actually old. It's that they're too young with a few very experience guys. They might not do anything in this tournament cause of their inexperience youths.

Even though Slovakia beat the Russians, I still pick the Russians as the better team. Remember, Russia played a goalie not named Nabakov against the Slovaks and when the Russians are pissed, they can absolutely destroy a team (Sweden).

Canada should be Number 1, but it becomes blurry after that. I pick Finland and the US as the weakest of the top 7 nations.

pretty good ranking. maybe I'd put Sweden ahead of the Czechs though.

It feels like this atm:

1 - Canada (have nothing to worrie about so far)
2 - Finland (best D and goalkeeping imo, lets see if they can score against better teams)
3 - Slovakia (great team, lets see if their goalies will hold up)
4 - Russian Fed. (weak D)
5 - Chech Rep. (bad coaching)
5 - Sweden (weak D & bad coaching)
7 - USA
8 - Switzerland
9 - Germany
10 - Latvia
11 - Kaz...
12 -Italy

I just cant put Czechs and Sweden higher on the list after the way they've been playing.

1. Canada (because they are simply the best even without neidermayer and jovo)
2. Czechs (even though i hate them with a passion) hasek= biggest tool in history
3. Sweden (other than alfie i got respect for them) krusty the clown= tied with hasek for biggest tool in history
4. Russia (i dont like em' but too much offensive firepower to ignore)
5. Finland (i got respect for the way they play the game but without kipper i dont know if they can get the job done in the medal round)
6. Slovakia
7. US (sorry guys)
8. Germany
9. Switzerland
10. Latvia
11. Kazakstan go Antropov! (good luck by the way...)
12. Italy

Glad that some of you liked my rankings. guys :-)

Switch Slovakia with Finland : On paper, difference between the two teams is too small to overlook the fact that Slovakia had much more opposition than Finland. So, Slovakia (2) and Finland (3)


Good point, but Slovakia was outshot by Latvia and allowed too many scoring chances to a non-Big7 team. The Finnish team is more balanced and is much better defensively, and that's why I placed it over the talented Slovak team even though the former played weaker opponents (although SWI doesn't seem that weak after the yesterday's upset)


Did you take into consideration that Forsberg, one of the few man on the planet that can absolutely change the outcome of a game??? The US isn't actually old. It's that they're too young with a few very experience guys. They might not do anything in this tournament cause of their inexperience youths. Even though Slovakia beat the Russians, I still pick the Russians as the better team. Remember, Russia played a goalie not named Nabakov against the Slovaks and when the Russians are pissed, they can absolutely destroy a team (Sweden).


I think that we can't consider Forsberg yet. He hasn't played yet, and we aren't sure whether he is completely healed also. In anyway, we'll find out about his shape tomorrow when he plays (supposedly) against Latvia.

As far as the US team goes, actually, 13 (!) players on this team are over 30 years old. Hardly I could call them a young team.

If I were to put Russia over Slovakia, my inbox would be full of angry Slovak e-mails :)


maybe I'd put Sweden ahead of the Czechs though.


That was a tough one for me to choose. Had the Swedes scored against Russia at least once, I would have put them above the Czechs.

1. Canada (because they are simply the best even without neidermayer and jovo)


That should really read:

1. Canada (because they are simply the best even without neidermayer and jovo, and despite the presence of mccabe)

That should really read:

1. Canada (because they are simply the best even without neidermayer and jovo, and despite the presence of mccabe)

McCabe > Redden! :sarcasm:

If I were to put Russia over Slovakia, my inbox would be full of angry Slovak e-mails :)
:D

Here's something I put together from the official statistics
last night.

- http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/IH/C76A_IHM400900.html
- http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/IH/C84_IHM400900.html

-----------

The first table is the stats put in the ordinary way:

GP Points Gdiff GK% SG% PP PK Pen

CAN 2 4 9 90,62 13,33 26,67 90,00 36
CZE 2 2 2 90,91 7,89 16,67 83,33 26
FIN 2 4 11 100,00 12,50 53,33 100,00 12
GER 2 0 -7 87,84 5,41 9,09 75,00 28
ITA 2 0 -11 88,00 5,56 16,67 55,56 42
KAZ 2 0 -8 84,29 11,54 14,29 75,00 38
LAT 2 1 -3 86,57 11,32 7,14 90,00 24
RUS 2 2 3 91,67 14,55 15,38 84,62 32
SUI 2 2 -4 92,31 6,98 10,00 75,00 30
SVK 2 4 5 88,24 18,03 18,18 90,91 22
SWE 2 2 0 84,78 12,07 15,38 90,91 26
USA 2 3 3 89,19 8,97 20,00 83,33 26
----------

The second table is the same stats according to current rank
instead of the usual way with numbers and percentages:


Points Gdiff GK% SG% PP PK Pen Avg

CAN 1 2 5 3 2 4 10 3,86
CZE 5 6 4 9 5 7 4 5,71
FIN 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 1,43
GER 10 10 9 12 11 9 7 9,71
ITA 10 12 8 11 5 12 12 10,00
KAZ 10 11 12 6 9 9 11 9,71
LAT 9 8 10 7 12 4 3 7,57
RUS 5 4 3 2 7 6 9 5,14
SUI 5 9 2 10 10 9 8 7,57
SVK 1 3 7 1 4 2 2 2,86
SWE 5 7 11 5 7 2 4 5,86
USA 4 4 6 8 3 7 4 5,14

-----------

As you probably noticed, the higher the value the better the ranking, except
with the penalties, with the lower the value the better the ranking.

So, we get something I call the 'Statistical Ranking' or more appropriately
'St Rank', as we all know reading stats is like reading the bible in hockey :)
Sorry for all the possible mistakes, I didn't get much sleep yet (0625AM here now).

St Rank 17Feb2006

1. FIN
2. SVK
3. CAN
4. RUS
4. USA
6. CZE
7. SWE
8. SUI
8. LAT
10. GER
10. KAZ
12. ITA

I'll try to fix the tables into html for the next update.
Have fun, I'm off to bed now.

EDIT: Attached a gif for easier reading.

Well done Cas, I look forward to more updates.

1. Canada (they are the champs until they lose a big tournament(World Championships do not count))


I will not argue about the rankings(but i disagree with it of course), last WCH in Vienna Canada roster was sooo loaded by big names...that was legit all star team(because of lockout). I read from Canada hockey writers that it was one of the best team in decent history...so it should really count ;)

I will not argue about the rankings(but i disagree with it of course), last WCH in Vienna Canada roster was sooo loaded by big names...that was legit all star team(because of lockout). I read from Canada hockey writers that it was one of the best team in decent history...so it should really count ;)

Uh... what? IIRC we had no Pronger, Sakic, Iginla.. best team ever? Sure...

On a happier note.. love the avatar ;)

There's no point in ranking countries at this point, nor putting Canada and Finland atop of it since they haven't played a G7 country yet.

McCabe > Redden! :sarcasm:
Haha, I hope you meant that as sarcasm, otherwise you must have been smokin something ;)

Haha, I hope you meant that as sarcasm, otherwise you must have been smokin something ;)

yes, thats what the sarcasm was for! :banghead:
I noticed he was from Ottawa and was making fun of a Toronto player, how odd ;)

This is likely more accurate..

It feels like this atm:

1 - Canada (have nothing to worrie about so far)
2 - Finland (best D and goalkeeping imo, lets see if they can score against better teams)
3 - Slovakia (great team, lets see if their goalies will hold up)
4 - Russian Fed. (weak D)
5 - Chech Rep. (bad coaching)
5 - Sweden (weak D & bad coaching)
7 - USA
8 - Switzerland
9 - Germany
10 - Latvia
11 - Kaz...
12 -Italy

I just cant put Czechs and Sweden higher on the list after the way they've been playing.


Add the fact that the whole team except 3-4 guys seems totally uninterested in even being in Turin.

The exceptions are Sundin, Holmström, Påhlsson and perhaps Hävelid.

The rest of the punks just floats around.

Caz, what an impressive piece of work. Great job!!

I will not argue about the rankings(but i disagree with it of course), last WCH in Vienna Canada roster was sooo loaded by big names...that was legit all star team(because of lockout). I read from Canada hockey writers that it was one of the best team in decent history...so it should really count ;)

You are right, the last WCH was loaded with big names, but the Torino Olympics, for example, has twice (!) as many NHLers and fewer teams (more NHLers per team). There is no comparison.

Caz, what an impressive piece of work. Great job!!



You are right, the last WCH was loaded with big names, but the Torino Olympics, for example, has twice (!) as many NHLers and fewer teams (more NHLers per team). There is no comparison.

I agree with you. I only compared Canada and Cze, Canada had very good team that year, and Cze blanked them in finals 3-0.
Anyway, i think ranking should be done after tournament(and look to tournaments in past). Making rankings after two games played is bid hasty imho.

Caz, what an impressive piece of work. Great job!!



You are right, the last WCH was loaded with big names, but the Torino Olympics, for example, has twice (!) as many NHLers and fewer teams (more NHLers per team). There is no comparison.


You should, probably, move up Swiss team in rankings

if you guys want, *************..com would put up the power rankings for each team, but we would need someone to write out why each team is ranked in such order.

I agree with you. I only compared Canada and Cze, Canada had very good team that year, and Cze blanked them in finals 3-0.
Anyway, i think ranking should be done after tournament(and look to tournaments in past). Making rankings after two games played is bid hasty imho.

If I were to compare CAN and CZE, I would rather refer to the most recent world cup game (4-3 Canada win in OT). I personally think that that was the best hockey game played in the 21st century so far. I was jealous of both Canada and Czech Republic on that day...

It would be pointless to make rankings at the end of the tournament because we would know all the winners and losers by then. That's why I think that this type of intermediate rankings are more fun.

You should, probably, move up Swiss team in rankings

I'm updating according to the statistics, so we'll have the
St Rank 18Feb06 after the evening games. It's actually pretty
interesting to compare the teams' efforts this way as the tables
(and ranks of course) are changing after each game. Gives an
idea who's doing well in what area and then sort of combines all
the areas together to get a 'full scale' pic.

But as said, update after tonight's games.


EDIT: St Rank 18Feb06 can be found in the Power Rankings 18Feb thread.