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Why Worry? We Didn’t. Canada Will Win Gold.

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Did we not tell you? There was nothing to worry about. This Canadian men’s hockey team at the Games of the 21st Winter Olymooad is about as good as it gets.

It only took a little controlled scrimmage against Germany on Tuesday night to get all the ducks in line.

After what happened on Wednesday night, I just hope our Canadian boys are practicing their podium dance.

For the first time in 50 years, Canada has beaten Russia in an Olympic hockey game. The last time Canada beat Russia in an Olympic hockey game, it was Squaw Valley in 1960. However, for what we got to watch Wednesday night, it was well worth the wait.

Corey Perry scored twice as Team Canada drilled Russia 7-3 in a quarterfinal match that had a lot of Canadians worried. But why? This was a dominating performance by the Canadians who outshot their old rivals 42-28. Canada will now meet Slovakia — that’s right Slovakia — in the semifinal on Friday night. Slovakia managed only 14 shots on goal but still beat defending gold medalist Sweden 4-3 in the late game Wednesday, a game that ended on Thursday morning.

In the other semifinal, the United States will face Finland. The Canada-Slovakia semi goes tomorrow at 8:30 live on 92-CITI-FM.

Well, you know what? If Sidney Crosby, Chris Pronger, Joe Thornton and Scott Niedermayer show up for this Olympic hockey series on Friday, there is no telling what Canada will do to its opposition.

On Wednesday, during that 7-3 win over the Russians, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Toews, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaff, Shea Weber and Duncan Keith, the younger players on the team, were absolutely outstanding as Canada moved into the semifinal. If the the big, veteran stars show up and play to their potential this weekend, no other team will be close.

When you consider that on Tuesday night, Head Coach Mike Babcock was able to work out his line matchups, get his team some confidence with Roberto Luongo in goal and just allow his boys to go out put up an eight-spot in that game against Germany, it was almost a lock that in 24 hours the Canadians would follow that up with another big win. They’re on a roll now and that roll started on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, as we expected, Canada blew out the Russians and now our country’s best hockey players have a nice, clean skate to the gold. Stop worrying, friends.

Here’s my only prediction: It will be Canada-Finland on Sunday afternoon.

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Crosby Should Be Captain, Brodeur the Goalie, Regardless, Team Canada 2010 Will be Pretty Good.

Posted on August 29, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Now that Hockey Canada’s Summer Orientation Camp is over, it’s time to weigh in with another opinion.

Seems everyone and his brother has decided who should play for Canada’s national hockey team at the 2010 Olympics, so why not join the conversation…

1) Let’s start with the captain. Yeah, I have no quarrel with Scott Niedermayer or Jarome Iginla. I even think Shane Doan would make a great captain. But for my tax money, I’d like to see Sidney Crosby get the job. For one thing, he’s the captain of the current Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, for another thing, he’s not afraid to tell an official what he thinks.

Remember, this is international hockey. Out-yelling your opponent around the officials is vital and Crosby has a reputation for being one of the biggest whiners in the NHL.

Now, frankly, I’m not sure if that’s true (most reputations aren’t), but if it is, he’s the natural and only choice for captain. Remember, this isn’t necessarily about “leadership.” Hell, there are two dozen guys who will be cut from this camp who can lead a hockey team. However, Sid the Kid is the guy who will make sure the officials get an earful of Canada’s position on penalties, penalties that weren’t called, penalties that should be called, offsides, icing, you name it. Sidney will be in the referees’ ears with passion.

And, hey, he’s not a bad player, either. However, it’s not about the most veteran guy or the guy the players look up to that will make a great international captain. It’s the guy who will intimidate the officials at every turn. That’s the type of guy the Russians will choose. That’s the type of guy the Czechs will choose. If you’re going to play that semi-crooked international game, you’d better go into it with your weapons loaded.

2) Onto the starting goalie: Martin Brodeur. And I’m not going to justify it. He’s simply the best. Roberto Luongo is No. 2 and Cam Ward is a solid No. 3 because he’s the type of guy who has won a championship before and yet, like Eddie Belfour in 2002, he’ll just be proud to be part of the team.

3) The forward lines. These are my choices, they might not be yours:

1. Sidney Crosby/Vincent Lecavalier/Jarome Iginla

2. Mike Richards/Rick Nash/Ryan Getzlaff

3. Jonathan Toews/Dany Heatley/Martin St. Louis

4. Eric Staal/Shane Doan/Milan Lucic

No. 13: Corey Perry

4) The defensive pairings:

1. Scott Niedermayer/Shea Weber

2. Jay Bouwmeester/Dan Boyle

3. Dion Phaneuf/Mike Green

No. 7: Brent Burns, Duncan Keith or Drew Doughty (all three would be fine, take your pick)

OK, so if I had to make a decision on the seventh defenceman it would probably be Brent Burns because he can also play up front. However, I do believe Drew Doughty is going to be the NHL’s next great defenceman.

Regardless, if you selected Robyn Regehr over Dion Phaneuf or Jordan Staal over Shane Doan or Brrenden Morrow over Marty St. Louis, I would not put up a fight.

This camp in Calgary had so many great players, Canada could probably send two teams to Vancouver and if they were properly coached, they could win two medals.

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Stamkos goes No. 1. Will he be the answer in Tampa?

Posted on June 21, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

I like Steven Stamkos. He’s an extremely fine young man. I met him last winter when I did the Scott Oake/Elliotte Friedman between-periods thing for Shaw TV’s Soo Greyhounds Hockey telecasts  in Sault Ste., Marie Ontario.

 

Stamkos and the Sarnia Sting were playing the Greyhounds back on February 16 and while Stamkos did pick up an assist in a 6-3 loss to the Soo, he was minus-2 and for 55 minutes that big Soo defence turned him into the Invisible Man. Honestly, you could not find him on the ice with a GPS.

 

Two weeks earlier, we did a Soo-Guelph Storm game from the Steelback Centre and the most impressive hockey player I saw all winter (wearing a uniform other than Sault Ste. Marie’s) was Storm defenceman  Drew Doughty. Doughty was big, at 6-foot-1, 215-pounds, strong on his skates and he moved the puck quickly. He was smart and demonstrated leadership abilities that belied his age. Friday night, he led the Storm to a 4-3 win.

 

During the winter, I had the pleasure of interviewing both young men and they were both impressive. Smart, confident, they carried themselves like professional adults, not like cocky kids. All of the people working the broadcast on those nights thought they’d be great young pros.

 

I bring this up because this past Friday night, Stamkos was chosen No. 1 overall by Tampa in the NHL draft while Doughty went No. 2. to Los Angeles.

 

Stamkos, a guy I watched disappear in front of a hard-ass crowd, in a very tough building after a long bus trip against a big, intimidating defence, has been sold as the saviour of the last-place Tampa Bay Lightning, even though he’s going to be a second line centre behind the great Vincent Lecavalier.  

 

Doughty, on the other hand, is considered a tremendous prospect by the Los Angeles Kings, a bad team that is trying to rebuild from the ground up. He’s not considered a saviour, but a kid who can help the process in a market that has not been successful for many years. In fact, when the Kings traded to get the 13th pick and selected Colton Teubert, another defenceman, from the Regina Pats, TSN’s Pierre McGuire gushed: “This is such a good pick. Put that pick with Drew Doughty on defence and you’ve really got something in Los Angeles. He’s physical and he loves to get after people. The Kings are building the smart way — strength on the back end, just like Detroit.”

 

Pierre McGuire is dead right. A lot of people might not like McGuire’s style on television, but he knows the game and the things he says are almost always correct and insightful. 

 

In the first round of the draft, L.A. was a real winner. Both Doughty and Teubert will help make the Kings a better team. They won’t save the franchise but they’ll make the Kings a better team and that’s what the draft was meant to accomplish Frankly, the same goes for Stamkos.

 

Steven Stamkos is a terrific young man who will help the Tampa Bay Lightning improve, but unless Mike Smith turns out to be the goaltender they need — the goaltender that warranted sending Brad Richards to Dallas (and believe me Steven Stamkos is NOT as good as Brad Richards, at least not yet) — the Tampa Bay Lightning will be back at next year’s draft picking first again.

 

NOTE: We’ll analyze the entire 2008 draft tomorrow. 

 

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