Redden still a spectator
By BRUCE GARRIOCH, Ottawa Sun
TORONTO -- The waiting game isn't over yet for Wade Redden. Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky said yesterday the Senators defenceman won't suit up tonight against the Czech Republic in their World Cup semi-final because his sprained left shoulder isn't 100% ready to go.
While Redden tried to skate with contact during the Canadians' one-hour workout at the Air Canada Centre, Gretzky said putting him in the lineup isn't worth the risk because the team has six defencemen performing quite well.
"He's not going to play. He's not ready," said Gretzky. "It's a pretty easy decision to make because you're better off to act on the safe side with an injury like this. We don't want to put him in there and have the risk of further injury.
"We've got six pretty competent defencemen who are performing pretty well for us right now. It's a situation with (Redden) where we just want to make sure that he's fully recovered. We'll see what happens after this."
BOUWMEESTER SOLID
Team Canada coach Pat Quinn said even if Redden is ready, it's not automatic he'll return to the lineup because Florida's Jay Bouwmeester has filled in well.
That means Redden is a definite maybe for the final Tuesday if Canada advances past the Czechs. Redden said he's feeling much better and tried to tell reporters he might be able to play tonight, but that's not realistic.
Instead of leaving the ice with everybody else, Redden -- who injured the shoulder in the second period of Canada's 5-1 victory over Slovakia in the round-robin last week in Montreal -- stayed out for extra work.
"I know that the guys who are in there right now are doing a good job getting it done for us," said Redden. "I'm going to have to see how it feels. We didn't have much of a physical practice out there and I tried to put myself in situations that were similar to game conditions.
"I was trying to push guys around and get some physical contact. It's either 100% and I'm in there or it's zero. I can't really say right now where I stand. It's improving. We'll see how it feels and we'll go from there."
