Breaking news from ASM: Tanith Belbin is hot!!!

TORINO, Italy -- By the time this makes the internet it's likely that Team USA will be finito in the Olympic hockey tournament. A real disappointment considering that the U.S. could finish with just one win in this tournament, over the lowly Kazaks. Not too many observers were expecting a repeat of the silver medal performance in Salt Lake City, but let's be realistic here. A team that consists entirely of NHL talent can't notch a second win against the Slovaks, Swedes, Russians and the Latvians? Is it bad luck or the sign of a serious problem with the hockey talent in the U.S? We may have to wait until Vancouver to find out.

So assuming that USA Hockey is done, there's one more potential U.S. Olympic disappointment left in these 20th Olympic Winter Games, that being Sasha Cohen. While Cohen has immense talent, she's never been able to skate two clean programs in the same competition. But who knows at this point, especially since everything has seemingly gone wrong for Team USA during the past week-and-a-half; Michelle Kwan, Bode Miller, Both hockey teams, Lindsey Jacobellis. It would be both ironic and perfectly fitting to see Cohen come up big on Thursday night. She not only would erase the string of American bad luck here in Torino, but her doubters that question her mental toughness and her ability to handle the intense pressure of the Olympic spotlight.

But as we await Cohen's triumph or debacle on ice Thursday, here are a few random 2006 U.S. Olympic Team facts that might have missed NBC's Olympic lovefest. (I haven't seen any of it here in Torino.) Use the following tidbits to impress your coworkers, friends, parents, aunts and uncles. Just don't go overboard with them -- it's just as obvious as spotting the geek who studies the dictionary.

Completely useless Team USA tidbits

- The ice dancing husband-and-wife team of Melissa Gregory and Denis Petchukov met on the internet. They married in 2003.

- If you're wondering why John Grahame got the start in USA Hockey's first game vs. Lativa, consider the following: Coach Peter Laviolette won a Calder Cup with the Providence Bruins back in 1999. His starting goaltender that season was Grahame. So you could say there was some kind of trust thing going on there?

- Tanith Belbin is hot... really hot.

- With the Shani Davis-Chad Hendrick story in the spotlight this week. It should be noted that Apolo Ohno is considered by many to be a better teammate than a speed skater. Ohno ducked private living quarters to live at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs with the rest of his team. He claims it helps him maintain his focus. In addition to training together, many of the short-track skaters also eat meals together, usually at the same table - by the Minute Maid machines at the Olympic Training Center Cafeteria.

- Wayne Gretzky married an American! The Canadians still can't get over it.

- If you think Kimmie Meissner was feeling the nerves before her fifth place short program, think again. She'll likely tell you that the hardest, most nerve-wracking thing she has had to do this past year was lead the Metrodome crowd in a singing of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" at a Twins game this summer. She was there to promote the Campbell's International Figure Skating Classic, which took place at the Xcel Energy Center this past October.

- Helen Resor and Sarah Parsons of the U.S. Women's Hockey Team both attended the Nobles and Greenough School in Massachusetts. Though I'm sure the students are excited about having two recent graduates as Olympians, both Resor and Parsons' accomplishments have taken a back seat to current senior Alya Brown's quest to become the next American Idol. Brown has made the Top 24 on the hit show. She'll also head to Boston College on a basketball scholarship in the fall.

- USA Hockey's Brian Gionta's wife is named Harvest. Gionta won a National Championship in 2001 with Boston College and a Stanley Cup in 2003 with the New Jersey Devils. So you could say he's had a pretty good past couple of years.

- If Emily Hughes succeeds older sister Sarah as an Olympic gold medalist, they would not be the first pair of siblings to accomplish such a feat. A pair of brothers, David and Hayes Jenkins, won gold medals in 1956 and 1960. The 1956 games were held in Cortina, Italy.

- Snowboarder Shaun White is both a snowboarder and a skateboarder. He's the only athlete to compete both in the Summer and Winter X Games. He also owns three houses, has his own snowboarding gear line and released a snowboarding movie. Who says those X-Games athletes are dumb for risking their bodies the way they do?

- And finally once again: Tanith Belbin... she's hot... very, very, very hot.

Jake Duhaime is a regular contributor to Atomic Sports Meida and is currently covering the Winter Olympics from Torino, Italy. Since 1972, he has spent more time with Lord Stanley's Cup than have his beloved Bruins. When he isn't convincing people the NHL Playoffs are riveting television, he can be found going sober for months at a time, saving up petty cash to go to the Super Bowl, Final Four, World Series or any other major sporting event out there. He can be reached at jake.duhaime@atomicsportsmedia.com.