Team Canada invites Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury and Jordan Staal to summer camp

by Hooks Orpik on Jul 2, 2009 10:50 AM EDT in News Comment 7 comments

Among the 46 players named to Team Canada's summer camp for Olympic preparation, it's no surprise that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has been invited.

But two less likely Penguins also made the cut. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was one of five to be named; along with Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Steve Mason and Cam Ward. That Fleury beat out guys like Chris Osgood and Marty Turco is a good indication of the respect he's deservedly getting after backstopping the Pens to a Stanley Cup. Brodeur and Luongo are the heavy favorites to see ice-time in the Vancouver Olympic games, but with a strong showing MAF could make the team and then who knows.

A bigger surprise was that Jordan Staal made the cut, joining a star studded group of forwards. Staal will be the youngest player at Team Canada's camp (though Milan Lucic and Jonathan Toews are only months young), which should be great for Staal's confidence and continued improvement this season. Successful Olympic teams seem to have the shutdown and good two-way players, so who knows if Staal can stick. Canada has no shortage of great players to choose from in this role -- like Mike Richards, Shane Doan, Brenden Morrow, Ryan Smyth and Dan Cleary -- but Richards is the only center in the bunch.

Canada's still loaded with pure centers the likes of Crosby, Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier, Joe Sakic, Jeff Carter, Ryan Getzlaf, Patrick Marleau and Andy McDonald among the invited players, so who knows if there'll be room at in the inn for Staal.

Regardless, congratulations to the three Penguins going to wear the red and white this summer, hopefully it'll be a springboard to success in the fall!

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Congratualtions Jordan!

This is a nice honor for Jordan Staal, who deserves more recognition than he gets. And it’s nice that Eric Staal is on the roster with him. They can play on the same team for once.

by Cari on Jul 2, 2009 12:44 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Marcy Marc Staal also made it.

No pressure for young Jared Staal, eh?

Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*

*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night

by Hooks Orpik on Jul 2, 2009 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Congrats to all!!

If Jordan doesn’t make it this year, he should be a shoe-in in 4 years, and he still won’t be in his prime.

by Ulf Murphy on Jul 2, 2009 1:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

It would be pretty interesting to watch a team with multiple Staals working together, definitely. I’m not really surprised that Jordan was picked for the training camp.

Wow, Canada grows awesome centers and goalies.

"Miracles require hard work."--Agent Gibbs, NCIS

by GreenEyedLilo on Jul 2, 2009 1:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Stefan Robidas? Dan Cleary? 5 goalies? Team USA could learn a thing or two about casting a wide net.

by Fehr and Balanced on Jul 2, 2009 3:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This is Great

Now if Pierre Mcquire gets his way, will Mike Richards be the Captain?

by BillyObilly on Jul 3, 2009 3:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

MAF over Osgood, good call by Detroit brass

what with Yzerman, Ken Holland and Mike Babcock among the Team Canada decision makers, I’m glad to see that they’re actually looking ahead to the future, as well as trying to bring success to the home team for 2010.

MAF and Staal might be unlikely to make the 2010 team, but inviting them to the tryouts/camp/whatever it is they use to make the selection, that’s looking forward to what a 2014 or 2018 version of Team Canada might look like.

Kind of strange to see a Canadian roster without Red Wings, though, only Cleary’s on there. Far cry from the 90 and earlier this decade where the Yzerman’s and Shanahan’s were mainstays and there would be others like Greg Johnson (best known for biffing on a gold medal winning penalty shot attempt in 1994) who wore Detorit tead and white when not wearing the same colors for their national team.

Official BYB Juju Consultant...now accepting rally creature applications!

by ahtrap on Jul 5, 2009 7:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs