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2006 Winter Olympics

Grahame is named Olympic starter

By GARY SHELTON
Published February 14, 2006

	[Times photo, 2005: Dirk Shadd]
	Four shutouts and a 7-2 record since January earned Grahame the No. 1 job.

TURIN, Italy - Say hello to John Grahame.

America's goalie.

Grahame, by day the hard-working goaltender for the Lightning, arrived on Monday amid the news that protecting the net for the United States would be his responsibility.

Team USA general manager Don Waddell confirmed Monday night that Grahame would be the team's No.1 goaltender when it begins the Olympic competition Wednesday against Latvia.

Waddell said all three U.S. goalies have been informed of the decision.

"He's going to play the first game," Waddell said. "If you go back to Jan.1, he's been the best goalie."

Flyers goalie Robert Esche told the Philadelphia Daily News earlier in the day that he had been told by Team USA coach Peter Laviolette that Grahame would be the team's No.1 goaltender and that the Islanders' Rick DiPietro would be No.2. Esche would be third.

Shortly after his arrival, Grahame chose to play it coy, saying he had not been told that he was the starter.

"That's a decision that (Laviolette) and the other coaches are going to make, and when that happens, I'm sure we'll be the first to know," he said.

"When I got my name on the list, it was presented to me that whoever was playing the best would be the goalie, and that's the way I look at it."

If getting here the fastest means anything, Grahame is in good shape. He was one of only two American players, with Jordan Leopold of Calgary, to arrive in Italy on Monday. Team USA hopes most of its players will arrive today.

More likely, Grahame's ascension would have more to do with the hot streak he has been riding. Grahame is 7-2 since the first of the year, including four shutouts and an impressive relief performance over Laviolette's Carolina Hurricanes last week.

It's a different discussion from December, when Grahame was having his struggles and was being criticized by John Tortorella, the Lightning coach. Esche, in particular, was critical.

When he suggested that one of the three goalies didn't deserve to be on the Olympic team, it was interpreted that he was speaking about Grahame.

"I don't know Robert at all," Grahame said. "Actually, this will be the first time I meet him. He called me a month ago and said some type of quote appeared. I never read it. He said whatever it was, it was taken out of context."

Given the pressure of the position, perhaps a spark of controversy will help focus Grahame.

"Best way to explain it, you just got to have that tough skin, that inner strength that you know you can get the job done," Grahame, 30, said.

"(Tortorella) is a very emotional coach. When things are great, he lets you know. When he doesn't think it's great, it goes the other end. It helps to have that thick skin for things like this."

It helps to play well, too. Grahame has won six of his past seven games, and before struggling against Boston on Saturday, he allowed only one goal in a five-game stretch.

Team USA, considered an outside shot for a medal, could use a little more luck during the tournament. The bad weather in the Northeast United States means some players could trickle in at the last minute. Until they can get their legs under them, the goaltending will be more important than usual.

After Latvia, the United States follows with games against Kazakhstan on Thursday, Slovakia on Saturday, Sweden on Sunday and Russia on Feb.21. The playoff round begins Feb.22 with the gold-medal game Feb.26.

"It's not the ideal way you'd like to prepare for a game, but it's that switch, that competitive juice, that just turns on and you're ready to go," Grahame said. "Everybody has been playing this game for a long time."

[Last modified February 14, 2006, 04:13:16]