Olympics are ‘bigger than just the sport of hockey’

Participation in future Games likely to headline meeting that starts today

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — James van Riemsdyk went to the Stanley Cup final with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010, but he considers his appearance with the United States at the 2014 Olympics also special and career-defining in a different kind of way.

“It’s so hard to make an Olympic team,” said van Riemsdyk, the Toronto Maple Leafs winger who tied for third in scoring at the Sochi Games.

“On that stage too, it’s bigger than just the sport of hockey and just yourself; there’s so many other athletes and things there. Just to get a chance to be a part of all that was really special.”

NHL participation at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea is likely to headline the upcoming board of governors meeting, which begins today in West Palm Beach. The league’s governors will need to determine the next step in the Olympic process after a recent proposal to the NHL Players’ Association — exchanging participation in the Games for an extension of the current collective bargaining agreement — was rejected.

Though players want to return for a sixth straight Olympics appearance in Pyeongchang, the league has been reluctant to commit, citing, among other things, money, North American viewership concerns and the general hassle of shutting down the regular season for more than two weeks.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said the league would like to resolve the issue by early January.

A likely contender to play for the Americans again in 2018, van Riemsdyk hopes decision makers see the bigger picture with respect to the Olympics.

“If you take a long-term view of growth of the game and untapped markets and that sort of thing, and just trying to get more eyes on hockey, more people exposed to the game, you can’t beat the Olympics for something like that, especially in where it is,” van Riemsdyk said, referring to South Korea as well as the 2022 Games in China.

“I think it’d be great for us to be there,” he added. “But, that being said, some of those decisions are obviously a little bit outside of our hands.”

In discussions between the leagues and players’ association last month, the NHL said it would green light participation in 2018 if the players agreed to extend the current collective bargaining agreement by three years and eliminate a potential opt-out clause in the fall of 2019.

That would have extended the CBA until 2025 — had the players agreed.

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr said last week that conversations internally regarding the league’s idea were “very, very short.”

Agreeing to extend the CBA without tweaks and proper discussion among players just didn’t make sense on their side, especially for the limited return of the Olympics, which NHL players have attended since 1998.

WILD 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2

TORONTO — Eric Staal continued to find success against Toronto, scoring what turned out to be the game winner as the Minnesota Wild beat the Maple Leafs 3-2 on Wednesday.

Staal has 47 points in 43 career games against Toronto, and three of his six goals this season have come against the Leafs.

Jason Zucker and Chris Stewart also scored for the Wild (13-8-4), who wrapped up their five-game road trip 2-1-2.

Ben Smith and Tyler Bozak found the back of the net for the Maple Leafs (10-10-5), who dropped to 8-4-0 at Air Canada Centre.