Wednesday, December 19, 2001
Mac unlikely to make U.S. grade
By DON BRENNAN -- Ottawa Sun
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Senators actually have two left wingers hopeful of being named to the U.S. Olympic team -- Waltham, Mass., native Shawn McEachern and Port Chester, N.Y.'s Andre Roy.
In fact, Roy already has them pencilled in as Salt Lake City linemates.
"Me, Mac and (Mike) Modano," the Ottawa enforcer suggested after yesterday's morning skate. "I'll play the off-wing."
Roy only lived in Port Chester for the first eight months of his life before moving to St-Jerome, Que., but somebody in the U.S. hockey federation must consider him an American. Before last spring's world championships he received a letter basically telling him he was being passed over. He was sent a similar memo the year before.
"It said something like, 'it was a tough selection, there are a lot of good players, thanks for your efforts, keep working hard.' They even sent me a USA hat," Roy said. "I still get stuff from them."
McEachern, of course, has a slightly more realistic chance of hearing his name when the team is finally announced this week. (The roster unveiling was supposed to be tonight, during ESPN's nationally televised game between the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils, but the decisions must be very difficult ones as officials are now indicating only two goalies will be named at that time. (Most popular bets are Mike Richter and Tom Barrasso.)
"I'd love to be on the team," said McEachern, the third highest-scoring Senator ever. "Any time you get to represent your country, it's a great honour and thrill."
DOESN'T LOOK GOOD
But in his case, at this time, it doesn't look good. McEachern has appeared in two previous Olympics, in 1992 (Albertville) and 1998 (Nagano). He was part of the gold medal-winning team at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey. And he was also one of the 37 players who attended the Team USA orientation session in Colorado Springs, Colo., during the first week of September. He has speed, experience and leadership to offer. But he wasn't invited to the world championships when the Senators were eliminated by the Toronto Maple Leafs last spring, despite the fact he was coming off the best season (32 goals, 72 points) of his decade-long NHL career. And he only has six goals in the Senators' first 31 games this season. So with two or three spots under the bubble and younger players like Michael York, Mark Parrish and Brian Rolston having much more noticeable seasons, McEachern's chances are slim.
(It should be noted here that we are not completely dismissing the possibility, either. No one guessed Rob Zamuner would be on the last Canadian team, or that Tom would ever leave Drew. Life is full of surprises.)
WAITING GAME
Other Senators remain hopeful of spending the February break among Mormons. Magnus Arvedson should join Daniel Alfredsson on Team Sweden, but nothing will be made official from Stockholm until Saturday. And if the fact that he might be the most exciting offensive player in the NHL overrides his youthfulness, Marty Havlat will be named to the Czech squad this weekend as well.
"I'll carry the water bottles if they want me to," Havlat said.
Whether Radek Bonk will be drinking from them is a good question. The guessing here is he'll be one of the four Czech centres, along with Pittsburgh's Robert Lang, Toronto's Robert Reichel and Philadelphia's Jiri Dopita.
"I don't know, I'm just going to have to wait," said Bonk, who -- if the Republic is monitoring the NHL -- is making a strong push with nine points in his last eight games heading into last night. "Of course you want to go, but it's not your choice."
Especially if Havlat has first dibs on the water bottles.
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
