Friday, September 7, 2001
Olympic hopefuls get the red out
By AL STRACHAN -- Toronto Sun
CALGARY -- This was to have been a nothing camp, a glorified publicity stunt to remind the Team Canada hopefuls of a couple of hockey variations they'll face in the Olympics.
Instead, it evolved into a hugely successful crash course in Olympic hockey.
In fact, it's safe to say that if, five months from now, Canada should win the gold medal in Salt Lake City, this camp will have played a significant role.
BIGGEST CHANGE
It was staged here because of the availability of a large ice surface. But it turns out that the biggest change the Canadians will have to face is not the larger ice, but the Olympic hockey rules.
They're not the same as they were in Nagano in 1998. And although every one of the Team Canada candidates has been exposed to the wider ice at some point in his career, not one of them has a clue about a game in which the red line is not a factor in off-side calls.
There are other changes. In Salt Lake City, there will be quick faceoffs. You'll have about 15 seconds after the whistle, then the puck will be dropped whether you're ready or not.
Icing will be called as soon as the puck crosses the end red line.
The tag-up rule that the National Hockey League adopted, then discarded, will also be in place.
Most of the adjustments will be easy. But no red line? That's a whole new game.
"The biggest thing that has struck me is not having the red line," said Scott Stevens, one of Canada's beleaguered defencemen. "This has been a big adjustment for everybody."
First of all, there's the mental aspect. These guys have played all their lives with the knowledge that a pass from behind the blue line over the red line will be whistled down. Not in Salt Lake City, it won't.
Said Al MacInnis, who is virtually assured of a spot on the team: "It's going to be hard to adjust -- to get in your mind that you can make a pass from your own end all the way to the far blue line.
"You see a guy out there and you hesitate. Then you realize you can make that pass. But once you've hesitated, it's too late."
"Right now, you still play with the red line," agreed another prominent defenceman, Rob Blake. "You've played so many years with that, that as soon as you look up, you almost hurry your pass to make sure the guy gets it before the red line."
By yesterday, their third day on the ice, the defencemen were beginning to feel comfortable with this strange game.
"Today was the first day we really started looking for that guy out there," Blake said. "Before, if you saw him, you never really keyed on it, because in the back of your mind, you couldn't make that pass anyway."
But in Salt Lake City, they'll have to make it -- not all the time, but on occasion, just to keep the opposition honest and to spread the defence.
"It's a threat," Blake said. "They have to drop back so you can create a gap that's 10 or 15 feet more than in the NHL. Now, if you can get a Stevie Yzerman or somebody going through the middle with all that extra room, it's going to be pretty tough to stand him up."
By the time the players leave Calgary this afternoon, they will be well on their way to feeling comfortable with the adjustment. But then they will play for five months without it.
LONG PASSES
In Salt Lake City, they will have to get back into the Olympic mode quickly because the rule changes will be an integral part of the game.
Canada's defencemen will not only have to maximize the offence by making those long passes, they'll also have to defend against them.
"It's going to be tough," MacInnis said. "It's tougher on the defencemen. That's why the coaches are emphasizing a lot of backchecking drills. There's a big onus there on the defenceman to make sure nobody gets behind you."
Couldn't they just back up?
"There's such a fine line," MacInnis said. "How far do you back off? Go too far and you're standing still.
"If they send one guy up high, now you're back there. Then they're hitting the late guy coming down with speed and you're standing still. There's a big adjustment there."
There's no doubt that even with this camp, Canada will be at a disadvantage. The Europeans are more familiar with this system and they're loaded with players who love to hang around the red line at the best of times. Now they can hang around the far blue line.
The Canadians will have to make major adjustments at both ends of the ice.
But had they waited for February, they would have had no chance. Now, because of their four days of exposure, they know what to expect. For that reason alone, this camp has been a huge success.
2002 Games Columnists
