USA Hockey is replacing gray with green at the IIHF World Hockey Championships in Halifax and Quebec City.
The Americans, with a roster filled with NHL players 25 and younger, beat a spirited Latvian crowd and team 4-0 in Halifax, Nova Scotia in each team's first game of the tournament. The annual World Championships are usually held in Europe, and this is the first time Canada has hosted the event.
Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks), Dustin Brown and Patrick O'Sullivan (Los Angeles Kings) and Zach Parise (New Jersey Devils) scored for the US. Next up for the Americans is Slovenia, then a date with a Canada squad playing on home ice in the national sport.
The National Team Advisory Group of Don Waddell, David Poile, Ray Shero and Brian Burke went with a youth movement this time around, while American stars of the past like Keith Tkachuk (St. Louis Blues), Bill Guerin (New York Islanders), Mathieu Schneider and Doug Weight (Anaheim Ducks) all sat this one out.
Now, the Green Team is hoping to come away with gold. A medal is not out of the question, but gold may be. Americans have never won a tournament without strong goaltending. Can Tim Thomas be the difference?
Selfish thoughts and commentary: It's about time USA Hockey gave John Tortorella his due. I bet many NHL fans don't even realize he has more wins than any American-born coach in NHL history. He's got the fire and confrontational style of a Herb Brooks. I think he can coach like him as well.
In the midst of USA Hockey's necessary youth movement, it is great to see future Hall-of-Famers Mike Modano and Jeremy Roenick playing so well in the NHL playoffs. Both of them were the standard-bearers for USA Hockey for 20 years, and I believe these two 500-goal scorers finally put to rest the appaling idea that Americans could not score in the NHL.
I've seen it before, but it props to USA Hockey for the National Team Development Program. Most of the US roster has gone through the system and have trained and played together at various tournaments. No more all-star teams!!
Head-scratchers: Where were Brian Gionta, Jack Johnson, Erik Johnson and Ryan Kesler in Team USA's plans?
Though I am a life-long Southerner, ice hockey is my game. I was likely the first hockey-specif ic sportswriter in the state of Louisiana when the ECHL arrived in 1995. I was a freelance hockey sportswriter for local fishwraps between 1995-2000.
Being from New Orleans, I follow the Saints, Hornets and LSU in that order. I have been from Los Angeles to New York City to watch Wayne Gretzky play, and I attended my first hockey game at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1985. The greatest hockey ever played was the 1987 Canada Cup Final between Canada and the USSR.
