Today was an exciting day for Canadian hockey fans! The draft picks for the 2010 Olympic Men’s Hockey Team were announced. My whole family was out of bed nice and early to watch it live. Mike Babcock, head coach and Steve Yzerman, general manager both made some speeches before the announcements of the roster. Overall I really like the look of the team; they did a very nice job of choosing players who they think will work well together. I thought it was funny that all three goalies are French-Canadian, from Quebec. I guess that shows where all the best goalies come from! With a total of 23 players on the roster, we have a fairly young team with many players in their early twenties. Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, and Drew Doughty are all under 22 years old, and the oldest member of the team is Scott Niedermayer, this year’s captain. So we know Quebec has given us many amazing goaltenders, but did you know British Columbia has brought up many great defense men? Out of the seven defense men, four are from BC. Scott Niedermayer, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith and Shea Weber are all natives to the home of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, British Columbia. There must be something about the trees, ocean and mountains that are good for those defense. A notable mention goes out to Patrice Bergeron, who wasn't even invited to the orientation camp last summer, but has made his way onto the Team Canada roster by his outstanding play this season for the Boston Bruins. Some people considered there to have been some upsets in the roster. Jeff Carter was outstanding last season so some people figured he was a lock for the team; however this season hasn't been his best. Also some people were surprised not to see Jay Bouwmeester's name on the list. And lastly Mike Green, who is the highest scoring defense man in the NHL this season, was not chosen for the team, which means unusual, but it is said that his play in his own end needs improvement.
Goaltenders
- Martin Brodeur, 37
- Roberto Luongo, 30
- Marc-Andre Fleury, 25
Defense
- Scott Niedermayer, 36 (Captain)
- Chris Pronger, 35
- Shea Weber, 24
- Drew Doughty, 20
- Duncan Keith 26
- Dan Boyle, 33
- Brent Seabrook, 24
Forwards
- Sidney Crosby, 21 (Assistant)
- Rick Nash, 25
- Jarome Iginla, 32 (Assistant)
- Mike Richards, 25
- Joe Thornton, 30
- Patrick Marleau, 30
- Ryan Getzlaf, 24
- Brenden Morrow, 31
- Corey Perry, 24
- Dany Heatley, 29
- Eric Staal, 25
- Patrice Bergeron, 25
- Jonathan Toews, 21
The Women’s Olympic Hockey Team has also been announced. On December 21st, the 21 player roster was unveiled. To no surprise, Hayley Wickenheiser will be Canada's captain again this year. Hopefully she can lead the team to another gold, just like at the 2006 Torino Olympics. The average age of the 2010 Olympic team is 26 years old, while the 2006 squad was slightly older. 18 year old Marie-Philip Poulin is the youngest player on the team, while Kellar is the oldest at 34, and is the mother to 2 young children. In the 2006 Turin Olympics Canada outscored the opposition 46-2, pretty impressive! But we can't get too caught up in that, team USA is coming out strong this year, so we're going to have to battle hard!
Goaltenders
Shannon Szabados
Charline Labonte
Kim St-Pierr
Defense
Carla MacLeod
Becky Kellar
Colleen Sostorics
Meaghan Mikkelson
Catherine Ward
Tessa Bonhomme
Forwards
Meghan Agosta
Rebecca Johnston
Cherie Piper
Gillian Apps
Caroline Ouellette
Jayna Hefford
Jennifer Botterill
Haley Irwin
Hayley Wickenheiser
Sarah Vaillancourt
Gina Kingsbury
Marie Philip-Poulin
The Canadian Olympic Sledge Hockey Teams are being announced on January 4th, 2010.
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