Tag Archives: Team Canada

Thoughts And News From a Crazy Sports Weekend

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

From Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson battling it out in Atlanta to Brett Favre’s brilliant comeback at the Dome to Jimmie Johnson’s win at the Monster Mile to the Bombers home victory on Saturday night to the Lions first win in 19 games, it was a wild and woolly weekend.

It’s Tuesday morning. Monday Night Football was a dog and our 92-CITI-FM radio show was highlighted by the announcement that we are “An Official Station of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Radio Network.” So  here’s what’s left in my head…

1) Favre was magnificent on Sunday afternoon, hitting Greg Lewis with a 32-yard touchdown pass — a 32-yard bullet, by the way — with two seconds left to beat a very good San Francisco 49ers team.

Yesterday, wherever I stopped in Winnipeg, people were jumping up and down with enthusiasm over Favre’s final drive. Many were happy that they were going to next week’s Monday Nighter between the Vikes and Packers at the Metrodome.

It was a truly great moment in football history, a 39-year-old veteran who has retired twice, once again doing what he’s always done throughout his marvelous career — bringing a team back in the final seconds. On Sunday, Favre earbned his paycheque and Vikings head coach Brad Childress earned the respect he might have lost by encouraging Favre to come out of retirement — after training camp had ended — to play another year (or two).

If you get a chance, go to http://www.kfan.com/pages/psn_paulallen.html and listen to Vikings play-by-play star, Paul Allen’s call. It was almost as exciting as the fact Favre threw the pass about 40 yards on a line.

2) Jimmie Johnson, the three-time defending Sprint Cup champion, won the AAA 400 at the Monster Mile at Dover on Sunday, but once again 50-year-old Mark Martin was second and, as a result, Martin remains 10 points ahead of Johnson in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

It was Johnson’s fourth win at Dover, his second at Dover this year, and he’s now just eight consistent races away from a fourth straight Sprint Cup title.

I love Mark Martin, but if Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knauss keep it together, Johnson should take home the Cup once again. And what an incredible feat that would be.

3) My beloved Detroit Lions won on Sunday, 19-14 over Jim Zorn’s (he’s a former Bomber, you know) confounding Washington Redskins.

It’s funny, but all six people in my NFL pool picked the Lions to win (it was one of my few victories this week) and that suggested that nobody, not anybody, thinks the Redskins are a threat.

The Lions won’t likely win more than two or three games this season, but right now there are six winless teams (and the Redskins aren’t one of them) after three weeks — St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Kansas City, Tennessee and Cleveland. And three of them — St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Cleveland — don’t look like they’ll win a game. In fact, if you look at every schedule, there is a reason to think all three could go 0-16.

4) Despite his win on Saturday night, Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly is still despised by plenty of Bomber fans. I know, I get the e-mails.

However, to be fair, Kelly could be Bart Andrus, a guy who has lost the Toronto Argonauts’ locker room and who has turned the Argos into a 3-9 last-place team. No matter how bad you might think Kelly is – and I’m not so sure he is that bad – it could always be worse.

Yesterday, another veteran has been sent packing by Andrus as the Argos traded cornerback Byron Parker — who has more interceptions for touchdowns in his CFL career than the entire Argos defensive backfield has interceptions — to the Edmonton Eskimos for a fourth-round pick in next year’s Canadian draft. Nice deal.

There is a chance Parker, who was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles to make room for Michael Vick, could suit up for the Eskimos when they play 4-8 Winnipeg at Canad Inns Stadium on Friday night.

If he plays, Parker could be a difference maker in that game so I guess if the Argos can’t beat Winnipeg on the field, they can make someone else better and hope that team beats Winnipeg.

5) Finally, I was able to announce on 92-CITI-FM this morning that our radio station is now “An Official Station of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Radio Network.”

That’s tremendous news, but it also means that 92-CITI will carry Canada’s games, plus the medal round of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament.

Here’s the schedule and every game is on 92-CITI-FM in Winnipeg:

Tuesday, Feb. 16: 7 p.m., Canada vs. Norway

Thursday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m., Canada vs. Switzerland

Sunday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m., Canada vs. USA

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m. Qualification Game (Canada is not likely to play in this game).

Wednesday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Quarter-final game.

Friday, Feb. 26, 2:30 p.m., Semi-final No. 1

Friday, Feb. 26, 9 p.m., Semi-final No. 2 (Canada would likely play in this game if Team Canada qualifies).

Saturday, Feb. 27, 9:30 p.m., Bronze medal game.

Sunday, Feb. 28, 2:30 p.m., Gold medal game.

There is nothing better than Olympic hockey. And there is really nothing better than having Olympic hockey on 92-CITI-FM.

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Babcock a Great Choice as Canada’s Olympic Coach

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

FULL DISCLOSURE: If you know me, you know I’m a fan of both Barry Trotz and Andy Murray.

I believe what Trotz has done with almost no money in Nashville has been remarkable and while I’ve always liked Murray (both personally and professionally), I believe what he did with the St. Louis Blues in the second half of the 2008-09 National Hockey League season was coach of the year worthy.

Both men are tremendous coaches, but more importantly, they are tremendous people and I have been on a personal crusade to get both of them named to the coaching staff of Team Canada.

Having said that, I would have no problem if they were both assistants, along with Boston’s Claude Julien.

That’s because I truly believe Mike Babcock would be an outstanding choice as head coach.

Babcock’s name has been floating around for awhile, but yesterday, it became clear that he was now the front-runner for the job. Today, it became apparent that the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings was going to be officially named the head coach of Team Canada at a news conference later this week.

Genius choice.

Babcock has all the skills, mainly because he’s become a successful NHL coach handling good hockey teams. He knows stars and can deal with egos. And despite the fact he’ll demand that all egos be checked at the locker room door, he’ll still have to deal with some of the biggest egos in Canadian hockey. It’s a pretty good guess to think he already knows that.

Babcock has a career NHL coaching record of 282-139-71 and has won 58 postseason games. He has coached Detroit to four consecutive seasons of 50-plus victories, won a Stanley Cup and reached a final, guided Canada to the 2004 world championship and won the 1997 world junior title. He’s perfect.

Word is Ken Hitchcock will be one of the assistants. I still like Trotz, Murray and Julien, but it will be up to Babcock to choose his own guys and make this thing work.

Canada should win gold in men’s ice hockey at the 2010 Games. After all, we’re at home.

Babcock’s hiring is just the first step toward making that happen.

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Canada goes down in Flames. Whitt and Hamilton should go, too.

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It was one of the saddest performances ever staged by a Canadian baseball team — at least, in the past decade.

 

Italy 6, Canada 2. Canada is eliminated in two games from the World baseball Classic.

 

Come on. How does that happen? Italy? That team would struggle against a decent Double A club. 

 

Worse yet, how does Canada lose a game with that much importance attached to it at home? Somebody explain that.

 

Obviously, it happens because alleged “big time” players, who seem to be the favoured belled cows of Baseball Canada’s expert hired staff, laid an egg right when they needed to play like champions. As they often do.

 

Let’s take a look at these stats:

 

Shortstop Chris Barnwell, 0-for-4 against the U.S., 0-for-3 against Italy

Third baseman Mark Teahen, 1-for-4 against the U.S., 0-for-2 against Italy

Leftfielder Nick Weglarz, 0-for-2 against the U.S., 0-for-3 against Italy (he hit two balls in fair territory in two games)

Second baseman Peter Orr, 0-for-4 against the U.S., 0-for-3 against Italy (plus two strikeouts and a horrible play at second base).

Rightfielder Matt Stairs, 0-for-3 against the U.S., 0-for-3 against Italy

 

Weglarz, only 21 and a lifetime .270 hitter at the Single A level, was completely overmatched. Stairs looked done. Orr was just downright horrible in every possibly way.

 

How do those guys play while a nine-year major league veteran like Corey Koskie sits on the bench?

 

Koskie was the best hitter on the team leaving Dunedin. In two games, he went five-for-six with a walk and was hit. He scored four runs and drove in two. Everything he hit, he hit right on the nose.

 

And he didn’t even get to pinch hit in the WBC. That’s ridiculous.

 

Ernie Whitt promised Koskie “You’ll be the first bat off the bench,” and so he chose Team Canada ahead of the Chicago Cubs. Obviously a bad decision.

 

In fairness, it’s unlikely Whitt lied. It’s likely that when Koskie got to Toronto, Greg Hamilton took over. For years, Max Poulin has claimed that Hamilton only plays his buddies. I always questioned that, but now I’ve seen it for myself. Hamilton’s pal Stubby Clapp, who hasn’t done anything at the plate in three years, got to pinch hit while the best hitter in Dunedin didn’t get a sniff.

 

Nick Weglarz? Peter Orr? Matt Stairs? All of them awful.

 

In fact, this is how badly handled this team was managed: The Kansas City Royals wanted Mark Teahen to play second base. Whitt put Teahen at third and Orr at second. Why? How about Koskie at third and Teahen at second? Peter Orr — and Weglarz and Stairs — were nothing more than automatic outs. And defensive liabilities.

 

At lot of people wanted to blame Whitt’s Northern League pitching staff, but the fact remains, if you can’t score seven runs against a semi-pro staff like Italy’s, you should PLAY in the Northern League. It’s interesting that, historically, Hamilton has put down the Northern League. If it wasn’t for the N.L., he would not have had a pitching staff (Mike Johnson, Vince Perkins, Scott Richmond and Chris Begg are all Northern Leaguers or ex-Northern Leaguers). That’s because far too many big leaguers won’t play for Canada.

 

People in this country are saying that this team put the nation’s baseball program back 10 years. I believe it put the program back three decades. 

 

And the only way to fix it is to fire Greg Hamilton right now.

 

And let Ernie Whitt carry the boxes on moving day.

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World Baseball Classic tremendous. Then there are the TV announcers.

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I’ll admit it, I’m a fan. I watched 12 hours of the World Baseball Classic on Saturday and another 11 hours yesterday (in between the Rangers-Bruins game, the UNC-Duke basketball game and the final 22 laps of the NASCAR race).

 

The baseball is remarkable. Even the blowouts. When you watch baseball based on 162 game schedules every year, you know you’ll get a handful of dogs in August and injuries or fatigue (or boredom) will keep the best players out of the lineup 20-30 times a year — where have you gone Cal Ripken Jr.? Even teams getting killed like Panama and South Africa were interesting to watch. It was emotional and different.

 

In fact, the Canada-USA game on Saturday might have been one of the greatest games ever played. When Canada gave itself a chance to come back from a 6-4 deficit in the ninth, it was as riveting as any sport can get.

 

It’s just too bad that the play-by-play announcers and colour commentators have absolutely no idea what they’ve been watching.

 

It’s bad enough that not one of them has done any homework at all on any of the more obscure players involved (although Sam Cosentino’s old story about Ryan Braun being a “Milwaukee” Brewer and his mother, an Anheuser-Busch employee in Southern California, being a REAL brewer, never gets tired), in the tournament, but it’s downright sad listening to these high-paid donkeys spend three hours talking about nothing other than the American big leaguers.

 

In fact, last night, the inanity reached an all-time low. The two clowns calling last night’s U.S.-Venezuela game went on and on during the pre-game chatfest talking about the U.S. “power display” against Canada in Game 1. They justified their fawning jingoism by creating a deep discussion about how pitchers are usually ahead of hitters at this time of year.

 

Not surprisingly, there wasn’t one mention of homers by Canadians Joey Votto or Russell Martin (both doubled, as well), but that’s the clear, undeniable proof that those two guys on Sunday night were unadulterated morons. 

 

Martin (off Scot Shields) and Votto (off Jake Peavy) homered off major league pitchers. The Americans??? Kevin Youkilis and Brian McCann homered off Northern League castoff Mike Johnson while Adam Dunn hit an oppo off former Northern League — now unemployed — righthander Chris Begg. 

 

Oh yeah, it was an awesome display of power. Good gawd! The Goldeyes used to pound the crap out of Mike Johnson, before the Edmonton Cracker-cats released him. And yes, that’s the Northern League Winnipeg Goldeyes, not the National League Philadelphia Phillies. 

 

Do just a little homework. Please. And by the way, what the hell is “pitchability?”

 

That’s why I watch most sporting events with the mute button on.

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Koskie signs with the Chicago Cubs

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Anola, Manitoba’s Corey Koskie is a member of the Chicago Cubs.  This weekend, the latest member of Canada’s national baseball team in the World Baseball Classic, signed a minor league deal with the Cubs. He’ll join the Cubs at spring training in Arizona after the World Baseball Classic. If he doesn’t make the Cubs opening day roster, he has agreed to go to Triple A Iowa.  

This is a story that gets better all the time. Koskie, 35, who suffered post-concussion syndrome in 2006 and hasn’t played a game of baseball in 2 1/2 years, wasn’t even on Team Canada’s provisional roster in January. Although he’d been working out at the Minnesota Twins spring training complex in Fort Myers, Fla., he didn’t face live pitching until last week.

 

Now, he’s in Dunedin, Fla., playing with Team Canada and when the tournament is over, he has a contract with the Cubs.

 

“As you know, back in early January, I wanted to play with Team Canada and then finish my career,” said, who played nine years in the majors with Minnesota, Toronto and Milwaukee. “My wife and I thought it would be a great way to finish up.

 

“Now I have a chance to play again. I even had a choice of teams to sign with. I’m excited about this.”

 

He has every right to be excited. If he just makes the Cubs, he’s comeback player of the year. 

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Koskie on Team Canada. Now has offers from two big league teams.

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It has been February’s good news story. After more than 2 1/2 years away from baseball because of the effects of post-concussion syndrome, Anola, Manitoba’s Corey Koskie, once a third baseman for the Minnesota Twins, Toronto Blue Jays and Milwaukee Brewers, had returned to the game.

But he did more than just return to the game. He went out and won a spot on Canada’s national team, the one that will compete in the World Baseball Classic that begins next week. He’ll wear his old No. 47 and while he’s listed as a backup third baseman right now, he still believes that if he’s given a chance, he could give Mark Teahen a run for the starting job.

 

He also as two offers to play professionally this summer.

 

But first, to his chances with Team Canada. 

 

“I really believe that I’m given a chance to win the job in the exhibition games, then I’ll win the job,” Koskie said, via telephone from Fort Myers, Fla., on Friday afternoon.

 

“I feel really good. No more concussion problems, no more nausea. I’m about 10 pounds heavier than I was when I played in Milwaukee so I find that I’m sore every day. I haven’t played 2 1/2 years and while I feel like I’m shape, I’m going very hard every day. Two years ago, if I was sore in the spring, I would take a day off, say, from infield practice or running or whatever. But right now, I can’t do that. I’m trying to come back in order to be ready for the tournament. I can’t afford to take a day off.

 

“And it’s great to be playing again. I’m just happy being out there again.”

 

Koskie, now 35, played nine years in the majors, but he hasn’t played a game since July 5, 2006. That’s the day Koskie, then with the Brewers, was involved in a terrific play with Milwaukee shortstop Bill Hall. The two combined to make a miraculous catch of a flare to short leftfield off the bat of the Reds’ Felipe Lopez – a play that made the highlight reels all over North America.

Since that day, however, Koskie has been a mess. As the former Twins third baseman tried to make that spectacular over-the-shoulder catch, his legs slipped out from under him and he slammed his shoulders against the outfield grass. He didn’t hit his head (despite what a number of lazy newspaper reporters and news services wrote), but he did suffer the same symptoms a car accident victim would get from a severe case of whiplash.

 

Brewers’ doctors confirmed he had post-concussion syndrome and he hasn’t played a game since. However, in early January he started feeling better and said he’d like to end his career with Team Canada at the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

 

Well, he might not be ending his career at all.

“I have offers on the table from two teams,” he said. “As you know, I’ve been working out at the Twins complex in Fort Myers so because they were good to me, I went to them first and asked if they wanted me. They weren’t interested, but my agent talked to a number of teams and there are two offers out there. I will agree to terms soon, maybe even this weekend. They’re minor league deals, but they are deals and I will play baseball this summer.”

Granted, the comeback of Corey Koskie pales beside the comeback of Tiger Woods, but it’s still a wonderful story. At age 35, after two and a half years out of the game, Manitoba’s greatest baseball player is getting a chance to play again.

Call me a homer. Call me whatever you like. I’m going to spend the summer cheering for him.  

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Renney gone, Koskie on Team Canada, New CFL Rules… the banging in my head goes on unabated…

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

What’s that clanging around in my noggin? 

 

Must admit, can’t think that anyone was surprised when Tom Renney was fired as head coach of the New York Rangers. Great guy, excellent coach, wrong team, wrong time.

 

At the start of the season it appeared as if the Rangers were going to run away and hide, but as the playoffs approach and the Blueshirts have lost 10 of 12 and fallen to within two points of ninth place in the East. Losing to the Leafs on Sunday night was the end of the road for Renney.

 

It’s been clear for awhile that Glen Sather was going to make a change and the move to John Tortorella, a hard-ass, native New Yorker, was so painfully obvious, it bordered on cliche.

 

Tortorella won a Cup in Tampa and also finished last. Of course, he won the Cup with Nikolai Khabibulin in goal and finished last without his Russian netminder, In the end, it always comes down to goaltending and if the Rangers intend to turn this swoon around, Henri Lundqvist had better be ready to carry the load.  

 

2) On the baseball front, Team Canada manager Ernie Whitt confirmed yesterday that Anola, Manitoba’s Corey Koskie, who hasn’t played a game in anger since July 5, 2006, would indeed be one of the 28 players named Tuesday to Team Canada’s preliminary roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Team Canada opens camp March 2 in Dunedin.

 

We first reported this story here at rivercitysportsblog.com at 10:03 a.m. CDT on Sunday, Feb. 22. Later in the day, a story on Koskie’s good fortune appeared on the St. Paul Pioneer Press’s website and the next day the story appeared at cbc.ca. Of course, cbc.ca — which only occasionally gets things right — wouldn’t credit rivercitysportsblog.com. 

 

The mainstream media continues to act despicably. One can only hope the Harper government one day shuts down the CBC, a $1 billion-plus waste of taxpayers money. We live in a time when private broadcasters — the people in this country who pay their own way — are struggling to survive and yet we toss public money down that big CBC toilet.

 

That has to stop. And soon.

 

3) Meanwhile, in the CFL, for the first time, Canadian Football League fans are being asked to propose rule changes that can “make our great game even better,” according to commissioner Mark Cohon’s comments on cfl.ca. 

 

Fans are asked to send their ideas by visiting CFL.ca/rules or by e-mailing rules@cfl.ca by this coming Friday.

 

My suggestion was simple. If a CFL team employs a Canadian as its No. 3 quarterback, then that team should get to use an import starter at another position. It’s time CIS quarterbacks got some training at the pro level in their own country.

 

Interestingly, I’ve heard from a number of 92-CITI-FM listeners who suggested we simply play NFL football in Canada. “One game on one continent,” said our friend Fort Rouge Ted.

 

It’s certainly not patriotic, but it does make sense. 

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Koskie could be going to the World Baseball Classic.

Posted on February 22, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Our old friend Corey Koskie might just have taken a very big step toward returning to Major League Baseball. Saturday night, Koskie — who was not listed on Canada’s provisional roster for the World Baseball Classic roster — was told he will be named to Team Canada’s roster for the 2009 WBC. 

Koskie, now 35, played nine years in the majors with Minnesota, Toronto and Milwaukee, but he hasn’t played a game since July 5, 2006. That’s the day Koskie, then with the Brewers,, was involved in a terrific play with Milwaukee shortstop Bill Hall. The two combined to make a miraculous catch of a flare to short leftfield off the bat of the Reds’ Felipe Lopez – a play that made the highlight reels all over North America.

Since that day, however, Koskie has been a mess. As the former Twins third baseman tried to make that spectacular over-the-shoulder catch, his legs slipped out from under him and he slammed his shoulders against the outfield grass. He didn’t hit his head, but he did suffer the same symptoms a car accident victim would get from a severe case of whiplash.

 

Brewers’ doctors confirmed he had post-concussion syndrome and he hasn’t played a game since. In fact, for more than two years, Koskie couldn’t watch much TV without getting sick. He couldn’t sit at  his computer without getting dizzy. Walking into a big venue like Rogers Centre or the Metrodome in Minneapolis would leave him disoriented and prone to panic attacks.

 

However, in early January he started feeling better and told me he’d like to end his career with Team Canada at the 2009 World Baseball Classic. 

“I still don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’d like to play for Canada. It would be a great way to end my career,” Koskie said, from the living room of his home in the suburbs of the Twin Cities last month. “I’ve talked with the Twins and they said they’d let me use the facilities in Fort Myers in early February. Nobody has given me any indication they’d look at me in terms of a contract or anything like that and I haven’t asked. I just want to see if I can still play. I mean, I’ve been out of the game for 2 ½ years. That’s a long time. I’ve just been hanging out with my kids for two years. I might not even want to play again. But I want to see how it feels.” 

 

It must be feeling pretty damn good. 

 

Koskie, who lives year round just outside Minneapolis, did ask the Twins if he could work out with the club at its spring training facility in Fort Myers and it looks like the best ask he ever made. On Saturday, during a workout with the big club, he faced live pitching for the first time in more than two years and looked comfortable. Doctors had already given him the green light to play again and he now believes Team Canada GM Greg Hamilton will put him on the club’s final roster, a roster that must be submitted this Tuesday. 

 

Team Canada will begin its formal training camp at the Toronto Blue Jays’ facility in Dunedin, Fla., on March 2.

 

If the dream does come true tomorrow, what a wonderful, wonderful story. 

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Our Selections for Hockey Canada’s “Team Canada 2010″

Posted on February 20, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

OK, so everybody else is doing it, we might just as well weigh in.

 

Although, our 2010 Canadian Olympic team might not look a lot like the others that have been selected in the national media, we’d like to see a little discussion before the next head coach takes his club into the 2010 Olympic hockey tournament in Vancouver.

 

After all, the 2006 team seemed like a done deal a year before the Olympics and we all know how that team finished. We must take the best and brightest  — and the smartest, as well — to Vancouver.

 

So let’s look at a few players who might not have made some of the other lists — just so Canada can get a little younger, faster and mentally tougher.

 

By the way, in deference to the likes of Red Fisher and Pierre McGuire, I’ve only seen 47 NHL games live this season, so rip me accordingly.

 

GOALIES:

 

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils

Steve Mason, Columbus Blue Jackets

 

 

DEFENCE

 

Kevin Bieksa, Vancouver Canucks

Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames

Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks

Shea Weber, Nashville Predators

Mike Green, Washington Capitals

Brian Campbell, Chicago Blackhawks

Dennis Wideman, Boston Bruins

 

FORWARDS

 

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames

Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets

Mike Richards, Philadelphia Flyers

Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes

Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks

Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators

Jeff Carter, Philedelphia Flyers

Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks

Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning

Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks

Marc Savard, Boston Bruins

 

I’m a big fan of Martin St. Louis, Jason Spezza, Mike Cammalleri, little Derek Roy and even Winnipeg’s own Travis Zajac, who is having a great year in New Jersey. I also like Dan Boyle, Robyn Regehr, Brent Burns and even the older stars such as Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Sheldon Souray and Rob Blake.

 

But it’s 2010 and 2006 was a huge disappointment. It’s time to go down a new road on defence, stick with Marty Brodeur (maybe the greatest goalie of all time) in net and make sure Jonathan Toews is wearing a C or an A on this hockey team. 

 

Hire someone like Mike Babcock, Barry Trotz or Andy Murray to coach the team and this group should win gold in a walk.

 

 

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