Since Ottawa Senators forwards Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley accepted invitations to represent Team Canada this past week, I have received dozens of e-mails pertaining to these two players. Why you ask? Lets break it down for you.
Many Sens fans are wondering if they will see both players far more committed than they were in their first round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fans have every right to wonder as both players didn't show much commitment in their first round series sweep. On far too many occasions, neither player battled for loose pucks and they definitely didn't drive the net. Both players were guilty of not going into the "traffic" areas for fear of getting their nose dirty, nor did they do the little things to be successful. As well, Heatley took a few selfish penalties for lack of moving his feet.
Sure both players are going to be a little more successful playing with star players but what Sens fans are anxiously awaiting to see is if both players do some of things that they failed to do in a Sens uniform during the playoffs. If that is the case, many fans in this city will feel ripped off. Fans pay top dollar to see their stars perform at a high level but at times both of these players completely disappeared and look disinterested. On top of that, if both of these players choose to play with more of an edge and do some of the little things, they better be prepared to play the same commitment level come the 2008-09 season or the fans in this city will quickly get on their backs, if they already aren't at this point due to their poor first round series a few weeks ago.
I am very curious to hear your thoughts on this subject. Enjoy the second round of the playoffs!
The World Hockey Championships take place in Quebec City and Halifax, starting this Friday, May 2nd and finish with the Gold Medal Game on Sunday, May 18th. Canada's first game is this Friday against Slovenia in Halifax, gametime 4:30pm EST.
Congrats to Shane Doan as he was named captain for Team Canada, a well deserved honour! Martin St.Louis and Steve Staois will be the assistants.
I will be back on Monday with a blog to evaluate the Sens forwards and what might happen this upcoming season as management tries to fill out the roster of 12 forwards. Feel free to take a look back at my two previous blogs on goaltending and defense.
If you are looking for NFL Draft talk today and tomorrow, we will be holding a huge In-Draft blog at www.sportstalkbuzz.com and we encourage everyone to join us. All 32 of our NFL bloggers will be a part of the In-Draft blog at some point during the first round and continue right through until the last pick of the draft. It's free to register and it would be great to see some familiar hockeybuzz faces posting their thoughts at the site.
Kevin
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