After winning the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Riga, Canada hopes to capture its first Olympic title since 2014 in Beijing.
photo: Chris Tanouye / HHOF-IIHF Images
If you’d predicted a year ago that Eric Staal and Devon Levi would be heading to China as 2022 Canadian Olympic teammates, you probably would have gotten some chuckles.
Consider this: Staal, a 37-year-old Triple Gold Club member, won the 2006 Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes, the 2007 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, and the 2010 Olympics before Levi, the Best Goalie at the 2021 World Juniors and a fast-rising college star, turned 10.
Yet as Team Canada’s Tuesday press conference from Davos, Switzerland emphasized, these players – as different as they may be – share a desire to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity in Beijing in February. Canada has rolled out its 25-man Olympic roster, and it’s go time.
Consider this: Staal, a 37-year-old Triple Gold Club member, won the 2006 Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes, the 2007 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, and the 2010 Olympics before Levi, the Best Goalie at the 2021 World Juniors and a fast-rising college star, turned 10.
Yet as Team Canada’s Tuesday press conference from Davos, Switzerland emphasized, these players – as different as they may be – share a desire to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity in Beijing in February. Canada has rolled out its 25-man Olympic roster, and it’s go time.
“Obviously, this opportunity was something that is too good to pass up,” said Staal, an unrestricted NHL free agent who warmed up with five points in four games for the AHL’s Iowa Wild recently. “I’m looking forward to this chance to represent our country and go for a gold medal.”
In 2017-18, Staal – who led all Canadian NHLers with 42 goals for the Minnesota Wild – would mostly likely have been on Hockey Canada’s radar if they’d sent an all-NHL roster to PyeongChang, as between 1998 and 2014. Who could have foreseen that a global pandemic would result in a second consecutive non-NHL Olympics?
Now Staal, a veteran of 1,293 NHL games with 1,034 points, heads to Beijing with mostly less-heralded players from five different European pro leagues, as well as OHL and NCAA prospects. But even if the faces have changed, the overall mission remains the same.
In 2022, Canada will aim to become the first nation ever to win 10 Olympic men’s hockey gold medals. It won three out of the five “NHL Olympics” (2002, 2010, 2014), and hopes to triumph here with a non-NHL roster for the first time since the 1952 Edmonton Mercurys in Oslo. The 2018 squad settled for bronze.
“We’re definitely going for the gold,” said head coach Claude Julien, whose 1,275-game NHL coaching career peaked with his 2011 Stanley Cup victory with the Boston Bruins. “We want the gold. Being given that opportunity to prepare this group is outstanding. So I’m feeling extremely lucky right now to be in the position I am, and I’m hoping to take advantage of it.”
Levi, 20, is also thanking his lucky stars. This is his first trip outside North America, and he didn’t even know he was under Olympic consideration until spotting an Instagram post a month ago. In 2021, the Montreal native came out of nowhere to record a 0.75 GAA, 96.4 save percentage, and tournament record-tying three shutouts for the World Junior silver medalists in Edmonton.
In 2017-18, Staal – who led all Canadian NHLers with 42 goals for the Minnesota Wild – would mostly likely have been on Hockey Canada’s radar if they’d sent an all-NHL roster to PyeongChang, as between 1998 and 2014. Who could have foreseen that a global pandemic would result in a second consecutive non-NHL Olympics?
Now Staal, a veteran of 1,293 NHL games with 1,034 points, heads to Beijing with mostly less-heralded players from five different European pro leagues, as well as OHL and NCAA prospects. But even if the faces have changed, the overall mission remains the same.
In 2022, Canada will aim to become the first nation ever to win 10 Olympic men’s hockey gold medals. It won three out of the five “NHL Olympics” (2002, 2010, 2014), and hopes to triumph here with a non-NHL roster for the first time since the 1952 Edmonton Mercurys in Oslo. The 2018 squad settled for bronze.
“We’re definitely going for the gold,” said head coach Claude Julien, whose 1,275-game NHL coaching career peaked with his 2011 Stanley Cup victory with the Boston Bruins. “We want the gold. Being given that opportunity to prepare this group is outstanding. So I’m feeling extremely lucky right now to be in the position I am, and I’m hoping to take advantage of it.”
Levi, 20, is also thanking his lucky stars. This is his first trip outside North America, and he didn’t even know he was under Olympic consideration until spotting an Instagram post a month ago. In 2021, the Montreal native came out of nowhere to record a 0.75 GAA, 96.4 save percentage, and tournament record-tying three shutouts for the World Junior silver medalists in Edmonton.
The former seventh-round pick of the Florida Panthers (2020, 212th overall) has continued his meteoric ascent with the Northeastern University Huskies. Majoring in computer science, Levi is racking up shutouts with robot-level athleticism and calmness. With nine shutouts in 24 games so far, he could threaten the single-season NCAA record set by Niagara’s Greg Garder (12 in 1999-2000). It doesn’t necessarily mean Levi will start in Beijing over veterans like Edward Pasquale (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl) or Matt Tomkins (Frolunda Gothenburg), but he’s got a shot.
“This whole experience is crazy,” said Levi. “If you asked me last year or the year before if I ever thought I was going to the Olympics, I’d say probably not – forget about in a year or two! So I’m super-grateful to be here. It’s been a dream just watching the Olympics every year growing up.”
Levi’s rights belong to the Buffalo Sabres, who acquired him in a July trade that sent Sam Reinhart to Florida, and the goalie is joined on this Olympic roster by a more-heralded Sabres prospect: Owen Power. In 2021, the University of Michigan superstar – drafted first overall by Buffalo in June – did everything from winning the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Riga in June to becoming the first Canadian defenceman ever to score a World Junior hat trick in Edmonton in December.
Olympic GM Shane Doan, who was Roberto Luongo’s assistant in Riga, hailed the towering 19-year-old Power: “He just has a level of maturity about him. He got to play at the World Championship and I got to be there with him for that. I’m a huge fan. He has the opportunity to be a great player. He’ll get an opportunity to play [at these Olympics] like everybody else and we’ll see what his role is here. These last 12 months for him have probably been fairly interesting. He’s had a lot of changes in his life and it’ll be fun to watch him grow.”
Indeed, the growth of this entire Canadian squad will be fascinating. They want to get up to speed quickly after training for eight days in Davos and facing Switzerland in a 1 February exhibition game in Zug. Opening on 10 February against the hard-working Germans at the Wukesong Sports Centre will be a good test for Canada and its leadership group.
In the press conference, Doan drew parallels between Mario Lemieux’s dressing-room presence in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and the respect that Staal commands. Yet if Canada plays in a medal game for the sixth time in nine Winter Games, it could well be a hero other than Staal, Levi, or Power who steps up. The door is wide open.
“This whole experience is crazy,” said Levi. “If you asked me last year or the year before if I ever thought I was going to the Olympics, I’d say probably not – forget about in a year or two! So I’m super-grateful to be here. It’s been a dream just watching the Olympics every year growing up.”
Levi’s rights belong to the Buffalo Sabres, who acquired him in a July trade that sent Sam Reinhart to Florida, and the goalie is joined on this Olympic roster by a more-heralded Sabres prospect: Owen Power. In 2021, the University of Michigan superstar – drafted first overall by Buffalo in June – did everything from winning the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Riga in June to becoming the first Canadian defenceman ever to score a World Junior hat trick in Edmonton in December.
Olympic GM Shane Doan, who was Roberto Luongo’s assistant in Riga, hailed the towering 19-year-old Power: “He just has a level of maturity about him. He got to play at the World Championship and I got to be there with him for that. I’m a huge fan. He has the opportunity to be a great player. He’ll get an opportunity to play [at these Olympics] like everybody else and we’ll see what his role is here. These last 12 months for him have probably been fairly interesting. He’s had a lot of changes in his life and it’ll be fun to watch him grow.”
Indeed, the growth of this entire Canadian squad will be fascinating. They want to get up to speed quickly after training for eight days in Davos and facing Switzerland in a 1 February exhibition game in Zug. Opening on 10 February against the hard-working Germans at the Wukesong Sports Centre will be a good test for Canada and its leadership group.
In the press conference, Doan drew parallels between Mario Lemieux’s dressing-room presence in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and the respect that Staal commands. Yet if Canada plays in a medal game for the sixth time in nine Winter Games, it could well be a hero other than Staal, Levi, or Power who steps up. The door is wide open.
The gifted Mason McTavish, chosen third overall by Anaheim in last year’s NHL Draft, is about to compete for his sixth different team this season, including the Ducks, the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, the OHL’s Peterborough Petes and Hamilton Bulldogs, and the 2022 World Junior team. Perhaps China will furnish the highlight of McTavish’s young career.
Offensive defenceman Maxim Noreau (ZSC Lions Zurich) is one of three returning 2018 Olympic bronze medalists. He led Canada with seven points in PyeongChang.
Superstitious hockey nerds can point to how Landon Ferraro (Kolner Haie) and Adam Tambellini (Rogle BK) – the sons of ex-NHLers Ray Ferraro and Steve Tambellini from Trail, British Columbia – might bring some old-school Trail Smoke Eaters good luck. The “Smokies,” of course, won the IIHF World Championship in both 1939 and 1961.
Regardless of who emerges as a difference-maker in these unpredictable Olympics, the well-coached Canadians will employ a consistent philosophy.
“We always talk about playing the Canadian way,” said Julien, who also earned Olympic gold as an assistant coach in Sochi in 2014. “We’re a proud country in the way we play the game. And we’re an aggressive team. That means our forecheck is aggressive, and we want that puck back. We’re also very aggressive in the transition game. We want to move that puck quick, play fast, we like to be in your face. So that doesn’t change.”
If Canada establishes that identity and imposes its will on opponents, the other 11 nations competing for men’s gold in Beijing definitely won’t be chuckling.
Offensive defenceman Maxim Noreau (ZSC Lions Zurich) is one of three returning 2018 Olympic bronze medalists. He led Canada with seven points in PyeongChang.
Superstitious hockey nerds can point to how Landon Ferraro (Kolner Haie) and Adam Tambellini (Rogle BK) – the sons of ex-NHLers Ray Ferraro and Steve Tambellini from Trail, British Columbia – might bring some old-school Trail Smoke Eaters good luck. The “Smokies,” of course, won the IIHF World Championship in both 1939 and 1961.
Regardless of who emerges as a difference-maker in these unpredictable Olympics, the well-coached Canadians will employ a consistent philosophy.
“We always talk about playing the Canadian way,” said Julien, who also earned Olympic gold as an assistant coach in Sochi in 2014. “We’re a proud country in the way we play the game. And we’re an aggressive team. That means our forecheck is aggressive, and we want that puck back. We’re also very aggressive in the transition game. We want to move that puck quick, play fast, we like to be in your face. So that doesn’t change.”
If Canada establishes that identity and imposes its will on opponents, the other 11 nations competing for men’s gold in Beijing definitely won’t be chuckling.