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Four years after trashing apartments, the Americans want to move on even if others don't.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 15, 2002
SALT LAKE CITY -- The stories were sensational and sparked outrage.
Members of the U.S. men's hockey team trashed two apartments at the athletes' village after elimination in the quarterfinals of the 1998 Games at Nagano. Chairs were broken, fire extinguishers emptied. Estimated damage: $1,000.
No players admitted taking part, though apologies were made and defenseman Chris Chelios, the team captain, paid the bill.
Lou Vairo, assistant coach for the U.S. team that begins play tonight against Finland, apologized again Thursday. But he also made it colorfully clear he believed the incident was blown out of proportion.
"We do want to move on, and I will say on behalf of USA Hockey, we apologize now and then," Vairo said. "We're sorry that anything like that happened."
Vairo was not in Nagano but added, "Whatever it was that happened, it was a minor detail. Maybe it wasn't handled as good as it could have been handled. These are good kids. They broke a few chairs. I bet half you guys in this room have busted a couple of chairs when your wife shows you the credit card at the end of the week.
"It wasn't a big deal. You got people biting guys ears off and poking eyes and kicking people. Write about them. Our guys are good kids."
The comments came at a news conference called to discuss the game against Finland. There was talk of how the larger international ice surface and the lack of a red line will affect play.
But questions kept coming back to what happened after the United States' medal hopes ended with a 4-1 loss to the Czech Republic, which went on to win gold.
"I think you were probably the one-millionth question," said Bruins forward Bill Guerin, who played in Nagano. "It's been asked so many times. Honestly, it's four years ago, and we really put our focus into these Games."
The liveliest exchange was between Vairo and a Los Angeles reporter.
"If it's not a big deal, how come none of the players involved ever stepped up?" the reporter asked. "The chapter seems not to be closed."
"Because we're a team," Vairo snapped. "An apology was made, and it's closed."
As for the game, Guerin said the United States will "have our hands full."
Finland, even without captain Saku Koivu, who is battling cancer, is a formidable squad and advanced to the final of last year's World Championships.
The international ice is 200 feet long, same as the NHL, but the width is 100 feet, 15 larger than the NHL. The neutral zones are 58 feet (54 in the NHL), and the offensive zones are 71 feet (73 in the NHL).
The biggest adjustments will be in the defensive zone, where the strategy is to keep opponents wide and force long shots.
Still, "there is so much room for a forward to create offense, we're going to have to be on the top of our defensive game," Guerin said. "In the NHL, you can go out of your way to make a big hit. If we run around and try to make a big hit, there's more time to get burned."
And no time to trash apartments.
"You learn from your mistakes, and hopefully, we've learn from our mistakes," Chelios said. "We addressed it, and as far as we're concerned, it's over. We're going to go out and do our jobs on the ice and off and handle ourselves like professionals."