RAG-TAG BUNCH GOES FOR GOLD
Desjardins has Olympic roster set
If you watched the Olympic torch passed from Gretzky to Lemieux to Crosby, if you watched the Maple Leaf in Salt Lake, Vancouver and Sochi, you’re inclined to regard the roster for Pyeongchang as something of a joke.
Oh sure, there’s a campy aspect to it if you’ve followed the Vancouver Canucks for the last decade.
The late, great Willie Desjardins is the coach. The players include such Canuck luminaries as Mason Raymond (!), Max Lapierre (!!) Derek Roy (!!!), Linden Vey ( !!!! ) and maybe the greatest of them all, Marc-André Gragnani. Throw in North Van’s Gilbert Brulé and Vancouver’s Stefan Elliott and at least there’s a recognition factor there for the faithful, even if you have to go to Hockeydb to find these players.
But now they take centre stage in the world’s biggest sporting event. How can this be? For the last two decades, this country stopped for the Olympic tournament; lived and died, metaphorically, with each Canadian win and the rare losses.
We remember Dominik Hasek and the shootout in Nagano. We remember Mario and Joe Sakic in Salt Lake; Crosby in our town, Carey Price in Sochi. Torino? Not so much, but for a generation we’ve grown used to a showcase event that features the who’swho of the game.
Now, it’s more like the who’sthat of the game. So why should we care?
Here’s why:
“There were reasons for them to quit,” Desjardins said from Calgary where the team was announced on Thursday. “There were reasons for them to say, ‘I’ve had enough.’ They have a dream of representing their country. For some guys that’s the only reason they’re playing this year. I think that’s pretty special.
“All our players somewhere along the line were told, no, and they weren’t going to get a chance to continue their NHL career or, in some cases, even start it. A lot like other Canadians, they’ve managed to battle and fight back. I think that’s the nature of Canadians.”
You hear that? Doesn’t it make you want to go canoeing? Whatever else South Korea is, it’s still hockey and it’s still the Olympics and that taps into some part of the national consciousness.
I mean, the principals may be relative unknowns but what they represent and what they’re fighting for is known to virtually every Canadian. The puck brings out the best in us.
This team will sacrifice for each other and fight to its last breath because that’s what Canadian hockey players do. This is the national story and whether you’re Wayne Gretzky or Cody Goloubef you’re tied to it.
Maybe it doesn’t feel that way right now, but tell me where you’ll be if Canada is in the goldmedal game?
Besides, how you can you not love the stories each of these players represent? Brule, arguably the greatest player in Vancouver Giants’ history, has bounced around the hockey world like a bad cheque for a decade. Now 31, and employed by Kunlun Red Star in China, he’s about to play the most meaningful hockey of his life.
Vey was brought to Vancouver in a trade in 2014, shortly after his father and his lover were charged with conspiring to murder their respective spouses. After two nothing seasons he was released. His father was found guilty in June of 2016.
“Linden’s had a great year in the KHL” said Desjardins, his coach with the Canucks and in junior with Medicine Hat. “I think he’s probably playing a little more relaxed than he was before. His time in Vancouver was a tough time. He had a lot going on.”
Then there’s Eric O’Dell. At the first Team Canada practice, Desjardins said the former Anaheim second-rounder didn’t look very good. Then, in mid-November, he brought him to the Karjala Cup in Finland where he began to impress. Then he continued to get better because that, too, is the Canadian way.
On Thursday he was named to the team. “He was just about off the radar,” Desjardins said. “I don’t know how he stayed on it but he did. I think he’ll be a big factor for us.”
The coach, of course, has his own story to tell. After waiting 25 years, he finally landed his first head coaching job with the Canucks almost four years ago. You know what happened next.
But he’s back because that’s another thing Canadians do and you don’t have to probe too deeply to understand what this means to him. When he was an assistant coach at the University of Calgary in the late 1980s, Desjardins used to take notes as he watched Dave King run the national team practices. Now King’s on his staff for Pyeongchang.
Desjardins was asked how he was going to build a team out of this group that plays all over the world.
“The easiest way to answer that is it’s the Canadian way,” he said. “It’s not about the individual. It’s about the team. Everyone is honoured to play for their country and they’ll do whatever they need to do.
“As a coach, that’s a pretty good position to be in.”
Always has been.