2008 World Hockey Championships - Coaching/Roster Announcements

Hockey Canada has made a couple big announcements over the last 24 hours (or so) regarding coaching and roster decisions for the 2008 World Hockey Championships.

Yesterday they named the teams assistant coaches; Craig MacTavish, Pat Burns and Mike Johnston.

A couple of notes;

I love the MacT 'hiring' (in quotations because I don't think there's any money exchanging hands). I've never made any secret of my admiration for MacTavish and I think he'll be a nice presence on the bench.

Pat Burns is a bit out of left field but nice to see as Burns' health wasn't looking so hot not long ago. As far as I know this is his first foray into coaching since his cancer diagnosis a few years ago, AND it's his first foray into a Team Canada coaching role since 1987 when he assitant coached the World Junior team. I mean, to say I didn't see this coming would be an understatement, I think I would have predicted Mike Keenan ahead of this fellow. That said, Burns is a 3 time Jack Adams winner, a Stanley Cup winner. Given his coaching record, how will he feel taking a backseat to Hitchcock?

Now Mike Johnston has certainly become an interesting case to me. He's an assistant coach to Marc Crawford in Los Angeles and last year he was also named as an assistant. Given the prevalance of NHL assistant coaches named to help out Team Canada I can only assume Hockey Canada has a lot of respect for this guy (although they also loved Marc Habscheid so make of it what you will). In addition to his Gold medal last year's World Championships, Johnston also:

"... led Canada to a fourth-place finish as head coach and general manager at the 1999 IIHF World Championship, and was an assistant coach at the IIHF World Championship from 1994-98, winning a gold medal in 1997. Johnston is also a two-time gold medal winner with the National Junior Team, winning as an assistant coach in 1994 and 1995." (Hockey Canada)

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Now, the roster announcements are VERY exciting and very encouraging for Team Canada. A couple of suprises and some very big coups.

First up, the goaltenders: Cam Ward and Pascal Leclaire. Now, neither of these guys are big suprises, but I would argue they are both Hockey Canada's top choices. Officials knew there was no chance of getting Roberto Luongo, and I would argue they didn't even want him in his current mental state. In post season interviews he sounds absolutely mentally exhausted, and the timing couldn't be worse for him in terms of his private life. I'd say the guy has earned some time off with his family.

Cam Ward won the gold in last year's Worlds, he's won a Stanley Cup, and he's won a Conn Smythe. Still, there is no question Canada's current top two goaltenders are Martin Broduer and Roberto Luongo, and if Cam Ward wants to go to the Olympics two straight World Championship golds would go a long way to convince Hockey Canada.

Pascal Leclaire has just had a stellar year. He finished 24-14-6 on a team that won 34 games total. 9 of those wins were shutouts. If Leclaire had been healthy, the Bluejackets may have actually made the postseason, but his injury list reads like a triage: Hamstring injury, viral infection, neck injury, head injury. Obviously Hockey Canada has made this guy go through a physical, but you have to question his durability.

I belive Garon was a near lock for a place on the roster before his injury, but obviously he is not ready to go. I also thought Dwayne Roloson might take part after last year's success, perhaps he is hurt or perhaps he declined, either way I am a bit disappointed.

On defence we had three players named, one of which I think might be suprise to some people based on my naming criteria, but nonetheless made my shortlist of guys I believed would make the team.

Steve Staios was nothing but an absolute warrior for Edmonton this year, especially over the last three months. Was it in Calgary a couple weekends ago where Staios blocked two high shots in one shift? Every Oiler fan knows what Staios brings to the table but suffice to say he'll be a true leader for this team, he'll play tough and as importantly he brings a wealth of international experince. You heard it right, as Staios played on two gold medal World Championship teams, in 2003 and 2004, (along with a very young Shawn Horcoff, Cory Cross, Anson Carter, Mike Comrie, and last but not least, Ryan Smyth). I felt it was a huge oversight when Staios was not named to the 2005 team, and I felt he would have been a good addition last year. He's an older guy, but what a competitor.

Jay Bouwmeester is another guy who has a chance to star for Canada in 2010. Many of the early predictions of the team (including one by Bob Mckenzie) didn't have Bouwmeester on the team, but the fact is that this smooth skating eagle wingspanned defenceman is an absolute force, and I would suspect he wants to solidify his 2010 position. I remarked many times last year that he should be named to the team, and perhaps the fact that he was skipped over for a single year means he was hurt. He brings an absolute wealth of experince for Team Canada; 3 World Junior tournaments (two bronzes and a silver), two World Hockey Championships (two golds) a World Cup of Hockey 1st place, and the Turin Olympics.

Duncan Keith is a bit of a suprise to me. If asked about Chicago defenceman I would have said Brent Seabrooke. Keith hasn't served Team Canada in any former capacity that I know of, but his roster selection has an obvious reason: look at that ungodly plus minus!! Keith finished the season with 12 goals and 20 assists but he had a +30!! Nick Lidstrom beats him out with a +40, but to put it in perspective, Chicago has a +4 goal differential on the year, while Detroit has a +73 goal differential. Do the math.

Certainly at this point I think there's one obvious disappointment; Where is Eric Brewer? Since the World Junior Championship he has done nothing but win for team Canada. 2002, Olympic gold, 2003, 2004 World Championship Gold, 2004, World Cup 1st place, 2007, World Championship Gold. What am I missing here? He's a guy with a bit of an up and down career but he's always brought his 'A' game to the international stage. Here's hoping he is just undergoing a physical or something like that and is only yet to be named.

Now Hockey Canada also named a smattering of forwards; Nash, Doan, Toews, Roy, and Staal are all explained in my previous Team Canada column, so is St. Louis, a fantastic suprise. Chimera and Meyers are holdovers from last year, and given the job they did I can certainly understand their inclusion. The fact that McClement was not named to the team says to me he's hurt, as he shared an instrumental role on that team as well, however, with his not being named there's one spot left open on the third 'shutdown' line.

I peersonally felt that probably only two of the three of last year's guys would be named, but I thought the third member would be Fernando Pisani. He's had a short year so I felt he would still have some energy, and he's played so well I thought he earned the inclusion. Whether he wasn't asked, is hurt, or declined I don't know, but I think he would have made a great addition to the team.

I also missed the target on a couple of other Oilers. I felt Penner as well as Cogliano and Gagner would be named to the team in some capacity. It seems as if I've missed on all three. I think Ray Whitney is a suprise; not a lot of team Canada experience etc. His 25 goals and Stanley Cup obviously made him an attractive inclusion but I think he perhaps took Penner's spot. Given the inclusion of both Staal, Roy and Toews, Gagner has lost his energy line position, and Cogliano really doesn't fit anywhere either. As I mentioned before though, this could be a side effect of the tournament being held in Canada this year; more veterans are willing to participate so the really young guys lose a spot.

I also missed the mark with Boyes and McDonald. If they haven't been named yet, they probably won't be. A Team Canada edition with no recent Stanley Cup winner suprises me, but that looks like what we have, barring an early exit by the Ducks.

Patrick Sharp is another suprise to me, simply because of his lack of international experience, but like Duncan Keith he has an impressive plus minus. 20 goals with a +20, no question Sharp can play a line on at least two and probably three of the forward lines.

We're still 3 weeks away from the opening game (May 2nd) but now we're starting to see the team take shape.

Doan- Staal- Nash
Whitney - Roy - ???
Meyers - ??? - McClement
Sharp - Toews - ???

Bouwmeester - ???
Keith - ???
Staios - ???

Ward
Leclaire
???

2007 Team Canada IIHF World Championships - Good as Gold

Watching Canada go 9-0 in this tournament, I couldn't help but identify two types of offensive guys for Team Canada.

The first type was typified by Mike Cammalleri. Cammalleri managed 80pts and 34 goals this season, quite a feat considering the ineptitude of the team he plays for. When you look at Cammalleri, you realize he's basically a hobbit sized guy, he's not particularly fast. His first two/three games for Canada, I couldn't help but wonder how in the hell Cammalleri accomplished his 80pt season. He looked pretty much invisible most of the time, he never beat guys 1-1, he had me perplexed.

I had faith in Andy Murray however, and I knew that Murray knew Cammalleri well. Murray's faith paid off, as Cammalleri eventually emerged as a key member of Canada's championship team. I think his first real impact play came as Canada was trying to tie the Czechs. Dion Phaneuf passed it to Cammalleri, and Cammalleri sent it to Staal on a breakaway. In the semifinal versus Sweden, Murray named Cammalleri an alternate captain, and it was undoubtedly Cammalleri's best game. He brought his best when when the chips were down. As the tournament went on, Cammalleri proved himself to be a very slick playmaker, albeit one who is completely invisible 90% of time. He's just one of those guys who you never notice until he scores of makes an unbelievable play.


The second type of guy was typified by Rick Nash. If you ever decide to wade into the shitstorm that is HF, you'll realize Rick Nash tends to polarize people. There are those that think he's absolutely terrible, overrated, defensively liable, etc. And there are those that can't find enough positive adjectives to describe Nash. I have to say, I fall into the second category. Watching Nash in action in the NHL is one thing, but I watched all of that 2005 World Championship run, and while Joe Thornton was the Tournament MVP in that silver medal effort, it was Nash that blew me away. This sounds like an exaggeration, but the player I compared him to was Mario Lemieux. He's big, he's fast, he's got hands. He did things that I've really only seen Mario do. Undoubtedly, there is a lack of consistency factor with Rick Nash, but I saw him work magic one time, and it's hard to put that out of your mind.

To me, Rick Nash was Canada's absolute most consistent player this whole tournament. From game 1 on, no one created more offensive chances, no one drove to the net harder (or more often), no one beat guys one on one as much (or at all), and no one had individual efforts like Nash. He maybe wasn't the team's best playmaker, or finisher, but for my money, no one was better.

While the question I had about Cammalleri was 'how does this guy manage to get so many points,' my question regarding Nash was 'how does this guys only get this many points?' He plays such a visible style, he's always got the puck, he's always shooting. He was 'snakebitten' early in the tournament, but only by the highest of standards. Most players wish they could be snakebitten Rick Nash style, because he just gets so many chances that its a numbers game - eventually he'll beat you.

Nash saved his best for last today. He scored a real beauty in the first period on the PP, when, as usual, he took the puck from the half boards and drove hard to the net, pulling the puck backhand and then forehand to change the shooting angle to beat Kari Lehtonen. When the game was reduced to a 1 goal lead with about a minute remaining, Shane Doan did his thing by firing the puck up to Nash in the neutral zone for a 1-1 with a Finnish defender. As Nash exploded by the defenceman, the defenceman went for the only play he had left. Draping himself around Nash, he twisted Nash almost completely backwards. It was no use though, as Nash managed to keep his composure and literally deke out tournament goaltending MVP Kari Lehtonen, scoring his second goal of the game, and sealing the win for his team. I said earlier that I comp'ed Nash to Lemieux. I challenge you to watch this goal and not do the same. After the game, Nash was awarded Tournament MVP.

"I don't have to tell you that Rick Nash probably took over this tournament for us," said Canada's Mike Cammalleri. "He stepped up and he was huge.

"That was some of the best hockey I've ever seen played."

Added GM Steve Yzerman: "He was spectacular. He was head and shoulders above everyone."(Source)

This tournament was really a lesson in World Championship success. Canada may not have had the most talent, but they became more than the sum of their parts. Every player on every line and every pairing had a role in this victory. There was never a time when I witnessed a line or player out on the ice and wished they could be replaced by someone on the bench. I would be remiss if I avoided mentioning the absolutely stellar play of Eric Brewer and Dion Phaneuf. Some Oilogosphere participants have mentioned Brewer's 'blonde moments' (witness his giveaway in the Slovakia game), but 95% of the time Brewer is simply a superb defensive defencman. He's just so strong on his skates, makes great decisions, is extremely calm. I've watched him internationally 5 times, and all he does is win. We missed him in the 2005 WCs -silver. Missed him in the 2006 WCs -4th and the 2006 Olympics -loss in quarterfinal. He has gold in 2003, 2004 and 2007 WCs, 2002 Olympics and a World Cup victory.

Dion Phaneuf was a late edition but it is hard to see this team winning without him. He became better each game, and his instructions were to avoid the big hits and play a containment game. He had 8 points in his shortened time in Russia (Thornton had 10 when he won tournament MVP) and just looked about as good as he ever has.

Colby "Cheese" Armstrong was exemplary of the team mentality with his contributions today. He's been pretty quiet all tournament, but his line of (mostly) Toews and Staal has been very good at both ends of the rink with their limited ice time. Today, with the game 2-0 Canada got a 5-3 PP and blew it, then received a penalty themselves. It was a classic setup for a 'TSN Turning Point.' Canada killed off the penalty though, and about a shift later Jordan Staal lugged the puck into the finish zone, dropped it off to the Cheese who blasted the eventual winner past Lehtonen. I was personally more excited for Armstrong himself than for the team, and judging by the expressions on the faces of those on the bench, the feeling was mutual. Here was a guy who has received absolutely no kudos, your archetypal unsung hero, and he just scored in the biggest game of his life. Especially when you hear about what a good guy Cheese is (coming from Lloyd and being the same age, there aren't a lot of degrees of separation between us), it makes me even happier.

Here's a thought; how many guys on team do you think were telling Armstrong, 'it ain't easy...being CHEESY!'

Going into the game, Andy Murray was the only coach to have two gold medals in the World Championships. Coming out of the game, he's the only coach to have three gold medals.

If you stopped watching the broadcast after the game ended, you probably missed one of the more touching moments. The cameras always follow the team into the locker room, and once inside, it panned along the players cheering celebrating etc, until it came to Chris Mason (he who phoned Steve Yzerman and said 'I know I won't play, but I want to be there to help the team), who shouted 'check out this guy!' The camera turns around, and the smallest, skinniest team Canada off-ice personelle guy starts dancing to Usher's "Yeah." The whole team congregated around and started cheering. The camera zoomed to Andy Murray, who tried to suppress his amusement but couldn't help break out a smile.

After the tournament, the top three players on each team were named by their own coaches, and the Flames and Oilers were well represented. From Calgary's side, Lombardi was selected as a top 3 player for Canada, while Toby (Tobias) Peterson and Patrick Thoresen were selected by their respective coaches.

A final thought about Team Canada's performance, from a Flames/Oilers perspective. Hockey Girl mentioned that she enjoyed the team as long as she ignored Roloson. Most Oilogosphere bloggers have mentioned numerous times how much they hate Dion. But watching the post game interviews, it was ironic that the only mention of Dwayne Roloson's contribution to the team (a very solid contribution I might add) came from his provincial rival. When asked by Ryan Rishaug about Cam Ward's excellent performance, Dion made a special effort to mention Roloson.


TSN's story

Hockey Canada recap and Game Summary

IIHF story

Post game quotes from both Finland and Canada players

Every 2007 IIHF World Hockey Championship blog entry in therealdeal Hockey

To Be Perfect

Heed the Warnings...

Eric Staal is Alive and Kicking

Just Good Enough

Dion Phaneuf Joins Team Canada

Making a Mark

Shane Doan Named Team Captain

Disappointments Abound

Captain Canada

Roster Announcements

Shitsburgh's Loss

Roster Announcements

Roster Announcements - Carolina Contributions

Coach/Roster Announcements

Defence

McKenzie Weighs in on Team Canada coaching staff

Coaches

Goalies

Team Canada World Championship 2007 - Roster Announcements

TSN has finally confirmed the presence of the Carolina foursome (Ward, Staal, Wiliams, Commodore) and has now confirmed that Jason Chimera and Jamal Meyers will join the team, along with Barret Jackman (who has been rumoured to have accepted around 2 weeks ago).

Barret Jackman's acceptance is probably the best news of this group, but I'm still a bit suprised (and am starting to get concerened) that nothing has been mentioned about Jay Bouwmeester. However, these roster announcements have been in the works for a while, so someone like Jay could be going through some medicals or something and confirming he's healthy before he's officially announced as part of this team.

Team Canada 2007

Doan - Staal - Nash

Williams - Cammalleri -

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Chimera- Meyers

Brewer - Jackman

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Commodore

Roloson

Ward

Team Canada World Championship Roster Announcements - Carolina Contributions

The rumours have been flying for a couple days now, fueled by Carolina Hurricanes fans who saw the announcement live on air (Fox Sports Net South), but there is now official print confirmation. Eric Staal, Justin Williams, Mike Commodore, and Cam Ward have accepted Team Canada's invitation to play in the World Championship. Rod Brind'Amour declined due to injury.

This is another coup for Team Canada. So far we have what I would say is the ideal goalie combination with Roloson and Ward, a defensive group with someone I think most would have said was a long shot but I believed would be an excellent contributor in Mike Commodore, with stalwart Eric Brewer, and a forward group that includes Staal, Nash and Doan(maybe linemates) and Cammalari and Williams.

The fact that the Sens and Penguins are playing eachother first round could lead to another Canadian bonanza. If Ottawa loses, count on Spezza and/or Heatley getting an invite. If the Pens lose, watch for Crosby and Staal to get an invite. Crosby was a singlehanded force last year in the World Championships, and his addition could mean big things for the team.

I'm still expecting Patrice Bergeron to get and accept an invite (although one never knows with injuries), but I think maybe one more major coup offensive coup be scored by Team Canada. If the Avs do not make the postseason, I think there is a potential Joe Sakic could be invited and accept. This would be the first year since (at least) 1994 that he hasn't played at all in the postseason, so he could be motivated. Combine that with the fact he implied Team Canada's younger players didn't understand what kind of sacrifice/effort it took to win a major tournament like the Olympics, and he could be highly motivated to lead this young group by example. It's definately a longshot, but I think Brendan Shanahan might've started a trend last year by being an older player with nothing owing to Team Canada going over to Europe and playing.

Exciting times for Team Canada for sure.

Team Canada World Championship 2007- Goalies

Since we're only weeks away from the end of the NHL regular season and the start of the IIHF World Championships, I'm sure Stevie Y and his crew have already began scouting and talking about possible roster combinations for said tournament. And I figure if he can speculate, so can I.

First up, the most important member of the team. Least season's entry aside, Team Canada has been recently blessed with a string of not just good goaltenders, but great goaltenders. The elder statesman, Sean Burke, was around for Canada first victory of the 00s, in 2003, but was replaced by Roberto Luongo in the final game due to injury. If you can believe it, way back then, Roberto was the backup to Sean Burke. Roberto returned again in 2004 where Canada won it a second straight time. Thanks to the lockout season in 2005, Canada was able to recruit the greatest goaltender of my time, Martin Brodeur who manged to garner a silver medal.

Unfortunately for Team Canada (and fans) the goaltending depth has dried up, or at least, dried up in teams not advancing to the playoffs. Here is the shortlist of goalies sure to be considered for a spot on Team Canada.

Sean Burke - He's about 80 years old, and hasn't played that much, but he's available, and he's a Team Canada veteran. He won an Olympic silver medal in 92 (thanks to THE Forsberg goal), and played for Canada in the '88 Olympics as well. Add that to his considerable WC experience, and he will at least be considered.

Dwayne Roloson - if there's been one common theme among the last several WC's, its been the presence of multiple Oilers. This is the first time though, that the Oilers have had an elligible goalie to add to Team Canada's roster (Ty Conklin went one year, and believe it or not, was the star for team USA, leading them to a very unlikely bronze). Now Dwayne is coming off his busiest year ever, and he's hardly been a Team Canada regular, but he's both an Oiler and arguably the best goalie available.

Curtis Joseph - This potential entry leads me to my coach speculation, but I would be suprised if Gretzky wasn't involved some how. The important question is; does Gretzky think Joseph has had a good season? Cujo has been involved with Canada multiple times but has never been able to bring home the bacon (2nd place, 1996 World Cup, Loss vs. Sweden, 2002).

Patrick Lalime - plucked out of obscurity after unfairly being fingered as 'the problem' in Ottawa, Lalime went on to post some fairly respectable numbers this year playing for a terrible 'Hawks team. However, his lack of a winning history, Team Canada experience, and his age make him a true longshot.

Manny Legace - Legace got outgoaltended by Roloson in last year's playoffs and his prohpetic conclusion came true - he was let go by his Redwings team. However, Manny's had a respectable year playing for a less than respectable club, and has a history with Team Canada, bringing home a Gold Medal for the U-20 team in 1993 (and being named top goalie of the tournament) and won a Olympic Silver in 1994.

Alex Auld - Started last year's WC team as the number one goalie before coaches let Marc Denis take over. Hasn't had a great year and is hurt so is a very long shot to make the team.

Ed Belfour - Despite being almost 42 years old, the Eagle has managed to post an above .500 season (thus far) on a very marginal hockey team. He isn't the Eddie of old but I think he's still capable of winning. That said, I think Eddie is the most likely goaltender to turn down an invitation owing both to his necessary extra recovery time and his strange personality.

Andrew Raycroft - Raycroft went from rookie wonder to sophmore slump to a question mark. But he has managed to post a pretty decent winning record this year despite being playing behind the likes of McCabe, Gill and Kubina, which is impressive in of itself. If he handles playing in T.O. this well this early, I think he's probably mentally ready (pressure wise) to play in a mid level tournament like the WC.

Cam Ward - Ward and his 'Canes could still end up in the playoffs, but if he doesn't, he's a lock to be asked to play for Team Canada. There's nothing more the Canadian scouts like more than winning, and Ward not only won the Cup last year, he won the Conn Smythe. Also likely to make the team because the WC's tend to be a testing ground for young players, and Ward is a possible Canadian goaltending heir apparent.

Ideal:
1a. Cam Ward
1b. Dwayne Roloson
2. Manny Legace

Best Guess:
1. Dwayne Roloson
2. Manny Legace
3. Alex Auld

next up: Coaching Staff