They are young, big and fast and represent the change in direction charted for Team Canada at the Olympic Games in Vancouver.
Chicago Blackhawks defencemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook come joined at the hip, a Windy City duo selected as a 1 and 1A combination by Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman for February’s Games, part of the new blood on Canada’s blue line.
Only Scott Niedermayer, the captain, and Chris Pronger are holdovers from the Olympic team of four years ago in Italy, a team that struggled to move the puck, struggled to score and wound up in seventh place.
“After Scott Niedermayer went down, we had trouble moving the puck up the big ice,” said Kevin Lowe, one of Yzerman’s lieutenants who served the same role under Wayne Gretzky in 2006. “Now we’ve come almost full circle, making the emphasis on guys who can move the puck and get it in the hands of the forwards.
“The European game being a strong emphasis on clogging up the neutral zone, you need that pinpoint pass and if it’s not there, then you have to have guys who can grab the puck and move it up the ice. We want a balance between puck moving and skating ability, but being able to defend. We think we have it in this group.”
Keith, 26, and Seabrook, 24, embody those qualities. They also have the advantage of already being partners which should help them get off to a quick and strong start in a short tournament where the start can be so critical to dictating how your Games will unfold.
Yzerman and his braintrust - lieutenants Lowe, Doug Armstrong and Ken Holland, as well as the coaching staff led by Mike Babcock - discussed in depth the merits of installing a ready-made pair on the blue line.
The first determination was did their play merit each of them, separately, deserving a place on the team?
“Can both of these players stand on their own? Do they both deserved to be on the team? They both belong,” said Yzerman in a conference call with the media after the selections.
Scotty Bowman, the legendary coach who’s now the Blackhawks senior adviser and was an Yzerman confidante during this process, said the chemistry that already exists between Seabrook and Keith (do we start calling them Bruncan? Like Bennifer?) will be a big advantage in Vancouver.
“I think that’s something in this tournament. There’s virtually no practice and no pre-tournament games,” said Bowman. “It’s a good combination. They find each other. Keith has really come on offensively this year. Seabrook dishes it and is a stay-at-home guy. He’s really strong physically in the corners.”
’Hawks coach Joel Quinneville uses the pair as his first option killing penalties and they always are matched up against the other team’s top forwards.
“They’re used to playing against high-end players and that’s important,” said Bowman. “Even if they’re not playing against the other team’s first unit at the Olympics, the other team’s second line is just as good as the first. They shouldn’t have stars in their eyes.”
Yzerman and the rest of the Team Canada took notice of the situations in which the pair excelled.
“Chicago is the stingiest defence in the league and they play against the top players game in and game out. It was kind of an easy decision for us,” said Yzerman. “We’ve got a good pair who work well together. There’s chemistry. Let’s not get cute. Let’s not over think this. We’ll work around that. We all felt strongly this was the right thing to do.”
Yzerman had lots of decisions over which to agonize.
When you get an easy one, you take it.
chris.stevenson@sunmedia.ca
