Crosby, Toews headline Team Canada camp

Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews lead a list of 47 players invited to a summer orientation camp for the Canadian men?s Olympic hockey team.

The camp in Calgary runs from Aug. 25 to 28 and will begin the process of selecting the 25 players who will play for Canada at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Crosby and Toews are among 15 of the invitees who helped Canada win gold at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

The others are goalie Roberto Luongo, defencemen Dan Boyle, Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Shea Weber, and forwards Patrice Bergeron, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Rick Nash, Mike Richards, Eric Staal and Joe Thornton.

Team executive director Steve Yzerman said being mobile on the larger international ice surface in Sochi will be key for players hoping to make the team.

?Ultimately, we?ll pick the best players available to us, but playing on a bigger ice surface, I believe there is a priority on being able to skate,? Yzerman said on a conference call. ?That will weigh into our final decisions on putting this team together.

?There will be more of a premium placed on skating.?

The newcomers on the list include young guns like defencemen Alex Pietrangelo and P.K. Subban and forwards Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Claude Giroux and Brad Marchand.

?Some of these younger players are forcing their way into the lineup, not only Stamkos, there will be a few of them,? said Yzerman. ?They?ve matured, they?ve put their time in and they?re elite players in the league.

?So it?s somewhat of a changing of the guard. There?s always been some transition where guys were on the cusp of breaking in at previous Olympics and for various reasons they weren?t selected, and it?s time to move them in.?

The list includes five goalies, 17 defencemen and 25 forwards. Yzerman said they will likely take three goalies, eight defencemen and 14 forwards.

Most of the coaching staff from Vancouver is back with head coach Mike Babcock and assistants Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock, with Claude Julien replacing Jacques Lemaire.

?Our goal is to go over there and compete for a gold medal,? said Yzerman. ?Mike and his staff did an outstanding job in 2010 in Vancouver.

?That was the easiest decision and the right decision to make in this case. I?m 100 per cent confident that with our coaching staff we?ll be prepared.?

Due to insurance costs, it is unlikely the players will go on the ice at the camp.

One day will be for media and administrative things like going over travel plans and arrangements for families. The rest will spent learning systems and watching video, with time out for team-building activities ? perhaps some golf or a barbecue.

The Chicago Blackhawks have the most players invited with five, followed by the Pittsburgh Penguins with four and Boston, Los Angeles and Washington with three each.

The goalies are Luongo, who was the starter in the 2010 gold-medal game, as well as Carey Price, Mike Smith, Corey Crawford and Braden Holtby.

The other defencemen are Karl Alzner, Jay Bouwmeester, Mike Green, Dan Hamhuis, Travis Hamonic, Kristopher Letang, Marc Methot, Dion Phaneuf, Marc Staal and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

The other forwards are Jeff Carter, Logan Couture, Matt Duchene, Chris Kunitz, Andrew Ladd, Milan Lucic, James Neal, Patrick Sharp, Jordan Staal and Martin St.Louis.

Wow, it's been a pretty great last 5 days! So honoured to be invited to @HockeyCanada's Olympic Orientation Camp!

? Matt Duchene (@Matt9Duchene) July 22, 2013

Notables not invited include 41-year-old goalie Martin Brodeur, who was at the four previous Olympics featuring NHL players beginning with Nagano, Japan in 1998, and Jarome Iginla, who skated in the last three Games.

The announcement by Hockey Canada came days after an agreement was reached to have NHL players participate at the Sochi Games.

Canada opens the Games on Feb. 13 against Norway.

Source: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/crosby-toews/

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