Men's Pre-Olympic Ice Hockey Exhibition - The Colonel

Tonight, 09.02.10 at 2030 hrs EST, Team Switzerland (Men's) takes on Team Belarus in Winnipeg, a pre-Olympic warm-up game with both teams only missing a couple of NHL players.

Why watch this game?

If you have been checking out On Goal Analysis' Olympimentum, you would know:

1. Team Switzerland boasts Defenseman Rafael Diaz of EV ZUG (Swiss Nationalliga A), one of the top scoring Olympic defensemen since 1 February with 2 G and 2 A in games on 5 & 6 FEB. They also will be playing their backup goalie, Tobias Stephan, formerly of the Dallas Stars and now playing for HC GENEVE-SERVETTE, while projected starter Jonas Hiller finishes out the week's ANAHEIM DUCKS schedule.

2. And Team Belarus will ice a team with two goalies, a defenseman and four forwards from DYNAMO MINSK of the KHL and one goalie and four defensemen from SHAKHTYOR-SOLIGORSK of the Belarus Extraliga. Will Team Belarus play their Belarus goalie, Maxim Malyutin of HK VITEBSK who has won both of his previous games in February to include a shootout?

How will both of these teams respond minus their NHL players? Will the large number of players on Team Belarus from only two professional teams give them a chemistry-driven edge over the Swiss?

You can follow the game's score at On Goal Analysis by looking for the listing marked as "Friendlies" in tonight's Livescore scoreboard. You can also go to 92 CITI FM who it looks like will be carrying the game online.

Additional men's Hockey exhibition games are listed on the IIHF page.

First puck drop for the men's teams is one week from today as Team USA takes on the Swiss at 3pm EST on 16.02.10.

It's time to get into the (Olympic) game!