10 Blackhawks Going For the Gold

By Rob Winn in News on Jan 7, 2014 6:40PM

Team Canada announced their roster Tuesday morning, finalizing the list of Blackhawks heading to Sochi, Russia to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Patrick Kane was named to Team USA after the Winter Classic on New Years Day. Kane and his USA teammates will look to improve on their silver medal from the 2010 games.

Marian Hossa and Michal Handzus were named earlier to Team Slovakia. And in a surprising move Michal Rozsival was named to the Czech Republic team. Johnny Oduya, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Marcus Kruger will be competing for the Swedish national team. Look for Oduya and Hjalmarsson to be paired together, as the team looks for familiarity in their roster.

In the granddaddy of them all, Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith will play for Team Canada. Notable players staying home are Brent Seabrook, who won gold in Vancouver in 2010, and Corey Crawford, who just won the Stanley Cup.

Seabrook was not a surprise as he has had an up and down season. (Down if you read any Blackhawks blog; up if you listen to analyst Eddie Olczyk for more than five minutes.) Crawford had a better shot to make the roster before he was sidelined with a groin injury that held him out until last week. However the time off will let him recover and rest, as the Hawks look to rely heavily on him as they make their playoff push after the Olympics.

Marrian Hossa is a concern with a nagging back injury which caused him to miss time earlier in the season. Hockey players all relish in the chance to represent their country and compete for a medal, all their NHL teams and fans can hope for is they come back from Russia happy and healthy. Here's hoping this is the only time you'll see Kane and Toews playing for different teams.