World hockey is coming to Vancouver in 2010. The winter Olympics starts on Feb 12 2010

The most anticipated event of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics will be staged at two arenas- Canada Hockey Place and the UBC Thunderbird Arena. To save on renovation costs, games will be played on North American sized rinks, rather than converting to the larger international size.

The official NHL rink size is 85′ x 200′ (25m x 60m) with 11′ (3m353) radius corners. The official Olympic/International rink size is 98′5″ x 196′10″ (30m x 60m).

Twelve teams, divided into three groups, will include the best of the NHL, likely for the last time.

All eyes will be on Canada. Led by arguably the world’s best goaltenders in Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur, a mix of experienced Olympians and new blood will try to avoid the pitfalls of its disastrous quarterfinal loss to Russia in the 2006 Games and return to its 2002 gold-medal form.

Canada’s challengers will be many. No. 2-seeded Russia will boast many of the NHL’s hottest scorers in Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk. Defending gold medallist Sweden, seeded third, will likely be without Mats Sundin but loaded with stars from the reigning Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. The Americans, Czechs, Finns and Slovaks round out the watch list.

The No. 2-seeded U.S.A. has pumped up its training schedule to try to acheive its first gold medal since 1998, while trying to forget 2006 when it shockingly settled for Olympic bronze.

Sweden, the No. 3 seed and 2006 silver medallist, and No. 4 Finland rally to close the gap with the North American teams.

Click here for the Official Vancouver 2010 web site