A glaring omission
Damien Cox picked up on something over the weekend that's been rolling around in my brain the past few weeks:
A year after the fact, it seems even more unbelievable that Wayne Gretzky didn't choose Sidney Crosby for the Turin Games, but did choose Todd Bertuzzi.Now, of course, we all know what they say about hindsight, but I have a feeling that, 10 years down the road, we're all going to look back at Canada's failed Olympic entry in 2006 and wonder why on earth the game's young phenom wasn't there.
Meanwhile, Bertuzzi will likely exist as only a footnote by that point, remembered only as the villain in one of hockey's most notorious incidents.
2010 seems like a long time to wait to see Crosby in red and white.
by James Mirtle @ 6:51 PM
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7 comments
7 Comments:
That's what the World's are for *crosses fingers Pens don't make playoff* ;)
I'll never understand what Gretzky was thinking on that one. He seemed to go against the wisdom he had in 2002 in naming Jarome Iginla to the team, even though at the start of the season Iginla had been a longshot at best.
Maybe Canada would have done just as badly though. We'll never know.
Forget hindsight, any one with a brain that I know(Bertuzzi apologists aside) was clamouring for Sidney to be included but somehow Gretz decided that a big hulking goon was more valuable on the big ice than a quick skillful player.
It was a mistake big enough to almost make one forget about Crawford choosing Bourque...almost.
I thought Dion, Shanaham and Morrow should have been there also.
It should be noted that many of those decisions were made by commitee. Opinions of Crosby the current on ice conduct is probably what tilted to balance unfairly.
With Gretzky having the final word on selections, he'll be blamed for it.
He started becoming a mere mortal around then.
How could he say that Crosby would be the one to break his records, then not back it up by placing him on the team?
That's a good point Reality Check especially considering that Gretz played on the '81 Canada Cup team and has mentioned how much that helped him repeatedly. It was shortsighted thinking to take the goon over a kid that could use the experience in four years.
Hindsight? Most people thought taking Bertuzzi was a bad move, regardless if Crosby went or not.
As for Iginla...if I recall correctly, he had an amazing start to that season and that was a big part of why he made the team as a replacement. Bertuzzi wasn't doing anything of the sort leading up the Olympics. This was the same stupidity that saw them take Theoren Fleury to the Olympics.
I disagree with the Fleury comparison. Theo made a good contribution to the team while Bertuzzi was not only useless but he continued his intelligent play by picking up some remarkably stupid penalties.
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