Little known Noreau is a big shot for Canada
Defenceman one of several players who could get another look from NHL teams
Kevin GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA Poulin is not the only Team Canada player who may garner NHL attention after the Olympic hockey tournament is over.
Defenceman Maxim Noreau, who has scored twice in Canada’s four games, has the look of a significant player, especially while playing the point on the power play where he owns a big-league slapshot.
“He’s one of those players who is so close to a guy who could have been in the NHL, then he went a different path,” Team Canada general manager Sean Burke said.
“He went over to Europe, made a very good living. You don’t know how (some) guys are going to perform on this big stage. I’m not surprised by the way he’s playing for us.
“He’s one of those guys who is very low maintenance. He comes to play every day. You put him in your lineup, you pencil him in and you don’t think about him again. He’s got a great shot and he’s a confident guy.”
Noreau, for his part, is more consumed with winning a gold medal anything else. He did play six games for the Minnesota Wild, with his last action coming at the end of the 2010-11 season.
“I thought I had my other shot when I went back to Colorado on a two-year deal. But I didn’t re- ally get any games to show what I could do,” the Montrealer said of his 2014-16 foray, which was spent in the AHL. “That was really disappointing for me. To come back to Europe was really tough mentally when I thought I deserved better over there.”
And now?
“For sure, this is huge for me. I’m not thinking about (me), though. I want to win the gold. That’s all I care about.” Germany, Canada’s semifinal opponent, has
scored just 10 goals in five games. But those goals have come from nine players. Patrick Hager, 30, is the only German with two goals and he leads the team with four points. Former NHL defenceman Christian Ehrhoff leads them in ice time at just under 21 minutes per game. What’s changed in this Olympic hockey tournament other than the loss of NHL players? “There’s no intimidation factor anymore,” Burke said. “You have to earn every win. There are no easy games here.” After starting goalie Ben Scrivens
was injured against Finland, Burke has asked the tournament committee for a ruling regarding the roster for injured goaltenders. Turns out, Canada cannot replace Scrivens on the roster. But should one of Canada’s other goalies, Kevin Poulin or Justin Peters go down with an injury, Canada will be assigned a goalie by the tournament directorate.
Burke didn’t know who that would be if it came to that.
“It won’t be me or Marty,” he said of his assistant, Martin Brodeur, who was part of the roster selection process but hasn’t been in South Korea for the Games.
It’s expected that Finland star Eeli Tolvanen will join the Nashville Predators after the Olympics. He was the most impressive young player in the hockey tournament.