Here's Jeremy Roenick on the possibility he'll be picked for the U.S. Men's Olympic Hockey Team:
"I better be," the King center said. "It would be a travesty if I'm not
December 8th, 2005
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I rather doubt LaViolette will be moved. He’s built a decent team in Carolina by not worrying about coddling veteran stars (Jeff O’Neill!), and Roenick’s to-date contribution to the Kings doesn’t merit putting up with his crap.
For that matter, Roenick may have talked himself out of that commentator slot. NBC won’t want him if all he’s planning to do is whine about not being picked and crap on Team USA. Chicken Parm, call on line 1…
Off the top of my head there are at least eight American-born centers that are more deserving of a spot on the team than Roenick – Doug Weight, Mike Modano, Jeff Halpern, Tim Connolly, Scott Gomez, Tyler Arnason, Craig Conroy and Chris Drury.
If only JR had half the class of Steve Yzerman (per the CP):
Yzerman, 40, phoned Olympic boss Wayne Gretzky to say he would not play in Turin.
“It was the right thing to do. I would’ve loved to play in the Olympics again, but I believe it’s time for me to step aside.
“It’s time to let other guys play.”
Take note, JR.
From that “last time Roenick piped up”:
“There’s no question I think I should be on the team,” Roenick said. “I’ve represented the team very well in the past, and there’s only a couple of Americans who have more points than I do.”
Oh really? He has one goal in 10 games in the Olympics. And the “couple of Americans” who’ve outpointed him in the Olympics include Mike Modano, Brian Leetch, Bill Guerin and recently-retired quasi-American Brett Hull.
Hey I am all for Jeremy and his swagger. He brought some new life to my stale Flyers before he was traded.But he has to be able to back up getting a position on the US Olympic team and I don’t think he has proven he still has it. Unless he has a drastic turnaround in the next few weeks….well I guess he will be rooting for Canada.