Playing in Olympics ‘every kid’s dream,’ U.S. hockey player says
Mostly unknown men will wear Stars & Stripes
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — U.S. men’s hockey coach Tony Granato remembers watching the 1980 U.S. team and not having any idea who Mike Eruzione or Jim Craig were.
“Within two or three days, I kind of liked those guys,” Granato said. “If you watch our teams, we’ll find a few of those guys.”
U.S. general manager Jim Johannson, who died in January, said after the NHL decided not to participate in the 2018 Games that the team would be made up of “25 unique stories.”
Here are the five best stories on the U.S. squad. Goalie Ryan Zapolski, Jokerit (Helsinki): His career sounds like a Johnny Cash song. He’s been everywhere man. Walk-on at Mercyhurst. Passed over by the NHL. Played for six ECHL teams. Went to Finland on a two-month tryout in 2013-14. Today he’s a star in the Kontinental Hockey League and projected to be the USA’s starting goalie.
“This has been pretty crazy,” Zapolski said. “I never would have considered this a possibility two years ago.” Forward Jordan Greenway, Boston University: He is the first African American to play for a U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team. “I hope I’m the first of many,” Greenway said.
He’s a 6-5, 230-pound playmaking forward whose draft rights belong to the Minnesota Wild. He could have turned pro last summer but wanted to be an Olympian.
Why haven’t more African Americans played hockey? “A lot of reasons,” Greenway said. “It’s easier to look up to guys like Michael Jordan, LeBron, other guys playing other sports. It’s easier to compare to them. Hopefully we get more black people playing hockey and they can look up to Dustin Byfuglien, Wayne Simmonds, Willie O’Ree. Hopefully I can be in there too.” Goalie Brandon Maxwell, Mlada
Boleslav BK (Czech Republic): When it became official that USA Hockey was going to have to pick an Olympic team from the college, European professional leagues and the American League, Maxwell happened to be watching the movie
Eddie the Eagle with his parents. “I remember thinking I’m going to be Eddie the Eagle,” Maxwell said, chuckling.
As soon as the Olympics became a possibility, Maxwell said he told his parents, “It’s going to happen.”
“I did everything in my power to make it happen,” Maxwell said. “I’m pretty confident in myself.
Maxwell seems to thrive on challenges.
The Czech League doesn’t use many imports, but he’s been playing there for four seasons. The American coaching staff likes Maxwell because he handles the puck sharply.
“I have high aspirations and goals,” Maxwell said. “But playing in the Olympics is No. 1” Defenseman Noah Welch, Vaxjo HC
(Sweden): Welch, 35, was retired when Johannson called him and said he was in the mix to be on the team.
“I had been retired for two months,” Welch said. “I had a retirement party and everything.”
A Harvard graduate, Welch is looking at opening a multisport complex. Plus, he’s partners with fellow Harvard grad Kwame Osseo-asare on three businesses in Ghana, including a recycling center and a micro-finance bank.
Even with all this going on, Welch went back to Sweden to play just to give himself a chance to play in the Olympics.
Where does he rank playing in the Olympics on his list of hockey accom- plishments? “The best,” he said. Forward Chris Bourque, Hershey
Bears (AHL): The son of NHL legend Ray Bourque, Chris has been a star for eight years in the AHL.
He’s averaged nearly a point per game (433 points, 437 games). It’s never easy to be the son of a Hall of Famer: The younger Bourque has played 51 NHL games but has never been able to stick in the league.
But playing in the Olympics is an accomplishment he shares with his father. Ray Bourque played for Canada in 1998. Chris Bourque could outperform his father if the USA can win a medal.
Ray Bourque badly wants him to do that because he regrets that he didn’t come away from the Olympics with a medal.
“It won’t just be the biggest moment of my hockey career,” Chris told USA TODAY. “It will be one of the biggest moments of my life. This is every kid’s dream.”