Rockets Alumni Front and Centre in Team Canada Win
It didn’t take long for a trio of former Kelowna Rockets to make an impact for Team Canada at the men’s hockey tournament at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Shea Weber and Jamie Benn scored Team Canada’s first two goals of the tournament, while Duncan Keith had an assist on Weber’s tournament opening goal for Canada, who began the event with a 3-1 win over Norway on Thursday.
The three former Rockets on Team Canada are among six former Rockets and nearly 40 WHL alumni playing in the Olympic hockey tournament.
Canada will play Austria on Friday, whose roster includes former Rockets player Thomas Raffl. Other former Rockets in the tournament are Swedish defenceman Alex Edler as well as Latvian Lauris Darzins
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With the beginning of the men’s hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia this week, the eyes of the hockey world have turned to what will be the biggest and most important hockey tournament to hit the ice, well, since the last Olympic hockey tournament.
And one thing people will see when Canada, and when the rest of the teams in the tournament hit the ice, is a large contingent of former Kelowna Rockets representing their countries in what is being called the feature event of the 2014 Olympics.
No less than six Kelowna Rockets alumni will play in the Olympic hockey tournament, including defencemen Shea Weber and Duncan Keith, who have been paired together on the Canadian blueline in practice before Canada’s first game, as well as Jamie Benn, who is playing in his first Olympics for Canada.
“I’m obviously very excited to be part of the whole Olympics in general,” Benn told the Dallas Morning News. “To put on this jersey and represent your country in such a big event, it means a lot. For a Canadian to represent your country in hockey, it’s pretty special and it definitely means a lot to me.”
Weber and Keith are both back after winning gold in 2010 and Weber is an assistant captain with Team Canada.
“It’s definitely a huge honor,” he said on NHL.com. “You look at that dressing room and you see how many captains there are from their respective clubs and you know any one of those guys could have done the job.”
Other former Rockets playing in the Olympics are Alexander Edler (Sweden), Lauris Darzins (Latvia) and Thomas Raffl (Austria).
“We’re very proud of all of our former players and having six alumni in the Olympic tournament is something very special,” said Rockets president/GM Bruce Hamilton. “It’s going to be great to watch how the tournament and see how our former players perform.”
The Rockets alumni are part of a larger group of Western Hockey League graduates that are on Olympic rosters.
Twenty-nine WHL graduates will participate in the 2014 men’s hockey tournament in Sochi. The Olympic men’s hockey tournament includes 12 national teams. Eight of those 12 teams boast at least one WHL graduate on the roster.
Canada, the defending Olympic Gold medalist, leads the way with eight WHL graduates included on the roster.
Slovakia features eight WHL graduates on its Olympic roster, including Norris Trophy winner Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins as well as brothers Marian and Marcel Hossa, who both played for the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks.The men’s hockey tournament began on Wednesday and concludes with the gold medal game on Feb. 23.
