Team USA announces 2010 orientation camp for August in Chicago

USA Hockey announced officially on Thursday it will be hosting it’s 2010 Winter Olympic Games Team USA hockey orientation camp at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in west suburban Chicago this summer.

The three day competition camp comprised of the United States’ premier hockey players will take place on August 17-19th at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodbridge, IL. The camp will go a long way to determining the final roster for the 2010 Winter Games next February in Vancouver, British Columbia.

This squad that does skate next February won’t resemble the Turin 2006 Olympic Team much. Only three (Rafalski, Liles, Drury) figure to be sure-bets to return from the ’06 team. Gone will be Chris Chelios, Derian Hatcher, Mathieu Schneider, Bret Hedican, and likely Bill Guerin and Doug Weight. If Mike Modano continues his current play into next season, I’d expect he’ll be a part of the team as the resident Olympic veteran and team captain. Others from 2006 who will contend for next year’s spots are Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Mike Knuble, Brian Rolston, Craig Conroy, Erik Cole, Jason Blake and Rick DiPietro. While Guerin, Weight, Keith Tkachuk and Robert Esche figure to be long-shots.

Below is the unofficial pool of sixty-five, U.S. officials, which include Thrashers’ GM Don Waddell, Toronto boss Brian Burke as well as coach Ron Wilson, will have to choose from.

LW: Zach Parise, David Booth, Ryan Malone, Patrick O’Sullivan, Erik Cole, Brian Rolston, Chris Higgins, Paul Gaustad, Drew Stafford, Keith Tkachuk, R.J. Umberger

C: Paul Stastny, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Mike Modano, Brandon Dubinsky, Joe Pavelski, Craig Conroy, Ryan Kesler, Tim Connolly, Jeff Halpern, David Legwand, Matt Cullen

RW: Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel, Brian Gionta, Dustin Brown, Jamie Langenbrunner, David Backes, Jason Pominville, Mike Knuble, Blake Wheeler, Bobby Ryan, Bill Guerin, Peter Mueller, Lee Stempniak, Mark Parrish, Jason Blake

LD: Paul Martin, John-Michael Liles, Ryan Suter, Ron Hainsey, Tim Gleason, Brooks Orpik, Alex Goligoski, Jack Johnson, Brett Lebda, Keith Yandle

RD: Brian Rafalski, Ryan Whitney, Mike Komisarek, Mark Stuart, Tom Gilbert, Jordan Leopold, Jeff Finger, Paul Mara, Erik Johnson

G: Ryan Miller, Tim Thomas, Rick DiPietro, Ty Conklin, Craig Anderson, Scott Clemmensen, Jonathan Quick, Brent Johnson, Robert Esche

The team will carry three goalies, seven defenseman, thirteen forwards plus three alternates in case of injury.

Since there will be a lack of true top-echelon talent, expect U.S. execs to go with speed and checking. Team USA won’t have the guns to compete with Canada, Russia or even Sweden, so they’ll have to strategically form a roster aimed at countering those teams’ offenses with tight defense and strong forechecking. Because of that, players like David Backes, Patrick O’Sullivan and either Joe Pavelski or Brandon Dubinsky likely have spots to lose. Backes has been a terrific perfomer for the U.S. during the IIHF World Championship tournaments of late. It’s also the reason for the inclusion of Buffalo Sabres’ forward Paul Gaustad, who could be spotted as a utility-player of sorts. Gaustad is a reliable two-way forward who can play all three forward positions and win face-offs.

The only “for-sures” from a forward standpoint are Zach Parise (undisputedly the best U.S.-born NHLer right now), Paul Stastny, Patrick Kane, Dustin Brown, Chris Drury, Phil Kessel, David Booth and perhaps Jamie Langenbrunner. Everyone else will have to win their spot.

Defensively, at this point, I’d expect Paul Martin to be paired with Brian Rafalski; Ryan Whitney with Ryan Suter and John-Michael Liles with Mike Komisarek. One thing the U.S will have going for them is a mobile defense, but so will four other countries.

Paul Stastny, Mike Knuble and Jason Pominville are all Canadian-born players with dual-citizenship who’ve represented the U.S. in the past. Knuble at the ’06 Olympics and Stastny and Pominville at the World Championships.

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