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Chelly's quest Chelios strives for one last honor: Olympic goldPosted: Tuesday February 19, 2002 8:57 PM
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) -- Chris Chelios could have been excused for bailing out on the U.S. Olympic hockey team, just as the team could have bailed out on him. At 40, with his distinguished career as an all-star defensemen still not over, Chelios could have taken a vacation, rested up for the NHL stretch drive and avoided the aggravation and grief the Olympic hockey tournament became for him in 1998. And the Olympic team could have asked him to not come back after the chair-smashing embarrassment that marred the 1998 Games, even though Chelios was the only player to step forward, writing a $3,000 check for the damages. But as Olympic coach Herb Brooks talked to Chelios during the summer, sometimes as often as once a week, Brooks became convinced he had his captain. If there was public fallout for picking someone linked to the nastiness in Nagano, so be it. Now, with Team USA off to a 2-0-1 start and only a victory over Germany away from the Olympic semifinals, it is Chelios' inside-the-locker room leadership that is being credited as much as Brooks' inspiration and motivation for the Americans' excellent showing so far.
With so little time to prepare for the Olympics -- a minicamp in September, a 45-minute practice and some meetings once the players arrived Thursday -- Chelios was determined to avoid the mistakes he was convinced Team USA made in the first mostly NHL Olympic tournament in Nagano. There, he said, the Americans did not focus on the three round-robin games when they arrived, preferring to save their energies for the elimination round. As a result, they never gained any confidence, momentum or team chemistry and were bounced from the quarterfinals by the Czech Republic. In Salt Lake City, the United States looked sharp and motivated for an impressive 6-0 opening win over Finland Friday, even though the players were scattered around a dozen NHL rinks with their various teams less than 48 hours before. "Nobody had any goals in Nagano, nobody had any confidence," said Chelios, who spent 14 seasons with Montreal and Chicago before joining the Red Wings for the last three seasons. "It was important for us to get momentum here, to get something going." No doubt much of the public attention is centered on Brooks, who choreographed the 1980 college kids upset of the Soviet Union that often is mentioned as America's shining moment in sports. In Brooks' mind, however, "This is Chris Chelios' team. His stamp is on this team. What he does and says is respected by quality people, and we have quality people in that room. What he says and does, people listen and they respect him." Brooks thinks Chelios would be a successful coach once he retires, maybe even a U.S. Olympic coach, but said, with a smile, "He's probably too smart and has too much money to do that." What Chelios doesn't have is a gold medal -- he also played in the 1984 Olympics before making the NHL -- and he realizes this is his final chance to get one as a player. Chelios said playing on home ice, rather than an ocean away in Japan, has been a plus. And, while he hasn't said so publicly, there is an understanding that because of the room trashing in Nagano, any transgression, any minor slip-up off the ice by this team will be widely documented.
"I think this is a team that has learned from its mistakes," Chelios said.
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