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According to well-placed insiders, Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price is among the goaltenders — along with Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils and Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks — under consideration for the Canadian men's hockey entry in the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010.

Though it's a stretch to imagine he would displace either Brodeur, a former gold medalist who by then will be the NHL goalie with the most career victories, or Luongo, the heir apparent, an ill-timed injury or run of sparkling play could earn Vancouver-born Price a ticket to his hometown Games as a backup or a third-stringer.

"I'll be the water boy, I'll carry sticks, I don't care," Price said. "I'm a B.C. guy and a Vancouver guy. It would be huge to be there. … It's definitely a goal of mine."

Even if Price has to wait beyond Vancouver, many think his time in Team Canada livery will come sooner rather than later.

"Oh definitely, I don't think there's any doubt," said Shane Doan, who is a decade older than his cousin Price and played for Canada in the Turin Olympics in 2006. Doan will also be a serious contender for a roster spot in 2010.

Price has indeed come a long way from the runty ankle-biter at his extended family's annual Boxing Day game (his father, Jerry Price, usually played nets, Doan recalled).

"I think it's hard to find a goalie who has done as much at such a young age, maybe ever," added Doan, whose summer home is near his cousin's. "He's so athletic, he uses his size really well and he's relaxed and patient in there. You can't teach a goalie to be patient. … He can go incredibly far."

Doan said Price's emotional make-up is ideal for the goalie cauldron that is Montreal. It is the town, after all, where newspaper columnists only half-jokingly refer to the goalie as "Jesus Price."