Spezza,Osgood and Savard Missing in Action for Team Canada

The beautiful thing about sports is that not every fan will have the same opinion on certain topics. Over the years topics such as the NHL’s best all- time players, fighters and teams have been debated over and over again all across the world by enthusiastic hockey fans. Recently fans were left to debate the 46 names of players in the NHL who were selected to attend the Men’s Canadian Olympic Orientation Camp this August in Calgary. Staring at the names it’s hard not to notice the three glaring omissions which are Ottawa Senators star forward Jason Spezza along with Boston Bruins veteran forward Marc Savard and three time Stanley Cup winner Detroit Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood. Former Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman who is the Executive Director of Team Canada who will be competing in February at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver emphasized that even if not invited to camp players can still make the team with a good first half this coming season. Getting off to a great start and getting noticed is something that Spezza who is coming off a sub par season of 73 points is planning on doing. “It’s disappointing,” Spezza said about not going to the orientation camp that runs from August 24-27. “I’d want to be there and be part of that, but I don’t make the decisions. I just have to prove to them that I can make the team. I thought I did a pretty good job for them this year at the worlds and I think I can play at that level.” Yzerman who played for team Canada that won an Olympic Gold Medal in 2002 emphasized that players not on the list can still get noticed and make the team with a good first half this coming season. An even bigger omission was that Boston Bruins veteran forward Marc Savard who tallied the fourth highest points among Canadian born players last season with 25 goals and 63 assists was left off. Yzerman explained that he wants a team consisting of not just goal scorers but players who can play other roles as well. “He’s a very good player and at the end of the day, when we put this list together, we wanted to bring in some different types of players,” Yzerman said about Savard. “Maybe some guys who aren’t leading their teams in scoring but are very good players in a different role. And in doing that, we had to remove a different type of player.” Last spring Red Wings veteran goalie Chris Osgood played some solid goal in posting a 15-8 record with a solid 2.01 GAA and a .926 save percentage. Rebounding from a below average season Osgood who is a three time Stanley Cup winner rose once again to the challenge of playoff hockey and right away people in the hockey world were talking about the possibilities of Osgood being on Team Canada. With 389 wins under his belt it’s hard to believe that this 16- year veteran didn’t get an invite to camp.