VANCOUVER — Team Canada is ready to sink or swim at the Olympics with Roberto Luongo in goal.
Coach Mike Babcock tabbed the Vancouver Canucks goaltender on Monday to take over from struggling veteran Martin Brodeur for as long as Canada’s men’s hockey team can go at the Games.
It starts with a must-win game against Germany on Tuesday night. A victory would put Canada into a quarter-final Wednesday against powerful Russia.
”That’s our plan — he has an opportunity here and he has to play well,” said Babcock.
Luongo said he was told of the change after Canada was beaten 5-3 by the United States in their final preliminary round game Sunday night, when Brodeur allowed four goals on 22 shots while American goalie Ryan Miller made 42 saves at the other end.
That gave the U.S. a bye into the quarter-finals, while Canada must first play its elimination game against Germany, a tight-checking underdog.
Luongo started Canada’s first game of the Olympics, making 15 saves for the shutout in an easy 8-0 win over Norway, but then ceded the net to Brodeur, the NHL’s all-time leader in wins and shutouts, for the next two games.
”It’s going to be fun to play in front of the fans again,” said the 30-year-old Luongo. ”It was a great experience in my first outing.“
Luongo backed up Brodeur at the 2006 Olympics in Turin and got into two games, including a 5-1 win over the Germans and a 2-0 loss to Finland.
But mostly, he has been a back-up in international competition, including at the world championship in the 2004-05 NHL lock-out season and at the 2004 World Cup.
He stepped in for the semifinals when Brodeur injured a wrist, notching a 4-3 overtime win over the Czechs.
”I’ve played at world championships and world juniors and some playoffs, but this I’m really excited about,” the Montreal native said.
The test will also come in front of the home fans at GM Place, which has been renamed Canada Hockey Place for the Olympics.
”If it is (an advantage), it’s not much,” he said. ”There’s not much quirkiness to this building.
”But there is a comfort level playing in this rink a lot and playing in front of these fans with the atmosphere here. I’m really pumped up about playing here.”
Brodeur, meanwhile, is widely viewed by many as Canada’s best goaltender. The 37-year-old, a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the New Jersey Devils, led the team to gold at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, but was clearly struggling Sunday.
Brodeur opted not to talk to the media after learning of the change. Canada’s third goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, is not expected to see any action.
”I don’t think he was surprised,” said Babcock, who remarked after the U.S. game that Canada needed to be better in goal. “I talked to Marty. He’s a pro. He understands it’s about the team.”
When asked if Luongo would be taking over for the rest of the tournament, Babcock said it’s a moot point: the teams are now single-game knockout mode, meaning that if a goalie has a bad game, it’s all over.
”If you’re changing goalies, you’re probably out of the tournament,” he said. ”If you don’t win now, you go home.”
Luongo, a traditional butterfly goaltender who uses his long limbs and body to cover as much of the net as possible, will bring a different style of goaltending to the game than Brodeur, a standup-style netminder who’s very active in his crease.
”To win at a high level you need big saves, momentum-changing saves, and we’re looking for Lu to do that for us,” said Babcock.
”The way the pucks went into the net last night, there was traffic and people in front, which is the way the game is now. Sometimes just being down in that big butterfly, things just hit you. So we think Lu gives us a real good opportunity to win.”
There was no objection from the rest of the team.
”They’re all three proven goaltenders in the NHL,” said forward Eric Staal. ”I thought Roberto looked pretty solid in the game against Norway, felt comfortable.
”This is his building. He plays here on a regular basis. He’ll be confident and ready to go.”
Babcock made other changes as the team held a one-hour skate at the suburban Britannia Ice Rink.
For one, he had yet another new winger for star centre Sidney Crosby — Staal. The pair skated with veteran Jarome Iginla on right wing.
Rick Nash, who has played with Crosby in all three games thus far, moved into Staal’s former spot on left wing with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, who have laboured to score despite generating many chances.
”I’m not going to try to change my game,” said Staal. ”It’s about being fast, being physical.
”I like to hang onto (the puck) down low, use my size and reach. Hopefully it creates some offence for myself and my linemates.”
Since the Olympics began, Crosby has had Nash, Iginla, Mike Richards and Jonathan Toews as linemates, and while he has five points in three games, his lines look to have lacked cohesion.
Left intact was the trio of San Jose Sharks — Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley and Patrick Marleau. The fourth line has Toews, Richards, Patrice Bergeron and Brenden Morrow in different looks.
”That’s what you see in a short tournament like this — different combinations, seeing who works with who,” said Crosby.
“Beside Joe’s line, it’s a pretty safe bet they’re going to find chemistry, but for the other three lines, it’s juggling to find that. That’s normal, I think.”