Hockey

CALGARY - In all, 19,289 spectators filled the Pengrowth Saddledome Thursday night to watch a glorified scrimmage among 45 hopefuls for Canada's 2010 men's Olympic hockey team.

Only in Canada, you say ....

"We expected it because people talked about it," said goaltender Martin Brodeur, afterwards, "but to see how people were so into it was pretty neat. It was almost too much of a real game, more than we thought it would be."

For the record, the two teams - divided into Red and White - tied 2-2 after regulation, before a shootout decided it in the Red team's favor. Jeff Carter and Patrick Marleau scored goals in regulation for White; Ryan Smyth and Corey Perry for the Red team. In the shootout, Marc-Andre Fleury gave up just two goals, compared to six that eluded Steve Mason, at which point coach Mike Babcock called it a night.

Babcock had planned to introduce a few innovative wrinkles in the game - some four-on-four play, some special teams play under a controlled scrimmage format - but changed his mind at the 11th hour. Instead, they played 60 minutes of regulation, skipped overtime and worked on the shootout, an all-important feature of Olympic hockey competition.

No one - from Babcock to executive director Steve Yzerman - wanted to read too much into the results of a short camp, this early in the season, but certainly the goaltenders were already in mid-season form.

Roberto Luongo, normally a villain in this building, given that he plays for the Flames' NHL arch-rivals, the Vancouver Canucks, was serenaded the way he is at GM Place - by the crowd calling ‘Luuuuu' - every time he made a save. In the opening period, playing for Sidney Crosby's Team White, Luongo was forced to make 17 of them.

"I think they were cheering," said Luongo, afterwards.

Brodeur, his primary competitor for the starting job, was no slouch either, making a series of brilliant saves in a game that featured little hitting, but plenty of speed.

"This is the reason we get together in the summer," said Brodeur, "It's really to have an idea of who you're going to be a teammate with. That's how you build friendship. These guys don't have much opportunity to do so, because they play on their own teams, they have their own schedules, and so you don't get to meet a lot of guys.

"I was fortunate, I've played a lot of these types of things - with All-Star Games and stuff - and so, you start meeting guys. Next thing you know, when there's a challenge that we're going to through in February, you know everybody. You're going to battle with someone you can put a face on - and that's an important thing.

"That's how you build a good hockey club - knowing each other."

Yzerman, the team's executive director, pronounced the four-day camp a success, given that the primary goal was, as Brodeur suggested, to give the players a chance to mingle and develop some friendships in advance of the actual Olympics.

"People said there was a lot of intensity," said Babcock. "Well, the players decide that. Steve talked to them at the start. He said, ‘we don't want anybody running anybody, but we wanted them to compete and show us what they had.' I mean, how many opportunities do you get in a lifetime to play an Olympics at home? It's well worth competing for."

The final evaluations will rely heavily on NHL play through the first two months of the season, according to Yzerman. The 23-player roster is expected to be announced sometime in December. For his part, Yzerman said he would like to wait as late as possible - the deadline is Dec. 31 - but there may be logistical reasons to name the team sooner.

For last night's scrimmage, Babcock reunited a line of Crosby, Rick Nash and Iginla for the first two periods, but substituted Martin St. Louis for Iginla in the third.

Dany Heatley, the disgruntled Ottawa Senators' forward who has demanded a trade out of the nation's capital, was booed occasionally, even though he is actually a Calgary native.

"What are you going to do?" said Heatley. "They're hockey fans. They have opinions on things. I think I got a few cheers at the end (when he scored in the shootout). People like goals."

Heatley did receive a show of support from one Flames' fan in the lower bowl that raised a sign saying: "Dany, I wouldn't go to Edmonton either."

"Some of you guys (reporters) have been pretty tough and some of the people have been pretty tough," said Heatley. "That's what's going to happen and that's what I've got to deal with."

Heatley played much of the game with Thornton and Patrick Marleau of the San Jose Sharks. Most of the recent trade speculation relating to Heatley has focused on a possible Sharks-Senators' swap.

Heatley said his plans now are to return to his summer home in Kelowna and await the start of training camp.

"Wherever that may be," he said.