Crosby, Brodeur lead Team Canada

Sidney Crosby wasn’t about to get snubbed again.

The youngest captain in NHL history to win a Stanley Cup has been chosen for Canada’s Olympic hockey team, four years after being left off the underachieving squad that finished a disappointing seventh in Turin, Italy.

Crosby, of the Pittsburgh Penguins, was among the easiest picks for executive director Steve Yzerman, the longtime Red Wings captain whose choices have been debated and evaluated for months in hockey-obsessed Canada, which virtually shut down for the announcement.

Among the top selections were goaltender Martin Brodeur, who recently set the NHL record with his 104th career shutout; defensemen Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger; forward Jarome Iginla, the star of Canada’s 2002 gold-medal winning team; Joe Thornton, the NHL scoring leader; and Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, a pair of 24-year-old Anaheim Ducks teammates.

Niedermayer is the captain, with Pronger, Crosby and Iginla as alternate captains. Crosby, at age 22, wasn’t the youngest chosen — Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty just turned 20 and Chicago forward Jonathan Toews is 21.

Joining Brodeur in goal will be 2006 holdover Roberto Luongo of Vancouver and Penguins Stanley Cup winner Marc-Andre Fleury.

Also chosen at forward were Rick Nash of Columbus; Thornton’s San Jose teammates Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley; Philadelphia’s Mike Richards, Patrice Bergeron of Boston, Eric Staal of Carolina and Brenden Morrow of Dallas. Bergeron was the only player chosen to the 23-man team who wasn’t picked for the pre-Olympic camp in August.

The defensemen include Chicago teammates Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, Dan Boyle of San Jose and Nashville’s Shea Weber.

Story appears in Thursday’s edition.