A Plate of Cookies, a Punch in the Nose, and a Gold Medal to Boot...

This is our team, well pretty much. It’s like making cookies from one of those Pillsbury Doughboy cylinder mixes… these are our guys, we’re going to have to add some eggs (or gritty old guys) and a touch of milk (those precocious youngsters), but that’s pretty much all we need to have ourselves some gold medal winning cookies.

1st Line: C – Joe Thornton (26) – Boston Bruins
RW – Jarome Iginla (28) – Calgary Flames (captain)
LW – Alex Tanguay (26) – Colorado Avalanche
D – Wade Redden (28) – Ottawa Senators
D – Ed Jovanowski (29) – Vancouver Canucks (assistant)

2nd Line: C – Patrick Marleau (26) – San Jose Sharks
RW – Martin St-Louis (30) – Tampa Bay Lightning
LW – Brenden Morrow (26) – Dallas Stars
D – Bryan McCabe (30) – Toronto Maple Leafs
D – Scott Hannan (29) – San Jose Sharks

3rd Line: C – Brendan Morrison (30) – Vancouver Canucks
RW – Todd Bertuzzi (30) – Vancouver Canucks
LW – Jeff O’Neil (29) – Toronto Maple Leafs
D – Chris Phillips (27) – Ottawa Senators
D – Eric Brewer (26) – St Louis Blues

ChK Line: C – Marc Chouinard (28) – Minnesota Wild
RW – Shane Doan (29) – Phoenix Coyotes
LW – Ryan Smyth (29) – Edmonton Oilers (assistant)
Alt – Jason Allison (30) – Toronto Maple Leafs
Alt – Nick Boynton (26) – Boston Bruins

In Goal: Roberto Luongo (26) – Florida Panthers
Jose Theodore (29) – Montreal Canadians
Marty Turco (30) – Dallas Stars

Hard Cuts…

There have been two main factors in our National team’s recent success, overall excellence across the board, and depth in defense. We’ve had great goaltenders, forwards and blue liners, but the depth of the men along that line has truly been a saving grace. After all, in the 2004 World Cup, our top two defensemen (Chris Pronger and Rob Blake) were injured before the tournament even started and then once in play (and unable to make roster changes) we then lost our third in Scott Niedermayer and another in Ed Jovanowski, but because of our depth in defense we were able to survive these losses. This depth was in evidence in the 26 to 30 group, where 12 guys are being considered by Team Canada. With the team only carrying 7 defensemen five guys had to be sent packing. As difficult as narrowing the choices down was, five (Redden, Jovo, Hannan, Phillips, and Brewer) were locks based upon their involvement in 2004 and their continued performance and a sixth (McCabe) has certainly cemented his place by leading NHL defensemen with 30 points. So that really left 6 guys and one spot as the alternate defenceman. An argument could be made for any of the six(Dan Boyle, Kyle McLaren, Derek Morris, Sheldon Souray, Brad Stuart, and Boynton), but ultimately my decision came down to McLaren’s defensive presence, Boyle’s offensive exploits, or Boynton’s blend of both. Since it was for the alternate position, and I like versatility in an alternate, I decided upon Boynton.

With the forwards there were only three cuts to make, and they were fairly easy choices. After the gimmies (Iginla, Thornton, St Louis, Tanguay, Smyth, Morrow, Marleau, and Doan) the final five slots are quickly filled. Chouinard is the type of gritty checking center that the youngster team is missing; Bertuzzi is certainly a controversial player (and not yet playing his best hockey), but once he gets going he’s a force; like Bertuzzi, Morrison is off to a slow start, but he is a gifted playmaker and solid center. So that leaves 5 guys and two spots, I chose the two Leafs, not because I’m a Leafs fan (though I am), but because they both can contribute to the team. O’Neil may be spotty and a little moody (which leads to him disappearing for whole games), but when his game is on, like Bertuzzi, he is a physical scoring presence, and Allison has always been a talented scorer who just cannot quite stay healthy. Since the premise of this is that everyone is healthy, he’s the most talented of the final four players (Daniel Briere, Shawn Horcuff, and Marc Savard are the others).

The three goaltender choices were givens, Dan Cloutier is an adequate net minder, but Luongo, Theodore, and Turco are franchise goaltenders who could lead their club to the Cup.

Linear Deliberations…

The hardest choice was which goaltender to start. This is certainly a decision which would be debated by many, and likely has three right answers. Who’s best between Luongo, Theodore, and Turco? Well shoot, I don’t know. Turco has the best career goals against average, but then he played under Ken Hitchkock and that ridged defensive system for so long. Luongo has the worst career numbers, but then he plays for the Panthers (not a day goes by where I don’t think, if the Leafs could only trade....) and Theodore is the only Vezina winner among the three (not to mention that he also won the Hart that year). Still, I know that Gretzky and his crew give the nod to Luongo and I’m inclined to agree with them.

Line wise, things fell into place fairly easily, the top line was almost a given. Iginla and Thornton are top ten players in the NHL, and Tanguay has developed into a dangerous and crafty sniper aptly able to take advantage of the other two guys’ talents. The second line would be a scoring dynamo; Marleau, St Louis, and Morrow are all gifted with the puck, dishing the puck, and putting the thing in the back of the net. Morrow is also a talented fore checker and St Louis a hard nosed (despite his size) gritty player, so the line would be tough for opposing teams to handle. For the third line, I decided to blend the Bertuzzi-Morrison Vancouver partnership with O’Neil. If both big guys are on their game, this line will cause havoc throughout the tournament. Perhaps, best of all is the checking line. Chouinard is flanked by Doan and Smyth. Doan has already shown a willingness to forgo his usual role of first line winger if it benefits the team, and I think that Smyth is a similar type of player. This line would shut down the opposing team’s top lines, but like the Thornton-Doan-Draper line in the World Cup, they would also be dangerous once in possession of the puck (especially since most team’s top lines are terrible moving the other way).

Defensively, the pairings were fairly simple. Redden and Jovo are the top twosome and I’d just as soon put them on the ice together. Hannan gives McCabe a fundamentally sound, physically imposing presence, which allows him to join the rush and pursue offensive opportunities. And lastly Phillips and Brewer make a completely competent third pairing.

Eight Ball Says…

This is the team which brings home the gold. 18 of the 23 will be in serious discussion for the National team, with ten actually making mine. The goaltending depth for us between 26 and 30 is better than for any other nation inclusive of all ages. The team has defensemen who can move the puck, destroy the body, and do both. McCabe or Redden can quarterback the power play, and penalty killers are in abundance. Chouinard, Doan, and Smyth will lock down other teams top lines and be feisty, pesky instigators. But, most importantly, if the big guys (Iginla, Thornton, Bertuzzi, and O’Neil) are playing at the top of their game, then nobody in the world will be able to withstand their physical power and sublime shooting touch. Even divided by age, if this team didn’t come home with the gold it would be a disappointment.