Hockey in Sochi: Five things to know
Decisions … or not
With no skating or actual hockey being played what, exactly, is happening this weekend at the Canadian men’s team orientation camp?
This gathering of Canadian hopefuls will feature a four-day “hi-how-are-ya?” between the invited 47 players and Hockey Canada staff including head coach Mike Babcock.
Captain Crosby?
This should be obvious. It’s only a matter of time before the 26-yearold has a C sewn above his heart on his Team Canada jersey.
Crosby planted himself as this country’s hockey hero by scoring the gold-medal winning goal over the U.S. in Vancouver. This is, undoubtedly, his team.
Young guns
There were four players on Canada’s 2010 roster at Vancouver that won gold in Salt Lake City in 2002: Jarome Iginla, Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger and Martin Brodeur. None of them are on this year’s invited list. Which means it’s a new generation of stars moving into the picture. But who is next in line? There’s defencemen Travis Hamonic and Alex Pietrangelo (both 23) and PK Subban. Up front, there’s Matt Duchene, Jordan Eberle, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, and, the youngest of the bunch, Taylor Hall (who turns 22 on Nov. 14).
Who’s in net?
Yzerman has said they’ll likely bring three goalies to Russia.
Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo were the two chosen ones in Vancouver and Luongo is back, vying for his third trip to the Olympics.
You’d have to think Carey Price is one of the front-runners. He joins Braden Holtby (Washington), Mike Smith (Phoenix), and Corey Crawford (Chicago).
Insurance policy
With an insurance policy over $1-million, Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson isn’t willing to invest for the invited 47.
Time will tell if it was the right move.