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Young blood – and a lack thereof – headlines Canada’s Olympic men’s ice hockey roster

When Macklin Celebrini learned he would be going to Italy for the upcoming Winter Olympics, he struggled to find the words. “It’s all excitement,” the young phenom exclaimed, and judging from online discourse, his country feels the same way.

On New Year’s Eve, Hockey Canada unveiled its roster for the Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team, a decision that management could not take lightly; for every feel-good roster selection, there are players left off who may never see this opportunity again.

“It’s difficult because there are so many worthy players,” said the team’s general manager, Doug Armstrong, at the roster unveiling. “But I can just say one thing: not one player played their way off this team, just 25 players played their way on.”

With the first six players named to Team Canada in June, 19 spots were available for the remaining Canadian hopefuls. Hockey Canada included more than 90 players on its long list for potential selection, all of whom were subject to the Olympic drug-testing protocol.

Among those 90+ were young stars Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard, and Matthew Schaefer. According to Armstrong, 19-year-old Celebrini – currently sitting fourth in NHL scoring – solidified his spot in early December, while the other two did not have the same luck.

20-year-old Bedard plays for the Chicago Blackhawks, a team that lost seven of eight games after he got injured in early December.

“I don’t think the rest of the league knows how good of a two-way winning hockey player Connor has become,” said Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill, when asked about Bedard missing the cut. Bedard was the NHL’s fifth-leading scorer in points per game when the roster was released.

When asked if the injury played a role in Bedard’s omission, Armstrong doubled down on the decision.

“Not a lot, quite honestly. His name was right there until the last second, because we could have named him and moved forward, but I think the reality is there are so many good players, and we just had difficult decisions to make.”

As for Matthew Schaefer, Armstrong noted the rookie defenseman’s age as a factor in his exclusion.

“His play is exemplary…I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about players that didn’t make the team, but to me, this is a special occasion because he’s an 18-year-old man that we’re talking about playing in the Olympics.”

Another factor in Schaefer’s omission was unrelated to him, as Hockey Canada selected the same eight defensemen for the Olympics that they brought to the 4 Nations Face-Off last February, an invitational best-on-best tournament that Canada won.

Why?

“Scouting and dialogue with the coaches,” explained Armstrong. “We have a proper balance of (defensive) players that have won at the NHL level and at the 4 Nations level, and complement each other.”

While the country has been divided on the youngster’s Olympic merit, Todd Schaefer, Matthew’s father, may just support the decision to keep his kid at home, which he disclosed in a recent CBC interview.

“He’s climbing these mountains. Does he really need to climb this one at 18? Can we wait a few years? … There’s nothing wrong with having three weeks off to come home and be an 18-year-old kid.”

Schaefer was selected first overall by the Islanders last June and led all NHL defensemen with seven goals in 20 games to start the season.

Schaefer and Bedard, among numerous others, are expected to be on Canada’s standby list in case any rostered players are injured before or during the tournament.

While the Olympics officially begin on February 6, the Canadian men will kick off their tournament on February 12th against Czechia.

But for Celebrini and co., as the teenager puts it, “the work starts now.”