Team Canada Unveils Powerhouse Line-up

Let the scrutinizing begin.

The most talked about roster perhaps in hockey history was released by Hockey Canada executives Wednesday afternoon and now Canadian fans and, really, hockey fans around the globe, have two and a half months to dissect, critique and scrutinize the decisions that were ultimately made by Team Canada Executive Director Steve Yzerman.

With Doug Armstrong, Kevin Lowe, Ken Holland and coach Mike Babcock sitting to his left at the dais in Saskatoon, Sask., Yzerman announced Canada's roster for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

He selected players with Olympic experience, but also went with a roster that has a strong flavour of youth.

Highlighting the team that is expected to compete for gold in Vancouver are the obvious choices of Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and Martin Brodeur.

Niedermayer will be Canada's captain in Vancouver and Pronger, Crosby and Iginla will be his alternates.

Niedermayer, Pronger, Iginla and Brodeur are the remaining members of the Canadian team that won gold in Salt Lake eight years ago. It was Canada's first gold in 50 years. Crosby was not selected for the team in 2006 that finished a disappointing seventh.

"It's a big transition from players that were there in '06 and '02 to what's going to be in 2010," Brodeur said. "The guys like Sidney Crosby, he's been like the top player since he got drafted, he's won a Stanley Cup now. This is a step for him to really establish himself. That's the beauty of our country -- you'll see a lot of young players really needed to take over. Before it was really rely on older players to do so. Now it's going to be different. In '02 we had Mario Lemieux with us, Joe Sakic, Rob Blake, a lot of older guys. Now, transition, like with the game, it's a lot of younger players. It'll be nice to see how every one is when the games start."

For Brodeur, being selected to his third Olympics continues a family legacy.

"(When) I grew up, it was all about Team Canada because my dad (Denis) played in the Olympics," Brodeur said. "It wasn't the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens, it was Team Canada in 1956 because my dad played. It was always a special place in our household."

"This is a pretty special honour and obviously it's been something that has been talked about for a while now so there is a lot of anticipation and I'm pretty proud to be part of it," Crosby told TSN.

Joining Crosby and Iginla up front will be Rick Nash, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Eric Staal, Jonathan Toews, Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau, Patrice Bergeron, Brenden Morrow and Mike Richards.

"I don't think any of us were 100 percent sure until we heard our names called this morning or until we go the phone call," Chicago's Toews said. "You hear a lot of talk and people are going to gossip and give their own opinion on who they think is going to be on the team. Once you hear your name mentioned it begins to sink in that you might have a chance. But I was definitely pretty nervous this morning."

Niedermayer and Pronger will be joined on the back end by Shea Weber, Dan Boyle, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Drew Doughty, who at 20-years-old is the youngest player on the roster.

"I'm just thrilled. I'm really honoured," Seabrook said. "There're so many great players that weren't able to make the team. It's a dream come true and I'm really looking forward to it."

Keith echoed his teammate's comments.

"I'm extremely happy," Keith said. "My whole family was pretty excited this morning to get the news. To see your name listed there with all the great Canadian players, there're so many great players that didn't make the team. To be one of the guys lucky enough and fortunate enough to make the team, you definitely feel honoured to be a part of it and we'll do everything we can to make it a success."

Brodeur will face competition for playing time from Marc-Andre Fleury and Roberto Luongo, who was with Brodeur in Torino four years ago.

"I'm dealing with the top goalies in Canada, so regardless if you think I'm going to be the No. 1, I still have to go out and prove it," Brodeur told NHL.com. "Competition in that way will be healthy and you know what, you never know. It happens quick. Games are won and lost pretty quickly in the Olympics and you need guys that want to be there to be there 100 percent mentally. I'm looking forward to that challenge. I think it keeps you accountable when you have people there to take your job."

"It's a big deal," Fleury said. "It's the Olympics. It's not only hockey. You want to do (well) for your country. You want to get that gold medal especially since it's in Canada. It should be fun."

Fleury said he raced for his cell phone after teammate Sidney Crosby had a voice mail from Yzerman Wednesday morning.

"Sid checked his phone, and he had a voice mail," Fleury told Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "I ran in to check it out and I had a nice voice mail (from Kevin Lowe)

"Pretty cool," Fleury continued. "Maybe we will all realize it more once we get there, but it's great news.

Fleury already is looking forward to partnering with Brodeur and Luongo.

"They're too amazing goalies, guys I look up to and love to watch play," he said. "It will be a pretty amazing chance to play with them."

The hype around the Olympics in Canada has been huge, and not lost on the players.

"All the pride you can think of is going to be in that building and around the country you're going to be able to feel it," Marleau told NHL.com. "It's being pumped up pretty good, but with all good intentions. It's center stage, basically."

Yzerman wound up leaving former Olympians like Vinny Lecavalier, Shane Doan, Ryan Smyth, Brad Richards, Jay Bouwmeester and Martin St. Louis off the roster. They played on Canada's disappointing team in 2006.

Mike Green and Jeff Carter were also getting serious consideration, but neither made the final cut.

Yzerman talked throughout this difficult process about how Team Canada would have a youthful appeal to it and he stayed true to his word. Twelve of the players on the 23 man roster are 25 or younger and 15 have never played in the Olympics before.

However, he also selected enough veterans with Olympic experience to guide the squad.

Brodeur and Pronger are headed to their fourth Olympic Games with Hockey Canada while Niedermayer, Nash, Iginla, Luongo, Heatley and Thornton all have Olympic experience as well.

Niedermayer had to withdraw from the 2006 Olympics due to injury.

If you wanted to project lines, Babcock could put Crosby in the middle of Nash and Iginla. That trio played together during the orientation camp in Calgary in August.

It would also seem appropriate for Babcock to put the three Sharks together since Thornton, Heatley and Marleau have already established excellent chemistry playing together inSan Jose. And, you'd expect Getzlaf and Perry will be on the same line.

Bergeron, who was the only player selected that wasn't invited to the orientation camp, also has a history of playing with Crosby. They were together in the 2005 World Junior Championship and at the 2006 World Championship.

"I think whoever you play with this group of players is going to be pretty awesome, Crosby said. "I look back to the evaluation camp this summer and I played with Rick Nash and Jarome Iginla and that was a pretty fun time for me. There is so much talent that I think making lines should be a pretty easy thing to do."

 

SOURCE: http://www.nhl.com

 

It's D-Day for Canadian Hockey!

The gut-wrenching wait is about to end for the 30 or more NHL players considered candidates for Canada's Olympic hockey team.

General manager Steve Yzerman and his staff gathered Tuesday for a final meeting to decide on the 23-man roster that will compete for Canada at the Vancouver Winter Games in February.

The announcement will be made at noon ET on Wednesday at the WorldFest venue at the world junior hockey championship in Saskatoon. Canada's Olympic broadcast consortium will have exclusive rights to the announcement, which will be carried live on some 13 networks, including CTV, TSN and Rogers Sportsnet.

It will be euphoria for those whose names are called and crushing disappointment for those left off a team that will have the rare opportunity to battle for gold in its home country.

No country cares more about hockey than Canada, or has the sheer number of world-class players to choose from. Star players will be left out. Debates will rage over who should or shouldn't have been picked.

As Martin Brodeur recently put it: "It is the ultimate for hockey."

While most of the players are obvious picks, there are really only two who are beyond discussion - Pittsburgh Penguins star centre Sidney Crosby and Brodeur, the New Jersey Devils goaltender who is the NHL's all-time leader in wins and shutouts and who is still at the top of his game.

If the team is shut out of the medals, as it was in Turin, Italy, at the 2006 Games, fingers will be pointed at Yzerman, a 2002 Olympic gold medallist and three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Detroit Red Wings, and the staff that assembled in Saskatoon to make the final decisions.

Joining Yzerman were Detroit general manager Ken Holland as well as former GMs Kevin Lowe and Doug Armstrong, head coach Mike Babcock of the Red Wings, and Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson and vice-president Johnny Misley.

Together, they watched hundreds of games over the past two seasons, tracking any player with a vague hope of making the squad. They got together every few months to compare notes and analyze performances, most recently in December. Other experts, including coaching legend Scotty Bowman, were brought in to watch players and offer their opinions.

So far, the players who appear to be locks to make the team are:

-Goaltenders Brodeur, Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks and, thanks to his Stanley Cup heroics last spring, Marc-Andre Fleury of the Penguins.

-Defencemen Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim), Chris Pronger (Philadelphia), Shea Weber (Nashville), Duncan Keith (Chicago) and Dan Boyle (San Jose).

-Forwards Crosby, the San Jose trio of Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau, Rick Nash (Columbus), Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, and Jarome Iginla (Calgary).

There is little debate on the goaltenders, last year's rookie sensation Steve Mason and Carolina's Cam Ward having played their way out of contention.

Defence is another matter, as there are likely only two spots open for another seven candidates.

Some like Brent Seabrook to play with his regular partner Keith for some instant chemistry. Mike Green (Washington) is a dynamic offensive player who is in the top 25 in league scoring and is sixth in plus-minus at plus-15, but is said to have defensive shortcomings.

Robyn Regehr (Calgary) is as strong in his own end as any one, while rangy Jay Bouwmeester (Calgary) has extensive international experience. Another Flame, bruising Dion Phaneuf, has not had a good year.

Names that filtered out as being under consideration include Drew Doughty, the gifted young Los Angeles rearguard who will likely be a lock in 2014, if the NHL goes to Russia, and Dallas veteran Stephane Robidas.

Selecting another five forwards won't be easy either.

Martin St. Louis is in the top 10 in league scoring and should make the team again, but while his Tampa Bay teammate Vincent Lecavalier has picked up his scoring, he looks to be out of contention.

Philadelphia's Kerry Carter and Mike Richards were strong candidates last summer, but less so now. Richards still has a shot for his strong penalty killing, and he has 16 goals this season.

Eric Staal (Carolina) has all the talent to make it and his younger brother Jordan (Pittsburgh) may just be the physical checking forward they want.

Brendan Morrow (Dallas) is strong at both ends of the ice, Team Canada veteran Ryan Smyth (Los Angeles) is back from an injury that stalled a strong comeback season, and Brad Richards (Dallas), also on a comeback, is in the top 15 in league scoring.

Many like young Jonathan Toews (Chicago) to make the team for his skill, reliability and promise for the future.

But there may yet be surprises.

Big left-winger Milan Lucic (Boston) was invited to the team's summer camp and is on the mend from a sprained ankle. He should be ready for the Games, where on an NHL-size ice surface; his bruising, intimidating style could make an impact. Plus, he's from Vancouver.

His teammate Patrice Bergeron, a strong faceoff man with a scoring touch, is another candidate as is Mike Fisher of the Ottawa Senators.

And no one mentions Mike Cammalleri (Montreal) or Dustin Penner (Edmonton), who each have 19 goals this season. Cammalleri, a left-winger, is third in the league with 16 even-strength goals and is plus-12.

Stay tuned – more to follow …

Torch Run: Sneak Peek

Well, I did it. In short - it was awesome! I'm still waiting for a LOT of photos and videos to arrive - but here is proof that it really did happen.

Before I forget, I do want to thank my employer, Bell Canada for this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Amazingly enough, the highlight for me was not even my run - but riding through downtown Paris as hundreds of people spontaneously broke into a heart-warming rendition of our national anthem. WOW! Lost more to follow ... here's what I have so far:

(some browsers hate these videos - if yours is one try HERE)

What a day! Thanks to all for their best wishes and support. Alright - I'm out for now.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL FROM ME AND MINE TO YOU AND YOURS.

CHEERS!

Greenest Games Ever?

Uganda doesn't participate in the Winter Olympics, but that doesn't mean they won't be touched by them.

Wood burning cook stoves for the African nation are one of the projects being funded in the quest by Vancouver Games organizers to negate the environmental impact of hosting the Games.

With just under 100 days to go until the Games begin, organizers said Tuesday they now have a better idea of the environmental scale of their operations and are confident they'll be able to be carbon-neutral.

It's now estimated that 268,000 tonnes of carbon emissions will be produced by the Games, according to a study commissioned by the organizing committee and carried out by the Centre for Sustainability and Social Innovation at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business.

Two years ago, a study by the David Suzuki Foundation predicted there would be more than 300,000 tonnes of emissions.

"Since then, we've changed some of our plans, we haven't built quite as many venues, we've reduced the size and scope of the operations in order to achieve better efficiencies,'' said Linda Coady, vice-president of sustainability for the organizing committee, known as VANOC.

An estimated 118,000 tonnes are direct emissions from Games operations, and the rest is from indirect causes such as spectator travel or Games-time events held by sponsors.

Earlier this year, the organizing committee signed a sponsorship deal with Offsetters, a Vancouver-based carbon offsetting company, to help negate its own emissions.

That includes accounting for the emissions created by all 7,000 athletes and officials who are attending the Games.

But on Tuesday, they announced that 25 of their partners will be voluntarily working with Offsetters as well to make up for their own impact.

"We're taking a wide slice on this and deploying two different types of strategies against it,'' said Coady.

"One is VANOC and Offsetters taking responsibility for direct and then the voluntary component leaves the opportunity for spectators and partners to go a bit further and look after the aspects of their indirect footprint.''

For spectators, Offsetters launched a carbon calculator on Tuesday to see how much carbon is emitted when someone travels to the Games.

For example, two people coming to Vancouver from Montreal for four nights and attending three events would be responsible for 2.46 tonnes of carbon, according to the calculator.

To offset that would cost $64.13, which the company would invest in clean energy technologies, including the wood-burning stoves in Uganda and wind farms in Turkey that make up what it calls its 2010 Legacy Portfolio.

VANOC's carbon emissions take into account one of its most ambitious projects - the torch relay.

Currently underway, the relay is travelling over 45,000 kilometres by land, sea and air.

The 2007 report that first analysed the Games' carbon footprint suggested the relay would create about 1,500 tonnes of emissions.

The report estimated that the flame itself - which will be fuelled by a blend of propane, iso-butane and hydrocarbons - will be responsible for about five tonnes of carbon emissions.

To put those numbers in perspective, the David Suzuki Foundation said driving a mid-size car for a year produces about five tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Coca-Cola and RBC, the two presenting sponsors for the relay, have pledged to offset all of their emissions from putting on the 106-day events.

On the web:

http://www.offsetters.ca/2010-travel-and-accommodation-calculator

 

 

SOURCE: http://www.ctvolympics.ca/