DENVER — It’s selection time for the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team and several Colorado Avalanche players could be selected.

Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Devon Toews are locks, but where things could get interesting is in goal.

Will Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong opt for Mackenzie Blackwood, Scott Wedgewood, or possibly both? Or will he choose just one? We’ll find out at 10 a.m. local time here in Colorado.

For now, Blackwood appears to be the favorite—and based on what head coach Jared Bednar has said about his goaltender throughout the season, it’s hard to make a case against him.

Blackwood Has Potential to Be the Best

The 29-year-old Blackwood, who was drafted in the 2nd round (42nd overall) by the New Jersey Devils in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, reached a milestone during Monday’s 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings at Ball Arena. Blackwood made his 250th career start and picked up the win and made 23 saves on 25 shots in the process. 

Blackwood had a slow start to the season after missing most of training camp, along with the preseason and the early portion of the regular season, while recovering from offseason lower-body surgery that took longer than anticipated.

His first few starts weren’t particularly impressive, and while head coach Jared Bednar did express some frustration with those early performances, he consistently emphasized that he had the utmost faith in his goaltender to turn things around.

"I hate to sound cruel, but that's a Blacky problem at this point," he stated on Nov. 13 following a 6-3 Avs win over the Buffalo Sabers. "It's not a problem for me; I have lots of confidence in Blacky and I know there's lots of minutes between here and the end of the season, but (Scott Wedgewood) is playing great, so I'm not gonna not play Wedge to play Blacky at this point, so those minutes come in practice and hard work he's been doing that and he'll get his games...Wedge is rested and ready to go for Sunday.”

Bednar gave Blackwood some tough love, but he also reiterated that he knew just how special his goaltender was. And Blackwood has proven that.

Through 15 games, Blackwood owns a 13-1-1 record with a 2.15 goals-against average and a league-best .924 save percentage.

Teammate Scott Wedgewood is tied for the NHL lead in wins with Florida Panthers star Sergei Bobrovsky at 17, while also posting an NHL-best 2.13 goals-against average to go along with a .919 save percentage.

The Avalanche find themselves in a rare and enviable position, with both goaltenders essentially neck-and-neck across every major statistical category. That kind of balance in net is highly unusual.

Olympic Bound

Following Monday’s win over Los Angeles, The Hockey News asked Bednar to address whether Blackwood has another level to reach in his game following the completion of his 250th career game.

“Yes,” Bednar stated plainly. “I do. I think he’s a great goalie in this league and I think he has the potential to be one of the best.”

Our eyes and the stats show that Blackwood is one of the best and in just over half an hour, he could be awarded with the opportunity to represent his country in the Milan Olympic Games.