Custom-made for our Olympic hockey team

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Winnipeg's Jonathan Toews says playing for Canada in the Vancouver Olympics would be a rare privilege. (JEFF MCINTOSH / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES)

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(THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Mike Richards and Jonathan Toews play most of their hockey in major U.S. markets these days, but folks around here will always claim them as their own. And for good reason, as they represent the best of a new generation of professional athletes who all too often are quick to grab the cash and take their fortune-touched existence for granted.

The way these two men live their lives, even more than the way they play the game, makes them automatics for any team of ours, and that includes Team Canada. They're humble, thoughtful, smart and dedicated to winning.

Richards is as tough as leather and Toews ends up in the highlight package every other night.

Hockey Canada released its list of 46 invitees for an August Olympic team tryout camp and mixed into that list were Winnipeg native Toews and Kenora boy Richards. Also on the list were Dryden's Chris Pronger and Winnipeg-born defenceman Duncan Keith, who left Winnipeg at a young age and now calls British Columbia home.

GM Steve Yzerman will bring together five goalies, 16 defencemen and 25 forwards at a four-day camp in Calgary.

"It's the first step towards a goal that almost every player in the NHL has right now," said Toews, a gold-medal winner at both the junior and men's level who was ridiculously snubbed by a number of Olympic team polls late last season. "I woke up real early this morning and then couldn't get back to sleep. I'm real excited about this opportunity and will do everything in my power to try and take advantage of this. I'm dying to be on this team."

Yzerman has mixed in some veterans but loaded up on speed and fresh faces and he'll have few political restrictions when putting the team together. Mistakes Wayne Gretzky made in leaving Sydney Crosby and Eric Staal off the last national team won't be repeated. Maybe Gretzky did what he did out of gratitude to players who helped him win gold in Salt Lake City, but the first loyalty must be to Canada. That means taking the best players and the best people.

The inclusion of Toews and Richards, and many others with the character and dignity that Yzerman exudes, is the first step in wringing out the stink left in our hockey shirts by the likes of Todd Bertuzzi.

Gretzky went old-boy style in Turin and ignored the things our Canadian hockey jerseys are supposed to embody, like competitive will and respect, resulting in one of the most disappointing episodes (seventh-place finish) in our country's international hockey history.

Toews and Richards are the elite of the new breed, a mix of old-school competition and drive as well as the skill and savvy to succeed in a new game.

That's what Canada needs heading into the Vancouver Games -- a team that is young enough to skate with Russia's Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin, but experienced enough to handle the glare of playing on Canadian soil.

"Lots of great NHL players never get the chance to do this," Toews said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it's in Canada. Playing in the Olympics in your own country is something that only happens every 100 years or so. You want to be part of it. You don't worry about the pressure. There's no excuse to not want to be in on this."

Richards has taken the approach that he'll arrive in Calgary prepared to perform at a peak level, but also with the humility to dig ditches.

"Part of playing with Hockey Canada means playing out of position," said Richards, who, like Toews, has won gold for Canada at the junior level. "I'm willing to play anywhere they want me to. The competition to be on this team is going to be incredible. I'm honoured just to be on the list. I'll try my hardest to make this team. It'll be an incredible experience. Any time you can play for Canada it's great, but this would be something altogether different."

Let the disputes over who should be captain, what goalies to carry and how the line combinations should go rage on.

Just don't touch these two players -- they're keepers.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Gary Lawless, Winnipeg Free Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 3, 2009 C3