Double the Fun

It’s time for Canadian hockey fans to openly accept and embrace bigamy. Not the kind the good folks of Utah used to be found of, nor the kind that life a hell of a lot easier (and cheaper) for Tiger Woods. As the Sedins have showed us, it’s can be fun to double up. I know Canadians are famously open minded, especially compared to our neighbours to the south, but I’m proposing something even my god fearing mother could get behind. It’s time for Canada to send two hockey teams to the Olympics.

We’ve all watched the events held so far, and we’ve had to have noticed the never ending stream of Koreans in speed skating or the interminably long line of Americans in nearly every sport, so can’t we do it for hockey? We need the chance to get multiple medals in the sport that nearly all of our best athletes participate in.

We could just use good ole "A" and "B" team model that is so popular in minor hockey (except for the people who could only "achieve" house league status, alright, I’m talking about myself) to make sure we don’t weaken our best chance at gold. Just allow Steve Yzerman et al to choose his best possible team, then allow someone to choose the best from the rest. Maybe someone like Darryl Sutter, who has experience putting together second rate squads, could be put in charge.

The leftovers on the Lightning would be a great place to start. Add Jay Bouwmeester, Mike Green, Jeff Carter, and Dion Phaneuf to the mix. Finish it off with either one of the Masons in net net and we’re rolling. Hell, risking the screams of homerism, we could even include Alex Burrows. Are you telling me that team wouldn’t be a medal contender? Would this team be worse than Latvia or Norway?