2014 Canadian Men's Olympic Hockey Roster - V1

The National Hockey League in the National Hockey League Players Association are going to be talking to the International Olympic Committee in regards to their participation in the upcoming Olympics.  Right now they're looking to get a better deal from the IOC. They're looking for them better access to the players and the rights to display images from the games.  In essence they're looking to get the same access as if they were one of the official sponsors.  If the NHL and the NHLPA decide to go it will be a commitment for only the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.  Because of the time difference it will be like a test drive to see if it will work and then decide later about the logistics for the games in South Korea.  If the NHL does go over to Russia it will likely shut the league down for at least two weeks and most likely up to 18 days.

Now the news only a year away the two major networks are going to be giving their preliminary rosters and lease for the Canadian team. TSN posted thier list last night from Ray Ferraro and Sportsnet's Mark Spector has his . As it is undecided how many players they plan on taking or have available to be named on the team right now I am including an extra " taxi squad" of players to take a long because of the extensive travel andhide different.  The NHL is looking to have rosters expand 25 cent depending on the final decision will dictate how many extra forwards and defencemen they take with them.

I'm going to presume the team Canada will opt to go with a much younger roster of them they have in the past.  So with that in mind here is my first draft of their roster and pulls a line combinations for the

Canadian National Team

Forwards:

LW-Steven Stamkos         C- Sidney Crosby          RW-Jeff Skinner

LW-Eric Staal                     C- Jonathan Toews        RW-Rick Nash

LW-Jamie Benn                 C- Claude Giroux           RW-Jordan Eberle 

LW-Patrice Bergeron        C- John Tavares             RW- Mike Richards

Defence:
Shea Weber        Alex Pietrangelo
Drew Doughty      Kris Letang
Marc Staal           Duncan Keith

Goalie:
Carey Price
Roberto Luongo
Marc-Andre Fleury

Taxi Squad:
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
Jason Spezza
Jordan Staal
Taylor Hall
Brent Seabrook
Tyler Seguin
Justin Schultz

It could be Crosby-Staal's and Nash again. There is a chance all 3 Staal's could make the team.

Because they will be playing on leave or dry surface they will be needed team moves fast and mobile.  If this were being played in North America on NHL size rinks there would likely be more "grit" in the player selected.  The Olympic team can not necessarily be an All-Star team and must also have a role players. Players that are willing to buy into a specific system or player ruled that they're not accustomed to is key to success.  Players like Mike Richards and Jordan Staal may not be your prototypical scorers but could provide a defensive conscience that is needed on a third or fourth line.  That is why is so difficult to come up with the team that has such high and talent available to them.  Excellent players will be left off, sometimes is just a numbers game.  As far as the goalies are concerned it will probably depend on who is playing the best during the first part of next season to determining who will be the starter and who'll be backups.  There are probably five goalies from Canada that are worthy of one of the three available spots their play of the beginning of the season may be the determining factor of who makes the team.

A lot can happen within a year and this is just the first draft some time will tell what additions or subtractions will be made that I am interested in seeing how my list will stack up against those of the list put forth by TSN and Sportsnet respectively.

Feel free to include your roster in the comments section to compare to my list and the other lists put out by the networks.

IIHF World Junior Tournament - The Tradition Continues

First lets just throw some names out and lay all the cards on the table: John Tavares, Matt Duschane, Evander Kane, Cody Hodgeson, Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Myers Those are the names of some of the players that were elegable for Canada to come back and play for Canada this year...Zach Begosian was basicly the only USA player available to return. Put those guys on the team and it is probably another gold rush for Canada. I am not say’n i’m just say’n. Moving on.

Another World Junior Hockey tournament has come and gone. Much to chagrin of the proud Canadian hockey fans. Granted a loss in overtime to one of our newest building rivals, the USA, is a tough pill to swallow it can only fuel the fire for next years tournament in Buffalo.

Year in and year out this tournament continues to grow... at least in Canada. Maybe not as much to the average fan anywhere else but to Canadians it is must see TV and or event to take in live should the opportunity present itself. The gold medal game was an epic one with an audience to match. Tuesday night’s thrilling IIHF World Junior Championship gold medal game made television history for TSN. Some 5.3 million viewers tuned in to see some or all of the game. That is the highest rated event TSN has ever had. Some 1 in 3 Canadians watch some or all. It bettered this years Grey Cup and beat any other World Juniors telecast. I am not sure if that takes into account the live web streaming or not and probably doesn’t reflect the radio broadcast. I would like to know those totals as well. Either way it was huge and well represented.

For those 2 weeks or so between boxing day and the first week of the new year it is the showcase for not only the sport of hockey but a showcase for some of the great young players that people can look forward to seeing in the NHL soon. That is what is fun and educational about it. Now when your team drafts a player there is a good chance that you will know who it is. Not unlike the NCAAs March Madness tournament, people don’t pay much attention to the regular season of either college basketball or CHL hockey but when the respective tournaments are on the spotlight is there to shine on potential breakthrough players and that is fun to see.

The level of play is what you want to see in every hockey game, high skill, high speed and a passion for the game that only youthful exuberance can bring. The genuine love of the game, the thirst to be the best while continuing to get better and playing for the pride of a nation is a refreshing change from the professional sports that we are accustomed to watching. It almost makes it tolerable to earn a silver when you lose in a good hard fought game to a team that was surprisingly humble in victory and what seemed to be genuinely humble in victory (perhaps what you may not expect from a USA Team). Credit to the USA and their hockey program. They beat good teams and showed that speed and skill are hard to contain.

Canada entered the tournament winning 5 straight gold medals. It is not like they were handed any of them they have all been earned. The streak could and maybe even should have been stopped in any of the last 3 tournament but some kind of unbelievable event or puck luck fell in Canada’s favour and they had, until this year managed to claw their way to victory. Matt Halischuk’s OT goal saved Canada once and the new version of "Captain Clutch" Jordan Eberle went above and beyond the last 2 years with unbelievably timely goals and solid all around play to keep the team alive and take a country from devastation to jubilation in a heartbeat.

Eberle may well be a great prospect for the Edmonton Oilers and could go on to become a good NHL player and have a long and successful career in hockey but even if he were to walk away and peak as a teenager he has cemented himself as one of the greatest international performers in Canadian hockey history. Sure that would be tough but he is now in Canadian Hockey History highlight reel forever.

It will be interesting next year with the tournament being held in Buffalo. Canada had a good run with most of the tournament being played in Canada with a Pro-Canada crowd. Now the defending gold medalists USA will be defending on their home soil with hopefully a very focused and bitter team from Canada looking to avenge this years loss. Being in Buffalo will allow a lot of Canadians to take the tour over the boarder to help even out crowd support.

Quick Hits

After a big win in the Big House my Michigan Wolverines have made it back to the cover of SI (look real close, top right corner). After a year of dread they are bag in the top 25...Sure it will likely only last a week or two but after the last couple years a 2 week rise to the top is worth celebrating. Wow, what a sad state of affairs when a 1" pic on the cover of SI is monumental.

John Tavares made his debut with the Islanders last night and was left off the scoreboard. I have heard more then one of the so called sports people say he disappointed by not scoring. Good lord people settle down. He's 18 in his first game action and it is only pre-season. I know that he comes in with high hopes but lets be realistic about what he is going to do and how quick he is going to come along. It took Steve Stamkos half a season to get his stride and Bobby Ryan (second pick after Sidney Crosby) played his final year in the OHL and then time in the AHL before he started lighting it up with the Ducks.

In soccer news, guys ran around, balls were passed back and forth and a bunch of players fell down in what appeared to be in immense pain - only to be back playing minutes later. In one game there was even a few shots taken and a couple actually went in....crazy all the action.

Kerri Walsh recently made a call to her Olympic partner Misty May-Treanor and the two have decided to pair up in the Ryder Cup style beach volleyball match. Though Misty may not be at 100% it will still great to see the two of them playing side by side again.

The sooner baseball can get to the playoffs the better. When we can get to a time where all the games count and every pitch is more important then the last the more exciting things will be. When you are at the end of September the majority of the games are basically garbage time...Time to bring on the playoffs!!

NHL Draft Lottery Order...For Now

Not since the Sydney Crosby sweepstakes h there been a a lottery that has drawn as much interest as this years NHL Entry Draft Lottery.There are only 5 teams with the ability to move to #1 as each team can only move up a maximum 4 positions. The 5 teams with a chance to be selected are as follows: 1.New York Islanders 2.Tampa Bay Lightning 3.Colorado Avalanche 4.Atlanta Thrashers 5 Los Angeles Kings. Now there is always the chance of trades later on but as of right now the order will be determined tonight on TSN and brought to you by Scotiabank!
There is a nice grouping of reps from the teams in the running for the top pick with Peter Mahovlich and Dave Andrychuk and former Senators goalie Craig Billington....if things don’t go well for the LA Kings I think that there could be a good chance that Ron Hextall has an on ice flashback and just snaps and starts slashing TSN’s nice HD Set.

Bill Daly VP of the NHL is also on hand and ready to announce the “winners”.
Kings were at 5 and stay # 5
Thrashers were 4 and Stay #4
Avalance were 3 and Stay #3
Tampa Bay were 2 and stay #2
New York Islanders were projected 1 and Stay #1

Everything went according to Hoyle and there was no movement or surprises. Provided Brian Burke doesn’t make good on his intentions on making a move to the front of the line with a trade it will be John Tavares and Victor Hedman going 1-2 to either NY or Tampa and it will likely fall in that order JT then Hedman. After that things get a little muddled as far as where players will fall. Anything in the top 10 should net a good player it is just depending on team need and best available player.

Toronto has 7 and that is right in the area with Luke’s younger brother Brayden Schenn. Ottawa in at 9, like they were when the made the questionable pick of Brian Lee and not Marc Staal a few years back. Look for them to once again take a defenceman and expect it to be either Oliver Ekman-Larsson or Dmitri Kulikov provided they too don’t make a play to move up a few spots which may just happen as Bryan Murray needs to do some “Tweeking”.

Sens Army Unite - In Mourning

If you are looking to watch your boys Spezza, Heatley and possibly Phillips or Fisher this spring you will have to switch your focus to the World Championships. As of last night the Ottawa Senators have officially been eliminated from the playoff picture. This marks the first time in many years that Senators fans young and old won’t see their team playing into the spring. It will be a bit of a culture shock for sure after a 10+ year run that saw them at least make it to the dance but this time around it was just not meant to be. Sure they had a decent conclusion to the year but basically in garbage time where it is easy to play loose because there is no real pressure.

April 12 is the last game on the schedule and that will conclude the regular season, then it will be playoff time for a good lucky 16, a time to brush of the golf clubs for the better part of the other wannabe’s.

April 14th is the next date to look at and that is the Draft Lottery. As it stands now the Senators are outside of the top 5 (or bottom side, however you look at it) and will not have a shot at Hedman or Tavares but are still in the top 10 most likely and by the looks of the prospects there is decent depth and player until 11 or 13 at least. As long as they don’t drop the ball like they did when they had the 9th overall pick and choose Brian Lee over Marc Staal.

At least with the early exit there will be plenty of time to gear up for the draft and open up all the speculation about Draft Day trades selections and July 1 Free Agency.