Sochi Olympics: Best bets for Thursday

Best Bets for Thursday at the 2014 Sochi Olympics:

MEN’S HOCKEY

The U.S. opens pool play with a game against Slovakia. Canada and Russia are the expected gold-medal finalists, but it wouldn’t surprise if the U.S. was around at the end. The thing about Olympic hockey is you get to see lines such as Patrick Kane, Dustin Brown and Phil Kessel. Jonathan Quick will be in goal.

WOMEN’S SPEEDSKATING

The U.S. could win gold if Heather Richardson can shake off her lackluster performance in the 500 meters and win the 1,000 meters. A gold could soften the disappointment of Shani Davis’ eighth-place performance in the men’s 1,000. Brittany Bowe could also make the stand for the U.S.

MEN’S FIGURE SKATING

Patrick Chan of Canada is the odds-on favorite to win the men’s competition, which starts with the short program Thursday. While the gold is Chan’s to lose, strong contenders include Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan and Javier Fernandez of Spain. Jeremy Abbott and Jason Brown will compete for the U.S.

LUGE TEAM RELAY

This first-time event seems to have a great made-for-TV flavor. Each team is made up of a single men’s and women’s slider and a men’s doubles team. When a sledder hits a suspended device while crossing the finish line, a gate opens up the course and the next sledder goes down.

Early Best Bets

MEN’S SUPER COMBINED

Ted Ligety, who won this event in 2006 in Turin, Italy, gets a chance to make his mark for the U.S. team. And, of course, there is always Bode Miller, who won the gold in 2010 in Vancouver. However, it’s a very deep field and will take some luck to win, especially with two slalom runs.