Penguins star Sidney Crosby leads 46 players to Hockey Canada's Olympic orientation camp next month. (Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)Sidney Crosby and the Staal brothers headline Hockey Canada's invitees to its Olympic orientation camp set for the end of the summer in Calgary.
Eric, Jordan and Marc Staal, along with Crosby, are on the 46-man roster announced Thursday for the camp that runs from Aug. 24 to 27.
"We spent a lot of time, a lot of discussion ... to get to a list that is a workable number that allows us to see a majority of players that are candidates for the Olympic team," Steve Yzerman, Team Canada's executive director, said in a conference call.
Yzerman is no slouch to top international play — he was on the 1998 and 2002 Olympic teams, and is using that experience to help guide Team Canada's picks.
"I've been to these tournaments, and the types of players that I found to be successful [are] guys that are responsible players," he said. "If you lose a game, you're out of the tournament, and you can't afford guys that are going to be high-risk."
3 Staals impress selection committee
Crosby, fresh off his first Stanley Cup victory with the Pittsburgh Penguins, impressed Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock when his Detroit Red Wings faced him in the final.
"He did a real good job [in the playoffs]," said Babcock. "I thought in particular Crosby's battle with [Henrik] Zetterburg was really good."
The Staal brothers also impressed the Hockey Canada selection committee with their play, as Jordan and Eric both have Stanley Cup rings to their credit, and brother Marc is a solid up-and-coming defenceman.
"They're just big, strong, skilled players," Yzerman said. "From our perspective, it's a coincidence that they're brothers."
The selection camp total includes five goalies, 16 defenceman and 25 forwards. The players will practise each day of the camp, which will culminate in a red-white scrimmage.
"It's not an evaluation camp, it's an opportunity for us to get to know them, and for us to have a feel for what we're trying to introduce to the players," said Babcock, also on the call with Yzerman.
Had to 'remove a different type of player'
With Canada's deep NHL talent pool, it's a given that there are notables left off the list.
A few names not invited to the camp are Chris Osgood, Jason Spezza, Steven Stamkos and Marc Savard.
"We wanted to bring some different types of players, some guys that maybe aren't leading their teams in scoring but very good players in a different role," said Yzerman.
"And then in doing that, we had to remove a different type of player."
Babcock added that it was important to keep the number of players at a manageable level.
"When you start talking about the number 46, and we're debating over players there, there's going to be 23 [on the final roster]," he added. "That's a long way from 46. So we didn't want to get too carried away here."
And both Yzerman and Babcock stressed that players who weren't invited to the camp are still eligible to make the Olympic squad.
"Some of these guys that didn't necessarily make this camp aren't automatically excluded from making the team, because things can change in the next six months significantly," Yzerman said.
But it didn't happen when the last two Olympic teams were selected, in 2006 and 2002, as those squads were all made up of players invited to the summer orientation camp.
Youth emphasized in camp choices
The camp will feature an infusion of young faces, as 19 of the 46 players selected are 25 and under. The youngest is 20-year-old Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings. The oldest is Colorado's Joe Sakic, 40, who is still undecided about his playing future.
The Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks all have four players attending, the most of any team.
The Flames are sending defencemen Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr along with captain Jarome Iginla.
Aside from the Flames, the rest of the Canadian teams combined to contribute only two players to the list. Vancouver's Roberto Luongo is making the trip and so is Ottawa Senator (for now) Dany Heatley.
The Cup champs are sending three players, with goalie Marc-André Fleury and Jordan Staal joining Crosby.
Eight players from the 23-man Olympic squad in 2006 aren't making the trip to Calgary.
