I'll never understand

I spent the night at home in Fredericton last night with a couple of old friends of mine. We had a few drinks, played a couple of games of FIFA 10 (tough losses for the kid here, but really, PS3 isn't my console, but that's neither here nor there), and then the inevitable came up and we started discussing the Olympic hockey team.

Now I believe, as I'm sure most do, that my friends are intelligent, well spoken individuals. I believe in giving them the benefit of the doubt when they're wrong, and if I need to correct them, I do so in a well-mannered way.

All of this changed last night when the two parties involved, we'll call them H and J, for anonymity's sake, said I was dead wrong in assuming that Rick Nash would be on the first line for Team Canada come February. Forget the fact that he played with Crosby pretty much the entire orientation camp. Forget the fact that he's having the best start to a season in his career. Forget that he is one of the top players in the NHL today, the two of them said he is an underachiever the likes of Jason Spezza.

... WHAT?!

I'll never understand their argument, which at one point came down to them spouting off Nash's career stats, comparing them to Alex Ovechkin (Even though they're both number 1 picks, they're completely different players). They even went so far as to say they'd rather have Alex SEMIN on their team over Nash.

... WHAT?!

My anger about their statements no doubt contributed to my 3 consecutive FIFA losses as I was continually focusing towards them and not the TV to look them in the eyes to tell them they're idiots, but I feel very strongly about it.

I'll no doubt be cheering loudly for Nash as a first line winger when he takes the ice in Vancouver, as I will be cheering on the Red and White, while J and H, you have fun cheering simply for the Red, you commies...

WHAMMO!!

Sunday notes

Gotta have faith?

Last night the Toronto Maple Leafs, yes THOSE Toronto Maple Leafs, earned their first home win of the season over the Detroit Red Wings, coached by team Twentyten coach, Mike Babcock. The Leafs shellacked the Wings, 5 - 1. It would be premature of me to blame the loss on Babcock, but 5 - 1?? TO THE DAMNED LEAFS?!?

It would seem inappropriate to talk about losing faith in someone on a Sunday, but I can assure you that Jesus would NEVER have allowed a team he coached to lose to the Leafs 5 - 1.

Instead, I will blame this loss on the players of the Red Wings, a bunch of Europeans who, come February, will be going back to their NHL teams without a delicious* looking gold medal around their necks. Also to be blamed for the loss, of course, is Chris Osgood, who is just plain terrible.

The positive notes from the game is that Danny Cleary scored an absolutely beauty goal on "the monster", who appears to be the greatest goalie in the history of hockey now if you are watching any of the syndicated Canadian sports highlight shows as I am this morning. This won't put him on the team, but it was a great goal.

Also, how good did Stevie Y look for the Hall of Fame game? You can't help but love the guy. A great distinguished career, and hopefully this will be the start of a great career on the other side of the game.

* "delicious" because it looks like it's a chocolate medallion wrapped in gold, like that candy money that used to bring children so much joy

Emergency Ward

Cam Ward is currently backstopping the worst team in the NHL, which pretty much eliminates his chances as a backstop for the Olympic team, even as a third option. Even still though, you never want to see a guy get hurt. Unfortunately, Ward was cut by the skate of sure Twentytener, Rick Nash in what looked like a pretty severe injury. We wish Ward a speedy recovery, and hopefully a return to the win column when he does come back!

Jaws theme swimming

Dany Heatley scored again last night, and Joe Thornton had an assist on it. This one-two punch continues to be one of the best in the league right now, and they're looking like a sure fire bet to be two thirds of the second scoring line in Vancouver. Not sure who it is that might play with them, but I'm not sure it's actually going to matter.

WHAMMO!!

Contrary to popular belief...

If you ignore something, that won't make it go away...

I'm talking of course about this...

I've mentioned before that we have to be negative because we're a blog. Like any good sports fan, I am superstitious. I have my rituals, and my quirks, and so because of this I didn't even bring up the point to Matty about discussing possible injuries to key players. I figured if I just stayed positive and didn't bring up any concerns about something like an injury happening, then all the boys would be fine and we'd be celebrating a gold medal in February 2010.

Well now that's gone out the window and it requires a post.

You see, the problem is that, whether the brass of Hockey Canada want to admit it or not, half this team is picked. Crosby is ON the team. Crosby could come out of the gate, get no points in the first month of the season (as if) and he'd still be on the top line come the Olympics. He's just that good, and everyone knows it. He's on the team. They're saying the injury isn't serious, but the shroud of secrecy in the NHL surrounding injuries is so ridiculous that I'm sure a ripped Achilles could be classified as a "day-to-day lower body injury" by some of the spinners out there.

The other half of the team will be made up from "bubble" guys. This gang will be playing their asses off this year in hopes of making what is surely to be one of the greatest and most hyped teams of all time.

The big difference between these groups is that these "locks" are irreplaceable. Sure, you can throw another guy on the top line, between Iggy and Nash, and I'm sure they'd be fine... but they wouldn't be Crosby. If Jordan Staal is named to the team (not saying he will be, just saying is all) and in January he tears his ACL getting hit going hard into a corner, he can be replaced by a guy like Lucic (who we love here at Twentyten) and I don't think the team suffers too much from it. Some guys can be replaced, some can't, it's that simple.

Don't get me wrong. I am definitely not wishing harm upon J. Staal or anyone else who is a possibility to make the team, I'm just starting to hit the panic button a little early on injuries to the team.

Injuries are a part of hockey, and I understand that. We can't ask our guys to go out there and play soft in the regular season, or wrap them in bubble wrap, because these guys are going to be playing hard for a spot on the roster and that's what's going to get them there. But I am going to pray to the hockey gods, and I believe you Twentyteners out there should do the same, to keep our boys healthy through this NHL season so that we can go out there with the team that is supposed to be out there, at least with the guys who we can't afford to be miss.

"Heart" or Heat ???

...so Marty St. Louis finishes camp last week playing on a line with Crosby and Nash. Is he in? If he's in, is Heatley out?

...I hear rumblings...

What a sin...line.

Two things:

1 - As Dewey reported here earlier today, Simon Gagne will sit out the rest of the orientation camp. What a sin for a guy who has been dynamite for Canada in past Junior and Olympic tournaments, but is also clearly on the bubble to make the twentyten team.

2 - As has been reported by all hockey insiders; Sidney Crosby, Jerome Iginla and Rick Nash have been practicing together over the past two days. What a S.I.N. line that would make: The Sid / Iggy / Nash line would certainly be dynamite in twentyten.

WHAMMO!!

The good, the bad, and the ugly... Gimme the Whites!

Yesterday, Matty made it personal by putting the scrimmage between the red and white teams at orientation camp Thursday "on the board"*. He made the first move, taking the Reds, and surely, it will be another board loss for him. Here's a look at how my team looks after the first day of camp:

Forwards:
Line 1: Crosby, Iginla, Nash
Line 2: Richards, Heatley, Morrow
Line 3: Toews, St. Louis, Gagne
Line 4: J. Staal, Doan, McDonald

Defense:
Niedermayer, Weber, Bouwmeester, M. Staal, Keith, Burns, Beauchemin and Green

Goalies:
Brodeur, Mason, Fleury

Not too bad a squad I have. I've decided to take the classic "good, bad and ugly" approach to evaluating my squad.

The Good

As is very apparent, my team is loaded with talent on the first line. Crosby, Nash and Iginla are as much of locks as there are on the team. They're probably the three most gifted offensive players attending the camp, and will no doubt cause a ton of problems for the Reds on Thursday.

At the back end, you have three more locks in Nieder, Weber and Bouwmeester. All three provide great defense, but are also talented offensively. They're some of the best skating defensemen in the NHL and are fully capable of handling the top forwards on the Red squad. Even after my top 3 D-men, I've got all the confidence in the world in guys like Mark Staal (a very good sleeper to make this team), Brett Burns and Duncan Keith to keep up with the Reds offensive pressure.

Marty Brodeur, who has been in nets for us in the previous two Olympics, headlines my list of goaltenders. I have no doubt that if Brodeur plays the whole game (as it looks like Luongo will do with the apparent back injury to Cam Ward), my team will dominate at both ends of the ice.

The Bad

I hate to be so negative because all these players are very immensely talented, but Andy McDonald? Martin St. Louis? Shane Doan?! These are all guys that either don't belong at camp, or have legitimate shots at making the team, who I don't believe should even be considered for the spots that are available. I've gone off about how much I hate the whole "but he has heart" argument before, and I won't again, but these guys are bringing my team down. Put them on their own line and let them make a big impact... on the bench!

The Ugly

The only real "ugly" part that I wanted to discuss was the ugliness that will be the beatdown on Thursday, when the Whites beat the Reds 7 - 3 and I chalk up another victory on the board over Matty, so I repeat, "PUT IT ON THE BOARD!!"

* the board is a list of bets on sports that Matty and I make and keep in our apartment. Currently I lead the board something in the neighborhood of 11 - 3, but that's what you get when you give me the field in all 4 majors and you take Tiger, and you also bet on Scott Gomez to have an 85 point season... just terrible...

Is Heatley on the team?

One player I've had on my second line since we started this debate was Dany Heatley. He'd be playing alongside of Rick Nash and Ryan Getzlaf on said line, providing a nice mix of finesse and physical ability.

It has come to light recently though that Hockey Canada is none too pleased with the way Heater's trade demand / no-trade blockage has been handled by the superstar forward. He's been dodging these questions all summer and in this article by Jim Kelly, he mentions that the brass plan to have him answer the questions, one and done, but there's no telling he'll actually cooperate.

What's even more interesting is the way Heatley has performed before in what Kelly calls a "best-on-best" situation. We all remember the 2008 IIHF championships, where the aforementioned Heatley-Nash-Getzlaf lineup racked up the points, with Heatley leading the way with 12 goals, adding 8 assists, and thinking "these guys are there in 2010". However, in these other "best-on-best" situations (where every country ices their best players, not just who's available), Heatley has struggled, with only 3 points (1G, 2A) in the 2006 Olympics, and 2 points (1G, 1A) in an even longer series at the 2004 World Cup of hockey (writer's note: the best time 15 kids from the East Coast could ever have, in the Montreal portion of the tournament anyway).

Now, I'll be the first to admit I hated the 2006 team. I didn't like the direction it took from the get-go, so I'm willing to forgive Dany for that. In 2004, Heatley was only a pup, and had been involved in a terrible accident which limited his season to 31 NHL games, so he probably wasn't at his best at this time. Both of these facts should make it easy to overlook Heatley's weak performances at the big time competitions. Add to this the fact that he's answered the bell and played for Team Canada just about every time he's been asked to, and he should be on the team.

With Stevie Y in charge of this year's team there's really no knowing whether anything in the past will make a huge difference, and if he only looks at the present, he's looking at a guy coming off a season in which he played only 71 games (due to injury), and is being followed by a whole lot of drama.

I still think he makes it though...

Camp on Monday!

WHAMMO!!

On mice and men

As Matty pointed out last night, the NHLPA is worried about players getting injured skating this summer at the orientation camp, and in a beautiful use of the word "really", really hammered the point home that this it's insane to not let these men go out and do what they do best, and that is play hockey.

Fortunately for us, the players feel the same way as we do in this piece from TSN.ca. Three guys that I all have pegged to be in the lineup when the team takes the ice, Rick Nash, Joe Thornton and Marty Brodeur, all say that it's ridiculous and plan to be on the ice in August when the possible skaters get together for the first time.

Let me just remind you that the team did skate together at the orientation camp in 2002 and things seemed to turn out pretty well for Canadian hockey then... (let's not talk about 2006 or Torino).

If there are any players that are to come forward and say they don't want to take the ice, that they believe that a single practice the day before their first game in Vancouver will suffice, I don't think I'd want them on the team. This team will have no room for softies, though in reality, I don't think any of these Canadian boys are soft, and every one of them will want to take the ice in August for their country.

Line juggling

As Matty and I sat around last night thinking up who could possibly make up the "grind line" (post on that to come soon, rest assured). I questioned whether or not the name "grind line" still held relevance and what other names you might possibly be able to give such a line. Unfortunately, we were unable to come up with any real great names for our grinders, but we did manage to come up with some pretty interesting line possibilities for Coach Babcock to try out at this summer's orientation camp. We know that Nash, Healtey and Getzlaf will more than likely be the number two line after their showing at the worlds a couple of years ago, but these lineups we thought up were a little more unorthodox, and we believe could bring some real spark to the twentyten team.

Hockey Canada has already taken a bunch of our suggestions for who to bring to camp, while also overlooking a few (no matter how much they deny it), but they might as well try some of these lineup combinations, which we would love to see.

The Staal Line - So obvious that it almost makes me sick. You take the three Staal kids, you throw them on the ice together and you watch the magic happen as it did on the outdoor rink oh so many years ago in Thunder Bay. While the naysayers may argue that Marc is a defenseman, I don't think it matters. He could play opposite of Eric, and the two of them could flank brother Jordan. It's crazy enough that it just might work.

The Poutine Line - Our friends in Quebec were not represented as much as some may have thought, with the exclusion of Savard and Briere to name a couple, but that doesn't mean team twentyten isn't laden with French talent up front. Simon Gagne would be the fries for the line, a solid base, while Vinny Lecavilier and Martin St-Louis would top it off with gravy and curds, which work so well together. I know that I have said that I didn't think St-Louis should be on the team (or even at the camp), but on a line like this, it would just be so delici... good, I mean good.

The Goals of the Year Line - Nash, Toews, Getzlaf. These three guys are all absolute beauty players who, over the past few seasons in the NHL, have scored some of the nicest goals we've ever seen. Putting them on a line together would no doubt cause a cataclysmic effect on the ice, the likes of which we've never seen leading to some of the greatest goals in the history of everything.

The 'Extra Maple Syrup' Line - It hasn't been talked about much, but one of the players overlooked to come to camp for a goaltending spot was on JC Petit. The competition was fierce though, and not even we had him pegged to make it to camp, so his omission by the brass is forgiven. However, in honor of JC comes this line. Marty St-Louis again plays on this line, with Andy McDonald and... uh... well, there's not really another "small" guy that I can find going to camp, so we'll just take any of the guys off what is an undersized American team. It may be a bit of a problem getting them on to the Canadian team, but I mean, to see what would resemble a Timbits Hockey squad on the ice at camp would be a once in a lifetime event.

The 'Pierre McGuire Just Blew His Load' Defensive Pairing - The only non-offensive grouping on this list, and because Pierre loves everyone, it was probably the hardest one to pick. However, that being said, we really couldn't figure out who would cause McGuirre to go off on a string of "kaboom" and "whammos" like would Dion Phaneuf and Shea Weber. It was this tandem that really led to a lot of Pete's ridiculous sayings back in 2005 when the World Juniors were played in Grand Forks, Michigan. Here, the defensive pairing not only led Canada to Gold then, which is the color we're all expecting to see in Vancouver, but it also led to the now famous "Double Dion", just another intolerable call from our old 'buddy' McGuire. If you're a fan of Canadian Hockey, then you're excited at the prospect of these two playing together again.

That's all we have for now, but with 46 guys, there are sure to be other creative ideas out there. What about you? Got any good line ideas?