Note: We couldn't afford to send our Icon intern to the winter Olympics, but he did file this column on one of his favorite sports: hockey.

ByAustin Arnold

If there is one positive thing that can be drawn from the recent winter weather the area has received, it might have helped some of us get in the mood for the winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

Usually I watch the Olympics casually, but one event I will be glued to is men's ice hockey. Hockey is my favorite sport and it will be real exciting to watch the world's and the National Hockey League's best players compete for their respective countries.

There are 12 countries competing for the gold in this year's Olympics and they are the U.S., Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia, Belarus, Finland, Germany and Sweden.

Canada
After taking a look at the rosters, it seems to me team Canada is the favorite. Canada arguably has the best three goaltenders from the NHL they can freely interchange, along with an impressive defensive core.

Canada's defense includes veterans such as Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger, both who are no strangers to Stanley Cup Titles. Their defense is also equipped with two of the NHL's brightest up-coming defensive stars, Shea Weber and Brent Seabrook.

If the strength of team Canada's goaltending and defense were not enough the offensive firepower certainly is. As a whole, their offensive group is the best, again, with a mix of veterans and young, already proven, stars from the NHL. They have pure goal scorers such as Sidney Crosby and Jerome Iginla, along with a ton of playmakers like Ryan Getzlaf, Eric Staal, Jonathan Toews, Rick Nash, Dany Heatley and Corey Perry.

And not to forget the veteran forwards Joe Thorton, Mike Richards and Brenden Morrow who will definitely serve as great set-up men. This team is just flat out stacked and the only thing that can stop them is themselves, Canada is no doubt the team and country that cares most about winning a gold medal in this competition, so much so that they could possibly press as a unit if things don't click right away.

But at the same time they are the team that is most hungry too, and with all that talent it's hard to imagine that the pressure of winning will override the elements they have playing for them on the ice. Plus team Canada will have one advantage that many other teams will not, a home crowd. The games are in Vancouver and they will have a ton of support and that could very well play a factor in this competition.

I'm predicting Canada to win the gold, so now it's time to sort out silver and bronze. I'm picking silver for the team I feel is the second best overall. I've gone back in forth in my mind between Russia and Sweden, both have great rosters and a couple of X- factors.

Russia has the NHL's most dangerous goal scorer, Alex Ovechkin, who has been on fire the past two weeks; he alone could propel his team to a medal. On the other hand, Sweden is the defending gold medal winner, and they have a handful of the same players who were on the 2006 team on this year's roster, so they have the experience which could be a big edge.

Russia
But I got to go with my gut, I think Russia is second best overall, they have a great goaltender in Evgeni Nabokov and they've got offensive firepower similar to Canada's with players like Ovechkin, Evgeni Makin, Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk and Sergei Federov.

I think Russia could give Canada a run for the gold, but I'm a little concerned about their defense, in my mind it could be a little stronger, but they do have one of the NHL's best defenseman, Sergei Gonchar who was voted the leauge's best last year.

So, I pick Russia for silver and Sweden for bronze, Sweden has a great defensive squad, which I expect will keep them in the mix. Even though their forwards are solid, I still don't think they can put up the amount of goals Canada and Russia are capable of.

Other teams that could very well be in the mix for medals are Finland and Slovakia. Both countries have several playmakers that could jumpstart their teams despite overall not having as strong of rosters compared to my predicted medal winners.

United States
So, what about team USA?

The USA does indeed have a solid roster this year, and the media has been optimistic and expecting big things from this year's team. But, I just don't feel like they have enough to beat out some teams I've talked about previously.

Team USA has two good goaltenders, Tim Thomas and Ryan Miller, and the defensive core will be tough, probably the team's best asset with guys like Brian Rafalski and Brooks Orpik.

What concerns me with team USA is that I keep asking myself, where are the goals going to come from? They do not match up offensively to the medal winners I already predicted.

For the USA to medal they will have to limit a lot of teams to one or two goals per game and that will be very difficult to do considering the offenses other teams are outfitted with. My prediction for team USA is fourth, just missing out on a medal. But, make no mistake, when the preliminary round begins on Feb. 16, I will be rooting for team USA and I hope they will fair better than I'm predicting. However, it has always been my philosophy in sports to state what I think will happen instead of what I want to happen.

But, from what 1980 has taught us, we know anything is possible when a team has the right amount of determination and will. It's not always about the names on the back of the jerseys but the one on the front instead, and that could be enough to fuel any underdog.