Heh. That's kinda why I like watching US Olympic Men's hockey. It IS an NHL dream team roster for the most part. Ditto the Canadians. So sure it's a bit like throwing the other nation's teams to the lions, but you know, blood sport's entertaining.
That's a bit of a stretch of facts. You did get a US vs. Canada finald in 2002 (SLC) and 2010 (Vancouver), but in Torino 2006 the final was Swedes vs Finns, and the first time the NHL allowed their players to go to the OG in 1998 (Nagano) the North American teams also game out empty (1st CZE, 2nd RUS, 3rd FIN, 4th CAN).
Granted olympic hockey is more interesting with NHLers in there. It is nice that all the best players can participate
My pet peeve about NHL is their insistence on bringing in their own refs. This sends the signal that Team US and Team Canada want the benefit of a "hometown ref" for their matches
. In a sport were there are several high level leagues (soccer/football comes to mind) it is unheard of in international tournaments that the refs would come from the same country as one of the teams.