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Babcock: Hamhuis, Subban don’t have chance of cracking top six

Sochi Olympics Ice Hockey Men

Canada defenseman Dan Hamhuis and Norway forward Mats Olsen Rosseli fight for control of the puck in the first period of a men’s ice hockey game at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Julio Cortez

Team Canada coach Mike Babcock was understandably very happy with Team Canada’s defense on Sunday as they led the nation to a 2-1 overtime victory against Finland. With that in mind, Babcock doesn’t plan to change course going into the quarterfinals.

“I’m going to be honest with you, Hamhuis and P.K. don’t really have a chance,” Babcock told NHL.com’s Arpon Basu.

P.K. Subban, who is the reigning Norris Trophy winner, was in the press box yesterday while Dan Hamhuis was limited to just 3:58 minutes of ice time.

While there’s no question that both of they are talented, but the fact of the matter is that when you have a roster as stacked as Canada’s, it’s inevitable that great players are going to play minimal roles. In this case, Babcock has decided stick with the top-six of Duncan Keith, Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, Jay Bouwmeester, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Alex Pietrangelo after they helped Canada sweep Group B.

Related:

Diamond D: Canada’s blueline ‘what we’ve relied on the whole tournament’

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