Team Canada 2010

It's a little early but I have been watching a LOT of hockey since I got NHL Gamecenter and I can watch any game I want to online. So I am better informed than I have been in the past few years since now I can WATCH instead of just listen to NHL games online. There has already been a lot of speculation as to who will make the 23-man Canadian Olympic Hockey roster. I think I have some good suggestions.

First and foremost, since you can't win a game when you score no goals, are the forwards. Every team is only allowed 13 forwards. As in Olympics past there will be 13 Canadian boys NOT playing who could probably win the gold for Canada. That's just the depth we have in Canadian hockey. However, if I had to pick 13, these are the guys and possible line matches I would pick:

Line one would be Joe Thornton at center, Patrick Marleau on RW and Dany Heatley on LW. All from the San Jose Sharks. At this time the Sharks are struggling to score a bit but that's just because I loaded up on them in all my hockey pools. These guys have all been producing. Marleau is a center but his speed would be much better utilized on the wing. Take a look at the San Jose power play statistics and you have these three guys to thank for a lot of that scoring.

Line two is more contraversial. You gotta have Sid the kid centering at LEAST the second line. So I put Sidney Crosby at center with Jarome Iginla on RW and the bold choice of Jeff Carter on LW. Why Jeff Carter? He's a center for Philly, true, but he is a right handed shooter. For some reason they are rare in the NHL. And two secrets are becoming aparent to the "experts" in the NHL who are always the last to know and implement them: 1. You should NEVER take a slap shot from the point because these days it'll be blocked over half the time and a wrist shot is hard enough to go in, easier to deflect for a goal and impossible for defencemen to read and drop in front of. 2. A right handed goal scorer playing left wing is more dangerous than an angry tiger with ebola! I played some hockey before and I loved pumping one timers in while playing left wing and shooting right. That extra fraction of a second it takes for the pass to get across the body of a lefty is enough for the goalie to slide across the goal and block the shot. Elementary folks! Jeff Carter is a dangerous goal scorer and Sid the kid will feed him and Iginla all tourney. I doubt this will ever be a line on Team Canada but it sure should!

Third line is iffy. Iffy because there's no way of knowing how healthy Marc Savard will be by Olympic time. He's got a busted foot right now and coaches say he's two weeks away from play. Will he be in shape for the Olympics? I think he will. So he's my choice for third line center. Look how dismal the Bruins are without him! On his left I would put Shane Doan because he's ANOTHER right handed shooter and he's played left wing before although he's on the right side this season in Phoenix. And on the right is a guy who can play with anybody: Rick Nash. It'll be awesome to have Nash and Doan on the same line because they are two guys who regularly score a lot playing with very little support. What can they do with two all star players on their line?

The fourth line will probably have checkers. I hate that. It's the Olympics! Think skill. Score the other team to death! My fourth line center would be Ryan Getzlaf. On his right wing would be his teammate and massive scorer, Corey Perry. These guys are magic together. Left wing for this line is another guy I doubt we'll see in the Olympics but who I think deserves to be there: Dustin Penner. On EDMONTON he's piling up the stats and when I watch the Edmonton games it's HIS name I hear most. He's been a force in the NHL this year and is a natural left winger. I think he'd fit in well with the other two.

As a back-up you can't do any better than Captain Canuck, Ryan Smyth. He's played for Canada MANY times before and he can play any forward position. He's having a great year this year too! I think he'd be the best choice for the 13th forward.

LW C RW
Heatley Thornton Marleau
Carter Crosby Iginla
Doan Savard Nash
Penner Getzlaf Perry

Man that's beautiful!

Defensive pairings are pretty easy to choose in comparison.

Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer know each other well and are two of the best in the NHL.

Danny Boyle is great at joining the rush and Dion Phaneuf has a cannon from the point.

Mike Green is another offensive defenceman and he'd be great with Jay Bouwmeester to back him up.

And you can't go very wrong with veteran Rob Blake as the 7th man on defence.

The goaltending situation is going to be quite different from what I have in mind but I think the best bet for starting goalie has got to be Martin Brodeur. He's got the best save percentage and goals against average of any Canadian goalie this year and he's been steady for Team Canada forever.

For goalie number two I'd pick Marty Turco but I doubt he'll even be considered.

For my team it's a choice between Luongo and Fleury for third goalie. Neither has been outstanding this year. With Luongo you have a guy who could easily be number one but he's been injured and not very spectacular this year. Shooters have found a weakness over his left shoulder. Still I'd have to go with him. Most likely he'll be goalie number one or two and somebody else will get the third spot. But I don't see things that way.

So here is my Canadian line-up:

Centers: Thornton, Crosby, Savard, Getzlaf
Right Wings: Marleau, Iginla, Nash, Perry
Left Wings: Heatley, Carter, Doan, Penner
Extra forward: Smyth
Defence: Pronger, Niedermayer, Boyle, Phaneuf, Green, Bouwmeester, Blake
Goalie: Brodeur, Turco, Luongo

I'd give all four lines, and all defensive pairings, even ice time including penalty kill and power play. For captain I might choose Rob Blake. But there are quite a few good choices. I think I'd rotate the goalies too, but I doubt that'll happen. What a pleasure it would be to coach this team!

Smells like GOLD to me!



Just in case EVERY SINGLE player on my list is injured at Olympic time, I thought I'd make a second Team Canada. I think it's pretty good too.

Centers: Danny Briere, Eric Staal, Vincent Lecavalier, Jonathan Toews
Right Wings: Mike Cammalleri, Jordan Staal, Martin St. Louis, Devin Setoguchi
Left Wings: Simon Gagne, Ray Whitney, Brad Richards, John Tavares
Extra: James Neal
Defence: Ed Jovanovski, Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, Robyn Regehr, Michael Del Zotto, Duncan Keith, Brian Campbell
Goalies: Marc-Andre Fleury, Cam Ward, Steve Mason

The line of Briere/Cammalleri/Gagne will rock because Briere and Gagne were teammates on Philly at one time so they'd have chemistry. I wonder if Cammalleri can speak French.

Eric Staal and Ray Whitney are awesome together and it would be cool to see two of the Staal brothers on the same line.

Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis have played together for years! Brad Richards didn't usually play left wing but he's versatile and he's played with these two guys in Tampa Bay.

The young guns on the fourth line might make it their highest scoring line. And speaking of scoring: James Neal!

The defence would be more defensive than I'd like but there are a couple young fellas who might make mistakes so they need someone to stay at home and bail them out.

The three goalies are just as good as the three goalies on the first Team Canada.

These guys could win gold! I'd put a few bucks on them.

Only three more months! Only three more months!