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Canadian Olympic hockey executive director Steve Yzerman no doubt is monitoring the health of Brenden Morrow, top left, and improved play of Rick Nash, top right. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

These are the truly nervous moments for Steve Yzerman.

Since he unveiled Team Canada’s lineup for next month’s Winter Olympics, the executive director has seen Marc-Andre Fleury, Brenden Morrow, Dan Boyle, Patrice Bergeron and Ryan Getzlaf miss games because of injury.

Even though all 23 of his original picks from the end of December are still expected to be in Vancouver, Yzerman knows this could change on any given night. Team Canada’s executive director finds it a tad hard to relax while waiting for the Games to start, especially given that something terrible might happen to a player in the meantime.

“Just sitting between announcing the team and [the time leading] up to the Olympics is the most hard part,” Yzerman told The Canadian Press in a recent interview. “There’s not a whole lot you can do at this point. You’re sitting wondering if you’ve got injured guys, how are they going to be? I’m just watching guys play.”

While Bergeron (broken right thumb) and Getzlaf (leg) have both returned to action, the other three players were on the sidelines at the end of last week.

Fleury was the first to return. His broke finger healed enough for him to start in goal when the Pittsburgh Penguins visited the New York Rangers on Monday night.

Morrow has missed four games with an oblique injury and is expected to return to practice with the Dallas Stars this week. Boyle has an undisclosed upper-body injury but skated in San Jose over the weekend.

Injuries could play a huge role in these Olympics because teams won’t be carrying a taxi squad, as they did four years ago in Turin. Each country will register its final 23-man roster on Feb. 15 — the night before the tournament starts — and no one else will be eligible to suit up at the event.

As a result, teams will be reluctant to bring any players with nagging problems that might easily be aggravated in Vancouver. Yzerman and his Olympic management group have been sure to monitor each situation as closely as possible.

The NHL shuts its doors for the Olympic break on Feb. 14. Teams have between eight and 11 games to play before Team Canada faces Norway in Vancouver on Feb. 16.

There’s reason to believe this Canadian Olympic squad might have more success on the scoresheet than the 2006 version.

A number of players have been hot of late, with Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby leading the way last week by scoring eight points in three games. That included a six-point night against the Islanders on Jan. 19 to match his career high for a game.

It was also a excellent few days for Eric Staal, who has scored five goals in three games since replacing Rod Brind’Amour as captain of the Carolina Hurricanes. He’ll be one of nine Canadian players at the Olympics who are captains of NHL teams.

Two others are among the better-performing members of Team Canada recently — Columbus Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash had three goals and five points last week while Canucks captain Roberto Luongo reeled off three straight victories, turning aside 94 of 100 shots in the process.

San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau continues to lead the league in goals, picking up three more last week to increase his overall total to 35. That’s the second-highest amount he’s ever had in his career and leaves him just four away from eclipsing the 38 he scored last season.

One Canadian player who will be looking to pick it up before the Olympics is Jarome Iginla. The Calgary Flames captain brings a 10-game scoring drought into Monday’s game against St. Louis and has just one goal in 14 games overall — a stretch that dates back to just before Yzerman unveiled Team Canada on Dec. 30.

The athlete who will lead the Canadian team into BC Place Stadium next month at the opening of the Vancouver Olympics is to be revealed Friday.

The Canadian Olympic Committee will announce the flag-bearer in Richmond, B.C.

Possible candidates include long-track speedskater Clara Hughes, bobsled pilot Pierre Lueders, hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser, visually impaired cross-country skier Brian McKeever and speedskater Jeremy Wotherspoon.

Hughes, 38, is the only Canadian to have won Olympic medals in both the Summer and Winter Games.

She brought home a bronze for cycling from the 1996 Summer Olympics and, from the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics, added a gold, silver and bronze for long-track speeding skating.

Vancouver will be veteran bobsleigher Pierre Lueders’s fifth Olympic appearance. The 39-year-ancient owns two Olympic medals (gold and silver) for his efforts.

Wickenhesier, 31, is heading to her fourth Winter Olympics. She led the women’s hockey team to two straight Olympic gold medals in 2002 and 2006.

McKeever, a visually impaired cross-country skier, will become the first Paralympian to compete in a Winter Olympics. The 30-year-ancient placed 21st at the able-bodied World Championships in 2007.

Wotherspoon, 33, is retiring from speedskating at the end of the season. The long-track star, a 15-year national team member, is widely considered the greatest sprinter of all time.

Hockey player Danielle Goyette was Canada’s flag-bearer at the 2006 Turin Games.

The selection of the flag-bearer starts with the different sports federations recommending candidates. A committee within the Canadian Olympic Committee reviews the names. That committee consists of two athletes, a coach, the Games chef de mission and the two assistant chefs.

With files from CBCSports.ca

Former Gators quarterback Tim Tebow is at the centre of a furor over a proposed Super Bowl ad with him and his mother. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

A coalition of U.S. women’s groups called on CBS on Monday to scrap its plot to broadcast an ad during the Super Bowl featuring college football star Tim Tebow and his mother, which critics say is likely to convey an anti-abortion message.

“An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the largest national sports event of the year — an event designed to bring Americans together,” said Jemhu Greene, president of the Women’s Media Center.

The New York-based WMC was co-ordinating the protest with backing from the National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority and other groups.

CBS said it has approved the script for the 30-second ad and has given no indication that the protest would have an impact. A network spokesman, Dana McClintock, said CBS would ensure that any issue-oriented ad was “appropriate for air.”

The ad, paid for by the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, is expected to recount the tale of Pam Tebow’s pregnancy in 1987 with a theme of “Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life.”

After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child. She gave birth to Tim, who won the 2007 Heisman Trophy while helping the Florida Gators to two Bowl Championship Series titles.

The controversy over the ad was raised Sunday when Tebow met reporters in Mobile, Ala., ahead of next weekend’s Senior Bowl.

‘I know some people won’t agree with it, but I reckon they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe.’—Tim Tebow

“I know some people won’t agree with it, but I reckon they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe,” Tebow said. “I’ve always been very convicted of it [his views on abortion] because that’s the reason I’m here, because my mom was a very courageous woman. So any way that I could help, I would do it.”

Thirty-second commercials during the Super Bowl are selling for $2.5 million to $2.8 million US. Gary Schneeberger, a spokesman for Focus on the Family, said funds for the Tebow ad were donated by a few “very generous friends” and did not come from the group’s general fund.

Schneeberger said he and his colleagues “were a small surprised” at the furor over the ad.

“There’s nothing political and controversial about it,” he said. “When the day arrives, and you sit down to watch the game on TV, those who oppose it will be quite surprised at what the ad is all about.”

The protest letter from the WMC suggested that CBS should have turned down the ad in part because it was conceived by Focus on the Family.

“By offering one of the most coveted advertising spots of the year to an anti-equality, anti-choice, homophobic organization, CBS is aligning itself with a political stance that will hurt its reputation, alienate viewers, and discourage consumers from supporting its shows and advertisers,” the letter said.

‘We’re not selling anything’

But, Schneeberger said CBS officials carefully examined Focus on the Family’s track record and found no basis for rejecting the ad.

“We know that some people don’t reckon very highly of what we do,” Schneeberger said. “We’re not trying to sell you a soft drink — we’re not selling anything. We’re trying to celebrate families.”

The thought for the ad came from an employee in Focus on the Family’s film department, Schneeberger said, and the Tebows “were thrilled” when it was proposed to them. The Tebows, including Tim, have been outspoken in discussing their Christian faith and their missionary work.

All the national networks, including CBS, have policies that rule out the broadcast of certain types of contentious advocacy ads. In 2004, CBS cited such a policy in rejecting an ad by the United Church of Christ highlighting the liberal-leaning church’s welcoming stance toward gays and others who might feel shunned by more conservative denominations.

CBS was criticized for rejecting that ad and might have worried about comparable criticism from conservatives if it had rejected an ad featuring such a charismatic and well-known figure as Tebow.

CBS noted that it had run some advocacy ads in recent months, including spots taking conflicting sides in the debate over health care.

‘Not being respectful’

Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, said she respects the private choices made by women such as Pam Tebow but condemned the plotted ad as “extraordinarily offensive and demeaning.”

“That’s not being respectful of other people’s lives,” O’Neill said. “It is offensive to hold one way out as being a superior way over everybody else’s.”

A national columnist for CBSSports.com, Gregg Doyel, also objected to the CBS choice to show the ad, specifically because it would air on Super Sunday.

“If you’re a sports fan, and I am, that’s the holiest day of the year,” he wrote. “It’s not a day to discuss abortion.

“For it, against it, I don’t care what you are. On Super Sunday, I don’t care what I am. Feb. 7 is simply not the day to have that discussion.”