Ten Days After: What We Can Take Away From Olympic Hockey

It's been 10 days since the men's hockey team of Canada woke up with a gold medal.

Looking back on the marquis tournament that took place in Vancouver over two weeks in February, players, coaches, general managers, and fans can take a few things away, in retrospect.

Let's start with the current hotbed topic in the NHL coming back from the Olympic break.

A few days ago, diminutive Boston Bruin forward Marc Savard was taken from the ice on a stretcher after a questionable hit to the head by Penguins bad boy Matt Cooke.  The most interesting thing was Patrice Bergeron watching from the Bruins bench.  A similar hit almost ended Bergeron's career.  He struggled with post-concussion syndrome, and recovered.  He now has a gold medal to prove it.

One thing that became apparent in the Olympic tournament is that entertaining hockey can be played, even in spite of rules that limit the kinds of hits that left Marc Savard limp against the Mellon Arena ice.

NHL general managers are beginning to take action themselves against these types of incidents. Eight GMs have been watching these shoulder-to-head checks very closely since November, and will report their findings to the board today.  The group includes Lou Lamoreillo of New Jersey, Darcy Reiger in Buffalo, Jim Rutherford in Carolina, Joe Neiuwendyk of Calgary, Doug Wilson of San Jose, Paul Holmgren of Philadelphia, Brian Burke in Toronto, and Ken Holland in Detroit.

Their mission is simple.  They have been charged with creating a set of rules to curb these dangerous types of blind side contact.

The good news is that it can be done.  Fans still can see the huge hits and collisions that shake the boards.  The Olympic tournament proves it, especially in the hockey put on display during the gold medal game.

One more thing that fans and executive alike can take away from these games is that the United States hockey program has arrived to the international table and is a force to be reckoned with.  Brian Burke has been telling us for years that he is a genius.  Maybe, his doubters, especially those with an address in the Canadian province of Ontario, should listen.

It has been discussed ad nauseum that the US silver medal was a surprise.  Honestly, this writer has been confused as to why no one expected it.  Instead of building a dream team, Burke and his subordinates built a team.  Ron Wilson, who bought into Burke's idea, gave everyone on that team a role.  Those roles did not change.

It brings to mind the make up of a New Jersey Devils squad.  Maybe John Tortorella, coach of the malfunctioning New York Rangers and assistant coach for the U.S. men's hockey team, can take a page from Wilson's success.

One more thing to take away from these Olympic games is that the KHL experiment may finally come to an end.  Russia didn't medal.  The Czech Republic didn't medal.  Slovakia didn't medal.  Those three teams, specifically, drew on talent from the KHL and the NHL, and were internationally ranked higher than the three teams that did bring home medals.  Maybe the KHL debate has finally come to an end.

Let this be a sign to Gary Bettman.  More good came from these Olympic games than bad.  Only one marquis player, Marian Gaborik, came home with an injury, and it wasn't a season-ending one.  The level of hockey in the NHL has been stirred to a frenzy by the players that came home energized by this extraordinary tournament.

And hockey fans still have the Stanley Cup playoffs to look forward to.  What can professional hockey do for an encore? We shall see in the coming weeks.