The majority of the NHL’s American hockey players who hope to represent their country on the U.S. Olympic hockey team in the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City were here this week.
The 37 players went through what USA Hockey calls an “orientation camp,” which consisted of meetings, uniform fittings and an education about substances banned by the International Olympic Committee.
They practiced twice this week, going 75 minutes a day, the maximum allowed by the NHL Players Association.
Some had been skating hard leading up to the camp, some had not. None are in game shape, seeing as how NHL training camps don’t open until next week.
And yet, the two sessions this week represent exactly two-thirds of the practices for which coach Herb Brooks will have his talent together, the other practice coming Feb. 14, the day before the U.S. plays Finland in its first game at the Olympics. .
Is this any way to win a gold medal?
“Things aren’t measuring up well for us,” Dallas center Mike Modano said.
Which brings up the question: Should the NHL pros be playing in the Olympics?
“That concept had been debated by the people who make decisions, and that decision is that the pros are here to compete, and we go forward with it,” said Brooks, who had long been against pros in the Olympics. “Nobody likes change, but without change, there would be no progress.”
The progress is such that the NHL will offer the Olympics the best players in the world. But that does not necessarily mean that it will offer the best teams.
Practice time for Salt Lake City will be even less than the United States, Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic had in 1998 for the Games in Nagano, Japan. It was no coincidence that the Czech Republic beat Russia in a championship game that featured two of the better teams that had among the fewest late-arriving NHL players.
The Americans and the Canadians, composed solely of NHL players, were knocked out earlier than anticipated, both by the Czechs.
For what would become the Miracle on Ice in 1980, Brooks had more than 60 games to cobble together a group fit to know its way around the bigger Olympic ice surface, learn linemates’ tendencies and band as a unit. In February, he will have three games in four days.
“It’s difficult, no question,” Brooks said. “Some people in the National Hockey League say it’s the same for everybody, but in my estimation, it’s not the same for everybody.
“When the Europeans to get on that international rink, it’s like old home week. They play an entirely different game. They know how to play that game. The Canadians and the Americans, we grew up in a little different atmosphere. Our mind-set is different, and for us to make the adjustment takes a bit of time.”
Brooks’ biggest on-ice problem is getting the Americans used to the Olympic-size sheet, which is 15 feet wider than the NHL’s. The international game goes more east-west than the NHL’s north-south attack mode.
“On the big ice, if you’re out of position, it’s double to get back,” Modano said. “That’s the thing we have to learn–good defense, good patience, good positioning.”
Brooks will combine players who know each other, such as Blackhawks captain Tony Amonte with St. Louis’ Doug Weight and Boston’s Bill Guerin, a trio that played lights out at the All-Star Game. Brooks also has had former Dallas teammates Brett Hull and Modano skating together. Likewise, he had future Philadelphia teammates Jeremy Roenick and John LeClair on a line.
But Brooks’ overall problem with this group–15 have been named to the team; eight will be added by Dec. 22–is to bring it together quickly.
“They’re good people, proud to be American hockey players. I think there will be a catalyst to bring things toward the middle,” Brooks said.
Brooks has already given indications of what motivational tactics he’ll use. In pointing out how the Europeans have an advantage adjusting to the big ice on short notice, he has cast the Americans as underdogs in their own country, and we all know how underdog American hockey teams do in the United States.
Brooks also has talked about how the players have “a bigger calling” for hockey in America, hitting on the pride of being the host country. As well, Brooks has pointed out how leadership starts not with him but with captain Chris Chelios and polices itself down the roster.
Sounds like we know the whole February spiel. “Pretty close to it,” Brooks said with a laugh. “I’ll talk about it. I’ve been a coach who’s always talked about it. These people understand. They know what has to be done.”
