Team Canada's Olympic Roster - 2014

            Whenever the Winter Olympics are around the corner, the common Canadian hockey fan thing to do is to discuss amongst our friends and family who will make the roster, and who will not. And when the time arrives that the roster is finally out, we all get a little bit frantic. What do you expect us to do? About 60% of The National Hockey Leagues players are Canadian Born. We can’t help but get excited knowing that our favorite players could be selected to play for our country.

            As soon as the roster is announced we all tend to focus a little bit more on the omissions rather than the players who actually made the team. We’re only human; it’s in our DNA to focus on the rejected players first. Once that dies down, we then focus on the actual team.

            Yesterday, January 7^th 2014, Team Canada’s Olympic roster was announced, and since I’m only human let’s discuss who was left off of the roster first. The biggest omissions, for me personally, include Martin St. Louis, Claude Giroux, Brent Seabrook, Logan Couture, Joe Thornton and Dan Boyle. The biggest name that comes to everyone’s mind is most commonly Martin St. Louis, and rightfully so. Since the 2010 Winter Olympics (when St. Louis was kept off the team then as well) he has registered the most points in the NHL (294). With Steven Stamkos being out for the Tampa Bay Lightning with a broken leg, St. Louis is still making it possible for Tampa to be 2^nd in the Atlantic Division, as well as 4^th in the eastern conference. After being told that he was not chosen to play for Team Canada yesterday by his own general manager (Steve Yzerman), St. Louis showed up to his game against the Jets and scored two goals, including the game-winning goal. I don’t know about you, but that is the kind of guy I would want to play for my team; a professional hockey player who handled perfectly one of the biggest punches in the gut of all.

The question pondering all of our minds is Steven Stamkos. Will he be able to play? It’s something that us as Canadians have the obligation to pray for every single night until the Olympics kick off. If by any means Stamkos is unable to play, there is no doubt in my mind that St. Louis will be brought to Sochi with the team.

            Overall, Team Canada was selected very well. So much talent on one team. So much talent in this beautiful country that we call home. If you aren’t completely sure whom the team is made up of, here is the complete roster:  

Goalies: Roberto Luongo               Defense: Marc Edouard Vlasic       Shea Weber

                Carey Price                                       Alex Pietrangelo              P.K Subban

                Mike Smith                                       Dan Hamhuis                  Duncan Keith

                                                                          Jay Bouwmeester           Drew Doughty

                        Forwards: Chris Kunitz      Sidney Crosby           Matt Duchene

                                            Patrick Marleau  Jonathan Toews       Rick Nash

                                            Patrick Sharp       Ryan Getzlaf           Corey Perry

                                            Jamie Benn        Patrice Bergeron       Jeff Carter

                                                                        John Tavares             Steven Stamkos

           

            Picks that I believe to be great choices for Team Canada include, John Tavares and Alex Pietrangelo. As the captain Tavares basically carries the entire Islanders team on his back. He is one of the best centers currently playing in the league and he is capable of so many astonishing things. He currently stands tied with Patrick Kane for second place in the league with 54 points. A perfect fit for Team Canada. Alex Pietrangelo is one of the best defensemen in the NHL. Standing 6’3 tall, he is a guy that you want to have on your back end. He knows how to play the puck and is a great play maker. Without a doubt my favorite NHL defensemen.  

            Goal tending is going to play a huge factor when it comes to who is going to win the gold medal. Team Canada has great goalies to put in the net. Personally I think that Luongo is going to get the nod first, simply because of the way he played in the 2010 Olympics… simply outstanding. Yet, Mike Babcock is not going to neglect Carey Price. It will go, Luongo, Price, Luongo so on and so on depending on how well each play. But don’t forget Mike Smith. Yes, Smith will be third string, but do not count him out. If by some horrible event either Luongo or Price aren’t performing well, or get injured Smith will stand strong.

            There is no surprise when it comes to one person on the roster. That person being our ‘not so secret weapon’. None other than Sid the Kid. The hope for Canadians is that we can re-create what happened on that beautiful day in Vancouver. The day that Crosby scored The Golden Goal. The day that Canadian sports fans will remember for the rest of their lives. All we can hope for is that the 2014 Winter Olympics shows the world that hockey stays in Canada. Where it’s meant to be.