The first step for USA Hockey in conceiving the direction and character of their Vancouver Olympic team might have been the biggest.
It was a leap over the generational divide.
Like Canada, the Americans have turned the generational page to a large extent.
Left on one side of the gulf are the likes of Mike Modano, Bill Guerin and Doug Weight, critical parts of the Americans’ greatest successes like their win in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and their silver medal in Salt Lake, a group Team USA general manager Brian Burke likes to call “the greatest generation in the history of U.S. hockey,” to steal a line from Tom Brokaw’s book.
“It was extremely difficult,” said Burke, recalling the commitment those players showed for things like the world championships. “They answered the bell every time they were asked to go. It’s easy to say no when you’re asked. You’ve just played a whole NHL season and someone asks you to get on a plane and go to Germany or Switzerland or Sweden or Russia, it’s easy to say no.
“But these guys all went. They all went when it was important and when it wasn’t important.”
Burke said he remembered in 1993, when he was the GM at the world championships, asking Weight to come to Germany to play.
“I called and asked him and, boom, he was on a plane,” he said.
“It’s hard to turn the page because their patriotism and loyalty were so rampant, so evident...these guys accomplished some good things.”
Burke said the management team -- he’s assisted by fellow NHL GMs Don Waddell of the Atlanta Thrashers, Philadelphia’s Paul Holmgren, Dean Lombardi of the Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh’s Ray Shero -- divided up the job of telling the former Olympians and orientation camp invitees who would not be included this time around.
“I got back a wonderful voicemail from Bill...typical class, saying he was disappointed and would have loved to have participated, but understood. He wished nothing but the best for the group.”
With the page turned, Burke said the average age of this American team will be “fully five years younger, per man, than the last two Olympic entries for Team USA.”
Burke has created room for a new generation of leaders. Will guys like New Jersey Devils captain Jamie Langenbrunner be up to taking over the dressing room? He, along with fellow forward Chris Drury of the New York Rangers and defenceman Brian Rafalski of the Detroit Red Wings, are the only Americans on the 2010 team with previous Olympic experience.
“When you assemble a team, especially for short tournament like this, leadership is critical,” said Burke. “We talked about this at great length and I think it’s a critical component. We have several guys who are captains of their teams. I think we have leadership and we have guys who have demonstrated that at the NHL level and in international competition. I’m comfortable with that part of our group.”
“Our young guys on our team now are learning a lot from him,” said Zach Parise, Langenbrunner’s teammate with the Devils.
Still, this generation of Americans have left some observers unimpressed.
Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggested the only American who could crack the Canadian roster was Parise.
“I like to think we’ve got some pretty decent players on our team, too. That’s a pretty bold statement,” said Parise. “A guy like (Paul) Stastny is a point-a-game player in the NHL. A guy like Phil Kessel is one of the good snipers in the league right now. I mean, that is kind of a bold statement. I don’t think there’s going to be too many people that agree with that.”
Burke has staked out the underdogs’ role for the Americans behind the Canadians, Russians and Swedes, but with Ryan Miller, the best goaltender in the NHL this season, anything could be possible in a short tournament.
