The Sports Corner

The latest look at Canada’s Redeem Team

Welcome everyone!

You have now entered the worst part of the year for a sports fan.

We all get to experience a hockey and basketball hangover while we wait for free agency and trades to kick in to ignite our interest. After that we have another lull before NFL training camps start with only college football preview magazines and around 80 games of meaningless baseball games to help us pass the time. The only thing that will keep us sane is the possibility of Tiger winning a Grand Slam or two and two of the best fight cards in MMA history (UFC 100 and UFC 101).

The good news is that this gives us plenty of time to speculate on things that won’t be decided for a very long time. And once again, this brings us back to another look at Team Canada’s squad they are putting together for 2010. (Also known as hockey’s version of the Redeem Team.)

The Canadian Redeem Team (CRT) needs to win in Vancouver. Not only because it’s on home soil and we were embarrassed in Torino, but because I’m tired of reading about hockey summits where people express their concern over not winning enough.

I think everyone gets that we should win in our country’s major sport. Is it really necessary to state a gold medal mandate every time we don’t bring home the top prize? Every member of the CRT already knows what is expected of them. That’s why it’s so important that Stevie Yzerman chooses wisely.

I’ve already taken a couple of cracks at it before (a year ago here and back a couple of months ago again), so I figured with the playoffs officially over it is time for a re-evaluation.

Here is my post-2009 playoffs CRT:

First line

Eric Staal (Clutch performer.)
Sidney Crosby (No brainer.)
Jarome Iginla (Likely Captain.)

Second line

Dany Heatley (We don’t know what NHL team he’ll be playing for, but he’ll make this team.)
Ryan Getzlaf (First line on any other nation’s team.)
Rick Nash (He wishes he had players like this to play with in Columbus.)

Third line/checking line

Brendan Morrow (Tough, reliable, a leader.)
Mike Richards (Ditto.)
Shane Doan (Makes it because he has been there before for Canada so many times.)

Fourth line

Marty St. Louis (Great on the international ice.)
Vinny Lecavelier (Had a bad year, but still one of the best in the game when healthy.)
Jeff Carter (Is this the fourth or the first line? Wow.)

Extra forward

Jonathan Toews (A star in training.)

Defense

Scott Niedermayer (He looks like a hippie with his Just for Men touch of gray beard and glasses, but he is still great.)

Duncan Keith (His series against the Canucks made me a believer. Plays like Phil Housley in NHL 94.)

Jay Bouwmeester (Finally has reached his potential.)

Brent Burns (I’ve seen him play in person a few times and he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.)

Chris Pronger (His play is slipping, but they need him because he is a veteran.)

Mike Green (Sometimes he can be horrendously bad defensively, but he’ll be huge for the power play.)

Dion Phaneuf (I know he was bad last year, but my money is on him having a monster start of the season now that he’ll be healthy.)

Goaltenders

Roberto Luongo (What are these seven goals you speak of? I must have blacked out. Seriously though, he needs to be on the team.)

Marty Brodeur (The greatest insurance policy of all time. If all else fails, go with Marty.)

Marc-Andre Fleury (His new Stanley Cup ring gets him the nod for third spot.)

It was tough to leave a few players off the roster, but I feel good about every aspect of this team. I could see young guys like Dave Bolland, Alex Burrows, and Milan Lucic as replacements for Doan or Morrow, but they are all unproven.

Things could change quickly and injuries could throw the entire thing out of whack, but I can only go off of what I know now.

I know now that the CRT needs to win in 2010 on home ice and I think this team will have the most talent of anyone in the field at the Olympics. Heading into the tournament, that is all you can ask for.