Stepping up to the plate...

Unfortunately here at Canada Twenty Ten, we've both been extremely busy lately. With wedding season in full bloom, the nice weather finally starting to show up, and sneaking in rounds of golf whenever possible, it has led to a shortage in posts.

However, there really hasn't been that much to report on lately, but over the past week a couple worthy news tidbits have come up that are definitely worth discussing.

First off is this piece from the CTV Olympic homepage, where our boy, Marty Brodeur has said that it will be up to the "Young Guns" (not to be confused with this 1988... classic?) to really step up this coming February and lead this team to victory.

Ever since Matty and I started having these discussions one of my biggest gripes with the way Team Canada always seems to be run is that they always seem to bring along too many veterans. I have no problem with the experience factor, but if you take too many veterans, I just feel like their legs may not be able to keep up with some of the other younger squads that are iced for the tournament. Some veteran leadership is great, too much of it is just tiring.

This is why I believe this story is news worthy. I like how a veteran, who is probably one of the three safest players going to camp who will actually be on the team, is coming out and acknowledging these kids are going to be big time players for the Twentyten team. I think that most people I've spoken with agree that we need some of these younger kids there. Crosby, Getzlaf and Eric Staal are all what should be "givens", but with guys like Perry, Carter and younger brother Jordan Staal all on the bubble in my opinion, I believe that these guys are guys that should be on the team over some of the older guys that are being considered for the same spots on the team.

This also has a bit of a two-pronged effect. These young kids, who I am sure are all plenty confident about their own ability but may be feeling just a few butterflies about making the team, will have that little boost from a guy they know will be counted on for this team saying that they're going to be needed. This may just be all in my head, but I have to believe that some of these guys who know their on the bubble could really use a push like that from a guy they respect.

The other newsworthy piece to report actually deals with one of these kids who I have on just about any team I build, Ryan Getzlaf, who apparently had surgery for a sports henia on Wednesday. This of course means Getzy will be missing the orientation camp when it begins in the latter part of August. Could this hurt his chances of being on the team? I think it does, but I still think he's there in Vancouver. The kid has been dynamite in the NHL, showing improvement every season, and his performance with Heatley and Nash a couple years back definitely plays in his favor. That being said, if he comes out of the gates slow this season, showing that he's not fully recovered, I wouldn't put it past any of the Twentyten brass to consider someone else for his spot, and there will surely be someone who will gladly step in.

Oh and in case you didn't know... camp starts in 24 days...

WHAMMO!!