Sunday, February 3, 2002
Shooting stars
By RANDY SPORTAK -- Calgary Sun
LOS ANGELES -- Shootouts are just another day at the office for cool-hand cops on the streets of L.A.
But mention one-on-one confrontations to Canadian hockey faithful and they'll duck for cover, still shell-shocked from the Nagano Games when we just couldn't find the golden touch.
The lasting memory for anyone from the Great White North is the Canucks being stonewalled by the Czech Republic's Dominik Hasek in the semifinal shootout. His heroics carried that team to the gold medal that Canada's Dream Team journeyed to the other side of the world to win.
Four years after that heartache, another Olympic gold is up for grabs and, naturally, there's a possibility another skills competition will decide Canada's fate.
But who should do the shooting in an Olympic showdown?
Russian netminder Nikolai Khabibulin is arguably the best in the world right now and would only unveil a couple of names when asked during the weekend's all-star festivities who he thought was the best.
"Mario Lemieux. He's got his size and reach and he's so unpredictable," Khabibulin said. "He just makes plays that make you watch the tape and say, 'Wow. Where did that come from?' You're always surprised and I know you shouldn't be because he does it all the time.
"They have so many good players it's hard to say who else.
"Joe Sakic would be another one I'd put on. His release is very quick and he skates and shoots at the same time so it doesn't give you any warning what he's going to do."
Even a Canadian netminder would have a tough time deciding who he thinks should be the fateful five.
"You have to go with Mario but then when you go around the dressing room, I was doing that this morning, it'd be hard to pick," said Jose Theodore.
"I think the first is Mario and after that there's no bad move."
There's a very real possibility Team Canada will again go up against Hasek or Salo later this month at Salt Lake City.
There's no doubt the brain trust guiding Canada's team will be more prepared should that situation present itself again.
So will Hasek and Salo.
And no matter how hard you try, you won't get them to list the five players they'd least like to see lining up at the centre line in another shootout.
"I can't give the Canadians any advice two weeks before the Olympics," Hasek said with a crooked smile.
Natural inclination would say Lemieux will be one of the five Canadians who'll take centre stage in another shootout.
There's so many others to choose from, too.
For example, you could also use Joe Sakic, Paul Kariya, Eric Lindros, Steve Yzerman, Joe Nieuwendyk or Theoren Fleury.
If some young guns would be chosen, Simon Gagne, Jarome Iginla or Ryan Smyth could get the nod.
If any or all of those players are the ones Salo, the starting netminder for the Swedish entry, would lease like to face, he's not saying so.
"I don't want to give you that one," he said.
Hasek stopped Fleury, Nieuwendyk, Lindros, Brendan Shanahan and Ray Bourque in Nagano's memorable turn of events.
Salo's winning performance in 1994 included a stop on Kariya, though the Anaheim star also scored on the extended shootout.
One last option is the one suggested by the Canadian team's executive director Wayne Gretzky, whose absence in the 1998 shootout is still a sore point with fans.
"We're not getting to the shootout this time. That's what we voted on," he said with a laugh. "It will fluctuate because you might have a guy who gets two or three goals that night and you'd have to use him in a shootout. Plus we'll talk to our goaltenders and get their feel as to who they think are the best on breakaways.
2002 Games Men's Hockey Coverage
