Tryout camps that led to game highs — and lows

The lines, as everyone knew, were something to behold.

One in particular showed potential.

“They can make anybody look good,” Rick Nash had said after Canada’s second practice at the Saddledome.

The buzz over Canada’s potential No. 1 combination had started early for everyone in the summer of 2009 at the Olympic orientation camp in Calgary, including the then-captain of the Columbus Blue Jackets who was on the left side of the ice.

In the middle, it was Sidney Crosby. On the right, Jarome Iginla.

Too good to be true, it seemed. Nash had even been asked if Team Canada assistant Ken Hitchcock — Nash’s head coach in Columbus — has put in a good word, arranging such an enviable line for him.

“It was pretty fun out there, playing with pretty much the best two players in the game,” Nash had said. “They can make anybody look good.

“You just put your stick down and the puck is right there. Those two can create a lot of opportunities.”

Sure, head coach Mike Babcock had recited the motto of tryouts everywhere — that nothing was written in stone. But everyone knew there were exceptions.

A full house of 19,289 packed the Saddledome for the camp’s final scrimmage. Jeff Carter and Patrick Marleau scored for Team Red; Ryan Smyth and Corey Perry responded for Team White. Brenden Morrow bagged the shootout winner.

Native Calgarian Dany Heatley, amid a contract standoff with the Ottawa Senators, was booed.

But, generally, Calgary’s robust reception gave a preview of what was to come when the Olympic tournament started on Canadian soil a few months later.

“Isn’t that unbelievable?” Babcock had said. “That’s what it’s all about. That’s why, to have this opportunity in Canada is so very special.”

Nash’s evaluation came to fruition on Feb. 28, 2010, when the famous call of “IGGY” reverberated off the walls of Canada Hockey Place in Vancouver.

It was with that opportunity — Iginla to Crosby, who was streaking up the boards and had a step on U.S. defenceman Brian Rafalski — that led to one of the most iconic moments in Canadian Olympic hockey history.

The wrist shot past Buffalo Sabres netminder Ryan Miller gave this country its 14th straight gold medal, capping off Crosby’s first Five-Ring experience.

“I just shot it,” said the Kid, now the best hockey player in the world, who was left off the 2006 Olympic roster in Turin. “I knew where the net was, but I didn’t see where it went.

“It doesn’t even feel real. It feels like a dream.”

The dream, those Olympics — as it turned out — would be Iginla’s last.

2005

The full-season National Hockey League lockout is over and its stars descended on the hot resort town of Kelowna, B.C., in early August 2005.

There is plenty of change — new faces, new rules, new working addresses — but the game, essentially, is the same.

So, is the goal of this little summer get-together of Team Canada hopefuls which includes 2004 Stanley Cup stars like Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis and Calgary’s Iginla.

“This is by no means a tryout camp,” said Wayne Gretzky, the team’s executive director at the time. “It’s more of an orientation and a celebration, trying to get hockey back to where it should be.”

Where it was before the labour impasse was the spring of 2004 when the Flames and Lightning were pitted against each other in the Stanley Cup final.

Maybe it was the absence of the game or the new stars but people were buzzing over Canada’s onice talent.

There was a young Rick Nash (21 years old at the time), a retirement-bound Steve Yzerman, the steady Shane Doan, the rising star Joe Thornton, and goaltending legend Martin Brodeur. Todd Bertuzzi, who was awaiting word of his March 8, 2004, sucker-punch on Steve Moore, also returned to a boisterous reception at Prospera Place which was jammed with Canucks fans.

But by the end of the camp, there was plenty of promise.

“The 2002 team, let’s be honest, was a great team,” Gretzky said, “but this team seems to have a little more depth, maybe a little more talent to pick from.”

The chosen group, however, failed to live up to those expectations.

A lineup that was worth $97 million and far too slow was bounced from the tournament, losing 2-0 to Russia in the quarterfinals.

“That’s a great question: Why didn’t it come together?” said Bob Nicholson, the head of Hockey Canada, trying to explain the result. “We’ve always stated we want to have players with experience at Olympic and world championships and players who have won a Stanley Cup. We want people around who have won. I don’t think that’s going to change. We can always look back at who we could have added, but we’re not going to do that.

“We’re going to look forward at what are the key players we need in the future.”

2001

The National Hockey League Players’ Association tried.

But the law was lost on the Canadians.

Brewing for months before the 2001 orientation camp was the NHLPA’s stipulation for teams ahead of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. A 48-hour maximum or two practices, was their imposed rule.

“Basically,” said head coach Pat Quinn at the time, “we’ll have an equipment-feel-out type of skate.”

And skate they did — for four straight days.

“Not one of the players complained about it for one second,” Gretzky said. “Was there controversy? Maybe there was. Should there have been a controversy? To me, no. It was kind of senseless that there was. A year from now, nobody’s even going to be talking about it.”

So, that was that. With the Canadian Country Music Awards invading the then-Pengrowth Saddledome during the first week of September 2001, Hockey Canada had its pre-Olympic gathering at Father David Bauer Arena and, because of a lack of seating, the event was closed to the public.

But what happened behind closed doors was worth seeing.

First on the ice was Patrick Roy. Last off (and collecting pucks) was Ryan Smyth.

Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Eric Lindros, Brendan Shanahan, Mike Peca, and Theo Fleury in between.

Heck, even Iginla received a late invite when Simon Gagne went down with a sore shoulder — and skated around, trying to check Paul Kariya and score on Ed Belfour. Speaking of Belfour, there was also Curtis Joseph, Martin Brodeur and Roy.

And the skating came as a surprise to no one.

“My concern is Canada,” Gretzky said. “Our goal’s to win the gold medal. We’re talking about three days here, not six weeks. We’re not concerned about people’s feelings at this point.”

Fast-forward to Feb. 21, 2002, and with a lucky Loonie at centre ice, the Canadians laid a temporary claim to hockey supremacy and pounded the U.S. 5-2.

Their first gold in 50 years.