The United States of Hockey

Photo by Norman Hayward/bigmanwithacamera.com

USA Hockey today announced that Zach Parise has been named captain for the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team. He will be joined by alternate captains Ryan Suter and Dustin Brown.

All three players have long and distinguished careers internationally and have enjoyed success on the international and NHL stage before. Parise was the heart and soul of Team USA at the 2010 Olympics, tying for the team lead with eight points and scoring that thrilling tying goal in the closing seconds of the game.

I offered some brief opinion and shared some of the comments from Parise and U.S. head coach Dan Bylsma over at CBSSports.com, which you can read in full here.

I thought I’d offer a few more thoughts on Team USA’s selections as well, though.

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The U.S. Olympic goaltending race is starting to get interesting with Jonathan Quick playing some of his best hockey in the month of January. Who knows how much he or Ryan Miller will play at this point, but we know that Team USA’s top two goaltenders are going to be looking pretty sharp.

Ryan Miller already debuted his mask for Sochi, which is an awesomely updated version of his 2010 mask. Now we have a look at Quick’s completed mask.

His designer, Steve Nash of EyeCandyAir offered a brief look via Vine, which you can see here (since for some reason I can’t embed Vines yet on this here blog). To give you a longer look, I took a few screen caps. Continue reading →

It has been nearly a month since the roster for the U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team was announced at the 2014 Winter Classic. With a loaded slate of games in the month of January and opening ceremonies in Sochi just 10 days away, now is a good a time as any to check in on the NHLers that made Team USA.

Phil Kessel has 17 points in January (USATSI)

With the exceptions of Zach Parise and Paul Martin returning from injury and the goalies, almost all of the U.S. players have played in all of their teams’ games in the month of January. The results are a little mixed since the Olympic Team was announced, but this will help give you an idea of who’s hot coming into Sochi and who will hope for an uptick overseas.

Four forwards, led by Phil Kessel’s 17 points in 13 games, have produced at a point-per-game or better since being named to the Olympic team. All eight defensemen are averaging at or near top-pairing minutes nightly, led by Ryan Suter’s 29:07 a night. Meanwhile, all three goaltenders have save percentages above .920 since Jan. 1.

After the jump, a look at the basic stats for all 25 players since being named to Team USA on Jan. 1.

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When Ryan Miller returns to the U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team, he’ll have some familiar headgear, but with a few alterations. Saturday night, Miller tweeted a picture of his nearly-completed mask for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Here’s a look:

First things first…. Awesome.

UPDATE: Mask designer Ray Bishop posted the finished product on his Facebook page. You can see additional angles there as well.

The mask, designed by Ray Bishop, who also did Miller’s 2010 mask, essentially updated the look from Vancouver. The new mask features Uncle Sam rolling up his sleeve, holding the Olympic torch and looking rather menacing, just like 2010’s. The background is a darker blue than the icy blue Miller had last time around though (comparison below).  Continue reading →

Phil Kessel (USATSI)

With the Olympics less than a month away, United States of Hockey will profile a member of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team almost daily between now and opening ceremonies. Since we’re conditioned as hockey fans to think of these players within an NHL context, this feature takes a longer look at how each player’s skill set and experience translates to the Olympics and the bigger ice surface. Each profile also includes a look back at each player’s national team career and memorable moments or accomplishments while wearing the USA crest.

#81 Phil Kessel — Toronto Maple Leafs

Hometown: Madison, Wis.
Development Path: National Team Development Program to University of Minnesota

Season Stats: 52 GP, 26-26–52, 15 PIM
NHL Career Stats: 556 GP, 211-220–431, 154 PIM

IIHF Events (finish): 2010 Olympics (silver), 2008 Men’s World Championship (6th), 2007 World Championship (5th), 2006 World Championship (7th), 2006 World Junior Championship (4th), 2005 World Junior Championship (4th), 2005 World Under-18 Championship (gold), 2004 World Under-18 Championship (silver)
Team USA Career Stats: 53 GP, 31-33-64
Olympic Career Stats: 6 GP, 1-1–2, 0 PIM

Since his rookie year in 2006-07, only one American-born player has more goals than Phil Kessel. That’s fellow Olympian Zach Parise, who has two more goals over that span than Kessel does. Since Kessel’s first 30-plus goal season in 2008-09, however, there’s not an American-born player within 20 goals of Kessel’s 181.

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With opening ceremonies just 17 days away, excitement for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games is building. With that in mind, what better way to keep the excitement rolling than to look back at some great moments in American international hockey history?

I looked back at past Olympics and other international events throughout USA Hockey’s history and picked 17 goals that were among the most memorable or carry some sort of significance. Since the 1960 Olympic Winter Games was the first televised Olympics, that’s essentially where everything starts.

Some of these goals are way more significant than others, but each played a role in an important moment in USA Hockey history. Though there are numbers attached to each goal in a countdown format, don’t take the rankings too seriously. I just wanted to detail some of the memorable moments throughout history and didn’t put much stock into saying which was more important than others. They’re all important in some way.

Every part of USA Hockey’s national team program is geared towards building up to the Olympics or Paralympics, so it only seems fitting to include goals from all international competitions. Not everything could make the cut (because not everything is on YouTube or happened in the television era), but here’s a look at 17 memorable goals in USA Hockey history.

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Ryan Suter (USATSI)

With the Olympics less than a month away, United States of Hockey will profile a member of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team almost daily between now and opening ceremonies. Since we’re conditioned as hockey fans to think of these players within an NHL context, this feature takes a longer look at how each player’s skill set and experience translates to the Olympics and the bigger ice surface. Each profile also includes a look back at each player’s national team career and memorable moments or accomplishments while wearing the USA crest.

#20 Ryan Suter – Minnesota Wild

Hometown: Madison, Wis.
Development Path: Culver Academy (Ind.) to National Team Development Program to University of Wisconsin

Season Stats: 51 GP, 6-25–31, 24 PIM
NHL Career Stats: 641 GP, 48-253–301, 444 PIM

IIHF Events (finish): 2010 Olympics (silver), 2009 World Championship (4th), 2007 World Championship (5th), 2006 World Championship (7th), 2005 World Championship (6th)*, 2005 World Junior Championship (4th), 2004 World Junior Championship (gold), 2003 World Junior Championship (4th), 2003 World Under-18 Championship (4th), 2002 World Under-18 Championship (gold)
Team USA Career Stats: 64 GP, 8-28–36, 96 PIM
Olympic Career Stats: 6 GP, 0-4–4, 2 PIM
* – Played in only one game

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