No limits on how to top your popcorn

When Team Canada announced last summer its six locked-in player selections for this country’s entry in the Olympic Games, one of the choices today stands out as a pretty big mistake.

Why is Brayden Point on the team? And why wouldn’t Team Canada have gone instead for a stronger forward, such as Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele?

Hockey fans in Canada can only hope last June’s mistake is the end of the errors.

The first six names were selected last June and five of them are of the slam-dunk, can’t-miss variety: Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Sam Reinhart and Cale Makar. Point is the other one, and at the time it looked like a decent choice. He was a two-time Stanley Cup champion, a key figure on the Tampa Bay powerplay and coming off a strong 4 Nations Face Off tournament.

But that was then. This is now. And, unfortunately, Canada is stuck with him. Point is having a horrible season, while an obvious omission like Scheifele is enjoying another banner campaign with the Jets, even though his team stunk in the first half of the National Hockey League season.

Was Point named as one of the locked-in six because the coach of Canada’s Olympic team is also his coach with the Lightning, Jon Cooper?

Check out the stats: On New Year’s Eve, when Canada’s 25-man roster was unveiled, Scheifele stood 10th in the NHL scoring race with 45 points in 37 games and had a plus-8 rating on a team that overall, was minus seven in goals for/against. Point was 155th with 21 points in 31 games and had a minus-5 rating on a team that was a plus-25 in for/against.

Something is rotten somewhere, and it could be in Tampa, where two other iffy Team Canada selections — Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel — ply their trade. Cooper obviously went to bat for his three Lightning players when roster discussions were taking place, but it seems the most egregious error happened last June with the Point selection.

It’s safe to assume that Cirelli and Hagel were selected for their all-around offensive and defensive play, with their plus-18 and plus-16 figures respectively telling the tale.

So while the likes of Scheifele, Wyatt Johnston of Dallas, Conn Smythe trophy winner Sam Bennett of Florida, Seth Jarvis of Carolina and Connor Bedard of Chicago are players left off the team, Point, with his dismal 2025-26 campaign figure in black and white for all to see, will be proudly wearing Canada’s red and white in Milan.

Canada is such a strong hockey nation, however, that having a Scheifele or Bennett in the lineup rather than Point wouldn’t make much of a difference. This country has dozens of world-class players who would easily fit the bill.

Because of injuries or sickness between now and when Canada’s team leaves for Italy in early February, a number of players who were last-minute exclusions could still wind up skating for Canada.

Hockey fans across the country are just hoping it’s the best 25-player combination.

OUT OF BOUNDS

Vancouver comedy guy Torben Rolfsen: “There’s all this talk about a retool with the Canucks. It feels like re-run. Haven’t we seen this over and over?”

Another one from Rolfsen: “Charlie Woods’ dad has been guiding him along his golf career, including trying to pick up Chuck E. Cheese waitresses.”

Jeff Ritter of SI.com, on Tiger Woods’ influence on the PGA Tour: “Woods may not be driving the bus, but his hands are firmly on the wheel.”

Golf writer Gary Van Sickle, wondering whether PGA Tour players would sign up to play in a USGA Parent-Child championship: “Or would it just be more golf for a pro golfer, the equivalent of a mail carrier taking vacation to go hiking?”

Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Japanese star slugger Munetaka Murakami has signed with the Chicago White Sox. Well, at least with the switch to MLB from the Nippon Professional League he won’t have to deal with immediate playoff pressure.”

Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail, on Team Canada’s regular excellence in international hockey competitions: “It is Canada’s strongly held belief that you could walk into a Tim Hortons in Brandon and start pointing — ‘You, you, you, you and you’ — and walk out with a pretty good hockey team.”

Another one from Kelly, whose column discussed his 2025 predictions: “Wrong about everything, but still delusionally positive about future outcomes. I think I’m ready to apply for Toronto Maple Leafs’ general manager.”

Rolfsen, after the American military foray into Venezuela:: “FIFA is revoking Donald Trump’s peace prize.”

Rolfsen again: “California and Hawaii met on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately it was college football and not surfing.”

» Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca