Team Canada Starts Olympic Training Camp Today

Steve Yzerman is a Team Canada legend. The guy not only had a huge run in the NHL, but also in international competitions for Team Canada. Now that his playing days are over, Canada has turned to Yzerman to lead them back to the ‘Gold Standard’ after an embarrassing medal denial in the 2006 Olympics.

That quest starts today, as Yzerman has assembled all of the Team Canada try-out invitees in Calgary this week to get to know each other, their potential coaches, and see what they’ve got. Yzerman and the selection group won’t be picking the final 23 man roster until December, but they should be able to get a feel right now for which guys play well together and which ones don’t.

With the 2010 Olympics being hosted by Canada in Vancouver, don’t think for a second that Stevie Yzerman doesn’t feel the pressure of an entire country being laid on his shoulders to make this thing happen. Here are some details on camp from Yahoo Sports:

The Olympic team will only have one practice together before taking the ice for its first game in February. Yzerman wants to make sure that every player walks into the dressing room in Vancouver and sees familiar faces.

It could be particularly important this time around because there’s likely to be quite a few Olympic rookies – 19 of the players invited to camp are currently 25 or under, with the youngest being 20-year-old Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty(notes).

Among those also receiving an invitation were Sidney Crosby(notes), three of the four Staal brothers and a trio of Calgary Flames defencemen – Jay Bouwmeester(notes), Dion Phaneuf(notes) and Robyn Regehr(notes).

There are four players each from the Flames, Anaheim Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers. Crosby will be joined by Penguins teammates Jordan Staal(notes) and Marc-Andre Fleury(notes).

During the camp, the players will be put through their paces by coach Mike Babcock and his staff. That’s another important aspect of the experience.