McKenzie: Exclusions are rarely forgetten
TSN.ca Staff
5/15/2004
Whenever a Canadian hockey team is named, it's always about who didn't make the team rather than who did make the team. It's not necessarily fair, but that's the way we operate in Canada.
Granted, it's great to see new faces like Tampa Bay's Brad Richards and Shane Doan of the Phoenix Coyotes on the team, but it's those who didn't make the final cut that will be discussed for a long time.
The breakdown of this team starts in net, and there were no real surprises in goal. It was initially thought the Montreal Canadiens goaltender and 2002 Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Jose Theodore would be in the mix, but Ed Belfour had such a strong year for the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was a natural choice to join Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur.
Where the blueline is concerned, there is very little controversy as Chris Pronger, Rob Blake, Scott Niedermayer, Ed Jovanovski, Eric Brewer and Adam Foote were expected to be back after their contributions in the 2002 Olympics. There is also no surprise that Wade Redden made the squad and that Robyn Regehr was included because of his performance in the postseason. Al MacInnis, whose career is up in the air because of a serious eye injury, was left out.
There will be much controversy and discussion on the team up front. Four of the top seven Canadian goal scorers from this season - Rick Nash (shared the goal-scoring lead with 41), Glen Murray, Daniel Briere and Vincent Lecavalier - are not on the team. Also not included are 2002 Olympians Eric Lindros, Mike Peca and Joe Nieuwendyk.
The decision to not include Vancouver Canucks forward Todd Bertuzzi will be a political hot potato, while the exclusion of Colorado forwards Paul Kariya (a perennial invitee over the last few years) and Alex Tanguay will also draw a lot of talk.
The 2004 World Cup team went with a good number of Detroit Red Wings, especially when it came to defensive roles. The tandem of Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby that played so exceptionally well with Doan on last year's gold-medal winning team at the World Championship are on the team, while Philadelphia Flyers captain Keith Primeau, arguably one of the best players in this year's Stanley Cup playoffs, is not.
Now when you look back at the 2002 Olympic team, it was clear that Executive Director Wayne Gretzky was getting the very best players he could get. This time around, he's moved away from that a little bit in terms of having two-thirds of Detroit's grinding line and Stars forward Brenden Morrow - not your absolute, top-end, elite offensive players. That's not saying that the 2002 team couldn't grind (guys like Peca provided that), but moving to a smaller playing surface prompted this squad to recruit more grinders like Maltby, Draper and Morrow.
Given the great season that he had, there are not a lot of questions around the choice of Shane Doan for this team. The only question mark is that he's coming off knee surgery, but should be ready to go in August.
The 2004 World Cup squad is also served up with a lot of youth, which doesn't come as much as a surprise because the 2002 Olympic team was considered a 'last hurrah' of sorts for a lot of its members. They made an effort to bridge that team to this one with the addition of Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman, but it was time for the younger generation of hockey players (Thornton, Marleau, Richards and St. Louis) to take the spotlight.
We don't know if NHL players will be in the 2006 Winter Olympics, but it was time to turn the page nonetheless.
Players like Atlanta Thrashers forward Dany Heatley are certainly cornerstones for this turnaround. He was considered an automatic selection for the squad before that tragic car accident last fall. Even when he returned to the NHL after recovering from major knee surgery, there was a sense that his injuries may prevent him from making the World Cup team. His performance in the World Championship dispelled those notions as he led Team Canada with eight goals and three assists. Heatley also represented Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship (along with Doan and Richards), a testament to the success of Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence.
Cheers,
Aquaman