SPECIAL SECTION/CANADA'S TEAM/MEN'S HOCKEY	FEBRUARY 2, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 4
	Talent to Burn Eric Lindros & Co. are not your father's Team Canada. They are going into a tourney that could be a watershed for their sport By MICHAEL FARBER ric Lindros stands 6 ft. 4 in. and weighs 235 lbs., without the saddle. Lindros is, of course, "the young horse" that general manager Bob Clarke said Canada's Olympic team would ride in Nagano, a Thoroughbred who represents the next generation of Canadian hockey hero. This is not your father's Team Canada. The team in which 28 million people claim proprietary interest really belongs to Lindros, 24; Paul Kariya, 23, the most dangerous open-ice skater in the world; and blossoming defenseman Chris Pronger, 23. These are players who weren't old enough to lace their own skates when 37-year-old Wayne Gretzky, who made this team primarily as a power-play specialist, first played professionally. After the sackcloth-and-ashes loss to the U.S. in the heart-stopping 1996 World Cup final, there was a national consensus that Canada could not continue to depend, if we can extend the equine analogy, on the same war-horses. Well, 37-year-old Mark Messier was left off the team, provoking outrage from sea to sea and reminding you to be careful what you wish for because it might come true. This tournament, the first in which the NHL will shut down temporarily to allow players to compete in the Olympics, represents a watershed for Canada. The World Cup loss may have been a slap in the face, but the move of NHL franchises from Quebec City and Winnipeg to the U.S. and the declining proportion of Canadian players in the league, not to mention a glut of European and American players among the NHL scoring leaders, have challenged many assumptions about the country as the world's hockey leader. Nagano will have so-called Dream Teams from six countries, which gives Canada a chance to reclaim a birthright Paul Henderson secured in Game 8 of the Summit Series 25 years ago. Lindros, the presumptive star in Nagano, was born five months after Henderson's historic goal, Kariya two years later. So what went into the thinking behind this year's squad? "In the past Canada sometimes just took the best players and tried to fit them into a team concept," says Team Canada coach Marc Crawford. "It was like fitting square pegs into round holes. This is a short tournament [a maximum of six games for Canada], no training camp, so the GMs looked for rounder pegs. Bob [Clarke, the Philadelphia Flyers general manager] and his assistants [general managers Bob Gainey of the Dallas Stars and Pierre Gauthier of the Ottawa Senators] picked defensive players who knew how to play when we're up a goal late, and some offensive guys who can go out and get a goal if we're down. There's a pretty good mix." Team Canada was built literally line by line. Kariya, the Anaheim left-winger, was slotted into right wing on the first line. Keith Primeau of Carolina was designated as the checking center. Trevor Linden of Vancouver can, like Primeau, play center or wing; he was picked to play the right side on the third line. Of course, it is impossible to pick a bad Canadian Olympic team. It's a matter of taste, a question of whether you prefer lobster thermidor or filet mignon. Canada definitely went for the beef. Clarke's balanced team errs on the physical side; this explains the inclusion of bangers such as Primeau, Linden and defenseman Scott Stevens of New Jersey. Team Canada GMs remember how young American forwards like John LeClair and Bill Guerin gave their defense trouble last year. The danger in going more for size than speed in anticipation of a gold-medal showdown against the U.S. is that the Americans might not get there. The spoiler could be Sweden, which doesn't have the best goaltending in the tournament but boasts superior quickness. The Swedes, who lost in double overtime to Canada in a World Cup semifinal, are more comfortable with the 200-ft. by 100-ft. Olympic-size rink, which is 3,000 sq. ft. larger than the NHL surface. The anointment of Lindros as Team Canada captain was more a challenge than a reward. For all his copious skill, the Philadelphia Flyers center has yet to establish himself as the central figure on a championship team. His Flyers imploded in four straight games against Detroit last spring in the Stanley Cup final. Lindros played indifferently when shunted to right wing in the 1996 World Cup. He was on the 1992 Olympic silver-medal team, but he was also the centerpiece of the 1992 team that finished an inglorious sixth at the world junior championships. Nor is Lindros a player around whom others naturally congregate. But the top Canadian scorer in the NHL much of the season does bring certain exemplary qualities to his role, especially his ornery nature. Lindros has finally learned to leaven his toughness with discipline and avoid unnecessary penalties. In international hockey, where the refereeing often has been tilted against the robust Canadian style, an under-control Lindros could be a marvelous leader. "There's going to be enough pressure just to go out and have a solid tournament," he says. "Besides, there are nine or 10 captains in that dressing room, so there's going to be a lot of leadership there. " "Yeah, it's time we did more than look for Wayne [Gretzky] or Mark [Messier] to carry us to a gold medal, but the No. 1 ingredient in Nagano is going to be hunger," says Detroit left wing Brendan Shanahan, who will play on the No. 1 line. "We lost that fear of losing, and the U.S. might have knocked it back into us. We're being given the chance to write one small page in the history of Canada. Years from now, when it's late at night, maybe they'll show a little tape of what you did, at least until the next time Canada wins an Olympic gold medal." That is, if the youngsters win this one.
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