Old-time hockey, Olympics style
USA Hockey announced its roster for the '06 Olympics in Turin, Italy, this week, and I have to tell you, this team looks very old, bordering on decrepit, to me. Mike Modano, Doug Weight, Keith Tkachuk, 44-year-old Chris Chelios, and so on. If AARP membership helps your chances at gold, then the U.S. is set.
Personally, I'm partial to a younger, more exciting breed of players -- new blood -- especially after the NHL labor strife of the past two years. Out with the old. We don't have a Sidney Crosby (Canada) or Alex Ovechkin (Russia), but I would've like to have seen C Tim Connolly and D's Paul Mara and Paul Martin.
To be fair, there is some decent young talent on the roster. And there is some speed, which fits the Olympic game, with its bigger sheet of ice, and fits the coaching style of Team USA coach Peter Laviolette, who has Carolina rolling under the NHL's new, wide-open rules. Brian Gionta, Erik Cole, Jason Blake are solid goal-producers.
It was also good to see Mark Parrish, the brother of former Greensboro General Geno Parrish, make it.
Interesting snubs: Jeremy Roenick (another old-timer) and Bruins defenseman Brian Leetch, one of the best power-play point men in the NHL.
And it's hard not to be worried about the goalie situation. The U.S. has John Grahame, the injured Robert Esche and Rick DiPietro to defend the net -- none in the top 25 in NHL save percentage. Meanwhile, Canada just announced today that Marty Turco, Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo (55 saves Sunday vs. Washington) will be on its roster. That's a decisive mismatch.
At least the U.S. goalies have youth on their side.
John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News makes a pretty solid case for how the Olympics throws the competitive balance of the NHL season off-kilter, thus we're probably better off without it. Then again, I don't think he needs to pick on the '98 Capitals and '02 Hurricanes to make his point. Let's face it, the Flyers underachieve in the playoffs even in non-Olympics years.