Bill Meltzer: Meltzer's Musings: Thoughts on Laviolette Olympic Selection

Good morning, Bill.

My biggest question is does taking on the Olympics responsibility distract Lavy from his number one responsibility for the O&B?

Although I like the Olympics to some extent, I really don't like how it interferes with the NHL.

Good morning, Bill.

My biggest question is does taking on the Olympics responsibility distract Lavy from his number one responsibility for the O&B?

Although I like the Olympics to some extent, I really don't like how it interferes with the NHL.
- FlyersFirst

Laviolette has his share of experience juggling NHL and international coaching. Also, as an assistant coach, his duties are will be more targeted and specific than Bylsma's head coaching role. Other than being involved in some conference calls related to division of duties, the roster, etc., Laviolette won't really have to be deeply involved until it comes time to directly prepare the team for the tourney.

I'm possibly in a distinct minority on this issue, but I really wish the professionals would get out of the Olympics. I also realize that in many cases (Soviet Union) the professionals were always IN the Olympics. The pressure to win and the perceived rewards for winning are such that the spirit of amateurism will inevitably get shoved by the wayside.

But, I for one, love seeing college and non-professional athletes in all sports have a chance to compete in the Olympics. I also hate having the NHL season impacted by the Olympic break. This will be the second consecutive year that NHL fans have had to put up with a nonsensical schedule and the resultant plethora of subpar games to watch. I say subpar because again, on too many occasions, we will be left watching one or both teams in a game who are exhausted from 3 games in 4 nights. There's nothing quite like watching two teams who look like they're skating through mud.

On the flip side, it is an honor for the men chosen to represent their countries, and I certainly dont begrudge them that.

I'm possibly in a distinct minority on this issue, but I really wish the professionals would get out of the Olympics. I also realize that in many cases (Soviet Union) the professionals were always IN the Olympics. The pressure to win and the perceived rewards for winning are such that the spirit of amateurism will inevitably get shoved by the wayside.

But, I for one, love seeing college and non-professional athletes in all sports have a chance to compete in the Olympics. I also hate having the NHL season impacted by the Olympic break. This will be the second consecutive year that NHL fans have had to put up with a nonsensical schedule and the resultant plethora of subpar games to watch. I say subpar because again, on too many occasions, we will be left watching one or both teams in a game who are exhausted from 3 games in 4 nights. There's nothing quite like watching two teams who look like they're skating through mud.

On the flip side, it is an honor for the men chosen to represent their countries, and I certainly dont begrudge them that.
- Doc_Sarcasm

I respect your opinion and see where your going with this, but if I want to see amateurs, then I just watch the world jr's. The reason I watch Olympic hockey is because I want to see the big 6 super powers duke it out with the best teams they have to offer, while getting to watch the occasional upset.

I have a very fond memory of the 2010 Olympic games, Ill never forget screaming kill him! after an american player launched a bone crunching hit on Richards, and going nuts literally jumping for joy when Zach Parise scored the game tieing goal a minute latter. Then having my friend look at me and go you realize hes a devil right?


As for the USA coaching staff I have always had a healthy respect for Bylsma, often arguing with pens fans who think he is a bad coach. If you look at his staff its people who have a very similar coaching style (lavy) mixed with his current staff (granato) along with a defensively minded coach (richards). I really really like this years staff, and I think they will do great. Especially considering they will have much better goalies and defenders then they are currently used to working with

I'm possibly in a distinct minority on this issue, but I really wish the professionals would get out of the Olympics. I also realize that in many cases (Soviet Union) the professionals were always IN the Olympics. The pressure to win and the perceived rewards for winning are such that the spirit of amateurism will inevitably get shoved by the wayside.

But, I for one, love seeing college and non-professional athletes in all sports have a chance to compete in the Olympics. I also hate having the NHL season impacted by the Olympic break. This will be the second consecutive year that NHL fans have had to put up with a nonsensical schedule and the resultant plethora of subpar games to watch. I say subpar because again, on too many occasions, we will be left watching one or both teams in a game who are exhausted from 3 games in 4 nights. There's nothing quite like watching two teams who look like they're skating through mud.

On the flip side, it is an honor for the men chosen to represent their countries, and I certainly dont begrudge them that.
- Doc_Sarcasm

I don't begrudge them, but I also despise NHL participation in the Olympics.

First, it shuts down the NHL for a couple of weeks, in the middle of the season. Sorry, I'd rather watch the Flyers playing the Penguins than the US playing Slovakia. I'm a Flyers fan before a national fan, and I tend to root for whichever team has the most Flyers on it anyhow.

I also hate the potential for injury. How screwed are the Flyers if Claude Giroux ruins his knee in Sochi? What happens to the Rangers if Lundqvist hurts his hip? How about Detroit if Datsyuk gets a concussion?

Also, full on professional participation means that there will never be another "Miracle On Ice"

My thoughts are simple....If the Flyers start off the first six weeks the way they played in last years shortened season....he won't even be their coach by the time the games rool around.

I don't begrudge them, but I also despise NHL participation in the Olympics.

First, it shuts down the NHL for a couple of weeks, in the middle of the season. Sorry, I'd rather watch the Flyers playing the Penguins than the US playing Slovakia. I'm a Flyers fan before a national fan, and I tend to root for whichever team has the most Flyers on it anyhow.

I also hate the potential for injury. How screwed are the Flyers if Claude Giroux ruins his knee in Sochi? What happens to the Rangers if Lundqvist hurts his hip? How about Detroit if Datsyuk gets a concussion?

Also, full on professional participation means that there will never be another "Miracle On Ice"
- Jsaquella

The 2010 finals were a pretty dam good show.

Plus if the NHL doesn't go..then its going to be KHL players and college kids...makes for pretty dull hockey.

The 2010 finals were a pretty dam good show.

Plus if the NHL doesn't go..then its going to be KHL players and college kids...makes for pretty dull hockey.
- flyers4487

Was 1980 dull?

I can handle the Olympics being dull, so long as the NHL is playing. In fact, if the NHL didn't shut down, I likely wouldn't watch a full game of Olympic hockey.

Laviolette has his share of experience juggling NHL and international coaching. Also, as an assistant coach, his duties are will be more targeted and specific than Bylsma's head coaching role. Other than being involved in some conference calls related to division of duties, the roster, etc., Laviolette won't really have to be deeply involved until it comes time to directly prepare the team for the tourney.
- bmeltzer

If the Flyers get off to a slow start or struggle out of the gate, Laviolette might have plenty of time to dedicate to his team USA duties

Was 1980 dull?

I can handle the Olympics being dull, so long as the NHL is playing. In fact, if the NHL didn't shut down, I likely wouldn't watch a full game of Olympic hockey.
- Jsaquella

Well I wasn't alive, but from watching the replay..of course not. But I can't think of an interesting Olympics from 1980 to 2002.... (98 wasn't bad but then again I was still pretty young at the time)

I don't begrudge them, but I also despise NHL participation in the Olympics.

First, it shuts down the NHL for a couple of weeks, in the middle of the season. Sorry, I'd rather watch the Flyers playing the Penguins than the US playing Slovakia. I'm a Flyers fan before a national fan, and I tend to root for whichever team has the most Flyers on it anyhow.

I also hate the potential for injury. How screwed are the Flyers if Claude Giroux ruins his knee in Sochi? What happens to the Rangers if Lundqvist hurts his hip? How about Detroit if Datsyuk gets a concussion?

Also, full on professional participation means that there will never be another "Miracle On Ice"
- Jsaquella

I think I'm going to have to sit down and re-read "The Boys of Winter" by Wayne Coffey again.

I don't begrudge them, but I also despise NHL participation in the Olympics.

First, it shuts down the NHL for a couple of weeks, in the middle of the season. Sorry, I'd rather watch the Flyers playing the Penguins than the US playing Slovakia. I'm a Flyers fan before a national fan, and I tend to root for whichever team has the most Flyers on it anyhow.

I also hate the potential for injury. How screwed are the Flyers if Claude Giroux ruins his knee in Sochi? What happens to the Rangers if Lundqvist hurts his hip? How about Detroit if Datsyuk gets a concussion?

Also, full on professional participation means that there will never be another "Miracle On Ice"
- Jsaquella

This!

I agree with Jsaq

I was a teenager in 1980 and I can remember the whole country just going nuts over the Miracle On Ice. People in places where hockey was about as popular watching paint dry went absolutely bonkers when our kids beat the Soviets. The drama and excitement of that tournament will NEVER be matched by today's pros, at least not in the Olympics.

I'm possibly in a distinct minority on this issue, but I really wish the professionals would get out of the Olympics. I also realize that in many cases (Soviet Union) the professionals were always IN the Olympics. The pressure to win and the perceived rewards for winning are such that the spirit of amateurism will inevitably get shoved by the wayside.

But, I for one, love seeing college and non-professional athletes in all sports have a chance to compete in the Olympics. I also hate having the NHL season impacted by the Olympic break. This will be the second consecutive year that NHL fans have had to put up with a nonsensical schedule and the resultant plethora of subpar games to watch. I say subpar because again, on too many occasions, we will be left watching one or both teams in a game who are exhausted from 3 games in 4 nights. There's nothing quite like watching two teams who look like they're skating through mud.

On the flip side, it is an honor for the men chosen to represent their countries, and I certainly dont begrudge them that.
- Doc_Sarcasm

Here's the problem as relates to hockey: As you said, for many years, USA and Canada were sending amateurs to the Olympics (later supplemented by older players playing in Europe), while the Soviet and Czechoslovakian "amateurs" were actually professionals and the Swedish and Finnish teams were somewhere in the middle. The tourney is now one where there really are many countries with a realistic chance at a medal.

Was 1980 dull?

I can handle the Olympics being dull, so long as the NHL is playing. In fact, if the NHL didn't shut down, I likely wouldn't watch a full game of Olympic hockey.
- Jsaquella

If the NHL wasn't participating, it'd be players like Bud Holloway, Ryan Lasch, Petr Nedve, Petri Kontiola and Joakim Lindström competing for their countries against a KHL All-Star team.

Was 1980 dull?

I can handle the Olympics being dull, so long as the NHL is playing. In fact, if the NHL didn't shut down, I likely wouldn't watch a full game of Olympic hockey.
- Jsaquella

A serious question.. What did you think of the Gold Medal game in the last Olympics?

If the NHL wasn't participating, it'd be players like Bud Holloway, Ryan Lasch, Petr Nedve, Petri Kontiola and Joakim Lindström competing for their countries against a KHL All-Star team.
- bmeltzer

This is why I strongly continue to advocate for keeping it the same way.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap...-with-27-6-million/43413/

I will not forget where I was for that game. I was pissed.. royally so, because I had to go to my wife's best friends kids christening. PISSED. Then I got to the hall, and sought out a TV, and to my immediate relief there was one there, and we were able to get the game.

When Parise tied that game up... the entire place (probably close to 150 people, women who otherwise dont watch included) went nuts. In overtime, everybody was huddled around the TV gasping for air. I was next to a blind kid (probably about 18) and relayed everything for him. When Crosby buried that goal... the entire place deflated... One of the most memorable hockey games of my entire life.

Just for S&G's, I'm going to type out Jim Craig's Foreword to "The Boys of Winter", feel free to tl:dr.

Years before I ever heard of Lake Placid or the Olympics, before I knew the name of a single Russian hockey player, I was a kid in Massachusetts who wanted to be the next Bobby Orr. I grew up skating on Holmes's Pond, which took its name from our next-door neighbor, Mrs. Holmes, who owned it. A man named Phil Thompson, our postman, was the person who told me I should try organized hockey in the Easton Junior Hockey League. He had already been working on it with my mother. He was a fine postman and an even better salesman.

The game we played against the Russians in Lake Placid twenty-five years ago has been acclaimed and saluted in every way possible, but for me, it has always felt like a passage on ice, the attainment of a dream that started on Mrs. Holmes's pond. It's impossible for me to separate the miracle that we achieved as a team with the memories and gratitude I have for all the people who helped me get there, from my mother and father, my sisters and brothers, to ten years' worth of coaches and friends and teammates. You don't make a journey like that alone. You make it with a lot of love and sacrifice. That's probably why I was searching the stands for my father after we won the gold medal against Finland. It was a moment begging to be shared.

I don't believe those Winter Games in Lake Placid will ever be duplicated. I don't say that because we beat maybe the greatest Soviet hockey team ever assembled, or even because Eric Heiden won five gold medals, a performance that I honestly think dwarfs what we did. I say it because there weren't doping scandals or an Olympic Village that was overrun with millionaires and professionals in Lake Placid. Herb Brooks, God rest his soul, wasn't coaching a Dream Team. He was coaching a team full of dreamers. There is a big difference. In Lake Placid, it didn't feel as if the Games were being run by corporations. It felt as if at the heart of them was a brotherhood of athletes, the best in the world, deep in the Adirondack Mountains.

I've visited quite a few places that have hosted the Olympics in the past, and you almost can't tell that the Games were ever there. You aren't in Lake Placid for more than a minute before you are flooded with Olympic memories, whether it's from seeing the Olympic Arena at the top of the hill, or the oval next door where Heiden skated into immortality. Whenever I'm in town, I like to go out at night when it's dark and quiet and the shops are closed, and stand in the middle of Main Street. I close my eyes and in an instant it takes me back to that magical Friday night of February 22, 1980, to the memory of walking down that same Main Street with Mike Eruzione and our fathers, and other family members, and ABC's Jim Lampley interviewing us as we went. Snow was falling, and everywhere you looked people were waving flags and chanting "U-S-A-, U-S-A." We were in our primes, athletically and physically. We were surrounded by people we loved, getting loved some more by people we didn't even know. We had just done the impossible, and we were happy to be alive and thrilled to be Americans and thrilled to think that Herb was right: maybe we were meant to be here. It's a feeling you wish everybody could have at one point in their lives.

Being in that goal on that Friday night was the pinnacle of my athletic life, the greatest joy I have ever known as a hockey player. It was the culmination of a journey, and then other journeys followed, for all of us; that is what this book is really all about - the journeys that brought us to that semifinal game against the Soviet Union, and those we've taken since. Sometimes people ask me if I wish I could go back and do it again, if some part of me is sad that I will never experience that pinnacle again. You can't look back. You can't dial up euphoria on demand, or try to re-create what happened a quarter century ago. You move forward and try to be a better person every day than you were the day before. You take each day as a new journey, even as you are grateful for the ones you have already had.

-Jim Craig
North Easton, Massachusetts 2005

And that my friends is what the Olympic spirit should always be about.

I don't begrudge them, but I also despise NHL participation in the Olympics.

First, it shuts down the NHL for a couple of weeks, in the middle of the season. Sorry, I'd rather watch the Flyers playing the Penguins than the US playing Slovakia. I'm a Flyers fan before a national fan, and I tend to root for whichever team has the most Flyers on it anyhow.

I also hate the potential for injury. How screwed are the Flyers if Claude Giroux ruins his knee in Sochi? What happens to the Rangers if Lundqvist hurts his hip? How about Detroit if Datsyuk gets a concussion?

Also, full on professional participation means that there will never be another "Miracle On Ice"
- Jsaquella

I thought the best scenario, for the fan, was having amateurs play in the Olympics, while the pros competed internationally in the Canada Cup.
That doesn't do anything to prevent injury to your team's stars, but the level of hockey played in those Canada Cup tournaments was outstanding. IMO it was well worth the trade-off. And it didn't interrupt the season.

I'm possibly in a distinct minority on this issue, but I really wish the professionals would get out of the Olympics. I also realize that in many cases (Soviet Union) the professionals were always IN the Olympics. The pressure to win and the perceived rewards for winning are such that the spirit of amateurism will inevitably get shoved by the wayside.

But, I for one, love seeing college and non-professional athletes in all sports have a chance to compete in the Olympics. I also hate having the NHL season impacted by the Olympic break. This will be the second consecutive year that NHL fans have had to put up with a nonsensical schedule and the resultant plethora of subpar games to watch. I say subpar because again, on too many occasions, we will be left watching one or both teams in a game who are exhausted from 3 games in 4 nights. There's nothing quite like watching two teams who look like they're skating through mud.

On the flip side, it is an honor for the men chosen to represent their countries, and I certainly dont begrudge them that.
- Doc_Sarcasm

Well if you are in the minority, I am too. I fully agree.

If the NHL wasn't participating, it'd be players like Bud Holloway, Ryan Lasch, Petr Nedve, Petri Kontiola and Joakim Lindström competing for their countries against a KHL All-Star team.
- bmeltzer

Very good point. If they are going to stay with the pros, then move it to the Summer games. I know it sounds weird, but they played the Canada Cup/World Cup games in the summer, and it seemed to work just fine. At least this way if a key player gets hurt, he should hopefully be able to return to his club at some point during the season, rather than getting injured in February and missing the stretch run and playoffs.

Just for S&G's, I'm going to type out Jim Craig's Foreword to "The Boys of Winter", feel free to tl:dr.

Years before I ever heard of Lake Placid or the Olympics, before I knew the name of a single Russian hockey player, I was a kid in Massachusetts who wanted to be the next Bobby Orr. I grew up skating on Holmes's Pond, which took its name from our next-door neighbor, Mrs. Holmes, who owned it. A man named Phil Thompson, our postman, was the person who told me I should try organized hockey in the Easton Junior Hockey League. He had already been working on it with my mother. He was a fine postman and an even better salesman.

The game we played against the Russians in Lake Placid twenty-five years ago has been acclaimed and saluted in every way possible, but for me, it has always felt like a passage on ice, the attainment of a dream that started on Mrs. Holmes's pond. It's impossible for me to separate the miracle that we achieved as a team with the memories and gratitude I have for all the people who helped me get there, from my mother and father, my sisters and brothers, to ten years' worth of coaches and friends and teammates. You don't make a journey like that alone. You make it with a lot of love and sacrifice. That's probably why I was searching the stands for my father after we won the gold medal against Finland. It was a moment begging to be shared.

I don't believe those Winter Games in Lake Placid will ever be duplicated. I don't say that because we beat maybe the greatest Soviet hockey team ever assembled, or even because Eric Heiden won five gold medals, a performance that I honestly think dwarfs what we did. I say it because there weren't doping scandals or an Olympic Village that was overrun with millionaires and professionals in Lake Placid. Herb Brooks, God rest his soul, wasn't coaching a Dream Team. He was coaching a team full of dreamers. There is a big difference. In Lake Placid, it didn't feel as if the Games were being run by corporations. It felt as if at the heart of them was a brotherhood of athletes, the best in the world, deep in the Adirondack Mountains.

I've visited quite a few places that have hosted the Olympics in the past, and you almost can't tell that the Games were ever there. You aren't in Lake Placid for more than a minute before you are flooded with Olympic memories, whether it's from seeing the Olympic Arena at the top of the hill, or the oval next door where Heiden skated into immortality. Whenever I'm in town, I like to go out at night when it's dark and quiet and the shops are closed, and stand in the middle of Main Street. I close my eyes and in an instant it takes me back to that magical Friday night of February 22, 1980, to the memory of walking down that same Main Street with Mike Eruzione and our fathers, and other family members, and ABC's Jim Lampley interviewing us as we went. Snow was falling, and everywhere you looked people were waving flags and chanting "U-S-A-, U-S-A." We were in our primes, athletically and physically. We were surrounded by people we loved, getting loved some more by people we didn't even know. We had just done the impossible, and we were happy to be alive and thrilled to be Americans and thrilled to think that Herb was right: maybe we were meant to be here. It's a feeling you wish everybody could have at one point in their lives.

Being in that goal on that Friday night was the pinnacle of my athletic life, the greatest joy I have ever known as a hockey player. It was the culmination of a journey, and then other journeys followed, for all of us; that is what this book is really all about - the journeys that brought us to that semifinal game against the Soviet Union, and those we've taken since. Sometimes people ask me if I wish I could go back and do it again, if some part of me is sad that I will never experience that pinnacle again. You can't look back. You can't dial up euphoria on demand, or try to re-create what happened a quarter century ago. You move forward and try to be a better person every day than you were the day before. You take each day as a new journey, even as you are grateful for the ones you have already had.

-Jim Craig
North Easton, Massachusetts 2005

And that my friends is what the Olympic spirit should always be about.
- Doc_Sarcasm

I think Lavi would make a better coach for this USA team then Bylsma. I mean DB is good at coaching superstars in a high offense system. But this USA team doesn't have the super offensive superstars to manage. I think Lavi's attack first system, with the excellent puck moving, offensive defensman and strong goaltending we have would have been perfect for this team.

Ah, a chorus of "Get off my lawn!"

I love the best in the Olympics. That's what's in the Olympics now in every sport except soccer, which saves its best for World Cup. But in order to have the full participation of every country interested that is not an every 4 years event but a 4-year event.