The NHL regular season begins tomorrow, and yet, for some people, the real action won’t begin until February. For the second time in our bloggity life, the NHL season will be interrupted for the Olympic hockey tournament.

Olympic hockey is great. The ice is big and weird, the rules confuse me, and the final games are like the All Star game except not absolutely unbearably awful like the All Star Game, which sucks. It’s Crosby and Team Canada vs Ovechkin and Team Russia vs Someone and Team USA vs Someone Else and Team Other Country Probably Sweden.

Here at RMNB, we are going all-out for the Olympics. We should — no wait, I just decided– we WILL send one of our writers to Russia for the event. Just picking at random… Fedor. There. Done. I’m a decision-maker. Fedor, if you’re reading this, please contact Ian for your traveling expenses.

Some people say Olympic gold is even better than winning a Stanley Cup. These people are called Europeans. For Europeans and European-sympathizing North Americans, the NHL season is going to be one big prelude to the Olympics. As rosters are finalized and the ice is laid down in Sochi and Evgeny Kuznetsov rehabs, our attentions might be momentarily swayed from Caps hockey. Please forgive us if that offends you. We feel duty-bound to cover it all and root for our preferred players’ quest for Olympic gold.

But we won’t ever forget that Stanley Silver is more valuable.