NHL Olympic Hockey Stars
The Winter Olympics had NHL superstars playing each other in the most exciting hockey tournament ever. Now that the season is back on, many of those players who were international teammates in Salt Lake City are once again NHL rivals. Just two days after Brendan Shanahan played against Brett Hull and Chris Chelios in the gold medal game, all three players were teammates as the Detroit Red Wings played the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Wings had an NHL high after eleven players competed in the Olympics. Steve Yzerman also played for Team Canada while Igor Larionov, Sergei Federov and Pavel Datsyuk played for Russia. Nicklas Lidstrom, Fredrik Olausson and Tomas Holmstrom played for Sweden and Dominik Hasek played in goal for the Czech Republic.
The international rules and ice rinks used at the hockey tournament at the 2002 Winter Olympics made the games faster and more exciting - so you may see some of those rules come to the NHL in the next couple of years. The league is considering getting rid of the center ice red line for offsides and dropping the puck 15 seconds after a stoppage in play.
The trip to the 2002 Winter Olympics by the NHL's stars has been costly for several teams. Steve Yzerman who was one of the stars for Team Canada hurt his knee during the Olympic tournament and could miss up to six games for the Detroit Red Wings. St. Louis Blues' winger, Keith Tkachuk, who played for Team USA was hurt during the Olympic semi-final game against Russia and will miss several games. Mario Lemieux is also banged up and will be out for the 2002 season. Fans of these teams may be frustrated that their favorite players are hurt because they played in the Olympics - but most players love to play for their country when they get a chance, so fans will just have to put up with it.
The NHL and its players still haven't decided if they'll play in the next Olympics in Italy in 2006. The 2002 tournament in Salt Lake City was the best hockey the world has seen so the NHL should go to Italy in 2006. It would be great for the NHL and great for hockey fans in Europe. For more on the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, click here.
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