Olympic Announcements Should Be Filled with Predators and More

Today will be a big day for several Predator players as they should be hearing from their National Olympic committees that they will be traveling to Vancouver to represent their countries at the Olympics in February.

Patric Hornqvist has already been named to Team Sweden on Monday.

The next closest person to being a lock is Shea Weber for Team Canada. Dan Hamhuis attended their summer camp but is not in the running at this point. The Team Canada announcement will be featured in an hour long special on the NHL Network this morning at 11 a.m. CST.

The next list of near locks for today's announcements would include Marty Erat (Czech Republic), Pekka Rinne (Finland), and Marcel Goc (Germany). All are virtually assured of a berth after strong seasons so far in the NHL.

Update: Forechecker reports that Pekka Rinne will not be on Team Finland as they went with Antero Niittimaki instead. You really have to wonder how this will affect Pekka's psyche.

Update: Marty Erat, despite his injury last night, was named to the Czech team.

Update @diamondhockey: Goc and Sulzer on Germany's Olympic team, Josi for Swiss, and Erat for Czechs. Rinne left off Finland's squad.

Update: Shea Weber named to Team Canada!

Roman Josi, who is playing for Switzerland in the World Juniors this week also has a good chance to be picked for the national team also. Other prospects with potential to make their teams include Alexander Sulzer and Robert Dietrich from Germany.

On Friday, during the Winter Classic, Team USA will be announced and it is expected that Ryan Suter will be named as one of the key defensemen.

All this speculation leads to the point that Predator fans should have plenty to watch during this year's Olympics as six teams should be represented with familiar faces.

POTG on the War Room...

For those who missed our update late yesterday, here is the audio of may appearance with Mick Kern on NHL Home Ice's The War Room on Tuesday morning.

Preds - Blues Stories...

Highlights from NHL.com

Here is our story from last night. With 49 points the Preds moved back into 5th place in the Western Conference.

John Glennon has the game story at the Tennessean. In his notes column, Barry Trotz discusses, dirty hits, injuries and possible recalls. John has more at Inside Predators including postgame thoughts and Patric Hornqvist getting an extra goal credited from Sunday's game in Chicago.

David Boclair has his piece at The City Paper.

In the Predator blog world Forechecker, Rachel at What the Puck, Mark at The View From 111, and See Puck City have their stories from the Preds-Blues game.

For the St Louis side of the story visit the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

In Pred Nation...

Jim Diamond has a look at his picks to make Olympic teams.

Short Shifts has the game story of the Admirals 7-1 win over Rockford on Tuesday.

Cal O'Reilly was selected to play in the AHL All-Star game for the Canadian squad.

Be careful where you get your voucher. Up to $450,000 of Predator and Memphis Grizzlies vouchers for tickets were stolen recently.

At The World Juniors...

At the World Junior tournament, Team USA fared well in a 12-1 stomping of Latvia on Tuesday. It wasn't as many goals as in Canada's 16-0 win but was equally as impressive. Canada handled Sovakia 8-2 in a game where Ryan Ellis had a goal and two assists. Russia lost to Sweden 4-1 and the Czech Republic beat Austria 7-1.

Today, there are no games on the NHL Network but Finland will play Austria and Switzerland will play Latvia. All eyes will be focused on Thursday's USA-Canada meeting.

The Predators site has a running update of prospects playing in the tournament.

The Hockey Zen Episode #34 discusses the World Juniors and POTG gets a shout-out.

For those without the NHL Network FastHockey is streaming all Team USA games (legally) over the internet.

Around the NHL...

The NHL Network will air "Pond Hockey" today at 5:30 CST which is a great movie that we reviewed last year about the World Pond Hockey Championships in Minnnesota that are held annually. It is a muxt see.

Tom Reed at the Columbus Dispatch has the human side of Jason Chimera leaving Columbus where he had become a part of the community.

Mile High Hockey analyzes the Western Conference playoff race.

View from My Seats has their third podcast available for a listen.

More Later...

Buddy Oakles for PredsOnTheGlass