The debate won't end with Wednesday's announcement. In fact, if anything it will increase as time slips away between now and the start of the Olympic tournament Feb. 15 and will not subside until this team either fulfills a nation's expectations and defends its gold medal in Turin on Feb. 26 or fails in that pursuit.

Here's a look at the squad.

Surprises?
Goal: With Martin Brodeur a given as the team's starter and Roberto Luongo getting a free pass onto the team based on his international play with Canada, you had to figure Marty Turco and Curtis Joseph were neck-and-neck going for the third spot on the roster.

In the end Turco has put a dreadful start to the season behind him to take over the NHL lead in wins with 18 and simply couldn't be dislodged.

"With Curtis it simply was we had to pick three and it ended up that we thought as a group that Turco was a guy we really said, how do we pull him out of there in spite of what Curtis has done," head coach Pat Quinn said.

It's a safe bet Turco will not see action, however, as Luongo reinforces the notion that Hockey Canada folks have long memories. It was Luongo who came on in relief of Sean Burke at the World Championships in 2003 to lead Canada to a championship. Then, after being named top goalie at the 2004 World Championships, Luongo came on in relief of Brodeur in the semifinals of the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and stoned a dynamic Czech team to lead Canada to an overtime win. Officials hope he can provide that kind of relief in Turin.

Defense: The only surprise along the blue line was that officials waited until long after the first six defensemen were named to announce that Vancouver Canuck Ed Jovanovski had made the team. (The announcement was made in Vancouver and one assumes holding off on announcing Jovanovski and Bertuzzi until the end made for greater drama although it probably didn't help the players' disposition much.)

Critics will point to the wretched year Rob Blake is having in Colorado (he is a puzzling minus-14 and has just 22 points), but the former Norris Trophy winner is just that, a winner, so he belongs.

The same can be said of Adam Foote who is struggling through his first season with the woeful Columbus Blue Jackets. His presence on the Canadian team is even more important given the absence of Steve Yzerman and Mario Lemieux.

Some members of the blue line were part of Canada's sweep of the World Cup of Hockey in 2004 and five of the seven were in Salt Lake City for Canada's seminal gold medal win in 2002. The group is laced with a daunting blend of size, speed, skill and straight out nastiness.

"It might be among the best defenses Canada has taken into any international tournament," Quinn said. "It just has the assets in all kinds of areas. We just hope the coaches don't mess it up."

If there was a mild defensive-related surprise it came with the inclusion of Toronto defenseman Bryan McCabe to the three-man taxi squad that will go to Turin and be available if there are injuries to players on the 23-man roster.

McCabe, who leads all NHL defensemen with 40 points, edged out smooth-skating Dan Boyle of Tampa Bay and sensational Calgary rookie Dion Phaneuf.

Forwards: What does it say about your national depth when the fourth- and sixth-leading scorers in the NHL (Eric Staal and Jason Spezza) aren't named to the 23-man roster and instead are relegated to the taxi squad? It says you've got a lot of toys in the toy box.

If Canada fails to win gold, critics will look back on the omission of the three young guns -- Spezza, Staal and Crosby -- from the 23-man roster as a possible oversight. But there is no doubt when looking at the Canadian forwards that Gretzky put a premium on players who have played and enjoyed success at the highest levels of competition, even if those players aren't necessarily enjoying stellar NHL campaigns.

Shane Doan, captain of Gretzky's Phoenix Coyotes, Ryan Smyth, the man they call Captain Canada, and long-time Detroit Red Wings Grind Line member Kris Draper will all be bringing their gritty games to Turin when many observers felt there would only be room for two of the three. This in spite of the fact Draper has but one goal and Doan has six. Doesn't matter. Doan scored the winning goal in the World Cup of Hockey and all three forwards have been long-time Hockey Canada guys. Case closed.

Not that offense should be an issue for a Canadian squad that boasts Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Joe Sakic, Brad Richards and Vincent Lecavalier, all of whom rank in the top 23 in NHL scoring.

Some will view Rick Nash's selection as a surprise given that injuries have allowed the big winger to play in only five games this season. But Nash's play at the World Championships last spring has Hockey Canada officials believing he is among the best players in the world. The fact he has two months to get back into the shape that saw him tie for the NHL goal-scoring title in 2003-04 made his inclusion a no-brainer.

Spezza's exclusion from the 23-man roster remains the most perplexing, especially given the tremendous chemistry he and team member Heatley have enjoyed in leading the Ottawa Senators to the top of the NHL standings. Between the two they have 94 points but age (he's just 22) and lack of international experience pushed him back onto the taxi squad.

Who Got Left In The Cold?
Lowe joked after the team was announced that Canada could field two Olympic teams and they'd both be favorites to win the gold and he's not far off. Marc Savard, Patrick Marleau, Brendan Shanahan and Alex Tanguay are all in the top 21 in NHL scoring and weren't named to the team. Marleau and Tanguay were both at the Canadian orientation camp this summer but were longshots at best to be asked to Turin.

The same can be said for defensemen Chris Phillips and Eric Brewer while Jay Bouwmeester has taken a step back in his development after being so good at the World Cup of Hockey.

Two-time Olympian Paul Kariya, a shootout specialist enjoying a renaissance in Nashville, simply didn't have the numbers to dislodge any of the incumbents. Jose Theodore, a former Hart Trophy winner, played himself out of contention for a job and simply didn't have the international cachet to match that of Luongo.

Sentimental Choice?
If there is one on this team it's Smyth. His 25 points in 28 games in Edmonton are certainly acceptable enough but the bottom line is the rugged forward epitomizes Canadian hockey. A seven-time member of Canada's World Championship effort, an Olympian in 2002 and member of the World Cup of Hockey squad, Smyth is to Canadian hockey what syrup is to pancakes.

Controversial Choice?
Joe Sakic. OK, just kidding. No question the addition of Bertuzzi to the 23-man roster is the single-most intriguing element of this Canadian team. Although he has very little recent international experience (he played on the 1998 and 2000 World Championship teams), Bertuzzi was essentially guaranteed a spot on the roster back in August when his suspension for the attack on Steve Moore was lifted by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Although he got off to a slow start Bertuzzi's play the last month made the decision to keep him on the roster that much easier.

"In the past three weeks to a month Todd has demonstrated that he's an elite player and I'm sure will be impressive on the big ice in Torino," said Steve Tambellini, assistant general manager of Bertuzzi's Vancouver Canucks and the director of player personnel for the Canadian Olympic team.

Team Strength
For a team that really does have it all from skill to size to speed, perhaps Canada's greatest attribute will be its cohesion. NHL teams play Sunday Feb. 12 while the Turin tournament begins Feb. 15. The fact almost every player has a strong connection to the systems employed by Quinn and assistants Wayne Fleming, Jacques Martin and Ken Hitchcock through the Salt Lake City Olympics or the World Cup of Hockey not to mention the orientation camp in August means this team should hit the ground running. In Salt Lake City, the Canadians took most of the preliminary round to get into sync, that shouldn't be the case in Turin where the competition figures to be even keener for the defending champions.

"The biggest thing I think we have instant chemistry with this team," Fleming said. A little chemistry can carry you a long way in this kind of tournament.

Team Weaknesses
It seems almost sacrilege to say this, but goaltending may be the biggest question mark for the Canadians heading into the Turin tournament. And when Marty Brodeur ranks as a question mark you realize that weakness is a relative term. Still, Brodeur has not enjoyed a stellar start to the season and has been hampered by a knee injury. His play of late has improved but he does not look like the Brodeur of old. Likewise, Luongo has been at times downright tepid for a Florida Panthers team that gives up a ton of shots not to mention quality scoring chances. Both Brodeur and Luongo will benefit, naturally, from the Canadian defense, but there remains a strange element of doubt surrounding what has traditionally been a strength in international competition.

Player That Might Make A Difference?
Wade Redden was the last cut of the 2002 Olympic team. And while he doesn't have the profile of other Canadian blue liners, Redden is having a Norris Trophy-worthy season in Ottawa. Although he missed 10 games with injury Redden has 24 points in 21 games and is a plus-19 tops among Canadian defenders.

Player That Might Not?
Before his injury, Philadelphia forward Simon Gagne was on a Gretzky-like goal-scoring pace with 23 goals in 27 games. But having suffered a tear in his right groin that forced him to miss the last two weeks, his return bears close watching. If he's healthy, Gagne is Canada's most important forward. If he's not at 100 percent it will put even more pressure on Thornton and Nash to produce.