Hockey: Still going? The answer will excite you

Sharpen them up and lace them up, at last, we have talk of some kind of on ice event involving NHL Players. Although this may sound like a huge relief for those of us who are still fans of the NHL, there are three big questions surrounding this news. First, who will be skating? Who will be watching? and Where will they be playing?

Team Canada Hockey has announced that 36 NHL Players have been invited to camps, which will last five days starting on August 15th, in Vancouver as Canada begins the process of making a team to defend Olympic Gold. Looking at the list it as always reads like a list of future NHL Hall of Famers with names such as Brodeur, Blake, Lemieux, Lecavalier, Sakic, and Yzerman among a few invited. Now, as someone who was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, I am hurt that two people aren't among those invited, notably Paul Kariya who last season had 11 goals and 25 assists for the Colorado Avalanche.

The second player who hasn't been invited to the camp is Canucks Right Winger Todd Bertuzzi. Bertuzzi of coarse is still serving a suspension by the NHL and Team Canada Officials up to this point have said that because of the current NHL problems Bertuzzi faces, they can't do anything about it.

That now brings us to the third part, which is of coarse, where will the players who are picked play? Well, they will be facing off against the world?s best including many other NHL Stars in 2006, when Torino, Italy lays down the rink to host the 2006 Olympics.

During the Torino Olympics, hockey is tentatively scheduled to play everyday starting February 11th with the Gold Medal Game on February 26th, which is the day of the Closing Ceremony. According to Team Canada's site, their schedule is as follows:



Feb 15th against Italy

Feb 16th against Germany

Feb 18th against Switzerland

Feb 19th against Finland

Feb 21st against Czech Republic



Side Note: Sweden has announced that former Montreal Canadien and Olympic Gold Medallist Mats Naslund will be the Manager of the Swedish National Team. Naslund will start his role in September during the Ceska Pojistovna Cup in the Czech Republic.

More Team Canada information is available on their Official Site Team Canada 2006

Photo Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images