Here are some odds and ends from the second of the three-day orientation camp for the United States Olympic men’s hockey team:
- U.S. head coach Ron Wilson has been impressed with his new Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Mike Komisarek after two on-ice sessions. The U.S. team has skated through some drills and worked on systems, but nothing with the intensity you would see during a training camp with players eagerly trying to win a lineup spot. But that hasn’t deterred the 6-foot-4, 243-pound Komisarek from rattling a few of his U.S. teammates. “I’ve been impressed,” Wilson said. “We’re not doing anything physical out there, but he still has got involved and whacked a few guys. He’s very energetic and I can see he has great leadership qualities. He moves on the ice very well, so I’m looking forward to having him on the [Leafs]. He’ll be a huge help. He has a real aggressive attitude. Here is an American kid who played in Montreal and he signs to play with us. He has to relish the type of atmosphere we play in. That says a lot about somebody like Mike.” Komisarek’s defence partner with the Leafs will be determined in training camp. But Wilson did say the newcomer will likely be paired with Tomas Kaberle or Francois Beauchemin.
- The three days following the men’s Olympic hockey gold-medal final in Vancouver on Feb. 28 promises to be a wild time. The 2009-10 NHL trade deadline is Mar. 3 and there will be a trade freeze for teams during the Olympics that won’t be lifted until midnight on Feb. 28. Under the current collective agreement the trade deadline must fall 40 days before the regular season ends.
- Chris Chelios is 47 years old and 123 games shy of Gordie Howe’s NHL record for game’s played at 1,767. It’s not Howe's record, but the veteran’s passion for the game that has him wanting to continue playing. With training camps less than a month from opening around the NHL, most teams that Chelios has talked to want to give their youngsters a shot at earning a spot before considering Chelios. But he remarked at the U.S. Olympic camp, where he’s a special assistant with the club and has been on the ice mentoring the U.S. hopefuls, he hopes to be playing somewhere, even if it’s not in the NHL, when the season commences. He doesn’t necessarily want to be far away from his family in the Detroit area for a long stretch, but he revealed that he has offers from two Russian teams and has talked with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL.
- The oldest player at the U.S. camp, 39-year-old Mike Modano, will toss out the opening pitch at the Chicago White Sox-Kansas City Royals game at U.S. Cellular Field on Tuesday evening. He’s had to perform ceremonial pitch duties at several Texas Rangers games throughout his career and didn’t anticipate any problems at the Sox game. “I played a little baseball and I think I have the fundamentals down,” Modano quipped.
- The U.S. management and coaching staff has lined up several motivational speakers to help inspire the players about playing for the country at the 2010 Winter Games. Among the scheduled speakers on Monday evening was U.S. speed skater Dan Jansen. His sister Jane passed away from leukemia during the 1988 Olympics and the devastating news was at the root of his spills in both the 500 and 1,000-metre races that he was favoured in. Four years later, again he put forth disappointing results despite being favoured. Finally, in 1994, he won the 1,000-metre gold to end his career. The U.S. team also was supposed to hear from Marcus Luttrell this week, the lone survivor of the 10-member Seal Team that was ambushed in the Afghanistan mountains. But he was unable to make the trip to Chicago. Luttrell’s remarkable story is detailed in his book, Lone Survivor. What happened was the Seal Team was engaged in a reconnaissance mission when they were met up with a bunch of goat herders. After the team debated whether they should let them go or not, the Seals did allow them to return to their nearby village, which was controlled by the Taliban. The decision was a fatal mistake because the herders informed the Taliban and a short time later the Seal Team was surrounded by hundreds of Taliban fighters.
