Chelios lauds Team USA’s next generation of stars

SOCHI, Russia

Aman with a familiar face and a dark suit was lurking in the background, standing against the wall with his hands in his pockets, smacking on a piece of gum while listening to his successors walk past in the mixed zone.

Chris Chelios was impressed.

“Skill level better, hands better,” he said. “Much faster than our group, for sure.”

Chelios, a retired defenceman, was part of what has often been called the golden age of hockey in the United States.

He was an elder in the generation of U.S.-born stars such as Mike Modano, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter and Phil Housley — a skilled generation that, when united in the same jersey, often fell short on major international stages.

They won the World Cup of Hockey in 1996 but only won one Olympic medal, the silver, in 2002, and endured mild calamity.

The worst: a sixth-place finish at the Nagano Olympics in 1998, remembered more for $1,000 in damages allegedly inflicted to rooms in the athletes’ village.

On Thursday, as Chelios lurked in the shadows of the mixed zone, the newest generation of U.S. players walked past.

The U.S. opened its schedule at the Sochi Olympics with a 7-1 rout of Slovakia at Shayba Arena, with its speed and talented forwards overwhelming a team it had never before beaten at the Olympics.

The Americans scored six unanswered goals in the second period to break open what had been a 1-1 game. They chased Slovak starter Jaroslav Halak from the net and scored with the first two shots they fired on his replacement, Peter Budaj.

Phil Kessel had a goal and two assists. Paul Stastny scored twice, and 11 U.S. skaters had at least a point.

Jonathan Quick stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced.

“I think it gets that monkey off a few guys’ backs,” said forward David Backes. “The ones who are a little apprehensive or worried or nervous about their first Olympic experience.”

Only three U.S. players have passed their 30th birthday. Kessel is still only 26 years old, Stastny is 28, the same age as Quick.

And 13 members of the team are Olympic veterans, having pushed Canada to overtime in the gold medal game four years ago in Vancouver.

Slovak forward Marian Hossa was asked if the U.S. should be considered a goldmedal contender in Sochi. The U.S. plays the host Russians on Saturday.

“They are a great team,” he said. “So they are definitely one of them, along with Canada and Russia.”