Friday, February 1, 2002
Team Canada has issues to resolve
By BRUCE GARRIOCH -- Ottawa Sun
LOS ANGELES -- The braintrust of Canada's Olympic men's hockey team will use the NHL all-star weekend as a backdrop for one last get-together before they go for gold.
Team Canada GM Wayne Gretzky and his staff of Kevin Lowe, Steve Tambellini, Pat Quinn, Jacques Martin, Ken Hitchcock and Wayne Fleming planned to get together after everybody arrived here yesterday.
Gretzky is scheduled to meet with the media today at the Staples Center to discuss whatever the group has finalized.
"We've got a lot of issues, big ones and small ones, that we have to go over," said associate coach Jacques Martin, who left Ottawa for L.A. yesterday.
"This is our last chance to talk about a few things. We've got some things we have to decide and some things we have to discuss.
"I'm sure we'll talk about our first practice (on Feb. 14) and how we're going to prepare for Sweden (on Feb. 15). We've got a lot of things that we've got to do."
One major issue this weekend is naming the No. 3 goaltender.
Team Canada coach Quinn has made it clear he'll likely only use two netminders in the tournament, which means Dallas goalie Ed Belfour is expected to watch from the stands.
In an effort to avoid controversy before they get to Salt Lake, Quinn would like to assign that job soon. Then, he can work on a playing schedule for Toronto's Curtis Joseph and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur.
"(The No. 3) goalie position is probably something that we'll talk about," admitted Martin.
An update on the health of their roster is also going to be on the group's menu.
Rangers centre Eric Lindros injured his knee this week, while Detroit's Steve Yzerman had knee surgery that's expected to keep him out 10 days.
"I would think that (Gretzky) will have all the updates on the injured players that we need," said Martin. "He's going to know where everybody is at and if we're going to have to (find injury replacements)."
Another issue that will also have to be settled is the line combinations.
Martin will be in charge of the offence and he'd like to keep players together in pairs because Canada will lean heavily on skill players to score its goals.
"There are guys that we're going to want to keep together. I'm sure that's one thing we're going to talk about," he said.
"We have to start looking at where people fit in because we're not going to have much time to prepare."
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
