The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I own three jerseys with this logo on it. In 1998, 2002 and 2004, the fun of seeing Canada compete at the Olympics and World Cup with the best players from the NHL was just pure fun (interestingly enough, when I didn't get a jersey in 2006, they had their worst showing ever). There was always a lot of debate on who should go on the back of the jersey.

I'm not going to pretend I know exactly what is going on with the Olympic committee's decision to enforce a rule it had no problems with for the last few Olympics: Sports federations are not allowed to display their logos on team uniforms at the Olympics.

It seems rather petty, but perhaps, it's appropriate. There is a lot of talk that this will be the last time the NHL will allow its players to compete on that international stage. Injuries, disruptions of schedules, the fact that team owners don't get a cent of the profits: the only international competition they would endorse is the World Cup of Hockey. The reason simply being the NHL and its players control all revenues and TV coverage, and there really isn't much in it for them money-wise to send their players off to the Olympics.

Regardless of whether 2010 is the last Olympics NHLers participate in, remember this great logo will appear elsewhere: The World Juniors, World Championships, and even the aforementioned World Cup. It's still something young Canadians can aspire to wear as they dream one day of playing for their country.