Nash and the Boys

TURIN--It seems peculiar that, after two stunning weekend losses, Rick Nash was the only member of Team Canada singled out for punishment.

Nash didn't play a shift in the third period against the Finns last night, and it wasn't because of any injury problems. Pat Quinn and Co. either didn't like his game, or it was felt something dramatic had to be done that would jar the attention of the younger players on the club.

CP PHOTO

Ryan Smyth at practice today: Let's see... how many of our pucks did they stop over the weekend?

And, one supposes, there's nothing wrong with that. Nash is a big boy, and he wasn't cryin' afterwards, to his credit.

But it does let the veterans on this team off the hook, and it tells you something about the design of this team.

Clearly, the intent of Wayne Gretzky, Kevin Lowe and the rest of the Team Canada executive was that the younger players on the roster would carry the majority of the burden en route to a second straight gold medal.

Vinny Lecavalier, don't forget, was the MVP of the 2004 World Cup. Nash was a star at the worlds in Austria last spring. Gretzky and Lowe identified Todd Bertuzzi early on as a player they had to have for these Olympics. Dany Heatley tore up the NHL in the first half. Robyn Regehr was a stud at the World Cup and has been a tower of strength for Calgary this season.

Gretzky seemed to indicate this morning that he isn't expecting captain Joe Sakic, defenceman Chris Pronger or Kris Draper to make the difference.

It's the kids who are going to have to win the gold, says the Great One.

"In ’02 some of the young guys really stood up on the ice, (Jarome) Iginla came through, (Simon) Gagne came through, (Eric) Brewer came through, (Ed) Jovanovski. We need this young group now, they’ve got to step too,” said Gretzky this morning after a Team Canada workout.

        “I’m not trying to put extra pressure on them. We need these young guys to now help take some pressure off the older guys.  . . We need this group of young guys now, we need some of them to step up and pitch in on the ice."

Like, say, oh, Rick Nash?

It's an interesting way to approach the cohesion problem Team Canada is experiencing. Another method, it says here, might be to stop messing around trying to get ice time for seven defencemen.

It doesn't work in the NHL, and it doesn't work here. Sombody's gotta sit, and right now you could pick pretty much any one of the seven.

Up front, the constant scramble isn't helping, but the absence of production means the staff is going to try something. Instead of reworking the lines in practice today, they stayed pretty much the same as they were in the final part of the Finland game, including:

Simon Gagne-Joe Sakic-Jarome Iginla; Ryan Smyth-Vinny Lecavalier-Martin St. Louis; Todd Bertuzzi-Joe Thornton-Rick Nash; Dany Heatley-Brad Richards-Kris Draper.

Shane Doan, who was at least very effective in the physical department against Finland, was the extra forward.

Martin Brodeur, barring a shocking decision by Quinn, will start against the Czechs tomorrow.

Comments

[Sanj]

Isn't it ironic that Gretz has told the younger guys to step it up. Well, Wayne, maybe if you had picked some younger guys like Staal, Spezza, and Dion instead of Pronger, Draper, etc, etc, you wouldn't be in this position. And don't let the veterans off the hook. The older "more experienced" guys haven't done anything either.

On a side note, I am surprised that Dick Pound hasn't come out and said that the reason why Canda's men's hockey team isn't doing well is because they aren't taking their illegal substances during the tournament. :-P

[Marco]

By the end of the 2004 World Cup I thought St. Louis was the only player who had actually regressed, especially following his breakout season and fine play in the Stanley Cup final the previous spring. Obviously that opinion wasn't shared by the TC braintrust -- though there's been ample time this year to come to that same conclusion (the guy may end being the Rob Zamuner of this selection). This is not to single out St. Louis. What Bertuzzi did to justify his presence (last decent year, what, 3 years ago?) is baffling. Lecalvier started out this year where he left off as World Cup 04 MVP but he has mysteriously been in free-fall since (and now, sadly, into this tourney). Heatley had gone into a minor scoring slump before the Games started (but so had Daniel Alfredsson and he seems to have snapped out of his). Ditto Simon Gagne. Rick Nash is another mystery, the guy was ripping it up at the World Championships against largely the same opponents (due to increased player participation from the lock-out). These last 3 guys mentioned represent the biggest pure scoring threats TC has in its arsenal (aside from Eric Staal that is, who has to bide his time until 2010 it seems????!!!!). Unfortunately the rest are mostly "assists guys". (An argument could have been made for not picking Teemu Selaane for the Finns but obviously they know the value of a pure goal scorer, and it's those kind of players and goaltending that wins these tournies.) Oh well, ya gotta hop with the partner ya brought to the dance, and all criticism aside I still think these guys are FAR better than what they've shown. The question is, can they dig up a whack of goals (and keep getting "solid-plus" goaltending) by Wednesday? Let's hope so!

[D'Arcy Mackenzie]

Sure somethings on the Canadian team need some examination. Where is Iginla? Bertuzzi looks lost, Adam Foote looks too slow, and Pronger needs to be tougher on the puck. But the players are working hard - I actually thought Lecalvier looked pretty good in the second period, and Heatly had a few good shifts. More to the point, they need to work at team play and on winning the one on one battles. But let us also give the other teams some credit. The Swiss were playing hard, with luck and good goaltending and the result is wonderful for them and hockey in general. The Finns have always been good - second at the World Cup, bronz in 1998 and losers 2-1 to Canada in the quarter finals in 2002. They play a team based style which allows Aki Berg to look good.

It all wont really matter until Wednesday - remember what happened to the Swedes in 2002. With some luck Canada will be on to the semi's on Friday. If they lose on Wednesday, then let the questions begin in earnest. Studying what the Finns have been doing would be a start. In the meantime, there are other stories, more compelling than why Rick Nash was benched in the third. Anyone notice what happened to the ice dance skaters from Montreal? That is a tough story, one that merits our attention and a pair of Olympians worthy of our sympathy.

[Peter]

Maybe it's just impatient-Leafs-fan syndrome carrying over into the international stage, but I really am becoming frustrated watching the national team play. It's a tragedy watching the best team in terms of talent (bar-none) bumble around like a junior team. The missed passes coming out of the zone, the COMPLETE inability to set up the power play and a real problem with a puck cycling offense are all basics that a team full of NHL veterans should be able to do in their sleep. It seems like every time that a Canadian rush went down the ice the puck would get flung across the ice by an ugly backhand pass where it would hit the opposite board with a soft thud and get collected quickly by an opposing backchecker. No one seems to want to hold on to the puck, except for Joe Thornton (whose deke around Niitymaki literally made me slam my head into a wall when it didn't produce a goal. Why? BECAUSE HE FLUNG ONE OF THOSE STUPID BACKHAND PASSES INTO A COVERED BERTUZZI'S SKATES!
Quinn doesn't seem to have any grasp on what the problems are (at least the way that I see it). Benching Rick Nash? I don't like it at all. I think Bertuzzi should have been riding the pine as the clock wound down. He never had an effect on the game aside from a couple of silly penalties. The Thornton-Bertuzzi-Nash line is a beautiful thing in theory, but so far they haven't played anywhere near to their best. These players at their best should simultaneously knock three defensive zone players onto their behinds and then take turns whacking the puck into the net on a never-ending supply of rebounds...should. Instead we watch the puck bounce around the boards and these guys follow it, rarely getting into the slot (both the puck and the players).
I tell ya, these guys ought to be ashamed of themselves. The fundamentals just aren't there, and the leadership isn't either. The best player yesterday against Finland was Iginla, as he was the only one that looked effective every time he was on the ice, throwing his body around and putting the puck low, hard, and on net when he took a shot. The best rule I ever heard was when a coach of mine told us a few years back: "Unless you've got the goalie down on his behind and puck sitting right on your stick, you're spending time on the bench if your shot goes over the net."
That's how we win the gold. Cycle the puck, play a more physical game (read: put guys in front of their goal), and shoot low to get rebounds. It may not be pretty, but that's how to win games, and right now that's all our boys should be thinking about, grind it out against the Czechs and show the world that we can win a tough one.

[Egons Lasis]

Let the second-guessing begin. First, Quinn should not be the man man behind the bench. It's never him and always the players. Heck, even the best of them need to be given direction. Secondly, it was so 'old-school' to go with so many veteran players at a time when we have so much young talent. Staal, Phaneuf and Crosby would have looked so good out there against Switzerland and Finland.

[Newton]

What is missing from Team Canada... Mario Lemieux.

Mario was the de facto front man for the 2002 and 2004 Olympic and World Cup Teams respectively and deflected pressure from everyone else; his indirect contribution in this respect had an invaluable effect on the real performance of others.

Remember also that Mario scored 2 key goals against the Czech Republic in Canada's first legitimate performance in 2002.

Team Canada is chock full of All-Star talent but is lacking a sublime talent who can transend the game and project an aura of invincibility. Perhaps Crosby will develop into such a player for 2010.

As for this olympics barring sudden injuries to underperforming players that would allow Staal and Spezza to play (Spezza and Heatley together on a line would have provided immediate proven chemistry) I suggest creating an energy line of Draper between Smyth and Doan and loading up 3 scoring lines with St. Louis as the odd man out.

Gagne, Sakic, Iginla
Richards, Lecavalier, Bertuzzi
Nash, Thornton, Heatley
Smyth,Draper, Doan

Pronger has been very weak and in the medal round we should choose our 4 or 5 best D and play the others minimally.

[Bo Sedore]

Maybe Staal and Spezza could help this bunch of peashooters? Why is Nash the only one taking bench time for underachievement. Lecavalier, Thorton, St. Louis and of course the ever popular Todd (the thug)Bertuzzi. This group stinks from the getgo but its the FOG or as its known Friends Of Gretzky.The Defense has done its job but the forwards havent. Quinns line selections leave something to be desired.

[jimbo]

Sydney Crosby ,the best player I´ve ever seen at making lemons into lemonade and he´s sitting back in Can.

[Dru]

Hey Girls, Party on.

The Canadians look terrible.
Like they have no system.
It doesn't look like Quinn got them ready to play on the big ice.
Idiot.
They play all the time behind the net!
There's so much room out there!
And they always ice the puck.

Maybe the Men could learn something from the women, play like a team..

[katie platt]

Hi Damien
This is sooo cool!!
Here's my comment:
I remember when the Leafs where playing and they had a three nothing lead and everything was going fine untill the other team came back and beat them! My point is that this game was great but I think it gave every Leaf fan the feeling that they there were watching the Leaf's all over again.
P.S. I still think that this blogging thing is really cool!
Bye!
Katie
P.S.S I am at home sick from school today and i got to watch the game