Penton: Young superstars belong on Olympic team
By Bruce Penton
In hockey-mad Canada, fans spend their time watching hockey, thinking about hockey, talking about hockey and mentally planning Canada’s roster for the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy.
Only a couple of weeks remain before the Dec. 31 deadline for Hockey Canada to submit its roster and while a number of players’ names are automatic, a couple of others are subject to quite the controversy.
Such as: Should Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini be part of Canada’s team that tries to win another gold medal for the No. 1 hockey country in the world? A 3-0 victory over Sweden in the 2014 gold-medal game was the last time Canada’s team was comprised of National Hockey League players.
A disagreement between the NHL Players’ Association, the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation kept NHL players out of the 2018 Winter Olympics and the COVID-19 pandemic was responsible for their absence in 2022.
Now the NHL is back, offering Olympic Games’ fans the absolute cream of the world’s hockey crop … or is it? If Bedard, 20, and Celebrini, 19, are not on Canada’s team, are fans truly being treated to best-on-best?
Arguments against including Bedard and Celebrini include the value of experience in international hockey. Okay, if experience is that vital, why not get over that hump in ’26 so when the 2030 games come around, they’ll have already conquered that intangible.
At last look, Celebrini was second in the NHL scoring race, trailing only Nathan MacKinnon, while Bédard was fourth. Both have led their respective teams to NHL relevance after years of hanging around the bottom of the standings. Both are clearly among the top 14 forwards in the NHL; the only drawbacks are their age. It’s hard to argue that a lack of international experience should be a factor in keeping them off the team when in their immediate pre-NHL years, they’ve dominated Canadian U-17 and World Junior teams in international play.
If Canada gets solid goaltending, as Jordan Binnington provided in last winter’s 4 Nations Cup, it has enough firepower up front and on defence to allow for the inclusion of Bedard and Celebrini and win gold. Perhaps Anthony Cirelli and Mark Stone can offer better defensive play but they can’t come close to generating offence like Bedard and Celebrini. If Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point is a projected member of the Olympic team due to his offensive prowess, how can Canada’s hockey hierarchy justify the fact that at the end of November, Point had played in 21 of Tampa’s 25 games but stood 222nd in the NHL scoring race with 11 points? Perhaps Tampa coach Jon Cooper, one of the Team Canada bosses, is exerting too much influence on Canada’s roster.
Dump Point. Dump Cirelli. Add the two young superstars and fill the net in Italy. Remember, the best defence is a good offence and if Bedard and Celebrini are currently filling NHL nets surrounded by a plethora of ordinary players, how good could they be surrounded by fellow superstars?
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Scott Matia, on Bluesky: “Connor McDavid took less money and all he got in return was Trent Frederic and a kick square in the (unmentionables).”
Torben Rolfsen again: “Saskatchewan Roughriders players say they’ve got the greatest fans in pro sports. One of them said he got recognized in Walmart. Uh, dude, that’s their job. They’re called people greeters.”
Rolfsen once more: “The NFL had another spitting incident last week. C’mon guys, stop it. Maybe we can have a punt, pass and spit competition.”
Norman Chad, on ‘Gambling Mad’: “Drake Maye could be the latter day Tom Brady, without the supermodel wife, special diet and deflated footballs.”
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “Three things I'm thankful for on American Thanksgiving: 3. I am not a Tennessee Titans fan; 2. I am not a Toronto Maple Leafs fan; 1. I am not a turkey.”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: “A former Olympic coach on deciding who your third goalie is: ‘If you need your third goalie at the Olympics, you’re already in trouble.’”
Headline at fark.com: “Once again the NY Giants defence snaps a loss from the jaws of victory. Meanwhile, fans wonder if they can get an interim head coach to replace the current interim head coach.”
A golden oldie from Mets’ manager Casey Stengel, during an early-1960s mound visit with pitcher Roger Craig, with Giants slugger Willie McCovey about to bat: “Where do you want to pitch him, upper deck or lower deck?”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca