OTTAWA, Ontario -- Just three or four years ago, the popular narrative enveloped this hockey-mad nation that somehow Canada had stopped producing enough high-level goaltenders. After one look at the three masked men lockering next to each other over the past week in Canada's capital, that notion now seems so silly.
The past two Vezina Trophy winners, Carey Price and Braden Holtby, and Corey Crawford, owner of two Stanley Cup rings, form a 1-2-3 punch in goal for Canada that arguably is the cream of the World Cup tournament -- although Team USA certainly can make an argument, too.
"It's a good luxury to have," Martin Brodeur, the NHL's all-time winningest goalie, said during a phone conversation on Monday. "[In the World Cup] in '04, I got hurt at a bad time in the semifinals, and Roberto Luongo came in and stole the game for us to get into the finals. So the depth is such an important thing. Whether it's a bad game or an injury, you have guys to step up and do the job. That's a luxury that we're pretty fortunate to have. You look at other teams -- Team USA might be in the same boat as Canada, but apart from that, it gets pretty thin quickly at that position.''
Whatever perceived or actual concern Canada had in goal a few years ago is now a distant memory.
"Yeah, whatever the talk used to be about there not being enough goaltenders coming out of Canada, I think these three are doing a pretty good job of erasing that reputation," agreed center Jonathan Toews. "You could start any one of those three guys and they would carry us where we want to go.''
And that's not counting the Canadian goalies who aren't here. Martin Jones and Matt Murray each made deep Stanley Cup runs with the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins, respectively, last spring. Jake Allen is coming along for the St. Louis Blues, Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury was having a sensational 2015-16 season before concussion problems set in, Brian Elliott is always underrated, and Luongo is still kicking around.
The point being, it's hard to believe that Canadian hockey fans and media were fretting so much about the position just a few years ago.
"Like anything, you never really know what the reason was for a while there. It could have just been a weird cycle," said Holtby, last season's Vezina Trophy winner. "It's hard to say. But it's good that Canadian goaltending is coming up. Carey has probably had a lot to do with that. He inspired a lot of kids, being in Montreal on that big stage. Hopefully, we'll see it get better and better.''
What we haven't seen so far in the team's preparation for the World Cup is the kind of drama and/or tension that has so often surrounded Canada's goalie situation in best-on-best tournaments, such as:
In Nagano in 1998, when many felt a young Brodeur should have been given the chance to make his Olympic debut in the bronze-medal game once Canada's gold medal hopes were dashed in the semis. But Patrick Roy played every game.
In Salt Lake City in 2002, when Team Canada head coach Pat Quinn yanked his own Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph after just one game, a bad loss to Sweden, opening the door for Brodeur to take the puck and run with it.
In Vancouver in 2010, when head coach Mike Babcock made the bold decision to bench Brodeur for Luongo after a roun-robin loss to the U.S.
Yep, it's rarely boring when it comes to the Team Canada goalie situation.
What's noticeable so far this time around is that Price, Holtby and Crawford have a camaraderie going, each one pulling for the other. Holtby made it clear from the first day of camp that, despite being the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, he believed that Price, the Olympic holdover, should be the starter.
"They're pretty good guys," Crawford said Monday. "Price is hilarious. And Holtby is such a down-to-earth, cool guy. Just relaxed. It's fun to work with them. It's a good chance for me to come here and play in the last game, just hang out and do my thing. Those two guys are easy to be around.''
Says the humble guy with all the Stanley Cup rings.
We certainly haven't seen any of the tension that was evident in the past -- so far. But Brodeur deserved credit in 2010 for the way he accepted Babcock's decision with class and tried to avoid making it a bigger story than it already was.
"You're trying to make it as smooth as possible for management," Brodeur said Monday. "The last thing you need is a huge competition that takes away from what people are trying to do there, which is to win the World Cup. As players you don't want that attention on you. Sometimes it's created; I remember when I went to Vancouver, it was all about Luongo because he played in Vancouver [with the Canucks]. I knew it was going to be hard for me. One bad game, and it was easy to make a transition there. It was kind of written in the sky.
"But it's always the case with Team Canada for top goalies. You run with the ball until somebody is there to take you down. It's hard to get the ball, and when you have it you don't want to let it go. I had a few tournaments where Luongo was right beside me, and next thing you know he got the opportunity and ran with the ball. Now Price has it. And there's two other guys now waiting there with him. ''