Penguins will keep eye on hockey in Olympics
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It could be that, in just a few weeks, Jim Slater will never again have to pay for an adult beverage anywhere fromMaine to California.
Or that Rob Klinkhammer will become his country’s most revered sports hero since Paul Henderson, celebrated by Canadians from Nova Scotia to Nunavut. Or that Germans in
from Dusseldorf to Dresden will be toasting Gerrit Fauser for leading their national team’s improbable surge to an Olympicmedal.
Hey, with NHL players not participating in the tournament that begins Wednesday in Pyeongchang, South Korea, just about anything is possible.
And just about anyone couldbecome a hero.
So even though the competition has been stripped of much of its luster for many fans — would you rather watchSidney Crosby versus Phil Kessel, or Gilbert Brule against Mark Arcobello? — many Penguins players plan to tune in as much as possible.
That includes Crosby, who has captained Canada to gold medals at each of the pasttwo Olympics.
“I’ll be watching, when I getan opportunity,” he said.
Crosby, naturally, will be most interested in how Canada fares, while acknowledging that NBC’s coverage figuresto focus on Team USA.
Bryan Rust, who hails from Michigan, likely appreciates that, even though pretty much everyone on the U.S. roster is a stranger tohim.
“It’s always fun to watch the Olympics and cheer on yourcountry,” Rust said.
Because NHL players never were included on rosters for these Games, it’s tough to say precisely how many Penguins would have beeninvolved, but it’s safe to assume the team would havebeen well-represented.
Crosby (Canada), Kessel (USA), Evgeni Malkin (Russia), Patric Hornqvist (Sweden), Olli Maatta (Finland) and Tom Kuhnhackl (Germany) were safe bets — if not mortal locks — to play fortheir countries, while the USA’s Jake Guentzel, Canada’s Kris Letang and Matt Murray, Sweden’s Carl Hagelin and the Czech Republic’s Dominik Simon likely would at least have made it into the conversations, if not onto the rosters.
As it is, most teams have been patched together with players laboring on minor league contracts, or in Europe. Team USA’s lineup features a number of collegians.
Although Russia formally was banned from taking part because of widespreaddoping, its team — officially known as “Olympic Athletesfrom Russia” — is a popular choice to win the gold medal, mostly because many of its premier players are not currently in the NHL.
That includes Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk, both playing in the KontinentalHockey League.
“Obviously, I’d love for the U.S. to win, but I think Russia’s going to win, because they still have a pretty good number of players who would be on their ‘top squad,’”Rust said.
Crosby suggested the usual powers will battle for the top spot but added that the novel circumstances might allow a dark horse to make a serious run at a medal.
“The Swiss, they probably have a large number of guys who have played together in the past,” he said. “Maybethat’s an advantage. A team like Switzerland might be more in the mix because they’ve probably playedtogether.”
Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak likely has has a special affinity for the Summer Olympics, because he watched his younger sister, Penny, earn four swimming medals for Canada at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Nonetheless — and even though the Pyeongchang hockey tournament will have a lot less star power than usual — he plans to tunein whenever possible.
“I’m Canadian, so it’s a rite of passage,” Oleksiak said. “If the Canadian Olympic team is playing hockey, you’re going to watch, no matterwho is playing.”
And, at least in these Olympics, because there’s no way of predicting who might morph into Mike Eruzione.
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — The pressure was real. So were the tears — of joy, relief, redemption.
This is why Shaun White keeps going. This is why the snowboarding superstar keeps coming back to the Olympics, a journey that has seen him evolve from teenage phenom to global brand to living legend. One with a perpetual target on his back and impossible expectations to meet.
Standing atop the halfpipe on a gray morning at slushy Phoenix Snow Park with his hopes for a third gold down to one final shot. White never wavered.
“I honestly knew I had it,” White said. “I knew I had to put it down.”
The stakes left him little choice. Rising star and heir apparent Ayumu Hirano had snatched the lead out of White’s hand in the men’s halfpipe final, throwing a spectacular epic second run to vault into the lead and put a portion of White’s Olympic legacy at risk. Not that it mattered. One deep breath, a halfdozen near flawless tricks — including back-to-back 1440s, a trick he never landed in competition before these finals — and one seemingly interminable wait later White’s return to the top of his sport was complete.
When his score of 97.75 flashed, more than two points clear of Hirano, 19, and almost six clear of Australian bronze medalist Scotty James, it all seemed worth it. The long road back from disappointment in Sochi four years ago. The painful recovery from a crash in New Zealand in a fall that required emergency surgery. The notion the man who for so long served as a pioneer had been surpassed by the next generation. Not quite yet. “He wears the weight of the country and the world on his shoulders for this,” said J.J. Thomas, White’s longtime coach. “This is our Super Bowl. But bigger because it’s only once every four years and he stresses out.”
Funny, it didn’t show as he became the first American male to win gold at three separate Winter Olympics. Speed skater Bonnie Blair won gold in the 1988, 1992 and 1994 Games. The gold was also the 100th overall gold for the United States in the Winter Games.
“What can I say? I won the Olympics,” White said. “Three gold medals. I was just hoping they’d give it to me. I was pretty sure I put it down but it took a little while. Just trying not to make eye contact with the judges.”