Three Maple Leafs players and coach Ron Wilson will be making their way to Vancouver following Friday night's game in St. Louis against the Blues.
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Leafs run to hot and cold during Olympics
- February 11, 2010 11:29 PM |
- By Noah Love
Story provided by
By Jeremy Sandler, National Post
TORONTO -- Three Maple Leafs players and coach Ron Wilson will be making their way to Vancouver following Friday night's game in St. Louis against the Blues.
Most of the rest of the team will have 11 days off to recharge and there are various ways they plan to accomplish it.
Defenceman François Beauchemin will begin a lodge near Mt. Tremblant accessible only by snowmobile.
"I'll go snowmobiling for three days and ice fishing and stuff," said the Sorel, Que., native, who said he spent last year's all-star break in a tropical setting. "This year I just wanted to go back home and see the family."
After that he will serve as best man at the Feb. 20 wedding of his friend of 25 years.
Goalie J.S. Giguère will be off on a Mexican vacation where he will be able to catch up with his family again after the Jan. 31 trade from Anaheim uprooted him.
"It's going to be nice to spend some time with [his two kids] and give a little break to my wife, too," Giguère said. "It's nice to just step away from the game for a little bit and find some more energy for the rest of the season."
For Toronto's Vancouver-bound contingent -- Wilson and sniper Phil Kessel for the United States, Swedish goalie Jonas Gustavsson and blueliner Tomas Kaberle of the Czech Republic -- the imminent beginning to the Games brought their excitement into sharper focus even as they prepared for one final NHL contest.
"I think it will just be a cool atmosphere," said Kessel, who will be bringing family along to the Games.
"The town is going to be pretty raucous."
Kaberle, a two-time Olympian and part of the Czech Republic's bronze medal-winning team in Turin four years ago, said he was looking forward to being with his countrymen.
"I'm excited to practice actually with the boys, I haven't seen them in a while," he said.
Host Canada and Russia are seen as the favourites to win gold, but Kaberle said the Czech team that won it all in 1998 will be a threat with likes of former NHL star Jaromir Jagr on the team.
"Being a little underdog, it doesn't change anything for us," he said. "Obviously Canada and Russia are the big favourites. Sometimes it's better to fly under the radar and show it on the ice."
The Leafs strong performance after the Jan. 31 acquisitions of Giguère, Dion Phaneuf and Fredrik Sjostrom make the long break until March 2 a disappointment for some of the players.
"We've played really well for the last few games since the trades, and I think selfishly we'd like to just keep playing," said winger Lee Stempniak, whose is going on a southern getaway with his fiancée.
Rookie Christian Hanson has earned Wilson's praise and more ice time since being summoned from the minors last week.
"You kind of wish you could keep the ball rolling," Hanson said. "But I don't think they're going to break up the Olympics for us to keep on going."
Some younger Leafs are expected to be sent to the Toronto Marlies to continue playing in the American Hockey League, although Wilson would not say whom.
The likeliest candidates include Hanson and fellow rookies Viktor Stalberg and Carl Gunnarsson.
"If I get the break it will be nice to go home, relax and spend time with the family," said Hanson, who deliberately left his schedule open. "If not, I get to keep on playing hockey."
The plans for Leafs general manager Brian Burke remain up the air. He has been away from the team after the death of his son Brendan last week, but is expected to re-join the Leafs today in St. Louis. He also is expected to participate in the Olympics in his role as the U.S. hockey team's general manager, but it is unclear when he will travel to Vancouver.
About the Author
- Bruce Arthur Bruce Arthur is the National Post's national sports columnist. A Vancouver native, he has been with the Post since 2001, and a columnist since 2005. He is covering his second Olympics, after the 2008 Games in Beijing. He expects these Games to be slightly less propagandistic, and for China to win slightly fewer medals.
- Joe O'Connor Joe O'Connor is a roving sports feature writer with an open-ended beat. He joined the National Post in 2002, and has spent the past seven years bouncing from sport to sport, offering fresh perspectives and delivering unique stories wherever he goes. Whether it has been getting Don Cherry to open up about his love life; George Chuvalo to talk about heartbreaking loss; or racing down the side of a mountain with former Crazy Canuck, Dave Irwin, the veteran Postie chases a story wherever it leads. Before joining the newspaper he was a two-time silver medalist at the National Magazine Awards. Vancouver will be his first Olympics.
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