I don't know about you but I do find some irony in the Montreal Canadiens.

Ironical that we are looking at the Habs as one of the teams to bring it back to Canada.

Imagine that. We Canadian hockey fans asking American and Europeans to bring it home. The ghosts of the 1972 Summit Series would be turning over in their graves.

George Gillett is an American owner of the storied franchise in Montreal, more than half of it's current players are from everywhere but Canada.

In fact, 12 of the 26 listed on the roster are Canadians.

Forwards
# Player Height Weight DOB Age Birthplace
22 Steve Bégin 6' 0" 187 14 Jun 1978 29 Trois-Rivières, QC, CAN
36 Matt D'Agostini 6' 0" 201 23 Oct 1986 21 Sault Ste. Marie, ON, CAN
54 Mikhail Grabovski 5' 11" 179 31 Jan 1984 24 Potsdam, DEU
21 Christopher Higgins "A" 6' 0" 199 2 Jun 1983 24 Smithtown, NY, USA
11 Saku Koivu "C" 5' 10" 187 23 Nov 1974 33 Turku, FIN
46 Andrei Kostitsyn 6' 0" 201 3 Feb 1985 23 Novopolotsk, BLR
74 Sergei Kostitsyn 5' 11" 196 20 Mar 1987 21 Novopolotsk, BLR
6 Tom Kostopoulos 6' 0" 200 24 Jan 1979 29 Mississauga, ON, CAN
27 Alex Kovalev "A" 6' 1" 224 24 Feb 1973 35 Togliatti, RUS
40 Maxim Lapierre 6' 2" 200 29 Mar 1985 23 Saint-Léonard, QC, CAN
84 Guillaume Latendresse 6' 2" 222 24 May 1987 20 Ste-Catherine, QC, CAN
14 Tomas Plekanec 5' 10" 194 31 Oct 1982 25 Kladno, CZE
73 Michael Ryder 6' 0" 186 31 Mar 1980 28 Bonavista, NF, CAN
20 Bryan Smolinski 6' 1" 203 27 Dec 1971 36 Toledo, OH, USA
70 Gregory Stewart 6' 2" 200 21 May 1986 21 Kitchener, ON, CAN

Defencemen
# Player Height Weight DOB Age Birthplace
51 Francis Bouillon 5' 8" 196 17 Oct 1975 32 New York, NY, USA
71 Patrice Brisebois 6' 2" 196 27 Jan 1971 37 Montréal, QC, CAN
25 Mathieu Dandenault 6' 0" 204 3 Feb 1976 32 Sherbrooke, QC, CAN
26 Josh Gorges 6' 1" 195 14 Aug 1984 23 Kelowna, BC, CAN
44 Roman Hamrlik 6' 2" 215 12 Apr 1974 34 Zlin, CZE
8 Mike Komisarek 6' 4" 240 19 Jan 1982 26 West Islip, NY, USA
79 Andrei Markov 6' 0" 204 20 Dec 1978 29 Voskresensk, RUS
3 Ryan O'Byrne 6' 6" 228 19 Jul 1984 23 Victoria, BC, CAN
32 Mark Streit 6' 0" 197 11 Dec 1977 30 Englisberg, CHE

Goalies
# Player Height Weight DOB Age Birthplace
41 Jaroslav Halak 5' 11" 182 13 May 1985 22 Bratislava, SVK
31 Carey Price 6' 3" 226 16 Aug 1987 20 Vancouver, BC, CAN



Frank Selke and Sammy Pollock would be chagrined to find that they would have trouble pronouncing many of the players' names.

When the Anaheim Mighty Ducks won the Cup last year, they had more Canadians on their roster than anything else.

Now that we are asking the Canadiens, as one of our hopes to bring it back to Canada, a legion of non-Canadian born players have been entrusted to do it.

I guess what it does underline, is that the global appeal of our game has gone far beyond the borders of our own country. This is good, I suppose. Like the revered teams of the Premiership of football (Chelsea and Man U.) in England, the players are of all nationalities now.

So when and if they win their sport's big prize, all its' fans will either embrace them as their own or blame their lack of success on their lack of Canadian/English content.

Ironic, don't you think?







Wayjoy

I’m not sure what your point is on this one Wayne. Yes the team owner is an American businessman who also is part owner of the Liverpool FC is heavily involved in auto racing and has a love of professional sport in general. He also made it very clear when he purchased the club that he was buying into the most stories professional hockey franchise in the world and would keep it as such.

Professional hockey is an international sport with many teams and leagues all competing for the best players to make their own clubs better. Montreal has 12 Canadians on their current roster reflecting the global nature of the game in the twenty first century. The management and coaching group however are all Canadian, most have been cup winners and team leaders in the past (Gainey, Carboneau, Muller, Jarvis).

The other Canadian franchises in the hunt for this year’s cup have similar make up with 17 Canadians on the roster. The Senators also have a non-Canadian as a captain and their owner is heavily dependant on US and European money to keep his Bio-Pharmaceutical firm viable. Their coaching staff is mainly Canadian with one American.

The Calgary flames have 16 Canadians one of whom is the Captain. Their coaching staff is all Canadian as are their 8 owners. All 8 however are heavily involved in the oil and gas industry one way or another, an industry that is the largest exporter of energy to the US.

Any way you cut it, no-Canadian money is invested in Canadian Hockey franchises and these franchises can’t work without it.

My point is simple. Hockey today is international in scope and as such team composition in the NHL reflects that. The lifeblood of hockey however is still here in the great white north where the sport was born. Bringing the cup back to Canada means bringing it home to its fans and supporters regardless of who owns the team or where all the players were born. We should all remember that when a Swede or Russian or Finn or American or whatever nationality the player is plays for a Canadian team he lives and works in this country. His family is here, his children are often born here and really aren’t we all sons and daughters of immigrants?