RUSSIA has the world’s best goaltender, the Czech Republic comes in as defending champion, Sweden has talent all over the depth chart, and Canada . . . well, Canada is not only loaded, but on a national crusade for Gold, that’s all.
And yet, Wayne Gretzky handicapped the Olympic tournament with a slightly different view. No. 99 always has had a slightly different view of the rink.
“To me, the Americans are the team to beat,” Gretzky, Canada’s functioning GM, told The Post. “I’m not only talking about their talent, I think that four or five teams are comparable in that area, but I’m talking about the advantage they’re going to have playing on home ice.
“The feeling of patriotism they’re going to experience playing in their own country is going to be enormous, and it’s going to give them an emotional advantage over every other country. And in a one-week tournament, enthusiasm and emotion are huge factors.
“It’s going to make them a very difficult team to beat.”
The qualifying round begins tomorrow at Salt Lake, with Slovakia-Germany the opening headline act. The big boys get going a week from today, with the U.S. facing a challenge from Finland next Friday night. The Yanks will get going with hearts pounding and flags waving. But they will still have to play hockey.
“We’re all excited about the chance to play at home in that kind of atmosphere, but we can’t let ourselves get carried away by emotion,” the Bruins’ Bill Guerin said. “It’s the kind of thing that you envision, even dream about, but you don’t want to be overwhelmed by it.
“We want to be a part of it, but we almost are going to have to distance ourselves from it at the same time. One thing, though, we know it’s going to be pretty special.”
Gretzky alluded to patriotism. The U.S. players, of course, will not have exclusivity of pride in country, not at all. Every athlete in the Games will wear a flag on his or her sleeve, in his or her heart. And it will be fascinating to see whether highly-paid professional hockey players will indeed march to the same jingoistic drummer the college kids did 22 years ago when Herb Brooks first stepped behind an Olympic bench. It will be fascinating to see whether Brooks can get pros to buy into an US Against the World mentality.
“The other difference is that in 1980, he had the team together for almost six months, but now we’re going to be together one day before the first game,” Guerin said. “So maybe it’s not going to be what Herb does to motivate us. Maybe Herb is going to be the Xs and Os guy and it will be our job to motivate ourselves.
“We do have a team full of veterans. We do have a team full of leaders.”
This isn’t just the American hockey team, this is the team of an American generation of hockey. Captain Chris Chelios and Phil Housley were teammates 20 years ago representing the U.S. in the 1982 World Junior Tournament. Brian Leetch and Mike Richter first wore the same sweater in the 1986 World Juniors, where they were joined by winger Scott Young.
Tom Barrasso first wore the Red, White and Blue in the 1983 World Juniors. Gary Suter was there in 1984. Guerin, Tony Amonte, John LeClair, Mike Modano and Jeremy Roenick were teammates in the 1989 World Juniors. Brett Hull first represented this country in 1986. This team is a tapestry of America’s last two decades on ice. It is the post-Miracle generation.
“We have intense pride, both national pride and in U.S. hockey,” Richter, who previously played in both the 1988 and 1998 Games, said. “Patriotism? Of course. We have tremendous pride in our country and being on home soil will reinforce everything we feel about our flag and ourselves.
“But we also want to represent ourselves well as a team. We’re representing American hockey. We’ve been through a lot together. Most of us aren’t going to get another chance.”
Nagano seems like a very long time ago. Maybe it would have anyway, but Sept. 11 has diverted attention from the foolishness in a dormitory room to more serious things.
“Everyone has been affected. We don’t want to be inappropriate in any way,” Guerin said. “But one of the things I’m thinking is that we have the opportunity here to give our country a positive experience.
“I’m sure we all feel the same way about that.”