Upon the announcement that Hockey Canada and Pepsi were teaming up invite fans to help create a new cheer for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, many hockey fans were left puzzled by the sudden interest in ousting the long-standing and simple “Go Canada Go” slogan.

A couple of Canadian hockey fans have taken it upon themselves to lead the charge against the new “Eh! O’ Canada Go” cheer by starting a Facebook group in an effort to boycott the imperialist intentions of Pepsi.

Although the group could use a spelling lesson or two, it’s beginning to build some steam with a couple hundred members in just a few days.  It’s a noble suggestion to boycott the cheer, for a number of reasons:

1.  Not only is it a thinly veiled marketing ploy on the part of Pepsi, but it’s also a lousy cheer.  “Go Canada Go” rolls off the tongue much more naturally, and it’s served this country rather well in the past.  So why bother?

2.  It’s Pepsi, an American born multinational corporation.

3.  Pepsi tastes like shit unless you add rum to it.

4.  Fans should never need to be told what to cheer, the best stuff you can yell at any sporting event is created in the heat of battle.

5.  Eh.  It’s true that most of us Canadians say it, but do we really need to perpetuate stereotypes here?

I could list these all day, but unless you’ve never watched a Canadian hockey game before or have no teeth at the expense of Pepsi then you know what to say when Team Canada takes the ice.

If we remember back to August, when selecting the 2010 Canadian Men’s Olympic hockey team was in vogue, we set our initial picks here at Hockeyhead.  Looking back, they weren’t too shabby… well except for that Brad Boyes pick.

On the eve of Steve Yzerman and co.’s official selection party we’re revisiting our list from August and tweaking it one last time.  Here in all of its glory is Hockeyhead’s 2010 Olympic hockey team:

Forwards

Rick Nash
Sidney Crosby
Jarome Iginla
Dany Heatley
Vincent Lecavalier
Eric Staal
Ryan Getzlaf
Brenden Morrow
Mike Richards
Joe Thornton
Jonathan Toews
Corey Perry
Brad Richards

Defence

Scott Niedermayer
Chris Pronger
Jay Bouwmeester
Shea Weber
Dan Boyle
Duncan Keith
Brent Seabrook

Goaltenders

Martin Brodeur
Roberto Luongo
Marc-Andre Fleury

There we have it.  No Mike Green (douche, can’t play D), and no Patrick Marleau (I’d play well with Thornton and Heatley, too).  I’m going with Vincent Lecavalier simply because he’s a top-rate talent having a bad year.  There’s no need for Mike Fisher types when you can demand the same game from a far more talented player like Lecavalier or Eric Staal. Jonathan Toews is there because I seriously believe that someone robbed DNA from Yzerman and made him from it.

The walls come down tomorrow, let’s see what happens…

I’m late getting on this one, and I have loyal reader “Legger” to thank for pointing it out.  Melody Davidson, coach of Canada’s National Women’s team, is doing a fine job of championing the cause to keep “hockey-hair” relevant.

She might be doing it on her own, but you’ve gotta admit… it’s a pretty impressive set of feathers.  Bravo Melody!

It seems as though the excitement of Team Canada’s orientation camp has got everyone abuzz and in the mood to drop their picks for the squad on the public.  I thought I would take my turn to chime in.  I promise to be fair in my consideration of all the potential roster spots and I won’t let any personal grievances or judgments of character influence my decisions.

In fact, I’ll have you know that I believe Chris Pronger is a lock for the team even though I hate his guts and wish to punch him in his ugly face.  With that said, you can expect Marc Savard to be excluded.  Not because he’s a faux hawked douche bag, but because he sucks a thousand lonely dicks.  FUCK HIM.

Here’s how we’ll work this thing, I’ll consider all of the players invited to the orientation camp and another dozen or so hopefuls that were overlooked for an invite or could be fairly projected to draw some attention in the upcoming season.  We’re not going to have to provide explanation for every choice we make here.  Just because YOU think that Sidney Crosby is a crybaby doesn’t negate the fact that he’s the best we’ve got ability wise.

Okay, let’s take a look at Hockeyhead’s plan for the net:

GOALIES:

Roberto Luongo

Martin Brodeur

Marc-Andre Fleury:  I love Steve Mason just as much as the next guy, but if the guys above got hurt or played like shit; I’d rather have the Stanley Cup winning goalie there to back them up.

DEFENSE:

Scott Niedermayer — Chris Pronger

Jay Bouwmeester — Shea Weber

Dan Boyle — Duncan Keith

Dion Phaneuf:  Phaneuf looked like a shadow of his former self last season, even Pierre McGuire had trouble standing by him.  He’s likely to bounce back, but I’m giving spots to Keith and Weber over him right now.  I wouldn’t call Phaneuf an “alternate” at this point, but he’s my 7th defenseman.

FORWARDS:

Rick Nash — Sidney Crosby — Jarome Iginla

Dany Heatley — Vincent Lecavalier — Eric Staal

Brenden Morrow — Mike Richards — Ryan Getzlaf

Jonathan Toews — Joe Thornton — Brad Boyes

Jordan Staal:  Mark it down, I’m telling you that Jordan Staal is going to breakout in a major way this season… if you didn’t already know that.  I gave Shane Doan’s roster spot to Brad Boyes because he’s younger, faster, and more of a natural scoring threat.

Brenden Morrow put up career highs in 2007-08, but he was derailed by a torn ACL in his right knee last season.  He’s a leader and will undoubtedly be on the rebound and looking to earn his way onto this team.

ALTERNATES:

Brent Seabrook

Jason Spezza

Corey Perry

Notable Omissions:

Simon Gagne:  Come on, I dare you.  He’s soft and shitty beyond the realm of reasonable shittyness.

Jeff Carter:  I’m not saying it’s not possible, but I’d like to see him put piles of goals again before really considering him for this team.

Cam Ward:  I love him, everything about him.  He’s a throwback.  If Martin Brodeur gets hurt or if he aged this offseason, then I’d call Cam.

Ryan Smyth:  Bah, just kidding.  We’re all waaaay over him by now, right?  We’ll replace his ugly mug on the banner as soon as someone takes some time to Photoshop a new “head”.