\

2006 Turin Olympic Coverage
From the author of Legends of Team Canada and creator of 1972 Summit Series.com

TSN's Orientation Camp Notebook Canadian Press 8/19/2005 5:32:47 PM FINAL SCRIMMAGE: Shane Doan and Joe Thornton scored twice Friday as the White Team beat the Red Team 7-3 to win take the series two games to one. Thornton's second goal was a thing of beauty, picking the top corner on Martin Brodeur on a breakaway. Martin St. Louis also had a breathtaking goal for the Red Team, one-timing a shot past Roberto Luongo after a no-look backhand pass from linemate Vincent Lecavalier. Jarome Iginla and Brenden Morrow also scored for the Reds while Steve Yzerman, Brad Richards and Dany Heatley also had goals for the victorious Whites before yet another sellout crowd at 4,000 Prospera Place. GOLDEN DREAMS: Jay Bouwmeester has played in three world junior championships, two world championships and a World Cup. Still, even with this wealth of international experience, he dreams of playing at the Olympics. "It would be unreal," he said after Friday's final scrimmage at the Olympic orientation camp. "Anytime you get to represent your country it's special. But the Olympics . . . that's an opportunity a lot of athletes don't get. It would be something real special." KNOWING HIS PLACE: Vancouver Canucks forward Brendan Morrison wasn't allowed to forget he was a last-minute fill-in for Mario Lemieux at the Olympic orientation camp which ended Friday. Morrison spent part of the week playing on a line with Jarome Iginla where Lemieux and Joe Sakic could end up. "Even my underwear bag in the dressing room has No. 66 written on it," Morrison joked at one point. MORE MOOG: Dallas Stars assistant coach Andy Moog will serve as a goaltending consultant for Team Canada at Games. Moog, 44, isn't new to the job. He served as goaltending consultant for Team Canada at the 2002 Olympic Games and both the 2001 and 2002 world junior championships and senior men's world championships. "He'll watch not so much our guys, but he's going to watch the other goaltenders that we're going to face from the other countries, have video tapes for the coaches, the weaknesses and strengths of those goalies and their tendencies," said Gretzky. The native of Penticton, B.C., played for Canada at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary and posted a perfect record of 4-0 with a 2.25 goals-against-average. Moog played in 713 NHL games over 18 seasons with Edmonton, Boston, Dallas and Montreal, going 372-209-88 with a 3.13 GAA. His 372 wins place him 12th all-time among goaltender. HABBY'S WATCH: National team head coach Marc Habscheid, an assistant coach on Quinn's Olympic staff, will mirror what Wayne Fleming did in 2001-02 before Salt Lake City. "We're going to lean on Marc and Blair (Mackasey) to scout individual players on our team and we're going to lean on Marc to scout the other countries and the systems and styles that they may play," said executive director Wayne Gretzky. WINGING IT: Gretzky feels one of the changes from 2002 is that Canada has more depth on the wings. "In 2002 we moved a lot of centremen to the wing, I don't see that being the case this time around," Gretzky said. "You look at Doan, St. Louis, Richards, Nash _ those guys are all great players and wingers and they weren't on the 2002 team. So you've got wingers now that are tough to move out of there." GREAT PLAYER: A sure bet to return to the Olympic team is star defenceman Scott Niedermayer of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. The 31-year-old blue-liner could add more hardware to a resume that already includes Olympic gold, world championship gold, world junior gold, three Stanley Cup rings, a World Cup title and a Memorial Cup championship. "He's a great talent," said Quinn. "He's won our defenceman award in the NHL. He has an incredible record as far as being on championship teams and you don't do that easily. He's done it for good reason. We look for him to be a leader for us going forward. He's that steady rock on defence and also somebody who has that ability to play offence and help us in that international game. He fits in beautifully." "It's more difficult because our young guys have shown so good. In 2002 we relied a great deal on experience."

GO CANADA GO!

Comments? Submissions? Corrections? Send them to 
Joe Pelletier

© www.1972summitseries.com