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| Continued: Lead by Langebrunner, USA Overcame the Odds in Vancouver to Win Silver |
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Langenbrunner echoed a similar feeling, "Going into a 4-on-4 situation anything can happen. A few of us talked about it and felt we could have scored a few minutes earlier in regulation. We had them reeling but it's part of playing in a tournament. All of us went away a little disappointed that we didn't win the gold like we set out to do but we proved a lot of things. USA Hockey is moving up and should be considered one of the top hockey nations." Parise agreed that it was a strong statement for American hockey. "You look at the other team rosters like Sweden, Russia and Canada. It's pretty tough to go skill-on-skill with teams like those. Despite what everyone was thinking… whether we were underdogs or not, we knew we had guys who could perform their job and position well. I think for us to play that well together in a short amount of time was impressive for us." "We're taking steps in the right direction. USA Hockey has done a good job developing players. Even now with the World Juniors, the USA is starting to be mentioned with the likes of Canada and Russia. I don't think you could have said that ten or fifteen years ago but there are a lot of good, young American players in the NHL right now. Everyone involved with USA Hockey is excited about the talent we have," he concluded.  Getty Images Langenbrunner celebrates with his bench during the Olympics in Vancouver.Having the opportunity to represent their country and hockey-obsessed home state of Minnesota was a huge honor for Langenbrunner and Parise. Jamie spoke about the reaction he received when he returned to the North Star State, "While you're at the Olympics you tend to be in a little bit of a bubble of what was happening and how into it everyone was around the nation but when we came back from the Olympics it was just another level. I think the people felt so attached to those games and were so into it. Like us, they were disappointed we couldn't get the ultimate goal of winning the gold but a lot of people took a lot of pride in the way our team played some great hockey for two weeks." Parise spoke of their Minnesota roots. "Whenever you play in an International tournament, guys who grew up in the same area kind of stick together. Whether it was it was the Minnesota connection or not, Jamie was very good with me when I first came up with the Devils. Minnesota is represented very well throughout the NHL and USA Hockey as well. It means a lot for us. We're proud and we don't forget where we came from," he said with pride. Langenbrunner enjoyed chatting with friends and local fans when returned to Cloquet with the silver medal, "It was definitely great to hear people's stories of where they were when they watched this and that game and how excited everybody was to know someone who was playing in it. To see the medal was a great experience for a lot of people." Matt Niskanen of the Pittsburgh Penguins like Parise grew up admiring the accomplishments that Langenbrunner made for Minnesota hockey. "He's one of the first guys I remembered from Minnesota who made a big impact in the NHL. For a long time he's been a proven winner with Dallas and New Jersey. To see Jamie go on to the NHL and be a proven winner there and a great player opened doors for a lot of guys. Jamie's the leader of that group from 'Minny' and a great role model for kids growing up playing hockey there. A lot of people thought it was really cool that our own Jamie Langenbrunner was the captain of the US Olympic team and took Canada to overtime," he reflected. After seeing Parise, Miller and Langenbrunner star at the Vancouver Olympics, the next wave of American hockey players will be inspired to one day represent their country on the ice in future Olympic Games. Surely, reaching the finals and taking silver at Vancouver 2010 was another important landmark in USA Hockey history that will raise the profile and interest in the sport across America. The entire JL15.com team would like to thank the media staff from the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres and Dallas Stars for helping to make this retrospective possible. |
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