Split Personality: Team USA Hockey GM Brian Burke Opens Up in Vancouver

Anyone that attended Sunday afternoon’s press conference for the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team in Vancouver saw two sides of team boss Brian Burke on display.

At the table behind the mic, it was the Burke that the media loves. Alongside coach Ron Wilson, forward/captain Jamie Langenbrunner, forward Zach Parise, goalie Ryan Miller, and defenseman Jack Johnson, Burke was outspoken on several topics.

They included the possible selection of too young a team and the view that he’s been talking his team down, playing the underdog card to take pressure off his guys.

“We’ve been criticized just about every place I go—why this guy’s not on the team, why that guy’s not on the team,” he said about his selections. “It’s a small wedding, folks, only 23 chairs at the table, that’s it.”

Burke had little patience for the latter accusation.

“We are the underdogs here. Nobody’s playing a card. Ask anyone in this room—you all cover hockey. Ask them to write it down and put it in a hat like Survivor , who’s going to win? There’s not going to be many people that put us down.”

Burke held strong his classic scowl throughout the conference, even cursed at his mic after he forgot to turn it on, for the second or third time, before starting to speak. It was the Burke hockey fans know and love.

But once the interviewees spread out and reporters got the opportunity to question the general manager up close, he turned from volatile to introspective when discussion turned to the death of his 21-year-old son Brendan last week in a car accident.

A hockey lover like his dad, Brendan was killed on an Indiana road Feb. 6 while, according to Brian, he was looking at potential law schools. While Brian doubted, proudly, that Brendan had the callous nature to be an NHL general manager, the confidence he had in his youngest son was apparent.

“I’m not sure what he would’ve done but he would’ve been successful,” Burke said, gripping his chair with one hand while gesturing with the other amidst the tight huddle of reporters with recorders, notebooks, and cameras. “He was one of those kids.”

“I feel fortunate I had him for 21 years.”

The focus of the huddle began to shift when Burke was asked how he’s dealing with the tragedy while still managing Team USA.

“It’s tough,” he said. “I’m putting one foot in front of the other. That’s what we’re doing here. There’s a job to do and we’re going to do it.”

Slowly, Burkey was coming back.

He began explaining his “top six/bottom six” theory on selecting the team’s forwards, likening his team to a construction crew where everyone has a specific job, and throwing out terms like “versatile player” and “foot speed.”

He once again commanded reporters to say who they thought would win the gold medal to prove his team’s underdog status. He discussed the potential backlash of a poor Olympic performance after passing on skilled players, such as Scott Gomez, that didn’t fit the system.

Just like before, the game and the team were the focus.

So though for a time Sunday, a typically invisible soft side of Brian Burke was exposed, it became clear that hockey, and supporting Team USA in particular, is what gets him through such tough times.