Olympic pool drained
NHL’s best to be missed in Games
For hockey fans, the last five Olympics have been about as good as it gets in the sport, with the best players from the leading hockey nations engaging in the most intense competition imaginable in pursuit of a gold medal. Matches were thrilling to attend in person, and made for compelling TV viewing.
Next month in Pyeongchang, South Korea, players will again be passionately chasing gold. And the competition no doubt will be intense and dramatic.
Alas, it’s the “best players” element that will be missing.
For the first time since 1994, there will be no current NHL players taking part, as Gary Bettman & Co. opted not to shut down the league to take part in an Olympiad 7,000 miles away.
As a result, national hockey federations have had to patch together rosters, finding talent in various minor pro leagues in North America and Europe, or on college campuses.
Team USA last week was the first roster announced. USA Hockey did about as well as could be expected — but, boy, it’s a long way from Patrick Kane, Johnny Gaudreau, Joe Pavelski, Auston Matthews, Jonathan Quick, et al, to Chad Billins, Will Borgen, Garrett Roe and Ryan Zapolski — players named to this team.
These guys are all good players. And 15 of the 23 players named to Team USA have appeared in NHL games. Problem is, they have played in very few games for the most part.
Of course, talent in a hockey tournament is relative: Every country will be missing its best, but there will be plenty of compelling stories among the players who do take part. The competition could be terrific — just as it was in the true amateur days of the Games.
“Obviously from a selection process it’s been a battle for us on all the players we have available to us,” Team USA coach Tony Granato said after the roster was announced. “We’re real happy with the players we announced. I think we’ve put together an outstanding group of players that will represent us well come February and give us a great chance to do really well and compete for a medal.”
The American skaters include several familiar and interesting names and have a very strong Boston flavor.
It starts with team captain and longtime NHLer Brian Gionta, a one-time Boston College star who has played 1,006 NHL games. Soon to be 39, Gionta reportedly eschewed NHL offers to play in the Olympics, and will sign with a team after the Games.
Ex-Bruins forward Chris Bourque, who got a decent look at left wing and the power-play point with the B’s 2012-13, has played 51 NHL games and is regularly one of the AHL’s top players.
Forward Ryan Donato of Harvard is a top Bruins prospect and could sign and be in their lineup shortly after Pyeongchang.
Others with a Boston background: left winger Jordan Greenway of Boston University, a Minnesota Wild pick; right winger Bobby Butler of Marlboro and UNH, now with Milwaukee in the AHL; left winger John McCarthy of Boston, a former Terrier, now with AHL San Jose; Defenseman Matt Gilroy, a former Hobey Baker Award winner at BU, now in the KHL; and Defenseman Noah Welch, a Brighton, St. Sebastian’s and Harvard product, now in the SHL.
Two goalies are yet to be added. Fifteen Team USA members are currently playing in European pro leagues, three are in the AHL and four are in college. The average age is 29.2. All but McCarthy have played internationally for the USA.
Only Gionta (2006) has played in the Olympics. He is still a productive player, posting 15-20-35 totals in 82 games last season for Buffalo. He’ll be a key guy on the ice and in a leadership role for this club.
“The Olympics are an overwhelming event,” Gionta said. “When you get over there you have to absorb it, you’ve got to enjoy the process. But you’ve
got to go over with a goal — and that goal in mind is to come away with a gold medal. I think that’s keeping the focus on the guys, making sure that stays the focus and not just the whole aura around the Olympics.”
With Russia banned from these Games for previous doping, players from that nation reportedly will wear jerseys that say on the front, “Olympic Athlete From Russia.”
That will be weird, but the team that’s put on the ice should be loaded, featuring former NHL stars Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk and Maxim Afinogenov.
We’re not back to the bad old days when it was veteran Soviet pros vs. American kids. But it will be fascinating to see how the patchwork USA team can compete.