Women's hockey in the international forum really only has two major players: Canada and the USA. 

After that there are no significant threats to win gold in Vancouver and a Canada vs USA final for the women's hockey gold is considered a lock.

Here are the odds for the 8 teams contesting the medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics for women's hockey and note the huge drop-off in terms of odds after Canada and the USA:

1.  Canada, -179 (5/9), bet365
2.  USA, +162 (8/5), Ladbrokes
3.  Sweden, +2500 (25/1), Ladbrokes
4.  Finland, +3000 (30/1), William Hill
5.  Russia, +20000 (200/1), William Hill
6.  Switzerland, +50000 (500/1), William Hill
7.  China, +100000 (1000/1), William Hill
8.  Slovakia, +100000 (1000/1), William Hill

There's a tournament within a tournament in this competition as the bottom 6 teams probably realize, whether they openly admit it or not, that they are competing for the bronze medal.  But even if Finland or Sweden can pull off one upset and make the gold medal game, like Sweden did in Italy 2006, there is no way that they can pull off two upsets.

As far as history goes, Canada had 36 goals for and 1 goal against in round robin play in 2006 and they are an absolute LOCK to make the finals in Vancouver.

The American team should be right there but they are much more upset prone than Canada are.

Expect big things from Canada's Hayley Wickenheiser, one of the better female athletes on the planet.  She is only 31 and she has played in 3 Olympics (Nagano, Salt Lake City, and Turin) and in 16 individual ice hockey games she has scored 14 goals while producing 21 assists which totals more than 2 points per game.

Pound Canada now because once they are in the final odds as long as -179 could be history.

Go to bet365 to bet on the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.