Friday, December 4, 2009

The All-Time Teams: The Olympics' Team Canada

When I was a kid, I had a child-sized one of these. Mom .... what'd you do with it?

By Will-He-M

It's not that I don't think Team Canada is better now, but I had to hand them the Silver Medal, given the Soviet Union's historical dominance. Man, but you gotta get a load of this kick-ass Silver Medal squad:



General Manager- Sam Pollock
Head Coach- Scotty Bowman
Forwards Coach- Toe Blake
Defence Coach- Scott Stevens
Goalie Coach- Francois Allaire


1st Line

LW- Wayne Gretzky
C- Mario Lemieux
RW- Maurice Richard


2nd Line

LW- Joe Sakic
C- Steve Yzerman
RW- Gordie Howe


3rd Line

LW- Guy LaFleur
C- Gilbert Perreault
RW- Mike Bossy


4th Line

LW- Ron Francis
C- Bob Gainey
RW- Marcel Dionne


Def. Pair 1

RD- Bobby Orr
LD- Doug Harvey


Def. Pair 2

RD- Larry Robinson
LD- Ray Bourque


Def. Pair 3

RD- Paul Coffey
LD- Denis Potvin


Goalies

1- Patrick Roy
2- Terry Sawchuk
3- Martin Brodeur


Taxi Squad

1- Bobby Hull
2- Stan Mikita
3- Brad Park
4- Howie Morenz
5- Red Kelly



Line 1

The greatest playmaker, the greatest two-way centre and the original power forward. Gretzky and Lemieux with Richard would be an amazing sight to see. I really don't think theirs a defensive strategy in the history of hockey that could stop that line.


Line 2

I wanted this line to be a bit more defensively responsible, which is why I chose Mr. Hockey to be the RW over Mike Bossy.


Line 3

Not your typical 3rd line checking line but they'd be the best 3rd line in the history of hockey.


Line 4

You know you're deep on offense when Marcel Dionne is a 4th line checker.


Def. Pair 1

The 2 greatest defencemen in NHL history as you're top pairing would be like waking up in heaven with 40 virgins waiting for you. Harvey's defensive mind set would allow Orr to pretty much become the 4th forward on the ice.


Def. Pair 2

2 more of the greatest defencemen in history as a pairing. This would be my personal shutdown tandem.


Def. Pair 3

Coffey wasn't my first choice but I felt compelled to ave him because of his offensive game. I kind of wanted Park here but decided to give it to Coffey for Power Play purposes only.


Goalies

This proved tougher then expected. I really couldn't decide if I wanted Roy or Sawchuk as my starter. Ultimately, it came down to Roy's clutch OT play in the Playoffs. In hindsight, Brodeur may be the better option simply because of the 3, he'd be the one who's used to facing a low number of shots but I'm sticking to Roy.


Taxi Squad

I know this may come as a surprise since I don't have Mark Messier anywhere on this team. Truth is, I couldn't find room for him. Theirs plenty of leadership and offense among the forwards that Messier becomes expendable. I could of had him as a reserve but I wanted 2 extra forwards and 2 extra defencemen along with the most versatile player in NHL history, Red Kelly., who can play both forward and defence.



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