(WGR 550) -- It's no fun being the sobering voice of hockey reason, so please cut me some slack as I tell you that the United States road to the gold medal game in men's hockey is paved with obstacles. It may be a one-game road, but there are twists and turns.

The trip starts Friday with Finland. It would be a huge mistake to look past the "Leijonat," who have medalled in four of the last six Olympics (Leijonat translates to Lions). This includes a somewhat-surprising run to a silver medal in 2006, a tournament that saw them upset these United States, 4-3, in the first round of elimination play.

Finland blanked a Czech Republic team littered with NHL offensive firepower, 2-0. The Finns boast Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, who has two shut-outs in the tournament. They won't take as many risks as the Swiss, have far more offensive skill and just as good a goaltender. It'll be a tall task for the States to win, let alone effectively dominate like they did in the quarterfinals.

On the other side, it'll be Canada and Slovakia. What a difference a couple days make. After the U.S. gave the Canadians a wake-up call, Team Canada did not touch the snooze button. They followed an 8-2 rout of Germany with a 7-3 win over the Russians. A tough couple games for San Jose Sharks goaltenders Thomas Greiss (Germany) and Evgeni Nabokov (Russia) makes the Canadians look -- appropriately -- as world-beaters.

(By the way, my bad on picking Russia over Canada, but I got the other final three right, including the upset of Sweden)

Slovakia is a nice story, but their win over Russia isn't looking as wonderful after the Canadians spanked Alexander Ovechkin and company. The Slovaks have a shot at upending Canada because of their world-class defensive play exhibited in the opening round coupled with the offense they showed in upsetting Sweden. Andrej Sekera scored the second goal last night, and plays with a talented defensive cast (Zdeno Chara, Lubomir Visnovsky, Andrej Meszaros) that allows players like Marian Hossa and Marian Gaborik to fly.

Look for Canada to get the best of Slovakia and loom large as the host in a gold medal game on Sunday. There will be no question that the Canadians will be favorites -- yes, even after the States beat them in the opening round -- unless the Americans put an absolute hurting on Team Finland, which I think is highly unlikely.

The United States physical style and willingness to put their face in front of pucks is massive. They are coming into Friday's game with a full head of steam, and their young stars are starting to click. As I wrote Wednesday, Zach Parise was called "the heart and soul of the Team USA" by an analyst.

It's a changing of the guard that wasn't supposed to pay off so quickly for USA Hockey, but here we are two wins from gold, and one win from a guaranteed medal. Heck, if the States lose to Finland, they'd just need a win over Slovakia to snag bronze.

It's already a victory for the underdogs because they've virtually erased the bogus 2006 performance in Italy from memory. A win on Friday would purge it. 2006 was a nightmare: they tied Latvia and lost to Slovakia, Sweden and Russia. Their only win was over Kazakstan, so it was little surprise when Finland topped them. A loss to FInland now would be a little more surprising, but the Baby Yanks have a couple tricks up their sleeves in veteran leaders Chris Drury and Jamie Langenbrunner, puck stylists Bobby Ryan and Parise and the veritable coming-out party of the Blues' David Backes.

Oh, and there's this other guy... I think his last name is Miller...

Feel free to predict the two games in the comments section.