Latvia vs. Slovakia - 02-20-10
-This was pretty predictable. Slovakia's a legit team full of skill and a good goaltender. Latvia's a team with little NHL-caliber talent but full of heart. And their hear left them tonight. It could've been a lot uglier if Slovakia really wanted to press the gas. As it was, they let up and beat Latvia "only" 6-0.
-We don't think they will, but Slovakia is a legit threat to medal. They have enough skill and goaltender Jaroslav Halak's a guy who can steal games as we saw with their win against Russia.
-Jozef Stumpel was very impressive. He created quite a bit of offense on his own and looked like the top-flight player he was a few years ago in the NHL.
-The scary thing about Slovakia was the fact their top two forwards, Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik, probably didn't bring their A-games. If those two are going full-bore, they're among the elite players in the world.
-Slovakia has some decent depth on defense. Zdeno Chara is arguably the best defenseman in the world. Lubomir Visnovsky is a legit offensive threat from the blue line. Meszaros is a nice two-way player. Andrej Sekera is a nice defensive player. And Martin Strbak has been impressive from what we've seen.
-Stumpel and Michal Handzus (above) each had a goal and two assists.
-Richard Zednik had a goal and an assist.
-Slovakia led in shots, 37-21.
-Marian Hossa led the game with seven shots.
-Miroslav Satan ended up getting four shots on net.
-Lauris Darzins led Latvia with four.
-Krisjanis Redlihs led the game with 22:45.
-Chara led the Slovaks with 20:42.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)