Red Baron 0 Report post Posted August 9, 2004 Belfour pulls out of World Cup Canadian Press 8/9/2004 (CP) - Veteran goalie Ed Belfour has pulled out of the World Cup of Hockey less than two weeks before Team Canada opens training camp in Ottawa, citing a back problem. The Toronto Maple Leafs netminder informed Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky of his decision Monday. ``I talked to Eddie this morning and unfortunately he won't be able to play,'' Gretzky told The Canadian Press in a phone interview. ``He's got a back problem, a back injury.'' The 39-year-old Belfour, who has history of back problems, would have been the No. 2 or No. 3 goalie behind Olympic starter Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils. Roberto Luongo of the Florida Panthers, who has led Canada to back-to-back world championship gold medals, is also on the team. Jose Theodore of the Montreal Canadiens is the leading candidate to replace Belfour while Marty Turco of the Dallas Stars, J.S. Giguere of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Sean Burke of the Philadelphia Flyers have outside chances. Gretzky said he would confer with the rest of the Canadian management team, Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini, and likely name Belfour's replacement in the next few days. Belfour, a native of Carmen, Man., went 34-19-6 with the Leafs last season while posting a 2.13 goals-against average, .918 save percentage and registering 10 shutouts. He was brilliant in Toronto's first-round playoff win over Ottawa this spring and that was a major factor in him being named to Team Canada on May 15, edging out Theodore. ``I feel horrible for Eddie,'' Gretzky said. ``He was so wonderful in Salt Lake City, just tremendous in the locker-room and great with the guys. I felt like he would get an opportunity to play (at the World Cup). ``So I'm really disappointed for Eddie.'' The good news is that Canada has no shortage of talent in goal with the likes of Theodore, Turco, Giguere and Andrew Raycroft to choose from, just to name a few. ``We have a lot of depth in our country, we don't lack ability, so we're pretty fortunate that way that we have a couple of goalies to choose from now that could have been on the team originally,'' Gretzky said. Belfour joins Steve Yzerman and Rob Blake as three high-profile veterans from the Olympic champion team in Salt Lake having to pull out because of injury after first being named to the team May 15. ``You don't replace an Yzerman, not just for what he does on the ice, but his leadership off the ice,'' Gretzky said, while also praising Blake and Belfour. ``He's one of the greatest leaders we've had in this game. ``He played the gold medal game in Salt Lake City basically on one foot.'' Centre Vincent Lecavalier replaced Yzerman and defenceman Scott Hannan took over for Blake. The final 26-player roster must be submitted to World Cup organizers Aug. 29, on the eve of the Aug. 30-Sept. 14 NHL tournament. With Yzerman, Blake and Belfour out, it's a younger Team Canada which will open camp Aug. 20 in Ottawa and kick off its tournament Aug. 31 in Montreal against the defending World Cup champion United States. ``There's no question we have a lot of new blood on this team and it's a bit of a different mix from Salt Lake, but all of these guys have been through the Canadian system, whether it'd be world juniors or world championships, that's what is so great about our program,'' Gretzky said. ``They'll have tremendous leadership from guys like Adam Foote, Mario Lemieux, Jarome Iginla, guys who have been there before.'' It's not clear at this point whether Belfour, who signed a multi-year contact extension with the Leafs on June 30, is seriously injured or not. ``We are in the process of gathering information on Ed Belfour's status,'' Leafs GM John Ferguson said in a statement released late Monday afternoon. ``We will provide more information when our club doctors have had an opportunity to examine him.'' Belfour was out a month late last season with a back injury but rebounded with a strong playoff. Though it sucks that Eddie isn't going coming off his best season in a while, IMO, I don't blame him for not going to the tournament, but not to ruin his career with this back injury. Theodore willl probably get the call to play for his country, but I won't be surprised if Turco gets called to play for Canada. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
the max 0 Report post Posted August 9, 2004 Theodore would be a good fit. Who's starting for Canada? Luongo or Brodeur? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
treble 0 Report post Posted August 10, 2004 Probably Brodeur, though Luongo and Theodore will probably get a game in each. This is probably for the best and won't make much of a difference in the tournament. I was actually pretty surprised when he was named to the team originally. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red Baron 0 Report post Posted August 10, 2004 Its been official, as Jose Theodore will replace Ed Belfour for the world cup Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
