I realized today that I actually remember where I was for several previous Olympic team announcements. In 1998, I was in West Edmonton Mall in a Jersey City or something similar. They were announcing the team alphabetically and a guy in the store was helpfully jotting down the names of players as they were announced. A angry murmur ran through the crowd as Joe Nieuwendyk’s name was announced - Mark Messier’s international career was at end. As the name Steve Yzerman was announced and it became apparent that that wasn’t enough players, confusion reigned for a brief period before crystalizing into one burning question: “Who the fuck is Rob Zamuner?” Glory was inevitable.

I tend to think that the guys running this team overthink things - the management and coaching staff of the team is made up of guys who spend their lives paying attention to NHL hockey. I’m not entirely sure why they need to scuttle around for months beforehand, desperately catching as many games as possible, like an under prepared student cramming for an exam. Maybe these guys have a tendency not to pay as close attention as they should during non-Olympic years and that’s why they occasionally come up with names like “Todd Bertuzzi” and “Kris Draper.”

Kevin Lowe had a chat with Terry Jones that Jones quoted in today’s Sun:

“We had a meeting in Chicago just before Christmas,” said Lowe of having most of the final decisions being more or less made. “There were a lot of games on Dec. 26 that we wanted to watch.

“When you get down to 48 hours and then 24 hours before naming the team, you are usually looking at three players to fill two spots and two players to fill one spot.”

Now, I honestly don’t know how the games played on December 26 could honestly affect things but there was one player of note who made his return on that date: the incomparable Ryan Smyth, back from a forty day absence. Forty days is, of course, the same amount of time that Christ spent in the desert and slightly less time than Smyth missed in 2001-02 before having a fine Olympics and winning gold.

I’m going to extend Lowe and Co. the benefit of the doubt, ignore that he said there were a lot of “games” they wanted to watch and assume that they wanted a chance to check out Smyth before making a decision one way or the other. It’s probably worth noting that such a pick would be in keeping with the best traditions of Team Canada management, which include using your role to enhance your personal circumstances, such as by naming Eric Lindros as team captain and running off anyone else who might challenge him for the role of team leader.

I’m excited to see what off the wall pick Yzerman makes to show the world what a genius he is. Mike Fisher seems to be the betting choice of the media and he’s got all the hallmarks of a guy who is about to win this lottery: he’s shooting 10.6% at evens, with the Sens shooting 10.4% with him on the ice. He’s got 6 PP goals, one off his career high, which will let Yzerman talk about him as a guy who can chip in some offence because nobody in Canada will ask how much PP time Mike Fisher can expect to get in the Olympics.

This isn’t my idea - I borrowed it from Cosh - but in selecting future Team Canada’s, I’m of the view that the selectors should take one or two guys and just crucify them for in some way refusing to play in Canada over the preceding four years. I checked the Hockey Canada website and their mandate isn’t to always win gold; it’s “Lead, Develop, and Promote Positive Hockey Experiences.” As an Oilers’ fan, I found the Chris Pronger trade demand and the Dany Heatley trade me somewhere other than Edmonton demand to be less than positive hockey experiences.

Moreover, Hockey Canada is supposed to do more than just promote positive hockey experiences - they claim to believe “In the development of life skills which will benefit participants throughout their lives” and “In the country of Canada, its tradition in the game of hockey, and the proud and successful representation of this tradition around the world.” How can they then justify including these sorts of characters who have effectively spit on the flag by their refusal to play in Canada? If they were serious about these values, would they not tell Chris Pronger that they don’t want to trouble him or his wife by dragging them to Vancouver for two weeks and that they hope he enjoys a restful break in East St. Louis? Seems perfectly logical to me.

I’m not going to make any picks but I’ll be happy if the goofy “I’m so smart” picks don’t happen AND if the general principles of “Take the best hockey players” are respected. I don’t expect this to happen.