Canada’s hockey swagger is back at the Olympics.
Four years after walking away with bronze after the NHL did not participate in the Games, Canada’s team in Beijing has remnants of the ones that won gold in 2010 and 2014 and a roster that looks capable of doing it again. Top player Eric Staal was in Vancouver, coach Claude Julien was on the staff in Sochi and the standard is again gold or bust.
“You can never underestimate experience: the experience of having lived through it,” Julien said. “That’s invaluable.”
Julien was an assistant to coach Mike Babcock eight years ago in Sochi when Canada dominated the tournament on the way to beating Sweden in the final. Staal was not only part of the team that won in Vancouver on Sidney Crosby’s golden goal but is one of just 29 players in hockey history to win Olympic and world championship gold along with the Stanley Cup.
Staal at age 37 will likely captain Canada, which also features plenty of young talent: 2021 No. 1 pick Owen Power,…