With his name freshly engraved on Lord Stanley's Cup, Sid the Kid is the sexy pick but another man is best suited to wear the 'C' for Team Canada.
CALGARY -– You can get stuck on an opinion in this sports writing business. Like a good woman, sometimes you marry up with an idea and "'til death do you part, for better or worse."
Five years ago we watched Jarome Iginla tear through the Western Conference while carrying the Flames on his back all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup. He scored, fought, hit, and led his teammates like Rocket Richard and Kirk Gibson rolled into one.
Iginla faced entire game plans forged to stop him that spring, and still he walked away with a goal, two assists, and a timely hit seemingly every night of that unlikely Calgary Flames run. Played out atop the memory of his Olympic performance in the gold-medal game in 2002 -— where he scored twice —- we pronounced back in 2004 that Iginla would captain Team Canada in 2010 in Vancouver.
Then the inevitable happens, and time marches by.
Iginla is still entrenched as one of Canada's best all-around forwards. He is a sniper, a hard-nosed opponent, a genuine leader in every facet of the game, and a lock for Vancouver in February.
But as we convene in Calgary this week in preparation for what will be the biggest Canadian hockey tournament since the 1972 Summit Series, there is this guy named Sidney Crosby. And doesn’t he have "Captain" written all over him?
Some will say that Crosby won a Cup, while Iginla’s Flames fell short that year. The irony, of course, is that Iginla was on the ice for every crucial shift of that final game and played his butt off, but his team still lost to Tampa Bay.
Crosby, meanwhile, was injured for most of Game 7. Yet his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates took up where he had left off that night in Detroit, and made a champion out of their captain.
Like we said: We're riding this horse all the way now. Iginla has the Olympic experience that Crosby does not, with two Games under his belt. This is Crosby’s first Olympics.
Crosby has emerged into a fine leader, this much is obvious. But Iginla has too. He is a few years older, has a few more battles behind him, and is still this columnist's pick to inherit the coveted "C" in February.
Crosby's turn is coming. Iginla's time is now.
So we've got that issue solved, eh?
Now, what else might be decided this week in Calgary, where this country’s finest crop of hockey talent comes together at the Olympic orientation camp? Talk about Alberta beef -— you could draw the names of 12 forwards, six defencemen and two goalies out of a helmet and that team would likely pull a medal out of Vancouver this winter.
This camp, however will turn out to be like the months of October and November in any given National Hokey League season. You can't make the playoffs by Dec. 1 in the NHL, but you can certainly play your way out of them.
The same is true here: A good camp won't necessarily buy a player a spot on Team Canada. But show up in anything less than top shape with anything less than a serious desire to compete for your country in February, and your cell phone may not ring again with that 403 area code of Hockey Canada.
Which is what makes this whole process so fascinating.
When do you think the last time was that Chris Pronger actually tried out for a hockey team? And what about a veteran like Simon Gagne, the type of player who gives a team depth in skill and always rises to the level that is required?
Does he -— or Captain Canada, Ryan Smyth -— have one more Olympics in him? Or will a Corey Perry, a Rick Nash or a Jonathan Toews barge in and take their parking spot?
What about Dion Phaneuf? Can he and Jay Bouwmeester both make this team, or is it an either/or situation for the two young-ish studs who team up now on the Calgary blueline?
And could Los Angeles' Drew Doughty have a chance, at just 19 years old? If he does stick around, it will certainly be at the expense of a player like Phaneuf.
Right now, as the players walk off planes and wind their way to the Pengrowth Saddledome, there are more questions than answers.
We don't expect things to be much different when the camp breaks up Thursday; but for the next four days, Canadians will be talking hockey in August.
And why wouldn't we? It is the one sport where we can say to the world, "We are the best."
Forty-five players want a Team Canada sweater come February; but those sweaters are precious.
As well they should be.
