LEAVE EGOS BEHIND
Adjusting to time change major focus for team on Day 1
‘‘ ... For every Canadian athlete, they’ve been training their whole life for this and I think it’s still unfair to them if we detract from any of their accomplishments, regardless of what happens with our hockey team.’’
STEVE YZERMAN Team executive director
SOCHI, Russia
They looked a little blearyeyed upon arrival, the players entrusted with the job of defending Canada’s hockey gold medal on the opposite side of the globe. A little unshaven, a little ... lived-in.
But they stepped on the ice of the Bolshoy Ice Dome, and normality returned. Restored to their natural habitat, in no time at all they’d blown out the cobwebs. And then came the hard part. Priority 1 upon reaching Sochi and the Olympic Games on Monday?
“Keep the players up,” said head coach Mike Babcock, who insisted on no afternoon naps and no sleeping before midnight.
It sounded borderline inhumane to those who’ve battled jet lag for days, but they know — all of them — that this is serious business, and they need to be at least as dedicated to their task as the rest of the Canadian Olympians, whose spotlight they were stealing the minute they showed up at the Games.
Someone cited a poll taken last week in which three of every four Canadians said they would judge the success or failure of the entire Olympic team by the result of the men’s hockey tournament — and asked Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman what he thought of that kind of pressure.
“I don’t worry about the pressure,” Yzerman said, “but I think it’s unfair to the rest of the Canadian Olympic team. You know, the Canadian hockey players — and I know it, I was a player at one point — are honoured and very excited to be part of the Canadian Olympic team.
“To be around the other athletes, to sit in the village and watch a Canadian athlete come in with a gold medal and be able to see it, talk to them, see the joy on their face ...”
That’s the problem, though, with the NHL sending its highly paid professionals across the world — especially to a hockey-mad country like Russia — and immediately becoming The Story.
“We can only do our part and, hopefully, we do bring home a gold medal,” Yzerman said, “but for every Canadian athlete, they’ve been training their whole life for this and I think it’s unfair to them if we detract from any of their accomplishments, regardless of what happens with our hockey team.”
In a perfect world, maybe. In reality, what happens to the hockey team does matter, a lot, which is why the crowd of reporters for a practice-day walk-through in the media mixed zone, Canadians in the extreme minority, felt like Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
The coaches hadn’t given a lot away, on the ice, mixing up line combinations and defence pairs, making it tough on the scribes to be absolutely sure what they were seeing.
It looked like Sidney Crosby centring his Pittsburgh winger, Chris Kunitz, and L.A.’s Jeff Carter. Right coach?
“Well, after watching (Carter) pass it back today, I didn’t know for sure,” said Babcock. “You can’t pass at the net. Carter shoots it when he gets it in L.A., and we expect him to shoot it when he gets it here. If he’s giving it back to Sid, he can’t play with him.”
Yzerman said the biggest adjustment is not the size of the ice surface, as most think, but “adjusting to playing a lesser role.”
“You’ve got forwards who are used to playing 21 minutes a game who are going to play 10 or 11, and defencemen who are used to playing 27 who’ll be playing 18.”
You’ve also got players who are stars on their own teams who might not play at all.
On first glance, the spares on defence appeared Monday to be Vancouver’s Dan Hamhuis and Montreal’s P.K. Subban and, up front, Matt Duchene of Colorado and Marty St. Louis, who replaced injured Tampa Bay teammate Steven Stam- kos at the 11th hour.
St. Louis looked like the best player on the ice, however, which is one reason the lines can’t possibly be set in stone just yet.
Babcock, meanwhile, wouldn’t shed any light on his choice of No. 1 goalie, or even who’ll start Thursday against Norway.
Roberto Luongo, who was between the pipes for the meaningful games four years ago, said the only thing the goalies had been told was that they’re all staying in the same room or, at least, the same pod.
Asked with whom he was rooming, Luongo said: “I’ve got about six of them. Want me to list them all? It’s like a dorm room with a few different rooms. I have my own room, actually, but some guys have two beds in one room.”
Crosby is rooming with Shea Weber. This was about as valuable a nugget as could be gleaned from conversations with the players.
But we lined up four or five deep to hear their pearls of wisdom, because ... well, because they’re here.
Should they be? Will they be next time?
“My opinion? Absolutely,” said Yzerman.
“I think this is fantastic for our league. For the last year, even beyond that, how much attention, how much conversation it draws, not only in Canada but around the world. It promotes our league, promotes our players — I believe it’s good for our game, good for the NHL. It’s once every four years.
“I understand there are challenges, and things we’d like to improve upon, but I’m hopeful that we’ll stay.”