MILAN \u2013 After arriving on their Delta charter Sunday morning out of JFK, the United States men\u2019s hockey team took the ice for practice for the first time Sunday night at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.<\/p>\n
The arena looked great, although the ice remains a work in progress. Some players said it was \u201csoft,\u201d and coach Mike Sullivan said it was pretty chewed up after the U.S followed a day\u2019s worth of practices from other countries.<\/p>\n
But the men\u2019s tournament doesn\u2019t start until Thursday, so the ice will have plenty of time to settle.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, a lot of us just got off the plane this morning, so the main objective was just to try to move the blood out there, get them a sweat, get them some exercise, get their heart rates up a little bit,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cHopefully they\u2019ll sleep better, they\u2019ll feel better and we try to get on the same time zone and\u00a0circadian rhythm, start to normalize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan said forward lines and defense pairs remain a work in progress, but it did look like the top two lines have started to take shape with Jack Eichel centering Brady and Matthew Tkachuk and captain Matthews centering Jake Guentzel and Matt Boldy, the young Minnesota Wild star who leads these American Olympians with 32 goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of scoring talent on that line, so it\u2019d be pretty special if I play with them,\u201d Boldy said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens. Like I\u2019ve said, you can\u2019t really go wrong with who you play with here. Everyone\u2019s so good and talented, but if that\u2019s my spot, that\u2019s great. If not, you find chemistry with other guys and you try to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the back end, Sullivan did initially reunite Jaccob Slavin with his 4 Nations Face-Off defense partner, Brock Faber, despite the fact Faber and Quinn Hughes have been exceptional playing together since Hughes was traded to Minnesota. Hughes skated with Charlie McAvoy, while Zach Werenski was with Noah Hanifin and Jake Sanderson was with Jackson Lacombe.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what, for me, it\u2019s such a deep defensive corps that I\u2019m happy to play with anyone,\u201d Faber said. \u201cThey\u2019re all such good players. I\u2019m definitely happy to play with whoever. (Slavin) saved my butt a few times (at 4 Nations). He\u2019s definitely a tremendous defensive partner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Similarly, Hughes said he doesn\u2019t care whom he plays with.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrock\u2019s an elite player, and if I play with him, great. If I play someone else, great, we have a bunch of elite guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the bottom two lines, Sullivan mixed and matched Tage Thompson, Vincent Trocheck, J.T. Miller, Brock Nelson, Clayton Keller, Kyle Connor, Jack Hughes and Dylan Larkin. Remember, too, unlike the NHL where teams can dress a maximum 18 skaters, in the Olympics teams can dress 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a little bit of time,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe have an idea of what we want to start with, and that will start to unfold here over the next couple of days. Just like our defense group, one of the things we love about our roster is just the versatility. We have a lot of centermen that can play the wing. We can move guys around the lineup depending on how we think lines are performing or players are performing \u2014 things of that nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan did indicate the Tkachuks will be together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were terrific at the 4 Nations event,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cIn a lot of ways they were, I think, the catalyst for helping us become the team that we had sought to become in that tournament in such a short period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
McAvoy\u2019s jaw swollen, but not refractured <\/p>\n
McAvoy, who broke his jaw earlier this season, wore a fish bowl during Sunday\u2019s practice to protect a jaw that has been swollen again courtesy of a shot to the face from the Florida Panthers\u2019 Sandis Vilmanis last week.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, McAvoy\u2019s jaw was not fractured again. But he is very sore.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very relieved, and it was concerning to watch,\u201d said Sullivan, who happens to be McAvoy\u2019s father-in-law. \u201cCharlie plays the game so hard. He\u2019s a fierce competitor, and he puts himself in harm\u2019s way all the time for the sake of his team. And I think that speaks volumes for how competitive he is and just the courage that he plays the game with. He\u2019s an elite defenseman, and he\u2019s willing to do whatever it takes to win and I think that\u2019s why he endures what he endures. He\u2019s a physical player himself, but he takes hits to make plays a lot and he does it undeterred. For me, if you want to define toughness, it\u2019s not just about what you dish out. It\u2019s your willingness to take hits to make plays also, and I think Charlie checks both of those boxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack Hughes practices <\/p>\n
Jack Hughes, who missed the final three games with the New Jersey Devils before the break with a lower-body injury, was a full participant in Sunday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n
Sullivan said he won\u2019t be limited in practice this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel good,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cThe body feels in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hughes has gotten criticism for missing times with the Devils but being available to play for the U.S. at the Olympics.<\/p>\n
\u201cInjuries are tough,\u201d his brother Quinn said. \u201cAnd obviously the one with the hand (earlier this season) was a freak one and he just wanted to be healthy and wanted to be at his best. And he loves the game. No one hates missing games more than him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quinn Hughes is excited to be healthy after missing the 4 Nations last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would feel bad for anyone that missed the Olympics, just because, I mean, 4 Nations is one thing, but the Olympics is the Olympics,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was frustrating for me to miss it last year. And I think I would know what that felt like a little bit. But for me, I\u2019m just thankful to be here this year and have more gratitude, if anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back to college<\/p>\n
Hughes will be rooming in the Olympic village with his older brother, Quinn, while Brady and Matthew Tkachuk will be roomies and are right across the hall from the Hugheses, who \u201care like family to us,\u201d Matthew Tkachuk said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a good little wing in our area. So it\u2019s pretty much hanging out with them 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they probably push their beds together,\u201d Eichel cracked about the Tkachuk brothers.<\/p>\n
Matthew Tkachuk has already named their room \u201cClub Tkachuk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though living in a hotel is an option for NHLers, Brady Tkachuk said the Americans have decided to stay in the athletes\u2019 village so they can get the full Olympic experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to say I hate the posh hotels; they\u2019re pretty nice, those ones that you go around North America and stay in,\u201d Eichel said. \u201cBut, listen, it\u2019s a really cool experience. It brings me back to what it\u2019s like in college. You got a roommate who\u2019s two feet away from you in the same room and you\u2019re in a small little dorm, but I think it just brings the guys together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Odds and ends<\/p>\n
As expected, Auston Matthews was named captain with Matthew Tkachuk and McAvoy wearing the \u201cA\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan predicts the Patriots will win the Super Bowl: \u201cYou can take the guy out of Boston, but you can\u2019t take the Boston out of the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2013 After arriving on their Delta charter Sunday morning out of JFK, the United States men\u2019s hockey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[377],"tags":[95,57,5,54125,38,151,35,4,2602,25,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-451599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-boston-bruins","9":"tag-florida-panthers","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","12":"tag-minnesota-wild","13":"tag-new-jersey-devils","14":"tag-new-york-rangers","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-olympics","17":"tag-ottawa-senators","18":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116037271325908718","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}