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Preliminary Game 17: Canada vs. USA - February 21, 2010 4:30pm PST - Canada Hockey Place

Super Sunday begins in Vancouver with three games each featuring match-ups which have all been a gold medal match-up at recent Olympics. It's going to be a great day for hockey. In the second game of the day, Team Canada will take on Team USA for a game that will decide which team gets to a bye to the quarterfinals and which team will have to play a qualifying playoff spot. For both teams, after this game, it's win or go home.

Last night in Vancouver, the police requested liquor stores to shut down early at 7pm in order to curb public drunkenness. The bad may go into effect again tonight. With the Canadian fans expected to flood downtown Vancouver, elation and partying in the streets will erupt if the home team wins and I can only imagine what could happen if the home team loses.

Full game preview and team analysis after the jump...

There are so many storlines lines in today's game.

• The fans are trashtalking in Vancouver, but now the players are trashtalking in the papers. "I hate them" said Ryan Kesler to The Province, "It's a big rivalry, and for Canadians, it's their game. I wouldn't say I 'hate' them, but Canadians expect to win gold and anything else is not good enough. We obviously have something to prove, and it's going to be fun to try and knock them off."
• Between the two teams size may be a factor with the Americans' forwards being smaller than Team Canada's defencemen (Weber, Pronger, Seabrook). The Americans will look to play the matchup game to reduce this being a factor in the game.
• Team USA comes across as a faster squad, but Team Canada has a bigger more physical squad
• This game will also be a duel between elite goalies with Ryan Miller taking on Martin Brodeur.
• "This is probably the biggest game of my life," said Bobby Ryan. "It's the pinnacle of sports, and I know that Kesler and me like to grind and that could be a dynamic thing for us. Kesler is a pain. He's a pest. He's Corey Perry, for lack of a better term, and he's going to get in your face and let you know he's there all game long."

Team USA Notes

David Backes who had fought Rick Nash, Jonathan Toews and Corey Perry during the regular season has been on fire for Team USA. Expect him to bring his physical strength and agitation to try to get under the skin of the Canadians. Since this is international hockey don't expect any fights.

Team Canada Notes

Richards will move up to the top line to play with Crosby and Nash, allowing Nash to switch to the right wing. Richards said of playing with Crosby "It's easier to play with him than against him". He is the third player to play on this line, and the team is running out of games to find some chemistry on this line. The other two lines of Staal-Getzlaf-Perry and Heatley-Thornton-Marleau will remain together with Iginla dropping back down to the 4th line.

Team Canada Projected Lineup:

Canadian Defence Pairings:

Vancity Canuck writes about the Vancouver Canucks at Benched Whale and the Tampa Bay Lightning at The Hockey Bay Blog in addition to her work on Bloguin's Olympic Hockey Blog.

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