Waiting for Gretzky

TURIN - When it comes to the Winter Olympics, you can't accuse the IOC of always picking the prettiest girl at the ball.

My goodness, Vancouver is sure going to stand out from the crowd of its predecessors when the Games arrive four years from now. There was dullish Nagano in 1998, nondescript Salt Lake City in '02 and this year, a visit to Turin, a place of history, chocolate, coffee and wine, but not exactly breathtaking to behold.

Vancouver, of course, is arguably Canada's most attractive city, and won't that be nice for the world's athletes, doubly so when you start looking at the motley crew of burgs bidding for the 2014 Games. Other than spectacular Salzburg, it's not dazzling unless you like the idea of Almaty in February.

NHLers, needless to say, probably aren't going to bubbling over with superlatives when they arrive here. That's happening in dribs and drabs. On my flight in from Frankfurt this morning, the assembled including Aki Berg of the Leafs, U.S. assistant coach Mike Sullivan and defenceman Hal Gill, Swedish forward P.J. Axelsson and Russians Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Sergei Gonchar.

Team Canada arrives tomorrow in time for a 6 p.m. local time practice, and just so you know, the world is waiting for them. Well, specifically waiting for Wayne Gretzky. Journalists from around the world were curiously and eagerly asking about a scheduled press conference at the Palasport after the Canadian practice, so The Great One, it's fair to say, better bring his game face.

One suspects this could be a bumpy ride for Team Canada's executive director, even with reports coming out over the past 24 hours (wonder who leaked this stuff?) suggesting the wiretapped Gretzky talk with Rick Tocchet came last Monday, not weeks before.

Gretzky's a big boy and doesn't need any advice from this corner when it comes to handling himself before a large group of journalists. He's done it a million times.

But if he's intending on tossing out a few "no comments" and a couple "ask my lawyers" and then inviting questions on the health of third-string goalie Marty Turco, he might want to rethink the strategy.

At some point, the Phoenix coach is going to have to make it plain just what he knew about the gambling-related activities of Tocchet, and if anything, when he knew. Given that the other Coyotes assistant, Barry Smith, has said he was aware of Tocchet's extensive betting on football, it will be interesting to see if Gretzky will indeed say he didn't know anything about this business until last week when the cops swooped in.

If he can answer those two questions, this story could die quickly, providing there are no new revelations.

But if he chooses not to confront the basics, you can bet "Operation Slap Shot" will come up again and again and again.

You have to believe, by the way, the happiest person in the world has to be Team Canada forward Todd Bertuzzi, who might have been anticipating more than a small degree of interest in his hockey activities over the last couple of years from the international media, but now may be able to come in under the radar.

Given the manner in which Canada unconditionally cheered on Steve Downie at the world juniors, essentially developing short-term amnesia on the ugly incidents earlier in season involving Downie and hazing while he was with the Windsor Spitfires, Bertuzzi might reasonably expect the same, particularly if he gets off to a good start. The Vancouver winger has been up-and-down statistically over the past 25 games or so, going goal-less for nine games, then picking up a hat trick against the Islanders, then scoring once in six games before finishing with three goals in his last seven games before the Olympic break.

"Course, if things don't go well for Bertuzzi, or if he should do something, ahem, unfortunate on the ice, that'll be just another hot potato for Gretzky to handle and explain, won't it?

Comments

[Biff]

I love it! Another bust of a start to the Olympics. Why do people even have hopes before the Olympics knowing how under-funded our athletes are? We are a joke. We can not compete with the funding the other countries give their athletes so why are people surprised that our athletes are an embarrassment? Too funny.

[Dave Stacey]

Interesting that Todd Bertuzzi almost kills a man on the ice, but all it takes for us to forget him is a remote connection between Gretzky and this gambling affair. This says a lot about who Bertuzzi is....nobody period. He didn't even approach Moore to give his regrets...no class.
Gretzky on the other hand has exuded class his whole career. I believe him when he says he didn't know anything about this gambling affair because he has always been a fine upstanding citizen. We owe him this much. If Gretzky stands behind his friend Tochett and his wife Janet, then I respect him all that much more.What kind of a man walks away from a friend just because he made a mistake. Gretzky was one of a very few people who didn't bale on McNall, his friend, when he was in trouble a few years ago. I respect Wayne for that. A friend is a friend. Who would you want to call a friend?.....one of those people who would want to fry you for standing behind your wife?...or Wayne Gretzky. I will probably never ever have the pleasure of even meeting the man, but I can tell you he is the kind of person I would like to have as a friend. I stand behind him 100% regardless of anything he may have done. However, I will need to see the evidence before I believe anything other than his absolute innocence.

[Flam Flim]

Canada is the only country in the world that eats its' own it seems. So what if Gretzky knew of the betting ring or not? The guy has money up the wah-zoo. If you did too, what would you spend your cash on? If I were a betting man, and I'm not because I can't afford to be, I'd bet most of the people tossing arrows at Wayne are addicted to Casinos.

More to the point, if betting on hockey or any sport for a pro athlete is so darned bogus, how come it's okay for Maple Leafs Inc. to have a partial ownership in an online gambling site and fixings to establish a casino in downtown T.O.?

Just asking.

[marco]

Hi Damien -- love the blog. Do you really think though that this "scandal" is holding the European press breathless? It's minor stuff compared to what has been produced over here over the years. And, aside from maybe the northern European press, it's "Wayne who?" in Europe anyway. Let's hope enough is enough on this subject and let's start talking hockey for cryin' out loud! (How about starting by being the first to report Team Canada's line combos and D pairings?)

[Wryter]

I believe that Wayne Gretzky is an upstanding guy (Walter and Phyllis did an amazing job) and whatever he says -- I believe. This is a proverbial molehill/mountain thing, and I'm sick of hearing about it. I can't believe how little support we give to our own national heroes. We definitely do eat our Olympic "young" -- but not before we starve them first through lack of funding. For example, Ontario doesn't have a single deep pool facility to support diving, water polo, synchronized swimming, etc. All we build is leisure pools, which are wonderful for leisure, but not for training future Olympic champions. Let's face it -- medals cost money. And if we aren't willing to spend the money, we should stop talking about owning the podium -- ever.

[Eric Hussey]

Best comments yet on this whole affair comes from Marco. Sorry Marco, the Toronto Sports media thinks that this whole thing affects every average Joes life. Press conference in T.O. today has no one intelligent enough to ask a hockey question. I want to hear about Team Canada not Janet Gretzky. Who cares if someone bet on sports that may affect the outcome of a game? It's only entertainment!

[Ian Dudgeon]

Marco & Eric H. have got it. The media is far more concerned with this than the public are, especially in Italy where this will be small potatoes compared to everything else going on. Wait until the first major steroid bust happens.

Fans in Canada quite frankly believe Gretzky when he said he didn't know about it until Monday and the supposed smoking gun taped phone conversation actually proves Gretz was right and not lying.

The media are digging and digging for something that isn't there and think the readers really want them to continue to pester Gretzky until he coughs something up. Well guess what? He won't.

Please start talking about hockey. I care more about the health of Marty Turco than I do about whether Gretzky knew his wife put down $50,000 on the Colts a month ago.

[nigel]

Move on. Seriously. There are lots more interesting stories in Turin, and you're wasting precious column inches on a story that could wait until after the amateur athletes have finished. They've spent their lives trying to get to this moment - and your interests are: 1)how attractive is the city; 2) which NHLers are on your flight and 3) what should Gretzky say? Why not find something more relevant? The question of lines and pairings would be a good start...

[Jlo]

Eric: bang on. Toronto media think they run the joint.

Cox: re: your column on women's hockey today. I'm glad someone has finally come out and said it. Women's hockey is great in Canada for getting girls and women to play. It is good for them to have role models, but at the Olympic level, there is no competition. Sweden actually managed to score on Canada this morning, but Canada is still up 7-1 (so far). The play looked close for a while, but the shots halfway through the second were 26-6.

I think a real issue in women's hockey is the officiating. It is horrible. Inconsistent penalty calls. Not awarding assists. Why must the refs be women as well? The coaches aren't all women. These women (the officials) are being pushed into a situation they can't handle. There is nothing wrong with letting them develop, and letting more experienced officials (even if they happen to be men) call the game.

[J Norman]

"But if he's intending on tossing out a few "no comments" and a couple "ask my lawyers" and then inviting questions on the health of third-string goalie Marty Turco, he might want to rethink the strategy."

There has been absolutely zero presented by the media that accurately pins any legal wrong doing whatsoever on Gretzky. He and his wife have been charged with nothing and there is no indication that they will be charged with anything..

Read what Kevin Stevens had to say in the Boston Globe today. Read what the attorney for one of the defendants had to say in the Star Ledger about what a joke the mob connection stuff is. Read what the Associated Press reported on the phone call that didn't take place until Monday - not a month ago as it was wrongly reported. Read what the Buffalo News editorial had to say today about how poorly the media has conducted itself. Read what Mike Ulmer wrote in the Toronto Sun today about what a sad day it is for the media that embarrasses him to be a part of due to the way they have handled the creation of this scandal.

The people who need to re-think their strategy, starting with their obligation to the truth and a verification of the facts that they were supposed to learn as fundamentals during their schooling for journalism is the media NOT Gretzky.

It's pathetic. You should be ashamed of yourselves.