No Olympics For Messier

They broke into the National Hockey League together. They won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s. And they played with the Rangers in the twilights of their careers.

But Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier will not have the chance to represent Canada together in the most significant international hockey event in 25 years.

Canadian Hockey, the umbrella organization for the team that will represent Canada at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, in February, made the much-awaited announcement of its team on Saturday. Gretzky, the Rangers’ center and the holder of virtually every NHL scoring record, was named to the squad. Messier, who led the Rangers to the 1994 Stanley Cup, was not.

“I talked to Mark this afternoon,” Team Canada general manager Bob Clarke said following the roster announcement. “He took it with the class and dignity you’d expect. He knew how hard it was to select this team and wished us good luck.”

Gretzky had said that if he had made the selections, Messier would have been on the team.

“I’d love for Mark to be on the team,” Gretzky said. “Unfortunately, that’s not the case.”

Joining Gretzky up front were forwards Rob Brind’Amour, Shayne Corson, Theoren Fleury, Paul Kariya, Trevor Linden, Eric Lindros, Joe Nieuwendyk, Keith Primeau, Joe Sakic, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman and Rob Zamuner.

The defense features Rob Blake, Ray Bourque, Eric Desjardins, Adam Foote, Al MacInnis, Chris Pronger and Scott Stevens.

The goalies are Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Curtis Joseph.

Blues playing defense

The remarkable thing about the St. Louis Blues is not that they can score goals. Everyone expected that from a team with Brett Hull.

The surprising thing about St. Louis is that the Blues are preventing goals. No one thought that defense was anything special.

In 26 games, the Blues allowed just 57 goals, the best in the West. They are allowing just 2.19 goals per game.

Recchi shines for Montreal

He used to play for the Philadelphia Flyers, and so did Eric Lindros. He used to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and so did Mario Lemieux. Face it, Mark Recchi could have been a 50-goal scorer and he would have been overshadowed by those guys.

Actually, Recchi has been a 50-goal scorer. And he has topped 100 points in a season several times. He’s one of the league’s best scorers, but he seems always to be overshadowed.

This season Recchi is one of the leading scorers on the Montreal Canadiens, the surprise team in the NHL this year.

“I think everybody knew we had a lot of talent,” Recchi said. “It was just a matter of putting it all together, getting a work ethic every night, getting an identity. In Philadelphia, obviously, we had Eric and then Mario in Pittsburgh. I don’t think we have that one big superstar here. What we have here is a bunch of very talented players with a tremendous amount of speed.”

Around the league

Mike Gartner has cleared waivers and will remain with the Phoenix Coyotes and continue to rehabilitate his injured knee. Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall could be sidelined for a week with a strained left thigh muscle.

On the ice

Robert Lang scored his first two goals of the season as the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their unbeaten streak to seven games with a 6-3 victory Saturday night in Pittsburgh over the Montreal Canadiens.

At Greensboro, N.C., Adam Deadmarsh scored on a power play with 6:35 left to cap a three-goal, third-period rally as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2.

At Toronto, Mark Messier scored the winning goal just hours after being overlooked for the Canadian Olympic team and led the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.