Two More Canadian Olympic Hockey Rosters

Charged with picking a 23 man hockey roster for Canada to capture gold at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, GM Steve Yzerman looked to existing NHL forward line combinations and defensive pairings with the usual suspects between the pipes.

Forward: Bergeron, Crosby, Getzlaf, Heatley, Iginla, Marleau, Morrow, Nash, M. Richards, Perry, E. Staal, Thornton, Toews
Defense: Boyle, Doughty, Keith, Neidermayer, Pronger, Seabrook, Weber
Goal: Brodeur, Fleury, Luongo

Blessed with a depth of hockey talent known to no other nation, however, many of the NHL's best were left off the list. In fact, 3 of top 10 in points, 4 of top 16 in goals, 2 of the top 5 in assists, and the top defenseman in goals, assists, and points, all missed the cut. As a case in point, two additional Team Canada rosters are proposed below.

Forward: Bourque, Burrows, Carter, Doan, LeCavalier, Neal, B. Richards, St. Louis, Savard, Smythe, Spezza, Stamkos, Zajac
Defense: Bouwmeester, Green, Phaneuf, Phillips, Regehr, Robidas, Stuart
Goal: Ward, S. Mason, Turco

Forward: Boyes, Briere, Cammalleri, Cleary, Duchene, Fisher, Gagne, Giroux, Pominville, Roy, Sharp, Tavares, Whitney
Defense: Beauchemin, Blake, Campbell, Jovanovski, Mitchell, Myers, M. Staal
Goal: Giguere, C. Mason, Osgood

Taking nothing away from the lower ranked nations in the tournament (Switzerland 7, Belarus 8, Slovakia 9, Latvia 10, Norway 11, Germany 12) and the spirit of international competition, one can't help but wonder how these three Canadian titans might place if afforded the opportunity. Who knows, maybe the second squad would even edge out the first.