head coach: Ron Wilson

roster: F - Tony Amonte, Adam Deadmarsh, Bill Guerin, Brett Hull, Pat LaFontaine, Jamie Langenbrunner, John LeClair, Mike Modano, Joel Otto, Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight; D - Bryan Berard, Keith Carney, Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, Kevin Hatcher, Brian Leetch, Mathieu Schneider, Gary Suter; G - Guy Hebert, Mike Richter, John Vanbiesbrouck.

game results:

ROUND ROBIN
Sweden           L 4-2
Belarus          W 5-2
Canada           L 4-1

QUARTERFINAL
Czech Republic   L 4-1

game recaps:
Round Robin: United States vs Sweden
Round Robin: United States vs Belarus
Round Robin: United States vs Canada
Quarterfinal Round: United States vs Czech Republic

When Do the Olympics Start?
by Michael Dell, editor-in-chief

A miracle on ice it wasn't. The Americans entered the Olympics as gold medal favorites and Gary Bettman's personal champions for all that's good with the NHL. They left a disgraced bunch of underachievers that are known more for roughing up hotel rooms than opponents.

Team USA struggled from day one, compiling a meager 1-3-0 record and getting bounced in the quarterfinal round by the Czechs. The team's lone win was against Belarus. And if it weren't for four power-play goals, including two on five-on-three advantages, they would have lost that game, too.

As if the miserable record wasn't enough, the Americans were also accused of some rather shady behavior. Several players were said to be hitting the bars pretty hard, including staying out late drinking on game nights. Then came the whole vandalism thing. Apparently on the night they were eliminated from the tournament, several chairs were broken, fire extinguishers were set off, and debris chucked out windows. The damages totalled around $3,000. The culprits have not come forth as of yet, and the NHL is conducting an investigation into the incident.

Chris Chelios by Meredtih Martini

Several of the players, including Doug Weight and Mathieu Schneider, have come forth to say that the matter is getting blown way out of proportion. They said the chairs were so flimsy that they broke when guys were just sitting in 'em playing cards.

Now I can only speak from personal experience, but I know where the boys are comin' from on this one. Because I know when I sit in a chair and it breaks, the first thing I do is hose it down with a fire extinguisher. If just one of those splinters get near the drapes, whoosh, the whole room could go. And clean up is so tiresome, sometimes it's easier to just throw everything out the window. They were just saving the maid some work. Now that's the true Olympic spirit.

Whether too much is being made of the incident or not really doesn't matter, the bottom line is it happened. If stuff got broken they should have at least cleaned it up and hid it in some figure skater's room. I mean, c'mon, rule number one in committing a crime is never leave a trail that points back to you. These guys wouldn't have exactly been able to give Lieutenant Columbo too many sleepless nights. Unless of course Columbo was staying in the room next door, because then he probably wouldn't be able to get to sleep for all the noise of breaking chairs and crashing fire extinguishers.

But really, what's the big deal? Who among us hasn't gotten all liquored up and trashed a Japanese hotel room? Let he without sin through the first stone... or in this case, chair.

Brett Hull has asked that the perpetrators of the vandalism admit what they did and accept their punishment. Because as it stands now, the entire team is getting a black eye for something only a handful of individuals did. But shouldn't that be the way it should be? After all, if only a handful of guys would have been responsible for winning a game, they all would have shared in the glory. So why can't they all share in the glory of vandalism? That's what a true team would do.

And that was really the problem with the American squad. Not once during the tournament did I get the feeling I was watching an actual team. It was more like a bunch on individuals without defined roles wandering around the ice trying to make the perfect play.

This was just a disorganized mess from the start. And coach Ron Wilson has to accept his share of the blame. He completely mishandled his players. While Canada used seven defensemen and Russia rotated eight, Wilson used only six defensemen the whole tournament. Bryan Berard and Keith Carney were just ornaments at the end of the bench. They rarely saw the ice, even during the quote "meaningless" round robin games. By not allowing Berard and Carney to get involved early on, Wilson painted himself into a corner. Then in the quarterfinal against the Czechs, Wilson inexplicably sat Kevin Hatcher down and replaced him with the ice cold Carney. It just didn't make sense.

Tony Amonte by Meredtih Martini

It's hard to believe, but Wilson's work with the lines on offense was far worse. Even after man has solved the mystery of life, the most enlightened thinkers will still be trying to decipher why in hell Wilson had Pat LaFontaine playing on a fourth line with Joel Otto and Jamie Langenbrunner. How can a man of reasonable intelligence look at Otto and LaFontaine and say, "Yeah, those two guys should play together. That's what they should do. What with the one being so small, fast, and talented, and the other so big, slow, and heavy-handed, they're a perfect match!"

Unless Otto is serving as a checking line center, there's absolutely no point to having him on the team. Lining him up on the wing for Laffy was just a complete waste. But this goes back to no one on the team having a defined role. Wilson should have constructed a checking line anchored by Otto. Instead of centering one of the top lines, Jeremy Roenick should have been used on Otto's left side. It's sad, but Roenick is no longer a scorer. It's high time people realize this fact. However, he has become a decent defensive forward and he still hits like a truck. The right side could have been filled by Billy Guerin. These three should have just been used as checkers. That's it. Give them the job and turn 'em loose.

With the bangers in place, the other lines would have to be juggled accordingly. Langenbrunner should have taken up root alongside Mike Modano, since the two play together in Dallas anyway. And Adam Deadmarsh could have rounded out the trio, adding some toughness and even more speed.

No longer imprisoned on the fourth line, LaFontaine would have been free to center a scoring line with Brett Hull on the right side and Keith Tkachuk on the left. The reasoning here is that Laffy and Hull have seen it all in their careers and could work some of that veteran craftiness. It also gives the line a playmaker in the middle, a sniper on the right side, and a guy that'll go to the net in Tkachuk. That's pretty much the perfect combination.

All the above would leave Dougie Weight between John LeClair and Tony Amonte. LeClair and Amonte were linemates at the World Cup and should have been given a chance to rekindle the old magic.

Hey, after seeing those lines in print, you know what they look like? Gold. Sadly, Wilson didn't see things this way. And all of America paid for it.

Even with the punk-ass line combinations and all the grief in the media about their lackluster attitudes and inappropriate behavior, Team USA still didn't play all that bad. Sure, everyone is trying to make it sound like they completely sucked, but if you look at the games things weren't that bad.

They opened up against Sweden looking like the powerhouse they should have been, rolling the Swedes in the first 10 minutes of the game. Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there. The result was a 4-2 loss.

The next game against Belarus was just as shabby, but the Americans were bailed out by their power play and managed to steal a 5-2 win.

Team USA got royally screwed by the zebra in the final round robin game against Canada. The US was trailing 1-0 midway through the second period, but were working the power play in search of the tying goal. That's when Steve Yzerman barged to the net and steamrolled Mike Richter, allowing Keith Primeau to score an undeserved short-hander. The penalty was so blatant that the lack of a call was positively shocking. Unless, you know, you're familiar with the usual NHL officiating, then it was pretty much par for the course. So instead of only being down by one and skating on a two-man advantage, the Americans trailed 2-0 and were demoralized by the lack of justice.

The star-spangled squad didn't completely fold, tho', and carried the play to the Canadians for the rest of the contest. They ended up with 32 shots on net, including several phenomenal scoring chances, but could only get one late goal past Patrick Roy to make the final 4-1. Disputed call aside, Roy was the real difference in the game. If anyone other than St. Patrick had been in net, the Americans would have skated away with the victory.

The loss meant that the US finished third in Group A and had to meet Dominik Hasek and the Czech Republic in the single- elimination quarterfinal round. Going up against Hasek in a must-win situation is always trouble. The US fired 39 shots at Hasek without much success. Hasek was absolutely incredible, making 38 saves and literally standing on his head at times in net. He's nutty like that. While they didn't win, the US created more scoring chances against the Czechs than any other team in the tournament. That should count for something.

Doug Weight by Meredtih Martini

The US had to play Patrick Roy and Dominik Hasek in back-to-back games. If that isn't a sure ticket out of a tournament, nothing is. But the excuse of running into hot goaltenders really doesn't stand up. It would be acceptable if they lost those games 1-0 or 2-1, but they didn't. Each loss was by a 4-1 count. And all eight goals were the product of sloppy play and ridiculous mental errors on defense. Great teams play defense as a team. This wasn't a great team.

The US learned the hard way why the left wing lock was developed by the Swedes back in the day. The European rinks are just too wide for two defensemen to cover the spacious area from wall to wall. Necessity is the mother of invention. I'm not sure who the father is, tho'... it was probably Wilt Chamberlain. But the point is that the left wing lock was devised for a reason. By having the winger lock off the left side, the left defenseman slides into the middle and the right defender slides further to the right, dividing the ice into three lanes and making it easier to cover. The US didn't grasp this concept. They thought they could just play a skating game. They were wrong. And they just never caught on, no matter how many odd-man breaks they allowed.

To summarize, Team USA was bad. They played good in spurts, but they never once played as a team. But perhaps Tkachuk summed it up best after the loss to the Czech Republic when he said, "This was the biggest waste of time ever." And that, my friends, was the coolest quote ever.

TURNING POINT: The key moment for the US was probably that blown goaltender interference call against Canada. If the US gets the proper call there, they might have gone on to beat Canada and finish higher in the Group A standings. That would have meant that they would have skipped a meeting with Hasek in the quarterfinal round.

TEAM MVP: This is a tough one. Um, if someone can think of somebody, don't be scared to write...

SURPRISE: The only surprise involved with this team was just how surprisingly poor they played. Having the USA only win one game wasn't exactly what Gary Bettman had in mind when he decided to shut down the NHL season. At least the USA women's team won gold. So hockey might get an extra boost in the States after all. It just won't come from the expected source.

DISAPPOINTMENTS: Get comfortable. This could take a while.

Leading off the long list of disappointments has to be Brian Leetch. He was just awful. Leetch is lucky that plus/minus wasn't tracked during the tournament, because he might have been into double digits on the minus side of the ledger.

Kevin Hatcher definitely didn't have a great tournament in his own right. If Leetch wasn't on the ice when a goal was scored, Hatcher almost certainly was. But Hatcher had an excuse. He was paired with Mathieu Schneider, who was second only to Leetch in bonehead decisions.

The questionable defense didn't make Mike Richter's job very easy. He faced a number of quality scoring chances each time out. That having been said, a better effort was still expected from Richter. He was the main reason the US won the World Cup. He didn't come anywhere close to that same level of play. He just never seemed comfortable in net. An easy way to tell if Richter is on his game or not is to watch how he handles rebounds. When he's struggling, Richter gives up terrible rebounds that usually end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was a rebound-givin' mother at the Olympics.

John LeClair was one of the club's best forwards when it came to effort and hard work, but he still failed to record a goal. He wasn't the only one, tho'. Tony Amonte, Doug Weight, Keith Tkachuk, and Jeremy Roenick all went 0-for-the-Olympics. Among those five guys you have three former 50-goal scorers, a 40-goal scorer, and a 100-point man. That's just too much offense to go missing.

In the end, the biggest disappointment is the wasted opportunity. Had Team USA showed up and played to its ability and challenged for the gold, it would have surely triggered a resurgence in hockey popularity in the United States. The players would have been on all the magazine covers and been seen appearing on all the late night talk shows. That honor is now going to the women's team, who the country has embraced with open arms. But a lot of good that does the NHL. While the US women are being praised as true all-American Olympic heroes, the NHL stars have been painted as a bunch of lazy millionaires who didn't take the tournament seriously or treat the Olympics with the respect it deserves. Whether it's true or not, that's what the perception is. It sounds corny, but they really did let down a whole generation of young hockey fans looking for their own Olympic memory. The players involved can laugh it off and say the trip was still a positive experience, but the kids that look up to them aren't so lucky. And neither are the amateur players who could have gone in their place.

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